Whole Harbal family is happiest at the fair

Years after her very busiest days of raising six kids – most of whom showed animals and various other projects at the Steele County Free Fair – Sherry Harbal is a perfect example of “better late than never.”

“I bet Mom put 200 miles a day on the car,” said Nick Harbal, the youngest of the brood. “We lived out in the country near Medford, and she would be driving us back and forth; then Dad would take the animals and stuff…”

It was, Sherry said, just the way it was.

Not anymore.

Harbal history

The family of eight has expanded into a family of 24, most of the driving is done behind the wheel of a golf cart, and most importantly, the Harbals are together all week.

It takes three campers to hold them all, “but usually Grandma and Grandpa’s is the one we come to,” Nick said.

The original six kids: Jennifer, Michelle, Jimmy, Chris, Kim, and Nick, poke fun at each other about their 4-H days, good-naturedly arguing about who worked the hardest or was the most successful.

“I remember every second of it,” Nick said of those days. “We used to show dairy steers; the younger ones would show the calves, then the older ones the next year would show the steers.”

“I was the first to do livestock,” Jimmy Harbal said. “We did Romeo that first year. We did horses, then livestock, pigs a couple of years.”

 “Nick and I showed horses,” Jennifer Anderson said.

Jim Harbal, patriarch of the family, proudly added details as the kids reminisced.

“Then Nick had draft horses there,” he said, “and Jimmy used to be the photographer for the fair for a few years.”

“Michelle showed a hog once,” Anderson said. When her sister protested that she did it for more than a year, Jennifer corrected herself.

“OK, then. Two,” she teased.

As the adults laughed and told stories, the next generation – 10 grandchildren – listened and smiled.

It’s tradition, and they know it. What started with Sherry (Meixner) Harbal and her sisters coming to the fair every summer has continued for nearly 60 years.

Anyone joining the family would be hard-pressed to do something new.

“They’d have to get married at the fair – it’s about the only thing we haven’t done,” Michelle Walburn said. “We’ve had a baby during the fair, had a fair when there wasn’t a fair; we’re only missing a wedding.”

Grandson Ashton, who turned 11 this year, marks his birthday there every year.

So Nick, his dad, had to miss the fair in 2013?

“Yeah,” he said, then backtracked. “Well, I still came over. You still have to come to the fair.”

There’s been a second date that led to marriage – Chris and Nichole; and anniversaries celebrated – Jim and Sherry hit 47 years on Aug. 13.

Since their 1977 wedding, they’ve only missed one SCFF.

“We moved to Missouri for a while, but we’d come home every year for this, except when I had her back in ’79,” Sherry said, pointing at Michelle Walburn.

“I was born in August,” Walburn said, with the tiniest note of apology in her voice.

Fair week

“When people ask what day we’re going to the fair, we’re like, ‘umm, all of them?’” Walburn laughed.

That includes the day before the official start.

“We still count Monday as the first day, because Monday was always the day we took our 4-H projects in,” Anderson said.

“We meet that Monday at 7 a.m. at the Aurora Diner,” said Kim Gwin, “as many of us as can get up that early.”

“We’re there, opening hour,” said her father. It’s no wonder, then, that when asked for their “favorite anything” at the fair, he named the longtime restaurant – one of very few permanent structures used solely during the fair.

“It’s comfort food,” Harbal said. Almost everything served, including the mashed potatoes, gravy, and a variety of pies, is homemade.

Perhaps surprisingly, the family said they eat nearly every meal on the fairgrounds, buying from various food vendor stands.

“All week, yeah, but we bring some snacks and drinks, water,” Walburn said.

“And they cook a bunch of food (before the fair), so they have leftovers in the camper now,” her father said.

“We’ve been (coming) here long enough, we know where some of the cheaper stuff is,” Chris Harbal said.

Family favorites include the 4-H food stand and, of course, the Aurora Diner. Strawberry smoothies are a regular on the menu for many of them.

Their own fair

In 2020, as COVID shuttered events around the world, Jim and Sherry Harbal finally got their own camper – years after their children no longer depended on them for rides between the barns and home.

“We had everything set up to go to the Calvary Stampede, a lot of us, then COVID hit,” Sherry said. “Now it’s nice to have it here. It’s so convenient.”

