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The Minnesota State Fair has hundreds of acts on all their stages for 12 days straight. This year, Gary Berg booked seven of them. 

“I know the Fair inside and out,” Berg said.

. He’s been working with the State Fair since 1983. Since 2000, he’s had more than 200 contracts with the fair, he said. “They know I’ll deliver what I say I’m going to deliver with the performers. And our performers are all very vetted, very professional.”

Berg’s love affair with the entertainment industry began when he saw the Beatles perform on Ed Sullivan as a kid. Growing up, he did community theater and during college at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire began he began dabbling with event programming . 

“What I really love is getting people together,” Berg said. 

After graduate school, he became a college administrator. He never lost his passion for art and performance, but he said he didn’t have the talent to make money performing himself so he chose another path. 

“I was really good at was identifying it in others and helping them achieve it.”

When his friends in a Wisconsin music group called The Memories hired him as their manager for a summer, he was hooked. 

“The first year I sold right about $30,000 worth of gross entertainment, and this year again, will be well over $10 million,” Berg said. “I could have retired, you know, several years ago, and been fine, but I love what I do.”

Now every year, G.L. Berg Entertainment’s performers can be found on stages across the fair — and the country. And while the Grandstand may be the biggest stage, it’s the smaller stages that are Berg’s bread and butter. 

“We can book those free stages better than [other companies] can,” he said. “Our acts will do their jobs, and everybody will win.” 

This conversation is part of our Job Interview series, where we talk to everyday Minnesotans about the rewards and challenges of their work. This interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity. Click on the audio player for the original radio version.

: CEO and Founder of G.L. Berg Entertainment

Getting a bunch of people together to have great times.

Seeing one of our acts do well is the best. We’re not onstage. Nobody knows who we are. Nobody cares. That’s fine. But there’s a real sense of accomplishment, pride, pleasure when you see something you’ve put together really work.

I think the funniest, craziest thing is we had a whole promotional package sent to us from a gentleman out of the UK, and his stage name was Mr. Methane. He was a professional flatulist.

He would have music, and he would … yeah. 

I really love getting people together. Having these really amazing, shared positive experiences, and getting a chance to to be around other people. That makes life really pretty special.

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Entertainment companies all across the country compete to get contracts with the Minnesota State Fair. One Minnesota talent booker has been working with the Fair for over 42 years. 

Job Interview: Talent booker juggles all sorts of acts for the Minnesota State Fair

Headshot of a man in a suit and glasses smiling at the camera in a dark room.

Courtesy of G.L. Berg Entertainment

A man and his son pose smiling for a selfie in front of a beige building that reads "Libby Conference Center."

Talent booker juggles all sorts of acts for the Minnesota State Fair

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