The first Christmas event ever held at the Brown County Fairground was a huge success. Members of the fair board and the volunteers helping said they had a higher turn out than anyone expected.

“This was way more successful than we anticipated,” Fairground Board President Anna Covington said. “It was great so much of the community came out to support it. It was worth the effort.”

The free drive-by show began at 5 p.m. Vehicles enter the fairgrounds from the Franklin Street gate, drove through the grounds and exited on 12 North Street. The event was so popular, vehicles were lined up for blocks, stretching around the fairgrounds and back toward Plaza Garabaldi.

The drive-by event featured a Christmas wonderland, complete with a forest of decorated Christmas trees, live reindeer and appearances from the Grinch and Santa Claus. There was even a snow machine on-site creating snow. Brown County Fairgrounds was the only place with snow accumulation in southern Minnesota.

Santa Claus greeted vehicles driving through the Brown County Fairgrounds Saturday evening. Santa was at the end of the drive-thru event. For many vehicles it was a long wait to see Santa, but no one was disappointed.

“There were a lot of happy faces,” Brown County Fair Vice President Cindy Hauser said. Hauser said it was a lot of work putting together but every moment spent working in the cold was worth it to make so many people happy.

“I only heard positive things about the event,” Doug Hughes said. Hughes set up the Grinch part of the program after the New Ulm Nightmares Haunted House was canceled due to COVID restrictions.

Hughes said that even with the long wait, families were content to spend holiday time together in the vehicles.

This was the first holiday display the fairgrounds has tried and with the success, there will likely be a similar event next year.

Covington said it worked well as a drive-through event and that might be continued next year.

Right: The Grinch joined the drive-thru Christmas event at the fairgrounds. He put on a short show for each vehicle driving in to see Santa.

“We’re definitely going to try it again,” she said. The drive-through show will likely be bigger next year. Covington said they do have a full year to plan.