COVER STORY

Farm Family of the Year: Glenn & Gaylin Scott
Couple works together to continue Sioux Empire summer tradition

Farm Family of the Year: Glenn & Gaylin Scott
Generations work together in family farm operation

By Amy Smolik
Marketing & Communications Manager

The Scott family is pictured in front of some of the evergreens that dot their family farm. From L to R: Nicholas, Gus, Beckah, Ivy, Gaylin, Glenn and Nathan Scott.

High school sweethearts Glenn and Gaylin Scott of Valley Springs believe the path life has taken them has been blessed.

Their family farm, located in rural Valley Springs next to the Minnesota border and one mile from the Iowa border, counts its sixth generation and has been in operation since 1885. Glenn is the fourth generation to operate the farm.

The Scotts have been named the Farm Family of the Year by the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce's Agri-Business Division and they will be recognized at the Mayor's Round-up & Sale of Champions at the 2012 Sioux Empire Farm Show.

Glenn's positive attitude about farm life makes his family smile when he tells them: "We GET to fix fence today!" and "We GET to go do chores!"

"He calls it ‘family bonding," Gaylin said.

While family has remained constant on the Scott farm, they've also made many changes since 1885.

"We've always had livestock, since my great-grandfather's time," Glenn said. It continues to evolve as the economics change. Glenn grew up with chickens, dairy cows and feeding market cattle; today Glenn and his oldest son, Nicholas, custom feed hogs for a neighbor, feed a few market cattle and run about 80 stock cows.

Four generations live on the farm in three houses: Glenn and Gaylin; Nicholas, his wife, Bekah, and children, Gus and Ivy; and Glenn's mother, Lorna, and her husband, Al. Glenn and his brother, Kevin, who lives about a half-mile away, continue to run the Evergreen Stock Farm — a grain operation raising corn and soybeans. The "Evergreen" name has history as well, which was a name used by their great-grandfather in honor of a large evergreen tree that still stands on the property.

Glenn cites the perseverance of previous generations to get the family and the farming operation where they are today. The 1930s were a difficult time for his grandfather and great-grandfather, as were the 1980s for his dad, Richard, and his Uncle Ron, he said. "I appreciate what they went through," he said. "It's an incentive to work hard to maintain the farm for future generations."

Nicholas, who has a degree in agri-business from South Dakota State University, is the Scott's only child who came back to the farm. He feels lucky that he had a farm to come back to, recalling a professor asking a class of 100 agri-business students how many had farms to go back to — and that only about 15 students raised their hands.

"Like many occupations, it's not the same, it's always changing. But you can see those who are stuck in their ways or who don't want to change. Farming has changed more than any other industry, it's very technical," Nicholas said.

Innovation is something the Scotts have embraced — cautiously. They keep up on changes in seed and equipment as well as safety measures. Nicholas recently started an excavating operation, which also enabled them to tile some of their own land.

"We don't jump on every new trend. We pay attention and see what works and adapt," Glenn said.

Yet family remains constant.

"I feel blessed that when we started farming I was working and then I stayed home with the kids while they were growing up. I got the best of both worlds and now I get to help with the grandkids," Gaylin said.

Glenn also notes that part of the farm's success is his wife's willingness to help when she is available — everything from castrating pigs, working with cows or fixing fence.
Daughter-in-law Bekah feels the farm is well-organized and has been kept up beautifully over the generations. She is thankful to be raising her children on the farm and the flexibility it allows her in her business as owner of Rebekah Scott Designs, which sells hand-crafted purses, clothing and accessories.

Youngest son Nathan, an architecture student at Iowa State University, appreciates the benefits of growing up on the family farm, though like his two older sisters he's chosen a different path.

"I know that if any of us were needed for anything," he said of his siblings, "we would be back in a heartbeat to help however we could."

Working together and helping one another is the Scott way — it's worked for five generations and the sixth generation is growing up that way, too.

"I'm glad we could stay here and farm, and that Nicholas could stay on. Hopefully the next generation will want to do that as well," Glenn said. "My goal would be that the farm could be passed on as a viable operation."

