At the recent 167th annual meeting of the Minnesota State Agricultural Society board, retired board president Wally Wichmann was elected honorary life membership in the Society. Wichmann served on the Minnesota State Fair’s Board of Managers from 20102024.
He was originally elected to the Lyon County Fair Board in 1974 and served through 2022. Prior to joining the state fair board, he was a member of the Minnesota Federation of County Fairs. Wichmann, a retired farmer, lives with his wife, Jean, on a farm in rural Balaton.
Leading up to Wally’s election to the state board, the couple visited fairs in every county in the state.
“My wife was with me on every one of those trips,” Wichmann revealed. “There’s a county fair in every single county in the state. One year, I believe we did 35. When we visited all of those fairs, the reason I went was to let people know who I was because they would be voting on new (state fair) board members. I tried to talk to somebody from each board, but sometimes you miss them.
I was the first board member in 30 or 40 years to put in the entire 16 years on the board.”
Jean said prospective state board members have to run for the position and then a vote is held.
“On the county board, members of the Lyon County Ag Society promote you into the president’s position,” Jean said.
Wichmann was voted onto the Lyon County board and served for nearly five decades.
He was elected to the State Fair Board of Managers in 2010 and became president and 2024.
“My grandpa Albert was on the Lyon County Fair Board,” Wichmann said. “I kind of took his place.
My kids and grandkids were all involved in the Lyon County Fair.”
Wichmann said the county fair board meets three to four times beginning in March through August, as well as a couple times over the winter. Wichmann said that serving on the state board is a bit more involved, just due to the length of the fair.
“We have a 12-day fair. In those 12 days, we’re going to take between $80 million to $90 million. There is a sta of about 50 and they know what they’re doing. By 10:30 in the morning, they know what everybody took in the day before.”
The state board, Wichmann said, meets in April, June and once more before the fair, in August.
“We have our own cottages there. We live right on the fairgrounds. We’ve got a gathering room where we go and have our meetings. We eat breakfast together at 8 every morning. We talk about what we have to do for the day. It’s all pretty organized. It was exciting. I’m going to miss it.”
Wichmann said one of the big attractions at the fair is the Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar stand.
“How many cookies do you think they sell during the fair?” Wichmann asked. “How about $4.4 million?”
The Wichmanns still plan to make the fair an annual tradition.
There’s a supper the night before the fair starts and the past presidents are invited.
A total of 10 members serve on the board from all over the state, coming from nine total districts, divided up by population. The CEO of the Minnesota State Fair is Renee Alexander.
“She is fantastic. She used to work on the sta. She knows her business. She was recently invited to speak at a big convention over in Ireland,” Wally said.
Why is Minnesota State Fair the biggest in the country?
“It’s the way it’s run,” Wichmann said. “Everyone should know that we take no government money. We stand on our own feet. The government has nothing to do with it.”
At this time, the coliseum, where the judging is done, is currently being renovated.
“It will cost us about $23 million. We borrow money and we pay it back.”
The district that Wichmann serves goes from the Iowa border north to Alexandria and from South Dakota east to Renville — a total of 17 counties.
Wichmann says his favorite part of the fair wouldn’t surprise anyone.
“I’m a typical farmer, we’re heavy into cattle,” he said. “We watch the cattle shows. After that would be the grandstand.”
Wally and Jean came back last week from their annual stay in southern Texas. These days they enjoy following their grandchildren’s sports teams at RTR.
“That’s why we came back when we did, because of the (boys’ basketball) tournament,” he said.
Grandsons Tyler and Lane both played for the Knights in this year’s tournament. Aiden and Cody Wichmann both played on state tournament teams for the Knights in recent years.
At the recent 167th annual meeting of the Minnesota state Agricultural Society board, Wichmann was elected to honorary life membership in the Society. Prior to joining the state fair board, he was a member of the Minnesota Federation of County Fairs.
Over the years, Wichmann received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Service Award and Lifetime Membership Award from the Minnesota Federation of County Fairs; Farm Family of the Year from University of Minnesota Extension Service; Minnesota and Lyon County Ag Pollution Control Systems Award; and the 2014 Heritage Award from the International Association of Fairs and Expositions (IAFE), in recognition of his service to fairs and his community.
As Wichmann prepares to fully retire in xxxxx, he says he can look back on his time in the industry with great pride.
“I’ve been involved with the fair industry for many years, starting with my time on the Lyon County Fair Board. I dedicated 47 years to that before deciding it was time for someone else to take over,” says Wichmann. “One of my proudest achievements was winning the IAFE Network Heritage Award in 2014.
That recognition from the IAFE meant a lot to me, as the organization has been such an integral part of my life in the fair business. The fair has always been a passion of mine, stemming from my involvement in 4-H as a youth. Seeing my grandchildren continue that legacy, with one even earning a Grand Champion heifer at the Minnesota State Fair, has been incredibly rewarding.”
For anyone jsut gettting started in the fair business, Wichmann has some simple advice: “Observe, listen and talk to as many people as possible,” he said. “Don’t try to make a show of yourself; instead, focus on building relationships and learning from the wealth of knowledge and experience within the IAFE community. I’ve been fortunate to visit all of the county fairs in Minnesota, and I’ve never encountered one that didn’t welcome me warmly. That sense of camaraderie is what makes the fair industry so special.”
