Widower will honor late wife with a bench at the Minnesota State Fair

ANOKA, Minn. (FOX 9) - An Anoka man lost his wife this year, but with help from the community, he’ll pay tribute to her in one of her favorite places.

Mark Edwards says his wife Cheryl loved the Minnesota State Fair.

She grew up going there and Mark says she always made it fun for her kids and grandkids.

So after she died unexpectedly of a brain hemorrhage in February, he thought dedicating a bench to her at the fair would be a sweet idea.

And he raised the $2500 cost on GoFundMe in less than two days.

"It’s going to be awesome because even some of the people I talked to who were her closest friends feel like they can sit there and communicate with her," Edwards said. "And I’ll hopefully feel the same way in my own way."

Mark says the outpouring of support overwhelmed him.

When the fair opens in August, Cheryl’s red bench will one of about 2000 out there now.

And it’ll be near one for her dad, who was a caricature artist at the fair for years.