Fair honors volunteers at dinner

Recognizing that volunteers are the backbone of the fair, officials with the Steele County Free Fair honored their own at an appreciation dinner Sunday in the Beer Garden.

Leading this year’s list of service awards was the fair’s treasurer, Tim Arlt, who has racked up 45 years of service. Prior to joining the fair board 20 years ago, he was involved with the fair through his role with the University of Minnesota Extension for 25 years.

Arlt took over the treasurer’s job about 10 years ago from Dan Deml when he became the fair’s president. “To have a person of his caliber, we are truly blessed,” said Deml. “He’s a smart financial person.”

The job of being the fair’s money man has become increasingly complex in recent years as the fair continues to grow. “It’s four to five times bigger than when I started,” Arlt said, noting about 10 years ago the fair’s annual revenue was $500,000-$750,000 and now tops the $2 million mark.

Arlt estimates he volunteers around 20 hours per week throughout the year to keep the fair’s financial matters in line. During the offseason, he focuses on writing grants to bring in additional revenue for the fair. “I like getting them more than I like writing them,” he said of the grant process.

Asked about his favorite aspect of the fair, Arlt said he enjoys the planning part of it. “We try to put something together that benefits everyone,” he said.

One of the most recent challenges for the fair has been to determine how to best utilize the space created by the removal of the south end of the racetrack. “That’s a good challenge to have with more space available,” said Arlt.

With more revenue coming into the fair in recent years, Arlt said the focus has been to put additional money into maintenance of existing buildings. “We can’t afford to replace buildings,” he said.

Arlt’s philosophy with the fair is pretty simple. “You have to grow at least a little every year or you go backwards,” he said.

He has also overseen the revival of a building that’s now known as the Great Outdoors Center. Arlt is proud of the changes that have been made to that building over the past few years.

Arlt was one of 23 volunteers totaling 340 years of service recognized at Sunday’s dinner.

“I’m always amazed at the volunteers,” said Deml, who himself has volunteered more than 40 years. “We could never hire people to bring the expertise they give us,” he said, adding that providing volunteers with a dinner is the least the fair can do.

Deml is amazed at how committed the volunteers are for the fair.

“They take ownership of it. It’s their fair,” he says. “Everyone wants to take pride in their department.”

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Steele County Fair Service Awards

5 years    

Charlie Kaplan- Auto Museum

Marc Weise- Evaluations 

Kathy Flicek- Flowers

Megan Hedberg – Polzin- Horse  

Patti Jessop- Information Station

Jan and Jim O’Neil- Rocks & Minerals

Greg Karsten- Saloon

Tony Sommers- Sheep

Lisa Richmond- Homemade Wine

Samantha Evans- Young Artists

10 years 

Karen Von Ruden- Dairy Cattle

Naomi Jirele- Fine Arts

Dillon Noble- Organic Crops

Bruce Bennett- Shuttle

15 years 

Brad Svenby- Insurance

Brent Svenby- Board

20 years 

Roger Noble- Board & Beer Garden

25 years 

Deb Mather- Hobbies & Data Entry

Pat King- Grains & Grasses

Denise Duffy- Office/Bank (past Culinary Arts)

35 years 

Mark Ditlevson- Board & Beer Garden         

40 years 

Stephanie Kolbe- Wood Carving

45 years