Grant Activities

 The Minnesota Legislature charged the Minnesota Department of Agriculture with providing grants to each of the state’s county fairs to support their agricultural, arts, and cultural programming. 

The Goodhue County Fair has used these grants in a variety of ways, including: 

• Programs by the Goodhue County Historical Society in the historic schoolhouse, 
• Cultural displays and workshops by the Goodhue County Hispanic Outreach, 
• Historic talks and slide shows by Doug Ohman (Pioneer Photography) about places and things of historic interest around Minnesota, 
• Arts activities and workshops for children, 
• Historic demonstrations of turning wooden bowls, 
• Throwing pottery on a potters wheel and 
• Partial sponsorship of the All-American Lumberjack Shows.  

Every year, we look for new ways to utilize this grant to enhance the arts, cultural, and educational offerings at the Goodhue County Fair. 

In addition, there is an AGRI County Fair Grant available to Minnesota county fairs to support agricultural programs at the fair.  Goodhue County has used this grant to make improvements to livestock and horticulture facilities.  Improvements have included:

• New pens in barns
• Concrete in the livestock arena
• Improved lighting and ventilation in the livestock barns
• A new floor and windows in the historic horticulture building
• Livestock wash rack improvements

Thank you to the State of Minnesota for supporting county fairs with these grants.