Mason City Globe Gazette, IA
11-28-06
Cache of History
By DICK JOHNSON, Of The Globe Gazette
MASON CITY — Past and potential North Iowa Fair leaders gathered Monday with today’s fair leaders to stash a bit of history.
A time capsule containing mementoes from 2006 and from 1956 — the first year the fair was held on Mason City’s west side — was buried on a cool, drizzly day at Storybook Gardens, behind the restored 1873 Owen Township No. 3 School.
The capsule is to be opened in 50 years. Perhaps Jessica Paul and Brittany Jurgemeyer, both 15 and members of the Rockwell Busy Bees 4-H Club, will be there, as they were Monday.
“It’s a nice way to take the memories and pass them along to other generations of 4-H’ers,” Jurgemeyer said.
Said Jackie Lupkes, county youth coordinator for the Iowa State University Extension: “Those girls are the future of 4-H. It’s just neat to see them here. It’s just neat to see it go full circle.”
The first fair on the westside grounds was held Aug. 6-12, 1956. The grounds were dedicated by Iowa Gov. Leo Hoegh.
Fair performers over the years have included Marty Robbins, Sonny James, Sawyer Brown, Tim McGraw and Twiggy, the water-skiing squirrel. President George W. Bush and Vice Presidents Walter Mondale and Al Gore are among politicians who have held rallies there.
Thinking of the time capsule “certainly brings back memories,” said Jim Kuhlman, a longtime North Iowa Fair Board member. “I was honored to be a part of it, to relive some of the neat things that’ve happened here.”
Don Greiman, 80, of Garner, a Fair Board member since about 1958 (and a longtime Iowa State Fair Board member) said his father, Addis, exhibited pure-bred Angus cows at the old Fairgrounds, where the Southport shopping center now stands, in the late 1920s.
Greiman got involved with 4-H at age 10. To date, four generations of Greimans have exhibited at the fair.
“It’s a very special day.” Don said. “It does mean a lot. And I hope we can continue to provide a fairgrounds and activities to 4-H’ers for many years to come.”
Fair Board member Audrey Huff said the time capsule contains a recent 4-H newsletter and a program from the 2006 fall awards banquet, current North Iowa Fair Association “mission statement,” fair history books, exhibit books from 1956, event T-shirts, a poster and pass from the I-35 Speedway, Boy Scout and Girl Scout memorabilia, ribbons, pins — and a letter to her grandchildren from longtime exhibitor Jean Harper of Mason City.
It contains nothing of monetary value.
Reach Dick Johnson at 421-0556 or .