2013 Bus Tour

Fagen WWII Museum on ProAg Tour

Friday, August 16, 2013
Tour Flyer

The annual tour sponsored by ProAg of Renville County will be a tremendous history lesson because the first stop on this Friday, August 16 event is the incredible Fagen Fighters WWII Museum at the Granite Falls Municipal Airport.

Enter this huge museum and prepare to be transported back to the 1940s era for a WWII experience of pristine fighter aircraft including two P-51D Mustangs, a Lockheed P-38, a P-40 Flying Tiger plus a rare WACO CG-4A glider used to silently transport troops over the English Channel. Visitors will also see a display depicting the Utah Beach assault by U.S. soldiers during the D-Day Allied Invasion of Normandy, France.

“This truly is an amazing museum.  It will be an educational eye-opener and is mentioned as being comparable to the Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C. and perhaps the best outside of Washington D.C.,” relates Joel Mathiowetz, President of ProAg. 

However this tour takes on added dimensions after the Fagen Fighter’s Museum event which is a 10 a.m. till 12 noon time frame.  Here’s the remaining schedule:

• Lunch at Tillie’s Restaurant, Granite Falls, with Ron Fagen.  His firm Fagen Inc., built 70% of all the ethanol plants built across America.  He’s now involved in cellulosic ethanol construction with DuPont Industries at Nevada, IA.



• Following lunch, a brief stop at the impressive Veteran’s Memorial Plaza on the front lawn of the Yellow Medicine County Courthouse. This beautiful plaza is a tribute to veterans who were KIA, MIA and POW with six granite stones listing the names of all area veterans of all wars starting with the Civil War.



• Next a stop at the Andrew J. Volstead House which is now a restored museum of Congressman Volstead.  Serving nine terms in Congress, Volstead believed strongly in local self reliance.  He authored the historic legislation that led to the formation of farmer cooperatives. He also authored the Prohibition Amendment which resulted in his photo on the cover of Time magazine.



• A closer look at the Minnesota River and the agricultural importance of this major watershed is the next stop just below the hydro power dam at Granite Falls.  Warren Formo of the Minnesota Agricultural Water Resource Coalition will discuss how Minnesota farmers are changing crop land strategies to minimize the ‘run off’ impacts of farm chemicals.



• Wrap up visit is at the Granite Falls Energy plant to view operations of the modern, 55-million gallon facility.

The bus loads at 9 am. Friday, August 16, at Max’s Grill, west of Olivia. 

Cost is $25 per person which includes lunch.
Payment can be made when boarding the 56-passenger bus however because this likely will be a popular tour, advance reservations might be recommended. 
Brad Nere, ProAg Board member can be reached at 320-826-2299. His email: bnere5@yahoo.com  



Tour Stop Website Links 

Fagen Fighters WWII Museum

Fagen, Inc.

Granite Falls Energy