MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Tom and Marie Wuertz reside in Stearns County, however for almost 20 years the couple labored each, single present on the State Truthful Grandstand collectively. For them, it by no means received outdated.
Sort of like baseball gamers who begin within the minors earlier than making their technique to the majors, Tom and Marie Wuertz started their grandstand careers on the Stearns County Truthful a long time in the past.
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“You already know it’s so lengthy, my youngest youngster is 41, so most likely near 40 years in the past,” he mentioned.
In Stearns County, demolition derbies had been, and nonetheless are, an enormous draw.
“We began promoting tickets at 5 for a 7 p.m. present. However they’d be standing in line at 2 within the afternoon to get that first ticket to get within the Grandstand,” Marie Wuertz mentioned.
It was a great primer. Within the early 2000s, they took their massive present and large crowd experience to the Nice Minnesota Get-Collectively. Know-how modified, too, from tearing tickets to extra environment friendly strategies.
“The final years you had a scanner and you could possibly scan them in as quick as they had been strolling,” she mentioned.
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Doing the mathematics it’s estimated the Wuertz’s labored about 230 State Truthful exhibits collectively, typically operating 10,000 individuals by in an hour. With the crowds got here the tales.
“This lady got here and I believed she had a child right here. And as she goes up the steps … it’s a pig,” she mentioned.
One other time Marie Wuertz missed an opportunity to see her favourite singer, Alan Jackson.
“It was the final tune and I can watch, after which anyone received sick going out and I needed to get sanitation. Finish of story. I didn’t see him,” she mentioned.
Ultimately, it was the people who made the couple come again 12 months after 12 months.
“The camaraderie is nice. It truly is. To see every little thing come collectively,” they mentioned. “You’re solely dwelling for 2 days and also you’re pondering, ‘Wow, can’t look ahead to subsequent 12 months.’”
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Though that is their first 12 months of “retirement,” they nonetheless really feel that approach. They’ll be down having fun with the State Truthful and the Grandstand, however they’ll do it now as a part of the group they as soon as escorted by.