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Nancy Yang

Pants or no pants? 50 years of Minnesota State Fair mascots

Fairchild claps
The Minnesota State Fair's mascot, Fairchild, applauds at Minnesota Music-On-a-Stick. Fairchild turns 50 this year.
Nate Ryan | MPR 2014

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Happy 50th, Fairchild!

The State Fair mascot — one of two — celebrates five decades as the face of the Great Minnesota Get-Together this year.

Fairchild's path out of the gopher hole and into the spotlight began in the 1960s. Before then, a different image had been featured yearly on the fair letterhead (an illustration of a gopher was among them). Officials decided they wanted something more permanent to represent the annual event.

So in 1966, a mascot was born.

A fiberglass statue of a gopher standing about 24 feet tall was built on the fairgrounds and the fair held a statewide contest to name the new mascot. A thousand people entered, and two submitted the name Fairchild.

"It was the last name of a man named Henry Fairchild from the 1800s, who suggested using the Ramsey County Poor Farm as the permanent fairgrounds," says Keri Huber, the fair's archivist specialist. "We've been at this location since 1885, so it's an homage to him, along with a wonderful name that encompasses fair and children."

Unfortunately for fair attendees that year, there was no roving Fairchild. That didn't come until the next year.

The Fairchild of the 1960s looks quite a bit different from the Fairchild of today (he also has a sidekick now — he was joined by his nephew Fairborne in 1983).

Click through the gallery below for a look at the evolution of the State Fair's original mascot.

Gallery
18 of 18
The 1st annual State Fair Job Fair
Fairchild and Fairborne pose for a picture with State Fair job fair attendees on the fairgrounds in July. Their work isn't limited to the 12 days of the fair. They make about a half-dozen appearances around the year throughout the metro, including at the St. Paul Winter Carnival and the Minneapolis Aquatennial.
Evan Frost | MPR News
1 of 18
Fairchild circa 1966
The Fairchild statue in 1966. At the time, he stood on a pedestal just a few feet away from where he stands now. The statue remains outside year-round to greet guests on the fairgrounds.
Courtesy of Minnesota State Fair Archives
2 of 18
Fairchild on the 1966 State Fair letterhead
Fairchild as seen on the 1966 State Fair letterhead. Keri Huber, the fair's archivist specialist, says she read a story quoting a general manager who said the fair chose a gopher as mascot not only because Minnesota is the Gopher State, but also "because we didn't want to insult any of the livestock exhibitors. You know -- 'How dare you have a cow as a mascot when I show horses because horses are better?'"
Courtesy of Minnesota State Fair Archives