The 1999 Mower County Free Fair begins Tuesday at the fairgrounds in southwest Austin.

Saturday, August 07, 1999

The 1999 Mower County Free Fair begins Tuesday at the fairgrounds in southwest Austin.

Opening ceremonies will be held at noon Tuesday.

The County Fair continues through Aug. 15.

This year’s grandstands entertainment lineup features two nights of rodeo action, fast becoming the most popular, crowd-pleasing event at the Mower County Fair.

There are also some "surprises" including a night of professional wrestling mayhem.

It’s the last Mower County Fair of the millennium and every Fair Board member will be armed with a camera to record the events.

"I think one of my earliest memories of the Mower County Fair is helping a sister-in-law, Ann Mudra, with her sewing project when we were preteens," said Denice Mudra, Fair Board office manager.

Mudra is the new office manager and she will be at the hub of Mower County Fair activity this week. She and the other office staff will have to know where everything is, when events takes place, where to go for this and where to leave that.

They will issue premium checks, handle hundreds of telephone calls and otherwise keep the County Fair functioning.

Mudra and her husband, Tony, watched four children, one son and three daughters, compete at the Mower County Fair. Because of her new job, she may see less of the County Fair this year than ever before.

"The thing that I like most of all about the Mower County Fair is that it’s like a reunion," she said. "You get to see people that you haven’t seen for a long time and renew friendships."

Depending upon where you are at the Mower County Fair and who you see, that could be more than 60,000 individual friendships.

That’s how many people, at a minimum, are expected to attend.

Among them, the county’s 4-H clubs and their members – more than 600 children and teenagers.

The County Fair is their "proving ground" for livestock and other projects. How well they do here determines if they and their projects will go to the 1999 Minnesota State Fair.

The Mower County Extension Service and Extension Committee are ready for the multitude of contests, which will attract parents, grandparents and other family members to watch the youths have a positive experience.

There will also be Future Farmers of America contests for high school-aged youths, plus the open shows for everyone.

One of the oldest competitions of its kind, the Midwest Steer and Livestock Show will fill Crane Pavilion, and the Market Hog Shop will bring the best of the best pork producers entries to the fairgrounds.

Don Erickson will be guiding exhibitors in the creative arts building this week. Bob Dunfee will do the same for photographers and Margie Meier will assist the horticulture displays.

Tickets are on sale for the County Fair’s grandstands lineup at Jim’s SuperValu, Nemitz’s and the Mower County Fair office.

Two nights of rodeo action and the new motocross motorcycle racing are this year’s grandstands highlights.

Also, All-Star Professional wrestling debuts Friday, beginning at 10 p.m. in Crane Pavilion.

The latter is an example of how the Fair Board tries to be responsive to fair-goers. "We held our annual summit meeting at the Mill Inn at Dexter last winter and heard from a panel of fair-goers," Kyle Klaehn, Fair Board member, said.

"When we asked the teenagers what they wanted, they said something at night and when we asked them what they wanted at night, they said professional wrestling, so we’re going to try it," Klaehn said.