By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — Greg Steffe, the co-director of the Kosciusko County Historical Museum, has spent much of his free building models.
He started as a youth with model cars, transitioned to circuses and then found his niche building miniature carnival scenes.
Thirty-five years of work have culminated in a huge miniature county fair that will be on display this week at the county historical museum beginning today.
Steffe talked about what sounds like a life-long obsession.
“You build one of these things, it’s kind of like eating peanuts. You eat one and the next thing you know, you’ve consumed the whole bag,” Steffe said Tuesday morning. “Well, I’ve eaten the case they came in and I’m working on the truck they delivered them … 35 years later.”
This full display is a precision-scale model of a typical midwestern county fair, featuring grandstand attractions, food vendors, livestock barns, and one of the most elaborate operating scale midways in the United States.
When Steffe flips the electrical switch, the scene comes alive with lots of lights and moving parts, much of which is part of the midway.
It also includes some 2,000 people crisis-crossing the fairgrounds.
“On a good night, I can sit down and knock out about seven people … As I tell people, there is a secret to it. After the first thousand, they get easier,” he said.
The beef barn has a striking resemblance to the one at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds in Warsaw and the the dairy ban looks a lot like the one at the Elkhart County Fair, he said.
“‘I’ve loved the county fair since I was a little kid. Fascinated with it — not only the excitement of the midway but I was also fascinated with the business aspect of it, the logistics aspect — the whole nine yards,” Steffe said.
This current exhibit is being held in cooperation with the Salvation Army of Warsaw and donations will go toward the Salvation Army’s Christmas fund.
Hours for the exhibit are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
The Kosciusko County Historical Society announced that beginning on Wednesday and continuing through Saturday they will hosting an event called a Carnival of Sharing.
This event is being held in cooperation with the Salvation Army of Warsaw.
The event features a display of Indiana’s Smallest County Fair.
This display is a precision scale model of a typical midwestern county fair, featuring grandstand attractions, food vendors, livestock barns, and one of the most elaborate operating scale midways in the United States.
The display represents over 13 scale acres and features over 2,000 hand-painted figures all in precision HO scale.
As a part of this event, the museum will be collecting donations, all of which will go toward the Salvation Army’s Christmas fund.
Hours for the exhibit are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20 through Friday, Nov. 22, and on Saturday, Nov. 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The museum is at 121 N. Indiana St., Warsaw.
For more information, contact the museum at 574-269-1078.
