Submitted Photo A Liechty Homes model home is ready for fair-goers to view at the North Dakota State Fair.

Liechty Homes of Minot is a staple attraction at the North Dakota State Fair.

Tom Erie, general manager of Liechty Homes, has worked for the company for all 21 years that the company has brought its model homes to the fair. Erie said that with the exception of the pandemic closure year, Liechty Homes has supported the fair in showcasing a home for the community and state of North Dakota.

Erie guesstimates that approximately 2,000 people a day walk through the home and upwards of 20,000 through the entirety of the week-long event. During the fair days with a big-name entertainer, the model home tends to attract more visitors, and many times of the day it is full of folks wanting to look at the new and trending finishes of the house and cool off in the air conditioning.

Erie said due to customer demand in North Dakota and nationally trending home designs he sees a lot of larger square footage floor plans for the farming, ranching and oil communities. Since space is not an issue in the state, Erie said, the homes are trending larger square footage floor plans, darker color schemes, black vinyl window and trims and larger kitchen, bathrooms and mudrooms.

The model home is designed specific to the needs of the people in the area and is built at a factory in Minnesota, trucked directly to the State Fair grounds and assembled as if it was being set up on a customer’s property, Erie said. At the end of fair week, if it is not sold at the discounted fair price, the home is moved back to the sales lot for approximately one year. Unless the home is sold at the fair, it is moved in pieces or sometimes as is.

Erie said getting the home in place and moving it off the fairgrounds is worth the effort as he gets a bounce back, generally selling a few models similar to the showcase home. Erie said it is hard to gauge or pinpoint the impact of fair traffic on sales overall as floor plans, size and color schemes of homes vary. But he said there’s definitely interest in the quality of the homes.