I remember on our 2001 visit to the fair Dale and I saw Paul Wellstone, the U.S. senator from Minnesota, and his wife Sheila doing a meet and greet over by Machinery Hill. We thought about getting in line to shake their hands but the line looked long and it was starting to get later in the afternoon. Dale and I had been there since about noon and we were getting tired and ready to go home. "Next time", we thought. Sadly, Paul Wellstone, his wife and daughter were in a private plane that crashed shortly before the election in 2002. All on board were killed.
In the summer of 2002, just months before his death, I did the Twin Cities to Chicago AIDS Ride. As I was riding down Summit Avenue in St. Paul with no one in front or behind me for a few blocks I noticed a man with a handmade sign standing all by himself on a corner. As I rode by he yelled out some words of encouragement. I said thank you and only moments later realized that it was Paul Wellstone. He didn't have an entourage around him and there was no media there because that's just the kind of guy he was. I sure he just showed up on his own.
I found the above photo on the internet. It shows Senator Wellstone and two women at the Minnesota State Fair.
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