FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. – The man who runs the Minnesota State  Fair, Jerry Hammer, announced his retirement. Hammer has been executive director 26 years. He has been with the Fair even longer, going back to 1970 when he was a teenager. He oversaw the Fair from being just another state fair to being the largest in the nation and being dubbed The Great Minnesota Get-Together. On Hammer’s watch the Fair that grew to 322 acres.

Yes,  Winona once hosted the State Fair

Minnesota’s first state fair was before statehood — the Territorial Fair in 1854. The Fair moved around. Some were in Owatonna, Rochester and Winona. In the 1870s Minneapolis and St. Paul became major competitors for the Fair. To end the rivalry, the Minnesota State Agricultural Society chose the old Ramsey County Poor Farm 1874 as a permanent site in what’s now the Falcon Heights neighborhood.

Hammer. For a successor, the Fair’s management board is launching a national search.