Education, play, career exploration

BENSON — Inspiring, realistic, accurate and career-exploration is how Katie Saterbak describes the newly opened Mini Sota Agricultural Children’s Museum in Benson.

“We wanted to balance education, play and then the realism with what agriculture is like today,” Saterbak said. “Our goal is for the kids and the parents to learn something through their visit to the museum. This project was a community vision to bring a place for families to come together.”

The museum is an interactive display of modern agriculture with displays featuring actual farm equipment such as a combine cab.

“We wanted to represent agriculture as it is today,” Saterbak said. “We didn’t want our exhibits to just be plastic manufactured models; we wanted them to be realistic as possible so that kids can get that hands-on experience of what it would be like being in a combine cab.”

The exhibits feature every aspect of agriculture from soil health to animals to food processing. The museum is divided into five main pillars: livestock, machinery, crops, technology and local impact.

“We really want to highlight careers that children can aspire to be that are right here in our community,” Saterbak said. “Our livestock exhibits are all very realistic and to scale. We have an area dedicated to mechanics and welding because we know those types of jobs keep our industry going.”

Saterbak grew up on a farm, showed animals in 4-H and now volunteers with 4-H and FFA. She also is vice president of the museum’s board of directors.

“Youth development has been a passion of mine and so has sharing the story of agriculture,” Saterbak said. “Everyone on our board is involved in agriculture in some way. They either grew up on a farm or are currently engaged on a farm.”

The museum hosts school field trips, birthday parties and private events. Since their grand opening Dec. 20, 2025, the museum has had more than 1,300 visitors. Kari Goldschmidt, the executive director of the museum, said attendance numbers are much higher than they expected.

“I don’t think we could have imagined this going any better than it is,” Goldschmidt said. “Attendance has been high, and the distance people are traveling to get here is outstanding.”

The founding group agreed that while there is plenty for families to do in the summer in Swift County, there are very few options in the winter.

“I’ve had so many conversations with families, and they said if they weren’t here, they would be at home staring at screens,” Goldschmidt said. “This is a very safe, fun, interactive way for families to spend some time together learning and playing and having valuable time together as a family.”

The project was started in 2022 as the brainchild of a group of moms led by Ginger Claussen in the Benson area.

“When I heard about this project, I knew that this is what the industry needs so that we can engage the next generation of our work force,” Saterbak said. “We can educate not just the youth but also their parents, where their food comes from and what drives our community.”

In 2023, the group formed a board of directors and established the museum as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

“With having the nonprofit status, that really allowed Mini Sota to tap into a lot of resources,” Saterbak said. “We really wanted to highlight what grew our community and what drives the economic development here and that is agriculture.”

Ginger had decided not to take over her family’s business, and that business’s location had been sitting empty for several years. Having a space to work with, the group sketched plans on paper and worked with a designer to bring their dream to a reality.

“It was really cool to see our design come to life,” Saterbak said.

From there, the team renovated the building and sought donations and grants to get their project off the ground. They were able to raise $500,000 in donations and grants and secure a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Electric Economic Development loan to support the remainder of the funds needed.

With the museum being open, and often busy, they are looking for volunteers to help monitor and engage the different activities they host.

“I believe there are folks out there like retired farmers and agribusiness professionals who would enjoy engaging in activities with the children,” Goldschmidt said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Michelle Fishbach’s team have visited the museum and applauded their efforts.

“They both commented on how we were telling the story of agriculture and will inspire kids to find careers and learn about agriculture,” Saterbak said. “Our goal is to plant that seed for future careers and bring those kids back to their communities.”