The Minnesota State Fair’s commemorative seating program is, so to speak, being benched.

The Minnesota State Fair Foundation, the nonprofit that funds improvements to the Fairgrounds, is ending the program that has provided thousands of personalized recognition benches and tables for fairgoers.

Frankly, the reason is logistical, Fair officials said in a statement Tuesday. About 2,500 of the now-iconic colorful benches and tables have been added to the Fairgrounds since 2005 — all of which are stored indoors during the off-season. The fair is simply running out of warehouse space.

A personalized tribute bench is shown during the 2016 Minnesota State Fair season. (Pioneer Press File Photo)

The foundation still has a limited number of blank benches and tables available for the final production run this spring; benches are linked to a $2,500 donation, and tables $5,000. The remaining benches and tables are first-come, first-served. A plaque with photos, quotations or other messages can be added to each item for no extra charge.

New benches and tables for the 2024 season that have already been ordered are not affected by the program’s shutdown.

And if you already have a commemorative bench on the Fairgrounds, no worries: The State Fair’s entire existing fleet of benches and tables will continue to be used annually as normal, provided the item is “in good condition and meets the State Fair’s need for guest seating,” Fair officials said.

The fair’s personalized benches and tables are under a five-year warranty. Fair officials will continue to replace damaged benches that are within the warranty period and try to fix out-of-warranty benches for the foreseeable future, but furniture that cannot be repaired will be removed from the fairgrounds, they said.

If fair officials deem a bench no longer safe to use on the fairgrounds, they will “do (their) best to notify the donor” before getting rid of it. Donors may not take out-of-commission benches home.

The Minnesota State Fair Foundation also said they do not currently plan to restart the commemorative bench program, though “other recognition seating opportunities” may be offered in the future as improvement needs arise. The foundation also previously offered a personalized sidewalk brick program but ran out of plaza space in 2022.

Besides providing seating, the bench program raised funds that resulted in additions including more sidewalk curb cuts for accessibility and the garden kaleidoscopes in the Agriculture-Horticulture building, the foundation’s then-director told the Pioneer Press in 2016.

The sheer quantity of benches on the Fairgrounds also is key to the Great Minnesota Get-Together’s attractive city-like atmosphere, urban geographers say.

And the messages on the 8-foot benches vary widely. Some are touching tributes to lost loved ones. Others memorialize weddings and anniversaries. And a few are, well, quirkier. Former Pioneer Press reporter Richard Chin found one near the horse barn in 2016 that read, “May the horse be with you.”

On another, the message is simple: Alligator.

A bench at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds reading “Alligator” is shown during the 2016 fair season. (Pioneer Press File Photo)

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