HOT PURSUIT

The Steele County Free Fair wasn’t the only fair on my radar over the past week. And it was for good reason.

I traveled to the McLeod County Fair in Hutchinson on Thursday where my father, Clifford Bussler, received a special honor for serving on the fair board for (Are you ready for this?) 65 years.

The fair honored him and two other volunteers during a special ceremony to kick off the fair, which has obviously been near and dear to my dad’s heart for almost seven decades.

“They have stepped up far beyond the call of duty,” said Keith Tongen, president of the fair in presenting the awards.

My dad is most deserving of such an honor. I can’t express how thrilling it was for me to see him achieve yet another milestone in his long career as a hog producer and community booster.

During many of those 65 years, my dad served as the swine superintendent. He also was president of the fair when I was a child.

Perhaps the greatest thrill for him as part of the honor was riding on the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales hitch over the weekend at the fair.

In 1999, my father was named to the Minnesota Livestock Breeders Hall of Fame, which is perhaps the most coveted award given out in livestock.

While I obviously did not follow in my father’s footsteps, his impact on me has been far reaching over the years. I will always hold a spot in my heart for my childhood days of growing up on the farm and learning the value of hard work. He was always there to guide me in the right direction.

There were the county fairs, state fairs, livestock judging, hog shows, 4-H events and the list goes on in which my father helped me become who I am today. He helped steer me into the competitive edge that I have always had in anything I do in life.

Responsibility is one of the qualities my dad instilled in me. He made me into a responsible person at a time when most of my friends were still trying to figure out the meaning of the word. This has obviously has proved to be beneficial in operating my own newspaper business. I will treasure this for the rest of my life.

My father is probably one of the most humble people I know. While it’s obvious he has taken pride in what he has accomplished over the years, it has come with a great deal of humility. That’s what makes him so special in my book.

And true to form in accepting the award last week, my dad immediately deflected the recognition from himself and gave much credit to my mother, June, who has been with him for almost 64 years. Together they have been a great team that accomplished big things over their lives.

In addition to the honor he received at the fair, he also was afforded the opportunity to display items from his business, Bussler Durocs, as the fair celebrated its 150^th anniversary. It didn’t surprise me when my dad’s items took up multiple large tables to display everything.

It’s neat to now look at my dad as one of those fair giants who helped build a great legacy of county fairs that have touched families for multiple generations. Life doesn’t really get much better than this, does it? I am incredibly proud of my dad and what he’s done not only for myself but the greater community of a place he’s called home for his entire life.

This will be one of those memories that I’ll be in hot pursuit of relishing forever.