ABOVE: Seth Varner of Wandermore takes a photo of the model airplanes on display at the Martin County Historical Society in Fairmont on Wednesday evening as Lenny Tvedten and James Marushin look on. Varner made a stop in Fairmont while on his journey to visit all of the state’s 856 incorporated towns.

FAIRMONT– On his quest to visit all 856 of the incorporated towns in Minnesota, Seth Varner came through Fairmont on Wednesday and while here checked out the Martin County Historical Society and the Channel Inn. Varner is the CEO of Wandermore Publishing and advocates for the preservation of history and small-town tourism.

Originally from Nebraska, Varner started traveling to all of the incorporated towns in his home state in 2020 when Covid hit. He started amassing a healthy following on social media and once he was done, he published his first travel guide: “Visit531Nebraska: Our Journey to Every Incorporated Town in the State.”

Since then, Varner’s been on the move and has now visited every incorporated town in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas and North Dakota.

He embarked on his travels through Minnesota earlier this year and as of Wednesday evening he had visited 91 incorporated towns.

“I try to document town history and I develop tourism, showing off the coolest things in the town like restaurants, local museums and cool things like that. I try to get people to see that there’s something to see and do in every town in the state, no matter how big or small,” Varner said.

He aims to show town spotlights like businesses, churches and schools and anything that makes a town unique.

“I get some help from the locals, too, as I go along the way,” Varner said.

He and Brittany Hartman from Visit Fairmont had connected and she, Jeff Rouse, Lenny Tvedten and James Marushin were at the Martin County Historical Society on Wednesday evening to greet Varner.

“I choose to meet with people who reach out and prioritize them,” Varner said.

Prior to coming to Fairmont on Wednesday Varner visited St. James, Darfur, Butterfield, Odin, Ormsby, Trimont, Sherburn and Welcome.

“I do eight to 10 (towns) a day. Some are so small I just spend 20 minutes or so there,” he explained.

However he spent a few hours in Fairmont.

“I document everything. I photograph basically anything that’s not a private residence. I probably took 300 to 500 pictures here and then I choose 100 to share on Facebook that best represent the town and then the rest go in the book in a QR code,” Varner explained.

Speaking of Fairmont as a whole, Varner said he enjoyed the lakes and that he went through Downtown Plaza and took photos of all of the pig statues on that block.

“I really liked the Dia de los Muertos pig by the Mexican restaurant (El Agave) and then right across from that was the Post Office pig, Steveo (Pierce Accounting),” Varner said.

On Wednesday evening Tvedten asked Varner what he thought of his quick tour of MCHS.

“I heard it’s the best in Minnesota, that’s what people have said,” Varner said.

Back in January 2023, the Star Tribune published an article that shared a man’s journey through all county museums in the state of Minnesota and he had chosen the Martin County Historical Society as the best one.

“My first sight was the pinball machine and I was really impressed by that. It’s really neat. It’s not often that you see a county museum that has so much packed into it but it’s sorted out in a way that people know what they’re looking at even if they don’t have a tour guide,” Varner said, noting he likes labels on artifacts.

After leaving the museum on Wednesday evening Varner went to the Channel Inn for dinner and then stayed at the Best Western. He intended to visit Madelia, Truman and some smaller towns and planned to end up in New Ulm on Thursday.

Of Varner’s visit, Hartman said, “It was great to meet Seth and hear about his incredible journey. We appreciated him taking the time to experience what Fairmont has to offer. His visit gives us the chance to showcase our community to a wider audience and through his platform and upcoming travel guide, even more people will discover Fairmont as a great travel destination.”