by Kari Lundin

Edina, MN — With just less than two months before the start of the Minnesota State Fair, the Dan Patch Project has set an ambitious goal of raising $100,000 in pledged donations before the Fair’s opening day on Aug. 25.

The Dan Patch Project is a grassroots effort to have a 1.5 times sized sculpture of the great Standardbred race horse Dan Patch and his driver at the site of his 1906 record-setting pace at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. The West End Transit Hub, which is the site for the finished bronze, was the original location of the paddock where Dan Patch was harnessed before the race.

A secondary installation celebrating the kinship between Dan Patch and his owner, M.W. Savage, will be installed in front of the public library in Savage, Minn., where the great horse is buried.

Donors may make a one-time tax deductible contribution, or split their donation (and tax deductions) over a multi-year period. Funds will be collected at the end of each year, until the project’s total goal of $1.5 million is achieved.

Pledges of $1,000 or more will receive acknowledgement on the sculpture’s base.

The artist selected for the project is Alexa King, whose work has been featured at horse venues and in private collections nationwide. Her best known works include her bronze of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro at Churchill Downs.

The projects have been approved by the Minnesota State Fair Foundation, Dan Patch Historical Society, city of Savage, and descendants of both Dan Patch’s breeder, Daniel Messner, and his final owner, M.W. Savage.

Commit to helping Dan Patch race again by downloading the donor pledge form and returning it to danpatchproject@gmail.com or the address identified on the form.

Volunteers are welcome.