THERE’S SOMETHING TO BE SAID about the importance of family reunions. They allow us to reconnect, to celebrate, to reminisce, to build new memories, to support, encourage and appreciate one another and our shared histories.
THE BODE FAMILY
My first reunion of the summer was a small gathering with a maternal aunt, uncle, cousins and my youngest brother and his wife in south Minneapolis. Aunt Rae, my godmother, was in town from Missouri. Over a table laden with breakfast foods, we talked and laughed and then afterwards moved to the screened in porch for more catching up and a discussion about the current state of affairs in this country. Mostly, though, we talked family. Since my mom’s death in 2022, I’ve felt even more the need to stay connected to her siblings and their families.
THE KLETSCHER FAMILY
The next reunion happened on the last Sunday of July. The extended Kletscher family met in Echo, a small southwestern Minnesota town some seven miles north of my hometown. There, in a community center, we filled tables with homemade foods for a noon potluck. Afterwards, I circulated in an attempt to talk to nearly everyone in attendance. This reunion has been going on annually for probably seventy years or more. I don’t always make it. But I try to because I’d rather see my cousins and my remaining aunts and uncle at a happy event rather than at a funeral.
THE HELBLING FAMILY
And then there is the Helbling reunion, held last weekend at a nephew’s rural Faribault acreage. This gathering brings my husband Randy’s family together from all across Minnesota and the country. Our son flew in from Boston. Our second daughter and her family arrived from Madison, Wisconsin. Others came from Michigan, Missouri and North Dakota. This event happens annually. And each year family members travel from all over to see each other, which says a lot about just how important family connections are to all of us.
This year organizers changed things up a bit by replacing BINGO with a raffle of homemade/home-grown foods and goods. There were cookies, banana bread, multiple jams, wine, honey, engraved stones, crocheted animals, garden fresh potatoes, salsa and more, including canned rabbit meat. I brought an anthology that included five pieces of my writing. Randy brought a bottle of Cry Baby Craig’s hot sauce, an allowed raffle item given it’s made in Faribault.
Everyone went home with something. But perhaps the best part of the raffle was the money raised for the Community Action Center in Faribault via the sale of $5 raffle tickets. With $300 in raffle ticket sales and a company match by an employer, the CAC will be gifted with $600 from the Helbling family. This family cares.
I love my husband’s family. They are a genuinely loving, kind, caring, compassionate, generous and supportive group. During the reunion, we shared family updates while the kids bounced in a cow-shaped bouncy house. During a corn hole tournament, Tristan and his teammate once again walked away with the “trophy,” a mini corn hole board. My six-year-old grandson showed me how to pound nails into a round of wood in a game of hammerschlagen. My granddaughter and I watched baby ducks swim in a pond next to a menagerie of poultry, goats and two black sheep. Kids shot rockets high into the air. Adults gathered in lawnchair clusters to chat. Slowly, as the sun set, family members began to leave. I left feeling so loved.
The evening prior, the siblings and their spouses met at the Craft Beverage Curve in Faribault for food, drinks and conversation. The new addition to the reunion proved popular. Family raved about the setting. I felt a deep sense of pride in my community. But mostly, I felt the love of the Helbling family which I have been part of for 43 years. Tom and Betty Helbling would be proud of the family they started. And they would be happy that, on the second Saturday in August each year, their family reconnects at a reunion.
© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Oh, Audrey so many layers to this. First of all, that plate of food looks delicious. I love the understanding of the importance of family gatherings to bond, remember, share, continue and create new and old family traditions and memories. What a great idea to raffle the prizes of handmade treasures made and donated with love by family members and won by other family members and the money donated to such a worthy cause in the larger community. Such a beautiful family model and lesson for all ages –
Thank you for appreciating reunions and the raffle/donation aspect of this year’s Helbling reunion.
Hi Audrey!
I always enjoy reading your articles/posts. (Some time ago, you were kind enough to send me some MN books for my dad who grew up in Belle Plaine.)
I shared this article with my mother-in-law Kathy Ogle whose mother was a Helbling.
Kathy wonders if you can send her names of any Helbling family who attended the reunion from North Dakota in hopes that she might recognize them.
Thanks you!
Diane Ogle
Diane, the only Helbling to attend from North Dakota was Tom, my husband’s youngest brother. He lives in Grand Forks. This reunion was the descendants of Tom and Betty Helbling from Mandan/Bismarck. Both are deceased. They farmed near St. Anthony before moving to rural Buckman, MN, in the 1960s. There are lots of Helblings in N.D. who are related. So, yes, your mother-in-law is likely related to my husband’s family.
Wow, you had a lot of reunions this summer. Sounds like a good time was had by all. Yay! Is the Craft Beverage Curve by 10,000 Drops? I’ve never heard it called that before.
Yes, the Craft Beverage Curve is 10,000 Drops and Corks & Pints.
Clever name. 😉
Agreed.
our family reunions are smaller these days but still a very important part of life. You have had a summer full of special events. How incredibly wonderful!
Yes, it’s been a really fun summer reconnecting with so many loved ones.