Since the early 2000s, the Minnesota State Fair has commissioned a Minnesota artist to create commemorative art for each year’s fair.
After 19 posters over 20 years, that program is over, a State Fair spokesperson confirmed.
For this year, rather than working with an outside local artist, the Fair will create a commemorative design in-house that can be adapted for various fair merchandise, officials said in a statement. That design will be announced sometime next month.
A State Fair spokesperson declined an interview with the Pioneer Press.
As for why the program is ending, Fair officials said in a statement that it had “met our original goals,” which were “to expand our connection to local visual artists and the arts community and explore this program as a revenue stream for the Minnesota State Fair Foundation,” the nonprofit that funds improvements to the Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights.
Additionally, Fair officials cited the “logistical challenges” of producing and selling poster prints and of storing and displaying the original pieces of art.
Concerns over storage space were also the reason the State Fair chose to sunset its iconic commemorative bench program earlier this year.
Artists who previously participated in the commemorative art program include muralist Ta-coumba Aiken, “Harry Potter” illustrator Mary GrandPre and pop artist Adam Turman. Last year’s poster — retroactively the final in the series — was created by crop artist Liz Schreiber and is on display through March 2025 at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
This year’s State Fair will be the second under the purview of new CEO Renee Alexander, a longtime Fair entertainment and marketing leader who took over the top job in early 2023. Admission ticket prices will not increase for this year’s Fair, a priority of Alexander’s.
The 2024 Minnesota State Fair runs from Aug. 22 to Labor Day, Sept. 2.
