Dietz-Gill steps into custom-made role

What’s that old saying?

You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl.

That saying – and the role of assistant manager of the Steele County Free Fair – seems custom-made for Stephanie Dietz-Gill.

The SCFF Board of Directors announced the hire last week, saying that Dietz-Gill’s “strong work ethic and creative solutions will be an important part of our success now and in the future.”

She’ll report directly to Fair Manager Scott Kozelka, and be involved with marketing, sales, public relations, vendor contracts and speaking to government and civic organizations.

She was raised on her parents’ farm in northeast Steele County, graduating from Owatonna High School in 2000.

Dietz-Gill was involved in 4-H, showing livestock each summer at the SCFF.

“I had a dairy steer named Brownie that we then ate the following year,” she said. “My mom would say, ‘can you go get a pound of Brownie burger for the tacos?’ That’s when you know you’re a farm kid.”

But the farm kid also grew up dancing at Jill Hoggard School of Dance, switched to cheerleading in high school, then headed off to Bemidji State University.

She graduated with a degree in marketing communications, which came with exposure to business practices.

“I got a sales job out of the gate,” Dietz-Gill said, “and haven’t been able to get out of sales since.”

She spent several years in liquor and spirits sales, but for the past three years has worked for Deb and Matt Gillard at RE/MAX Venture in Owatonna – and will continue to work there.

“I’ll do my best to gracefully juggle both things,” Dietz-Gill said of her dual roles. “I think my position at RE/MAX really led me to this. A lot of the things that are important to Scott and the fair, as far as community involvement, are similar to what Matt and Deb Gillard encourage.”

She’s thrilled to step into what she called “a unique, once-in-a-lifetime position.”

“My mother loves the fair,” Dietz-Gill said of Kim Dietz. “Loves the fair. When I first told her I was talking to Scott about it, she said, ‘oh, I just got goosebumps.’ And I thought, you know what? I had goosebumps when he walked away, too, when we first talked” about the assistant manager role.

She speaks highly of the Gillards and her job as a realtor.

“It doesn’t feel like work,” she said. “I love going there. I really enjoy it – and the mentorship from Matt and Deb.”

Dietz-Gill has been active at Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce events. She volunteers with Big Brothers Big Sisters Evening for Kids’ Sake, Night of Knights Auction, BNI, and the Main Street Committee of Owatonna, with a focus on Downtown Thursdays.

She completed the Owatonna Community Leadership Academy last year. She and her husband, Nick Gill, were runners-up in the Dancing with Steele County Stars two years ago.

The couple, who live in Medford, have two children: Dawson, 6, and Devin, who is 3.

It was at OCLA, Dietz-Gill said, where she learned a valuable life lesson.

“You should spend most of your time on the things you’re good at, and almost none of your time on the things you’re not good at,” she said.

For example:

“I’m very fly-by-the-seat of my pants – not everyone can do that,” she said. “And it’s good to be a social butterfly. I’m never going to be the most organized person in the world, but I’m good at a lot of other things, so those are what I should be focusing on.”

Nowhere is there more of an opportunity – or a necessity, perhaps – to change direction quickly than helping to run an event that brings 300,000 people to the area over the course of five days.

“There’s so many different facets of the fair,” Dietz-Gill said, “and an immediate need for problem-solving, to pivot to something else.”

Being good under pressure is another of her strengths, she said.

She and Kozelka are both salaried employees.

“Our job is to put the fair on, and we know what our duties are,” Kozelka said. “If one of us has to be here on the weekend for a horse show, then one of us has to be here. It’s part of our job. We all work together to find what’s going to be best for our fair, for our budget and for our guests.”

The SCFF has grown significantly over the past few years, something its board would like to see continue.

“We’ve got things rolling like a machine now, with great teamwork, and that’s what’s going to get the job done,” Kozelka said. “I know adding Stephanie to our team only makes us better. “

For her part, “I’ve spent not even a whole workday here yet, and I can already tell it’s going to be something that doesn’t feel like work,” Dietz-Gill said late last week. “I can’t wait to know all of it, and how it all works.”

Throughout her years at the SCFF, whether showing hogs, sheep, and cows for 4-H, or meeting people at the Beer Garden, “I’ve never even thought about how putting it all together even happens – and now that’s what I’ll be thinking about all the time,” she said.

Kozelka agreed.

“Walking around the fair, seeing the puzzle that’s put together … being a part of that is pretty cool,” he said.

“We’re very lucky to get Steph on our team, our board’s excited about it – and now it’s go-time.”

The 2024 Steele County Free Fair runs from Aug. 13-18.