‘A unifying event’

The 20th-annual Dodge County Expo will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 24 at Triton High School in Dodge Center.
The business show, hosted by the Dodge Center Chamber of Commerce, offers free entertainment and a wide variety of exhibitors from around Dodge County. About 70 exhibitors – commercial businesses, service organizations, non-profit groups, private vendors, crafters and such - had registered as of last week, and up to about 104 are expected, event co-chair Larry Dobson said.
It was originally known as the Dodge Center Expo. The organizing board now includes Chamber of Commerce representatives from Dodge Center, Kasson, Mantorville, West Concord, Claremont and Hayfield.
“The show keeps growing and changing, and the people change,” Dobson said. “The show has changed with the county. It’s been a really successful show. People really enjoy it. I think it’s a good blend of entertainment and information.”
He said the goal is to familiarize people with all that’s available in Dodge County. The Expo board is advertising on local TV to show off some of the available opportunities.
“It’s just to unify the communities in the county,” he said. “We’re all in this together and we benefit by cooperating together. We get contacted by other home and business shows from around southeast Minnesota that are trying to figure out what we’re doing. We keep going, and everyone else is trying to survive. We’ve got over 400 businesses in the county, so that’s a lot to work with.”
Costumed Aztec dancers will perform at this year’s show. They danced and played music earlier this winter in a Hispanic community get-together at the Dodge Center Community Center.
“It’s real interesting,” Dobson said. “We wanted to add something to the Expo to extend a welcome to the Hispanic community and kind of make them feel at home, so we thought, here would be something that would be interesting to everybody, but would also reach out. Their costumes are just incredible.”
Several exhibitors will offer demonstrations. 
Visitors can try on a “virtual reality” headset and participate in a scavenger hunt (find all the stuffed animals at various booths and win a prize), and children can receive henna tattoos.
Entertainment also will include balloon creations by Rookie the Clow (aka Chuck James), coloring, and a Rube Goldberg machine, which uses a chain reaction to accomplish simple tasks in a complicated manner, according to https:// wonderopolis.org.
A continental breakfast will be available for the first 150 or so visitors to the Expo. It begins at 8 a.m. and serving will continue until the food is gone.
Admission is free.
Call Larry or Melanie Dobson at 507-374-6531, visit www.dodgecountyexpo.com, or see the Dodge County Business Expo 2018 Facebook site for more information.