Beloved ‘Info Booth Ladies’ brace for first Minnesota State Fair since member’s death
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The friendship between Kristen Donaldson, Margie McCarron and Kathy Riewe started at the small information booth located near the main gates of the Minnesota State Fair, where they answer the public’s questions about the fair for all 12 days of it. Donaldson became an information booth employee in 2011, and McCarron in 2015. But compared to Riewe, they were newbies.
Riewe worked at the fair for over 50 years. Her first shift was at 8 years old, at a diner her parents owned on the fairgrounds.
It made sense that when Donaldson conspired to start a podcast in 2021 based on their experiences, called the “Info Booth Ladies,” that Riewe’s life and knowledge of the fair would be front and center.
For five years the three friends interviewed dozens of fair workers and profiled iconic spots but in March the unexpected happened, and they became the story.
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Riewe died suddenly in March at 63 years old. She went to the hospital for a blood clot and died during a procedure to treat it.
The three had just spent a lot of time together. They attended a conference in St. Cloud about fairs where they spent time with their “fair family” and hosted a live recording of the podcast. Donaldson and McCarron said Riewe was completely in her element. When they got the call that Riewe had died, they were both stunned. It couldn’t be true, they thought — they were just with her laughing and scheming for their future episodes.
How the ‘Info Booth Ladies’ are honoring Riewe
They knew they had to tell their listeners. So Donaldson and McCarron got together, poured some wine and hit record.
“I think we were both pretty numb,” McCarron said at the beginning of the episode about how she felt after she got the call that Riewe had died.
“It just feels like well this can’t possibly be real. We were just all together at the live show having so much fun. How could she be gone?” Donaldson said.
Riewe's wishes were to have no wake, no funeral service and no obituary. McCarron said Riewe didn’t want to put anyone out, but of course, that wouldn’t be the case. So Donaldson and McCarron started brainstorming how they could honor their friend and they soon realized the answer was right in front of them — the fair.
They started a GoFundMe to raise money to get a chair named after Riewe in the Lee & Rose Warner Coliseum. “Kathy told us more than once that the Coliseum was her church and the fair was her playground,” Donaldson said.
The cost was $800, which they raised in less than two hours. People kept contributing afterwards, so the women put that money toward a panel for Riewe on the Welcome Wall near Gate 9, and in 2027 they plan to create a new contest in the Creative Activities Competition.
What the ‘Info Booth Ladies’ plan for the Minnesota State Fair this summer
As the State Fair opening day of Aug. 27 approaches, Donaldson and McCarron said they face the ultimate question — how do they do it without their friend? Where does all of the grief go?
“I think it's going to be a really difficult fair for lots of reasons, and not the least of which is that people are going to want to come up and talk to us about Kathy, and of course we’re going to want to do that, but we also still have to do our info booth job too,” Donaldson said. “So balancing those things is going to be a little tricky, but we'll get through it.”
The info booth has three windows, a spot for each of them. There’s a rhythm and a flow to the process as they answer questions for hours. They can’t just replace Riewe with anyone. For this season, McCarron’s daughter will step in and work the third window. Donaldson and McCarron said it will help to have a familiar face with them, someone else who also knew and loved Riewe just the same.
Riewe’s dedication to the fair was next level, her friends say. There’s all different types of fair-goers and everyone goes for different reasons but for Riewe the fair brought her the purest joy, which the podcast only made stronger. Even the year she had knee surgery and couldn’t work the booth, Riewe still hobbled in a few times to make sure things were running OK.
McCarron is still getting used to the fame, people coming up to them and asking for selfies and being recognized in public, but Riewe leaned into it. She saw fans as an extension of her “fair family,” the type of people you may only see a few times of year but when you do, it’s like time hasn’t passed.
The duo plans to host a remembrance for Riewe on Aug. 31 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Horton Pavilions on the fairgrounds. There won’t be a formal program, but there will be space to share stories and memories of Riewe.
Season six of the podcast, which launched in June, is dedicated to Riewe. But Donaldson and McCarron are still deciding if the show is something they can continue without her.
