Kenny Morris calls himself a “fair fanatic.”

The 77-year-old Austin resident has been entering pigs into the Minnesota State Fair for 63 years and has enjoyed every second of it, racking up more ribbons and trophies than he can count, as well as a few special plaques to honor his place in the “Great Minnesota Get Together.”

“I really look forward to the state fair,” he said. “The whole family does.”

And Morris isn’t kidding when he says his family gets into the fair — both his son and grandson have been entering pigs with him since they were young. In fact, his son Randy now helps Morris raise his pigs for competition.

Morris also followed an older generation into the fair. As the story goes, a 13-year-old Morris and his father had to bail Morris’ Uncle Joe out of jail at the state fair. What did the uncle do? Morris said his uncle had taken his prized swine, “Red Ace,” for a little walk into a burlesque show nearby after having a few beers. Needless to say, the dancer was none too happy.

“I said to my uncle, ‘How was the show?’ He said, ‘Red Ace really enjoyed the show,’” Morris recalled with a laugh.

That funny family moment was enough to get Morris hooked, and he has been entering into the fair every summer since.

“We enjoy the fair,” Morris said. “Still do.”

Morris’ dedication has been recognized with fairgrounds plaques — twice, in fact.

A plaque celebrating 50 years of fair involvement was awarded to Morris in August 1997, and a similar plaque hangs in the fair’s administration building. On top of that, Morris is on a fair memories plaque that rests in a history building on the grounds. He said both honors mean a lot to him.

When not entering the state fair, Morris likes to go to a number of fairs during the summer fair season. This includes the local Mower County Fair, which kicks off Aug. 11, as well as the Dodge County Fair, which Morris said he’d be going to this week.

Morris said he likes to see some of his competition early, like a scout would for a professional sports team. He also said he enjoys meeting people from all over who enjoy fairs as much — or almost as much — as he does.

So what makes a fair fanatic?

Brienna Schuette, marketing and communications manager at the Minnesota State Fair, said she thinks pride is what drives people to enter year after year.

“It becomes something that people have to do in their summers,” she said. “It’s a really big deal to win a state fair ribbon.”

Schuette said she notices a lot of people, like Morris, who have a long history of fair participation.

Often, she said, these traditions are passed on generation to generation.

“It’s a family thing,” she said of the fair.

The 50-year plaque Morris received is given to anyone who has participated in the fair for that long, ranging from vendors and workers to those who enter competitions.

Schuette said the plaques are important because they honor the people who make the Minnesota State Fair Possible.

“We take a lot of pride working with people who take so much pride in their fair,” she said. “It is really Minnesota’s fair.”

Christine Seppanen is a fair fanatic in her own right. The Austin resident has been active in the Mower County Fair since moving here five years ago. She said she’s been entering since 2006.

Seppanen also gets involved in the state fair.

She said she’s been entering that fair for about 10 years and also works some weekends at the creative arts building, helping with fair preparation.

Like Morris, Seppanen got involved with fairs through family when she was young. She said as a girl she’d help her grandmother prepare garden crafts for the Douglas County Fair, and seeing all the blue ribbons every summer got Seppanen hooked.

Today, Seppanen, 39, likes to enter treats and knitted goods into the Mower County Fair every summer, and is planning to enter her special honey caramel corn back into the state fair, which took home a fourth place ribbon before.

She said she looks forward to the fairs, often putting in long August nights as the entrance deadline approaches.

Seppanen has taken home some blue ribbons at the Mower County Fair, but has yet to take first at the state fair.

“It’s a tough competition,” she said. “You have to know not everybody gets the blue ribbon. You have to just flow with it.”

To Seppanen, entering a fair is about “a little bit of sharing, a little of bit showing off.”

She said she’d like to share her passion with her daughter, who is a young 4-H member now, and others to get more people involved.

“I worry not enough people are entering,” Seppanen said. “If you’ve done a project, bring it to the fair and show it off.”

That should be no problem for Kenny Morris, who said he plans on continuing to enter the fair for the rest of his life. Though Morris loves meeting and seeing all the other fair entrants, many of whom are longtime friends, he said when the fair begins, it’s strictly about winning.

“More or less what it is, is competition,” Morris said. “We’re friends, but when we go in (to compete), we’re not friends.”

This summer, Morris plans to again top the competition at the Minnesota State Fair.

Last year, he took home a fifth and a seventh place ribbon, prompting Morris to say: “We gotta improve.”

Improvement is the name of the game, as the competition has gotten tougher over the years, Morris notes.

“It changes over the years,” he said of the state fair. “(It’s) more competitive.”

Morris is eagerly anticipating this summer’s Minnesota State Fair, which will run Aug. 27 through Labor Day, Sept. 7.

“I’m in there to win,” he said. “Then, if I lose, I shake hands of the winner and come back next year with a better one.”