Efrain Ortiz and his family have been involved with the fair as a vendor since 1968. The Minnesota State Fair has been an important part of their family history. His company, Vagabond Imports of South America, has been supporting the Minnesota State Fair Foundation since 2004, giving to the brick and bench programs, History and Heritage program area and the 2014 West End campaign, and Friends of the Fair.
We asked Efrain to share his State Fair story and his tie to the Minnesota State Fair Foundation:
Vagabond Imports of South America began its vendor relationship with the Minnesota State Fair in 1968 as one of several vendors exhibiting various products from Mexico at the Mexican Village, which was in the location of what is now known as the International Bazaar. The Minnesota State Fair was one of few events that showed interest in Mexican products at the time and were very receptive to bringing us on. This changed our family’s life forever. We fell in love with the Minnesota State Fair and the State of Minnesota as a whole. So much so, that, although we lived in California, we considered Minnesota our second home and all of our kids went to college at the University of Minnesota.
As a representative of Vagabond Imports, my ability to appear over the years at the Minnesota State Fair could not have been accomplished without my wife, Celia M. Ortiz. She was with me at the State Fair until 2011.
When we arrived in St. Paul on August 20, 1968, Celia and I decided to rent a room from the Amundsen family, and we have rented a room from them during the State Fair every year since. During these 53 years, we and the Amundsen family shared our lives, vacations, meals, laughter, and donations to the Minnesota State Fair Foundation as friends and family.
In 2004, we decided to honor one of the Amundsen’s sons-in-law, Kenneth (“Ken”) Parizek. Over the years, Ken was a mainstay for Vagabond Imports as he assisted in setting up the booth, managing sales, and handling each Sunday morning donut run. We were able to memorialize Ken’s name by placing his name on a brick near the J.V. Bailey House. We also honored one of our family members, Arthur D. Ortiz, with a brick in 2006 as he assisted Vagabond Imports from 1973 to 1983.
In 2020 our family decided to honor my wife by having her name placed on a yellow bench which was located near the front of the Agriculture Horticulture Building in 2021.
The ability to honor and remember our family at the Minnesota State Fair is an unbelievable privilege. The Ortiz / Amundsen family will continue to attend the fair in the future to view and remember Ken Parizek, Arthur D. Ortiz and Celia M. Ortiz who enjoyed, worked at and loved the Minnesota State Fair.