Dunn County’s Fairest of the Fair crown passes from one Mounder to another

By Cara L. Dempski

ELK MOUND — Elk Mound graduate Alexus Grossbier has not completed her tenure as the 2017 Dunn County Fairest of the Fair, but is now sharing her title with another Mounder.

Maria Heltne, who graduated from Elk Mound High School in May 2017, will take over Grossbier’s duties for the 2018 Dunn County Fair at the same time she tackles her first year as a student at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. She was awarded the honor July 30.

Grossbier was named Dunn County’s first Fairest of the Fair in the fair’s now 122-year history at the 2016 fair, and admits the base she built for the program was part of an uphill struggle. She will compete one last time for the title of Wisconsin Fairest of the Fairs at the Wisconsin Association of Fairs Convention held in Wisconsin Dells this coming January.

Heltne will take over from there, promoting the 2018 fair, and hopes to work with the fair board to build both the Fairest program and new ways to get youth involved in the 2018 fair.

First Fairest

Alexus Grossbier was honest about her tenure as Dunn County’s first ever Fairest of the Fair.

“My goals for this past year were to embrace the role as best I could, and start to create a foundation for the next Fairest,” she explained. “The year was rocky, with communication between myself and the fair board about expectations was subpar.”

Grossbier’s goal was to attend a few events where she could promote the fair, the main function of her role as Fairest, and hopes to maintain a relationship with the Fairest team and provide guidance for the 2018 Fairest.

Despite her rudimentary understanding of what was expected of her as the first recipient of the crown for the fledgling program, Grossbier attended several local events to get the word out about the Dunn County Fair, and promoted the Fairest program to generate interest.

The 2013 Elk Mound graduate said she had been looking for something to fill the void left after over a decade spent exhibiting swine, working as part of the meat animal project, and participating in projects like crocheting, foods and nutrition, home environment, and plant and soil sciences through 4-H, and working as part of the 4-H food stand, pie and ice cream social, and providing service as a mistress of ceremonies at the swine show.

“Running for Fairest not only allowed me the opportunity to give back to the 4-H program, Dunn County Fair, and surrounding communities that helped me achieve where I am today, but I also would receive the honor of representing the Dunn County Fair at outside events and to the public,” Grossbier said.

She indicated helping to build a program from the ground up was something she was very interested in, and knows she can look back on it in time and recognize she was part of making it what it is.

Grossbier attended some events within Dunn County as part of her duties to inform people about the fair and its offerings. She attended Farm City Day at Alfalawn Farms in Menomonie, and a dairy breakfast in Prairie Farm to meet people, spread the word about the Dunn County Fair, and speak with individuals to hear their memories about participating in county fairs, and what they learned.

She even took time out of her schedule to appear on Durand’s WRDN radio to promote fair events, be interviewed, and participate in history trivia.

Those activities were combined with completing her final semester of college and moving back to Elk Mound. Grossbier graduated from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities in May with a degree in psychology and a minor in leadership.

The week of fair, Grossbier helped announce a few animal shows, handed out ribbons, assisted with the ConAgra bake-off, handed out trophies for the races at Red Cedar Speedway, and spent time talking to people attending the fair.

The 2017 fairest of the fair is the eldest daughter of Randy and Stephany Grossbier of Elk Mound. She has two younger siblings, Colin, who just graduated from Elk Mound this year, and Addie, who is 15.

Grossbier indicated she is interested in using her degree to work in mental health and with individuals of varying abilities, but also has a strong interest in working in agriculture and informing others. She hopes to one day work in a field where she can help individuals thrive, work in business or education, or even as a motivational speaker.

New Fairest

Despite Grossbier’s communication difficulties with the fair board in her first year, Heltne is undaunted by being only the second Dunn County Fairest.

The shock of winning was such that she had difficulty understanding she won.

“It was a lot to process in a short amount of time,” she explained. “I was in complete shock that they didn’t call me as the runner up. At that moment, I knew I had won, but it didn’t hit me that I was the next Fairest until later that night.”

She added her parents, Billy and Betty Heltne, were surprised and extremely happy, and are excited to see where the next year takes her.

First, though, Heltne needs to join her older siblings, Michael and Molly, as a college student. Michael is currently pursuing a degree in pharmacology at UW-Madison, Molly will be starting her final year at Viterbo with a major in dietetics, and Maria is headed off to St. Cloud State University in a few weeks to study communication sciences and disorders.

Her future professional goal is to become a speech language pathologist. Her participation in the Wisconsin State 4-H Drama Company led to learning sign language, and her parents profession (both are nurses) taught her she wanted to work in the medical field, just not as a nurse or doctor.

She would like to work in a clinical setting, and her dream job would be working at Mayo Clinic in Rochester due to the clinic’s reputation and the diverse populations it serves.

Heltne has participated in the fair the past 13 years through 4-H, working at action stations (areas for small children to do craft projects) with the Dunn County 4-H Teen Leaders, creating displays to celebrate the Wisconsin 4-H centennial, and serving as a 4-H Ambassador.

Like Grossbier, Heltne will attend various events throughout the year to promote the fair, and will attend each day of the 2018 Fair to lend a hand with awards and events, and greet visitors or make appearances. She will also assist in selecting the 2019 Fairest of the Fair, and will run for Wisconsin Fairest of the Fairs in January 2019.

The newly-coined Fairest looks forward to educating the public about fair events, and said her goal is get more youth involved in the 2018 county fair.

“I great up going to the fair, and it is always a big highlight of my summer,” Heltne noted. “It truly is a blessing to be able to be an ambassador for something I am so passionate about.”