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FAIRMONT-- The Martin County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday heard some updates and a request for funds from Robbin Celander, President of the Martin County Fair Board.
Celander said that last year's fair was "fantastic," and since then, along with planning for this year's fair, members have been busy with other events held at the fairgrounds, including the Minnesota Youth Livestock Expo (MYLE) which took place in late June.
"There was 1,600-some animals that went through the fairgrounds in four days. The MYLE committee redid it this year so the people actually stayed in town two or three days. It's a good thing for Fairmont," Celander said.
He said that the fair board is very receptive to anything it can do to bring people in to the community. He said that the race track also helps bring people to town.
"Our goal as a fair board is to utilize the fairgrounds as much as possible for anybody in our county or out of it," Celander said.
He shared that the fair board is currently in a bidding process to get an event similar to the MYLE here in 2025.
While there is much to celebrate at the fairgrounds, Celander said one thing that's been a detriment is Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).
"In the 1960s evidently the thing to plant was Ash trees. Since last year's fair, we've taken out 150 Ash trees. Thrity of them we had to have Thate's take out and it's a thousand bucks a tree so we spent $30,000 of our own money to take them out," Celander said.
The other 120 trees were removed by members of the fair board but Celander wanted to recognize Nutrien Ag Solutions out of East Chain which took out 50 trees.
He said there are still about 80 Ash tees left that have died from the disease that need to be removed. However, the board has also begun planting a variety of new trees and Celander noted that Valero provided a grant to purchase some of them and that the board has applied for some others.
Celander then submitted a request to the board for gravel and/or equipment time and costs for road maintenance at the fairgrounds. The board approved the donation of gravel.
In closing, Celander thanked the commissioners, especially outgoing commissioners Elliot Belgard, Kathy Smith and Steve Flohrs for their support over the years.
On the topic of the fair, the board also heard from Laura Pilarski, the Martin County 4-H Educator, who said that the 4H fair entry deadline was this week and that there are 2,324 total entires for the fair this year.
"A lot of people want to get involved. One-hundred-seventy-three of those are Clover Bud entries, that's out K-2 group. We're really getting folks involved from the beginning and hopefully they'll have a long 4-H career," Pilarski said.
The board also heard from Fairmont Opera House Director, Blake Potthoff, who requested use of the courthouse for a fundraising event on Oct. 3.
"As many of you know, the Fairmont Opera House is closed for construction currently. I can report at this meeting that our fundraising goal by the end of 2025 in order to keep the Fairmont Opera House open and functioning is $3.8 million," Potthofff said.
He said they're in the depths of raising that money and are in the process of planning various events to aid with the goal. The courthouse event would be a smaller affair, with just 50 to 60 people.
"This is something that's critical to our community. The Fairmont Opera House is the largest arts organization in Martin County. We have almost a million dollar economic impact every year and bring in approximately 20,000 people from 100 miles in every direction to the Fairmont Opera House. We also work with almost 5,000 kids every year," Potthoff said.
After some discussions about logistics such as insurance coverage, the board unanimously approved of the request to use the courthouse for the event.
"I think the courthouse is something we need to share with the community," Smith said.
Moving to other matters, the board heard from Troy Nemmers, an engineer with Bolton and Menk, regarding the courthouse sidewalk project. Nemmers said they opened three bids for the project and that the lowest came from A-1 Concrete Grinding and Mudjacking in the amount of $24,520.
"It was under the engineer's estimate and we're recommending approval," Nemmers said.
Smith asked if the project would be done this summer and Nemmers said they're looking at a competition date of mid-September.
The board approved of the bid.
In other action, the board:
-- Approved the hire of Alicia Schultze as a part-time communications officer in the Martin County Sheriff's Office.
_ Appointed Commissioners Richard Koons and Steve Flohrs to the canvassing board for the upcoming primary election.