Star Tribune
For some vendors, the Minnesota State Fair is also a family reunion
“It is not easy some days, but we know we are in it together and have each other’s back,” Helmer said. They’ve seen fryer fires and downpours of rain. Family members, from St. Paul and Brainerd and Otsego, all crammed into a camper van during the fair. But Helmer said they all support one another even in the occasional chaos.
“I’m so grateful to be a part of the fair,” she said. “It’s really a community; we’re all in this together.”
(Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Sisters Sheryl McGuire, Leanne Mear and Tracey Donnelly have a strict family rule, according to Leanne: “No pregnancies, no weddings, no nothing during the fair.”
The sisters, who run the Danielson’s and Daughters Onion Rings trailer and Route 66 Roadhouse Chicken in the food building, are too busy for such celebratory distractions.
The family’s fair involvement started when their parents, Bill and MaryAnn J. Danielson of Maplewood, first opened a pizza booth at the fair in 1956, then the onion ring trailer in 1963. Eventually, Bill formally added his daughters to the sign and the business; all three have been working at the fair since they were about 9 years old.
They vote on everything, and each of them has her own role in the business. Tracey, of Woodbury, is the “cleaning lady,” and works the night shift after the fair has closed; Leanne, of Lake Elmo, is the problem solver and day-to-day management; and Sheryl, of Oakdale, is the accountant.
DULUTH — A Duluth man who said he doesn’t remember killing his girlfriend pleaded guilty to second-degree murder without intent Tuesday in St. Louis County court — a plea deal that could land him in prison longer than sentencing guidelines would dictate.
Dale John Howard, 25, told Judge Theresa Neo that he doesn’t remember it but believes he caused the death of his girlfriend, Allisa Marie Vollan, 27, on March 22. Vollan, described on a fundraising site as a “bright young lady” with “an abundance of friends,” had a no-contact order against Howard at the time of her death. Howard could be sentenced to 20 years in prison — more than seven years longer than Minnesota’s presumptive guideline for the murder. According to the county attorney’s office, the longer sentence is legal because of the active domestic abuse no-contact order against him.
Howard’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 14.
According to court documents, officers responded to a morning call at Howard’s Central Hillside apartment and found him beneath a blanket with Vollan, who was dead. He told officers that he had hung out with Vollan late the previous night, then left to meet friends at a bar, and Vollan went to sleep in a guest room. When he tried to move her into his bedroom the next morning, she wasn’t breathing. He called his father, who was at the apartment when Duluth police arrived.
Neighbors in the upper level of the duplex told officers that, in the time before Howard would have left for the bar, they heard a woman crying and an angry male voice. They heard muffled moaning, thuds and the sound of something being dragged. They recorded it.
A preliminary autopsy by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office found that Vollan had likely been smothered.
Earlier the same month, Howard had been arrested after neighbors saw him repeatedly slam Vollan’s head into a door. The no-contact was issued by a St. Louis County judge.
Minneapolis School Board Member Fathia Feerayarre, who represented District 3 in the city’s center since January 2023, has resigned effective immediately, the district announced Tuesday.
Her departure comes too late to add the seat to the November ballot, however, meaning her colleagues will have to appoint her successor in a process and under a timeline to be outlined next week.
Feerayarre ran unopposed in 2022 as part of a four-candidate slate endorsed by the Minneapolis DFL and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, and was set to serve until Jan. 4, 2027.
Board Chair Collin Beachy, who also was part of that four-person slate, said in a news release: “I thank Ms. Feerayarre for her service to the Minneapolis Public Schools community as a member of the school board. We all wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
Minneapolis School Board Member Fathia Feerayarre, who represented District 3 in the city’s center since January 2023, has resigned effective immediately, the district announced Tuesday.
Her departure comes too late to add the seat to the November ballot, however, meaning her colleagues will have to appoint her successor in a process and under a timeline to be outlined next week.
Feerayarre ran unopposed in 2022 as part of a four-candidate slate endorsed by the Minneapolis DFL and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, and was set to serve until Jan. 4, 2027.
Board Chair Collin Beachy, who also was part of that four-person slate, said in a news release: “I thank Ms. Feerayarre for her service to the Minneapolis Public Schools community as a member of the school board. We all wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
