Minnesota State Fair livestock barns have become a second home for Bret Oelke, as he has spent the past 50 years at the Great Minnesota Get-Together.

“Our family from Winnebago first started showing Suffolk sheep here in 1969, and I was eligible for the State Fair for the first time in 1971, and I came up here every year to show that I was eligible,” says Oelke, who now calls Barrett home.

Oelke didn’t stay away from the State Fair after his 4-H showing days were over. He volunteered that first year out, and since then has continued as a volunteer, open-class showman or a judge for “at least” the past 50 years.

Every year, the Minnesota State Fair honors such loyalty and longevity by recognizing employees, exhibitors, vendors and/or volunteers who have actively participated in the event for 50 years. A complete list of those honored for 50 years of State Fair involvement is below.

Oelke is far from finished, even though such recognition “usually means you’re at the end,” he acknowledges, “but here’s the challenge; I’ve got 16 grandkids, and 12 of them are 7 and under, and we just have the oldest two up here now” during the 4-H weekend. “So, we’ve got a long time to go before we run out of gas or money.”

Although Oelke and his wife Lorie live in Grant County, the grandchildren live in Goodhue and Stevens counties, as well as a couple in the Grand Forks, N.D., area and in Wisconsin, “so once they get old enough, we’re going to have to do more traveling to make sure they have the same opportunity that our kids have had.”

The Oelke family’s main focus over the years has been registered Suffolk sheep, but there have been hogs and assorted other projects exhibited as well.

No rest in retirement

Oelke had been with the University of Minnesota Extension until taking an early retirement in 2014, at which point he started his own farm management coaching company working primarily with grain farmers, some feedlots and some cow-calf operations. He works with his clients on crop and livestock budgets, developing risk management and marketing plans, “and basically [helping] with the management end of their businesses.”

He has clients in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and western and southern Illinois, “so I get around quite a bit. Prior to COVID, I was doing about 5,000 miles a month, but COVID changed all that as people got comfortable with technology such as Zoom,” he says, adding that most of his work now is done through these technological platforms.

With that wide geography, Oelke gets a glimpse of this year’s haves and have-nots with the growing season. In Minnesota, he says, a trusted source predicts 170-175 bushel an acre, “just simply because there’s so much water damage, even though everyone is putting us in that 185ish range.”

On the flip side, he says his Illinois clients are expecting “a phenomenal crop, [the] best ever; and some of the Iowa guys are seeing their best ever as well. It just depends on where you’re at.”

50-year award recipients 

Blue Flame Gas Association, Eagan

Douglas Beise, Loretto

Crossroads Chapel, St. Paul

Jim Ertl, Rosemount

Larry Hofmann, Janesville

John Illg, Woodbury

Dean Jirousek and Family, Ellendale

John Magnuson, St. Paul

Minnesota 4-H State Ambassadors, St. Paul

Minnesota 4-H State Arts-In, St. Paul

Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation, St. Paul

Minnesota Turkey Growers, Buffalo

Bret Oelke, Barrett

Fay Peterson Kotilinek, White Bear Lake

Plunkett’s Pest Control, Fridley

Edward Terry, Northfield

David Thompson, Starbuck

Molly Voita, Minneapolis

Weavers Guild of Minnesota, Minneapolis

Chuck Will, Underwood

Jim Zieba, St. Anthony