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Couple works together
to continue Sioux Empire summer tradition

By Amy Smolik
Marketing & Communications Manager

Scott Wick and Jo Beal were named the Agri-Business Citizens of the Year by the Chamber's Agri-Business Division.

The phrase "two for one deal" doesn't often apply to people, but with Jo Beal and Scott Wick, the Sioux Falls area has certainly gotten a good "deal" from the couple's volunteer service to the Sioux Empire Fair Association in 2011.

Beal and Wick, who are married, were named the Agri-Business Citizens of the Year by the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce Agri-Business Division. They will be recognized at the Jan. 27 Mayor's Round-Up & Sale of Champions as part of the 2012 Sioux Empire Farm Show.

This isn't the first time they've been recognized: Nov. 21 was proclaimed "Mary Jo Beal and Scott Wick Day" by Mayor Mike Huether. They were named Volunteers of the Year by the South Dakota Association of Fairs & Celebrations. Both have also been named past Sioux Empire Farm Show Volunteers of the Year by the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce.

Volunteer is a key word for this couple. In fact, the day after they're recognized as the Agri-Business Citizens of the Year, they will be leaving for a mission trip.

Their volunteer service as the managers of the Sioux Empire Fair Association began in July 2011. With 37 days to go before the 72nd Annual Sioux Empire Fair, and no permanent CEO in place, they agreed to manage the organization — with no pay. Beal joined the Fair Association's Board of Directors in 2009 and had a passion for the association, one she brought home and shared with her husband.

"I was ‘volun-told' that I would do this," Wick said, of his service to the Sioux Empire Fair Association. "And I would do it all over again. I learned a lot about my wife and I think we make a good team — provided I listen!"

Their volunteer service came about after the past CEO left for a new job before the 2011 Sioux Empire Fair. This development followed a few rocky years for the Sioux Empire Fair Association following former employee embezzling funds, leading to a tight financial picture for the association.

Beal and Wick didn't know it at the time, but they signed on for 12- to 14-hour days to get the grounds ready for the fair when they volunteered. They say they had no choice to do otherwise; it wasn't an option to cancel the fair or scale back.

"I grew up in West Sioux," Wick said. "I helped with the fair, I showed horses, I have a passion for this place. It is a great annual event."

For Beal, the fairgrounds represent years of showing dairy cattle while she was growing up and later showing beef cattle, sheep and swine with her kids. "It's been a part of my family. The thought of it going away — I don't even want to think about that," she said. "I have so many memories made here with family and lifelong friends."

The couple credits key members of the Sioux Empire Fair Association Board of Directors for stepping up to secure sponsorships, help clean up the grounds and working the week of the fair. By nearly all measures, the annual August event was a success; attendance was up by 12 percent over 2010.

"The fair needed that spark of volunteerism. It takes a tremendous amount of people, both volunteers and paid staff," Wick said.

Since the close of the 2011 Fair, both Beal and Wick have been working ahead to the next fair. Changes are still ahead for the 2012 Sioux Empire Fair — it will be extended to nine days, meaning it will run from Aug. 4-12 and cover two weekends. Wick was offered the position of Sioux Empire Fair Manager for 2012. He will be responsible for the management of the annual event and the W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds. Beal will continue to volunteer alongside Wick.

"We work on the next fair right away, but there are many buildings and many opportunities year-round," Wick said. "This is a very versatile property. From flea markets to swap meets to ABATE meetings to weddings."

Both Beal and Wick would like to see the buildings continue to improve. They are doing some grant-writing and securing sponsorships to be able to make those improvements.
"In the early 1970s, this was a great building," Wick said of the Expo Building, one of the main buildings on the Fairgrounds campus, which is also the home of the Chamber's Sioux Empire Farm Show. "But the maintenance and the money haven't been there to keep it up."

Looking ahead, the couple believes 2012 will be another great year for the Sioux Empire Fair and the events hosted at the W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds.

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