Still, she admits, she will zip home for a hot shower.

Michelle and Guy Walburn also have a camper; Nick Harbal and Karen Martinez have had a camper on the grounds for nine years.

Brothers Chris and Jimmy and their families both live within walking distance of the fairgrounds.

Jennifer and her husband Bruce Anderson live in Faribault; she’s on the waiting list to have a camper on site.

“I really want a spot,” she said.

Nobody had a spot, though, when COVID canceled the SCFF.

“We love the fair so much that in 2020, when they didn’t have it, we had our own fair,” Nick said.

“We did!” several of his siblings said, pointing at each other.

The descriptions came from all directions:

“We had fair food, cotton candy, popcorn, shaved ice, onion rings, a bounce house … ”

“We had our campers there,” Michelle said.

“We had games, too,” their mother said. “We had a beer garden…”

“We had Bingo. And animals,” someone offered.

“We had projects,” Anderson laughed. “I did a cake that was a pumpkin and it looked like a pig.”

“Remember? We did scrapbooking,” Walburn added. “The only thing we were missing was the concerts.”

Fair favorites

Those daily strawberry smoothies topped the list of favorite foods; other mentions were the Greek kebobs, Dippin’ Dots, corn dogs, Cindy’s Nachos and soft pretzels. Tom Gwin has something he misses: burritos from El Sol.

He now gets that fix at the state fair; the family also attends the Great Minnesota Get-Together every year.

Kim Gwin, who mentioned the smoothie, tempered it a bit.

“I wish I could think of a good memory, but there’s so many,” she said.

All around her, heads nodded.

“I was thinking on Tuesday when I was driving here how excited I was,” Michelle said. “It’s the best week of the year. I really like camping at the fair; even if I don’t stay here every night, I love having the option of hanging out.”

Most of the grandchildren, even those at eye-rolling age, also love being around family.

“I’ve been going to the fair since I was a baby – I wasn’t even 1 yet,” said Clara Harbal, 10.

It was her dad, Jimmy, and his brothers who seemed the most nostalgic.

“My favorite memory is from when we showed animals,” he said. “Those cool mornings in August, right away in the morning, when you’d come to tend to them – before all the hustle and bustle.”

Chris Harbal had a similar memory.

“It was always Tuesdays, when we got to go back in the 4-H building to find out if we had a champion and were going to the state fair,” he said. “It was always at 5 p.m., waiting to go in there and see what you got.”

His wife, Nichole, was holding one of her favorite memories: She learned at last year’s fair that they were expecting their first baby. Amara is 4 months old.

“Chris got Cindy Nachos,” Nichole said, “and I took one look at the cheese and said, ‘I cannot watch you eat that.’ Something was definitely up.”

Karen Martinez, the family member who gave birth during the fair, said it’s watching her fair baby show horses with his dad, Nick.

“It was really nice to watch him be involved,” she said, “and he liked it, so hopefully that will come back.”

Nick, who is hoping to have more animals at their farm, agreed.

“I like when we bring animals, sit in the barn and hang out as a family or do chores,” he said.

Their twin daughters, Eva and Lucia, 3, are all about the rides this year.

Grace Walburn, 16, knows she has a different perspective than that of her teenage friends.

“I think just spending time with these guys, hanging out in the campers, going on rides, getting food,” she said.

Anderson, the oldest sibling, had a very specific story, “but it reminds me of why I love coming to the fair.

“About 10 years ago, I came to the fair, and it was late,” she said. “I couldn’t get a hold of anybody, because of course the fair is really loud. So I walked over and sat at a picnic table at the (4-H stand), and I was feeling kind of sad, because I didn’t know where anybody was.”

Not two minutes later, she said, Nick’s family “popped up, then Dad came about a minute later, and then it was just like a train. They kept showing up, one after the other, and nobody had talked to anybody else about it.”

That night, Anderson said, “was just one of those moments you don’t forget – but that’s what it’s like for us. That’s the best memory, just hanging out. We hung out in the barns when we were kids; now we hang out in the camper.

“We all do our own thing sometimes,” she said, “and sometimes we do it together – but we all come back here.”