Rod Wolf of rural Scranton was Greene County 4-H’s 2025 inductee in the Iowa State 4-H Hall of Fame during the Iowa State Fair.
Wolf first got involved in the county fair when his two children, Mikko and Timo, showed cattle at the Greene County Fair. During his nearly 20 years on the fair board, he helped in various capacities; doing odd jobs, preparing the county fair each year, and was chair of the Tractor Pull grandstand event. All these roles are essential to maintain a county fair and ensuring each year is successful.
Wolf’s biggest accomplishment during his tenure was his integral role in the addition of four new barns to the Greene County Fairgrounds in four years. After thinking of ways to find funding for these barns, Wolf was the one with the idea to create a fundraiser dinner auction. He spent countless hours going to various agricultural distributers in and around Greene County to seek donations to auction off at the dinner, where all proceeds would go toward building these new structures. In four years, the Greene County Fair board raised $500,000f to build these new facilities.
Fellow and current fair board members Doug Hawn and Josh Hedges commend Wolf, saying, “Rod was instrumental in starting a multi-year fundraiser that resulted in over $1 million of buildings and improvements to the fairgrounds. Those improvements have led to additional buildings in the next few years, giving Greene County Fair some of the nicest facilities in the state of Iowa, a huge accomplishment for a small community.”
