A mural on the back of a downtown Pelican Rapids building.
VIEW A COMMUNITY ONLY from its public front face and you miss seeing the entire portrait of a place.
Pete the Pelican
On a recent visit to Pelican Rapids in northwestern Minnesota, a side pathway between buildings led me to the Pete the Pelican sculpture.
And more—a unique suspension footbridge
and art on the backs of businesses.
Pelican Rapids, as you might rightly guess, identifies itself with pelicans. An early history of the town states that enormous pelicans circled overhead as they moved towards their nesting area at the upper rapids.
And so the pelican became this town’s symbol…
© Copyright 2019 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
You answered my question….interesting mascot. 🙂
I love the feeding dance of the white pelican – they swim as a group to catch their fishes. Whereas the brown pelican just dives head first into the water to catch its fishes. This brings back memories of my week trip to this area. I ventured into Detroit Lakes, Pelican Rapids and Park Rapids to name a few places and explored Itasca State Park too. I stayed at this great place called Kimp’s Kamp on Elbow Lake and rented a cabin all to myself. Happy Weekend – Enjoy 🙂
How lovely to have a cabin all to yourself.
It was lonely the first day, however; I found my groove and had a lovely experience of quality “me” time 🙂
I love the art work on the buildings as much as Pete
I do love murals. I knew you would appreciate this art.
Some of them reminded me of those painted barn quilts
You’re right. They do.
What a cool place! I love the bridge and sculpture. I love they associate themselves with pelicans. I took a boat tour on the intracoastal on the Gulf side of Florida with my daughter once. The boat captain stopped and fed the pelicans–up close they are pretty scary with sharp/jagged teeth and they terrified my daughter. I send her every meme I see with pelicans to remind her of that trip. I will have to forward your posts on Pelican Rapids. While I find it charming and would LOVE to someday visit–she might see it differently.
Laughing. I was reading about pelicans and read they aren’t necessarily people-friendly. Your poor daughter.
I like Pete the Pelican overlooking the falls. Never been to Pelican Rapids, was this just a random road trip for you?
No, friends invited us to use their lakeside condo time share for a few days.