Don Bertilson and Cy Halsey were named the 1999 Mower County Fair Outstanding Fair Persons this year.

Friday, August 13, 1999

Don Bertilson and Cy Halsey were named the 1999 Mower County Fair Outstanding Fair Persons this year.

They were honored by the Mower County Fair Board at Tuesday’s opening ceremonies.

Who are the pair?

Here’s one hint: they are volunteers in the blacksmith shop at the Mower County Historical Society’s Historical Center on the fairgrounds in southwest Austin.

Need more help? How about their nicknames: Cy and Stubby?

Halsey is, of course, the Cy, and Bertilson is the Stubby.

Everyone who visits the fairgrounds frequently knows the pair. They are mainstays at the blacksmith shop five days a week.

They helped Dale Merriam’s carnies this week assemble some carnival rides and if the emergency requires welding or lathe work, they are the people to call.

Joel Nelson of Nelson Sound Electronics and marketing director for the Fair Board welcomed guests to the opening day ceremonies.

Lyle American Legion Post No. 105 presented the colors and Bradley Nelson sang the "National Anthem."

Present were the Fair Board members, Mower County Board of Commissioners and county staff, Austin Mayor Bonnie Rietz, Austin Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors and past winners of the Outstanding Fair Person award, including Ella Marie Lausen and Gerald and Margie Meier, last year’s recipients of the honor.

Daryl Boehm, president of the Fair Board, also introduced a crew from KSMQ-TV, the local public broadcasting station, who Boehm said are filming the last Mower County Fair of the millennium for posterity’s sake.

Also this week, Fair Board members are themselves snapping photos of people and activities to record the last County Fair before 2000 arrives.

"This is our way of saying thanks to the people who do things above and beyond the call of duty," Boehm said of the award given Bertilson and Halsey.

Both Bertilson and Halsey are retired Hormel Foods Corporation plant workers, who took over the Historical Center’s blacksmith shop after equipment was donated by Hormel Foods Corporation. The equipment came from the company’s old Austin plant and Bertilson and Halsey have kept the equipment in running order through the years.