FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — Welcoming hundreds of thousands of people to the Minnesota State Fair and keeping them safe is no small task.

Minnesota State Fair Police Chief Ron Knafla is overseeing 185 officers from more than 65 agencies.

He says the biggest thing is having a visual presence.

“It’s a community engagement detail,” Knafla said. “They’re out interacting with the public, being visible, interacting with the kids, assisting with medicals, assisting with lost kids.”

There are also undercover officers dressed in plainclothes as well as police from several partnering agencies.

Metal detectors and bag checks greet people at the entrances.

Guns aren’t allowed, but two years ago, there was a shooting in the Midway.

Knafla says they’ve taken steps to prevent anything like that from happening again.

“Increased the height of some of the fences, made the fences a little more difficult to climb, added barbed wire around the perimeter and we added a lot of cameras and improved lighting around the perimeter,” he said.

Outside the fairgrounds, St. Paul police are running traffic control and patrols.

Once again, they’re collaborating with nearby neighbors as well as the Community Ambassadors, a violence interrupter group focused on defusing tensions among young people.

“We talk to them and say, ‘Not here. This is a community and a family event. If you need something talk to us. Let’s talk through whatever situation it is.’” said Randy Freeman, one of the Ambassadors.

There are about 50 ambassadors who will be walking the neighborhood streets from 4 p.m. to midnight every day of the fair.

“Folks can feel assured that the Fair’s a safe place to come, probably the safest place in Minnesota right now,” Knafla said.

To place an obituary, please include the information from the obituary checklist below in an email to obits@pioneerpress.com. There is no option to place them through our website.
Feel free to contact our obituary desk at 651-228-5263 with any questions.

General Information:

• Your full name,
• Address (City, State, Zip Code),
• Phone number,
• And an alternate phone number (if any)

Obituary Specification:

• Name of Deceased,
• Obituary Text,
• A photo in a JPEG or PDF file is preferable, TIF and other files are accepted, we will contact you if there are any issues with the photo.
• Ad Run dates
• There is a discount for running more than one day, but this must be scheduled on the first run date to apply.
• If a photo is used, it must be used for both days for the discount to apply, contact us for more information.

Policies:

Verification of Death:

In order to publish obituaries a name and phone number of funeral home/cremation society is required. We must contact the funeral home/cremation society handling the arrangements during their business hours to verify the death. If the body of the deceased has been donated to the University of Minnesota Anatomy Bequest Program, or a similar program, their phone number is required for verification.

Please allow enough time to contact them especially during their limited weekend hours.

A death certificate is also acceptable for this purpose but only one of these two options are necessary.

Guestbook and Outside Websites:

We are not allowed to reference other media sources with a guestbook or an obituary placed elsewhere when placing an obituary in print and online. We may place a website for a funeral home or a family email for contact instead; contact us with any questions regarding this matter.

Obituary Process:

Once your submission is completed, we will fax or email a proof for review prior to publication in the newspaper. This proof includes price and days the notice is scheduled to appear.

Please review the proof carefully. We must be notified of errors or changes before the notice appears in the Pioneer Press based on each day’s deadlines.

After publication, we will not be responsible for errors that may occur after final proofing.

Online:

All obituaries appear on TwinCities.com with a permanent online guestbook presence. If you wish to have the online presence removed, you can contact us to remove the guestbook online. Changes to an online obituary can be handled through the obituary desk. Call us with further questions.

Payment Procedure:

Pre-payment is required for all obituary notices prior to publication by the deadline specified below in our deadline schedule. Please call 651-228-5263 with your payment information after you have received the proof and approved its contents.

Credit Card: Payment accepted by phone only due to PCI (Payment Card Industry) regulations

EFT: Check by phone. Please provide your routing number and account number.

Cash: Accepted at our FRONT COUNTER Monday – Friday from 8:00AM – 3:30PM

Rates:

• The minimum charge is $162 for the first 10 lines.
• Every line after the first 10 is $12.20.
• If the ad is under 10 lines it will be charged the minimum rate of $162.
• On a second run date, the lines are $8.20 per line, starting w/ the first line.
• For example: if first run date was 20 lines the cost would be $164.
• Each photo published is $125 per day.
• For example: 2 photos in the paper on 2 days would be 4 photo charges at $500.

Deadlines:

Please follow deadline times to ensure your obituary is published on the day requested.

MEMORIAM (NON-OBITUARY) REQUEST

Unlike an obituary, Memoriam submissions are remembrances of a loved one who has passed. The rates for a memoriam differ from obituaries.

Please call or email us for more memoriam information

Please call 651-228-5280 for more information.

HOURS: Monday – Friday 8:00AM – 5:00PM (CLOSED WEEKENDS and HOLIDAYS)

Please submit your memoriam ad to memoriams@pioneerpress.com or call 651-228-5280.