But friends and family were able to surprise him earlier this month when he was named the Minnesota Federation of County Fairs District 2 Fair Person of the Year at the group’s annual convention in Bloomington.
“It was something that came as a very big surprise,” Smith said this week. “Marian Filk and Paul Merkins had kept it a pretty good secret. I had been having trouble with my hearing aid, too, and didn’t hear everything until I heard someone say something about being 90 years old.”
He figured they must be talking about him at that point. They were. Earlier clues, such as being offered a ride to the convention and the appearance of his son, Steve, there finally made sense.
Read more about Smith’s 70 years of involved with the state and county fairs in the Leader’s Jan. 28 print edition.
(Terry Davis is a Hutchinson Leader staff writer. E-mail him at [email protected].)
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Perennially judged as one of Minnesota’s and the nation’s best community newspapers, the Hutchinson Leader serves 20 communities in McLeod, Meeker, Renville, Sibley and Wright counties. 
