FALCON HEIGHTS, Minnesota — It’s hard to miss, located just outside gate nine of the Minnesota State Fair.
The 12-metre long and 2.4-metre high ‘Welcome Wall’ offers space for 5,600 personalised tiles.
“We know that Minnesotans love the State Fair and want to be there,” said Mary Chung, executive director of the Minnesota State Fair Foundation.
The tiles replace the discontinued memorial bench and brick programs, which simply ran out of space, Chung said.
This year, the Welcome Wall is largely a blank canvas, with only about 80 personalized tiles from State Fair Foundation volunteers and fair staff like Glory Duda’s mother, Jennine.
“She likes to say ‘not my circus, not my monkeys’ at the fair,” Duda said. “So many things happen at the fair where they think ‘is this your problem?’ and the answer is ‘not my circus, not my monkeys.'”
Visitors to the fair can purchase personalized tiles for next year’s fair in 2025. The funds go directly back into the fairgrounds, which preserves historic buildings and finances infrastructure projects.
“We want something that is there for those special moments, if someone is getting married and wants to commemorate that here, or if someone wants to honor their loved one,” Chung said.
State Fair Foundation officials hope this is the start of a new, long-lasting fair tradition.
“This is a place where that could happen for years to come,” Chung said.
