If there’s one chapter of my State Fair story that still makes me smile with pride, it’s the years I spent running Kidway. Kidway is where the fair comes alive for families—the rides, the games, the laughter of children clutching cotton candy bigger than their heads. But behind the fun was a serious challenge: staffing. We needed hundreds of people to keep everything running smoothly, and year after year, it was a struggle to find enough hands.

That’s when the idea for a partnership with the Lions Clubs took root. Members of Lions Clubs across Minnesota would send their volunteers to work at the fair. In return, the fair would pay them. The money became a huge fundraiser for the Lions, and their volunteers became the backbone of Kidway.

In the first year we rolled it out, I was responsible for training approximately 250 volunteers. Picture this: a sea of matching t-shirts, name tags, and wide eyes, people from every corner of the state, many of whom had never worked the fair before. It was my job to orient them, train them, and make sure they felt equipped to handle the chaos of Kidway.

We covered everything from safety procedures to customer service to what to do if a balloon dart game went rogue. It was exhausting, exhilarating, and unforgettable.

At the time, I don’t think I fully understood the significance of it. We weren’t just solving a staffing issue; we were creating a system that would outlast us. More than two decades later, the Lions Club partnership is still in place. That means tens of thousands of volunteer hours, countless fairgoers served, and millions of dollars raised for Lions Clubs across Minnesota.

When I think about it now, it feels less like a staffing solution and more like a legacy. Something I helped start has become part of the fabric of the fair.

Personally, those years taught me lessons I still carry into every area of my life and business. I learned how to manage large groups, how to motivate volunteers who weren’t “employees,” and how to communicate clearly under pressure. I learned patience, empathy, and the value of humor in stressful situations. And maybe most importantly, I learned that leadership isn’t about doing it all yourself—it’s about creating systems and partnerships that make success sustainable.

Sometimes the most impactful things we do don’t look big in the moment. They look like one meeting, one conversation, one idea to try something different. At the time, I was just trying to solve a problem: how to staff Kidway. But looking back, I see it was bigger than that.

The Lions Club partnership wasn’t just about filling shifts; it was about creating community. It was about giving people across the state a chance to be part of the fair, to contribute to something bigger than themselves, and to raise funds that would ripple out into their local towns and causes.

That’s the beauty of legacy. You don’t always set out to build one. But when you bring people together, when you create something that works beyond you, that’s when the magic happens.

And every time I walk past Kidway, I can’t help but smile. Because I know that somewhere in the laughter and the chaos, there’s still a little piece of me, living on.