Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Churches connect community at summertime concerts June 5, 2026

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Little Prairie United Methodist Church, rural Dundas. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

SET AMONG THE FARM FIELDS of Rice County south of Dundas, Little Prairie United Methodist Church joins several area congregations hosting free family-oriented mid-week summertime concerts aimed at connecting community.

Gathering on the prairie for a 2025 summer concert at Little Prairie with music by The Old Country Boys. (Photo courtesy of Little Prairie UMC)

Little Prairie kicks off its second summer of “Music on the Prairie” concert series from 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 10, with The Old Country Boys performing old country and rock songs. Subsequent concerts also happen on Wednesday evenings with the Over and Back Band on July 22. Minnesota Music Hall of Fame fiddler Dr. Mike Hildebrandt plays with the band, presenting a unique blend of funky rock n roll and gypsy bluegrass. At the season’s final concert on August 19, The Rockin’ Hep Cats will perform roots rock n roll.

The food service area at a 2025 “Music on the Prairie“ concert. Serving starts at 5:30 p.m. (Photo courtesy of Little Prairie UMC)

Besides listening to music, attendees can purchase affordable $5 meals prepared by Little Prairie church members. Up first on June 10 are grilled burgers crafted from locally-raised beef, Jim’s famous German beans (originally created for Oktoberfest in Dundas), chips, dessert and pop or water. July’s main menu item is locally-made hotdogs from Greg’s Meat Shop. And on August 19, Sloppy Joe’s will be served. Serving begins at 5:30 p.m.

Kids can play with bubbles at Little Prairie, just like they did in this photo from “Holy Smoke” at Christ Lutheran Church in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

“Music on the Prairie” also includes activities for kids featuring yard games, big bubbles and several small crafts.

Enjoying the music of The Old Country Boys at “Music on the Prairie” on a beautiful summer evening in 2025. (Photo courtesy of Little Prairie UMC)

While the concerts are free, free will donations are welcome to benefit Little Prairie’s ministries. This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with community and enjoy a variety of music, plus a meal, in a quiet countryside setting.

The “Holy Smoke” pizza baking crew at Christ Lutheran Church, Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

The same can be said for the Wednesday evening summer concert series at Zwingli United Church of Christ in Berne, located in the country south of Wanamingo or a half hour northeast of Owatonna. This summer marks the 15th year Berne has served up music and its handcrafted wood-fired pizzas. The church grounds open at 5 p.m. every Wednesday, June-August, for the themed events benefiting Zwingli UCC, other churches and area non-profits.

It was Berne’s long-running, successful concert series which inspired the Rev. Penny Bonsell to try a summer mid-week music series at Little Prairie. After a pilot run in 2024, the event really took off in 2025, she said, with a goal of growing community.

Wood-fired brisket pizza crafted at Christ Lutheran’s “Holy Smoke.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

Wood-fired pizza is also on the menu at Christ Lutheran Church, high atop a hill on Faribault’s east side. The second Wednesday of the month, June-August, “Holy Smoke” pizza and music event runs from 5:30-8 p.m. Proceeds benefit local nonprofits, this summer the Paradise Center for the Arts, Habitat for Humanity and St. Vincent de Paul.

Connecting over music and pizza at “Holy Smoke.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

I’ve only ever been to “Holy Smoke,” multiple times, but intend to check out the newest of these summer concert series at Little Prairie. Perhaps eventually I’ll make it to the more distant, larger and busier gathering at Berne.

If you opt to attend any of these, remember your lawn chair. Also bring your appetite, your appreciation of music and your enthusiasm for connecting with others. These three concert series build community with music and food, giving us just one more reason to get outside on a summer evening in southern Minnesota.

© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

An unexpected prairie place: “Little Yellowstone of Minnesota” June 4, 2026

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Ramsey Falls in Redwood Falls. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

WATER RUSHES OVER the aged granite rock, roaring into the gorge below. It is a scene so beautiful, so unexpected, that this 256-acre city park has been dubbed the “Little Yellowstone of Minnesota.”

Park signage along the river in the zoo area. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

Recently I revisited Ramsey Park, also known as Cansa’yapi, translated to “where they paint the trees red” from the Dakota language. A Mdewakanton Band of the Dakota live near neighboring Morton and refer to their traditional Minnesota River Valley homeland as Cansa’yapi.

On this day, I come to see Ramsey Falls along Ramsey Creek, which feeds into the Redwood River inside the park. The Redwood then flows into the Minnesota River.

If the creek level is high, water spills over two areas of the rock. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

Ramsey Falls, with its 30-foot drop, is the star attraction in this park founded in 1911 as a state park with ownership transferred to the city of Redwood Falls in 1957. This is a gem in a county marked by farm fields, farm sites, small towns and mostly flat topography.

A side view of the swayback bridge from a previous park visit. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

Here, within this park, narrow roads twist and turn through woods, descending to the river bottom. Creek and river waters flow. Three and a half miles of cemented hiking trails (new since I left the area 50 years ago), run throughout the park. A swayback bridge built in 1938 by workers with the Works Progress Administration Project along the Redwood River adds an historic architectural element to the park.

Zooming in on a buffalo through a fence. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

For anyone who loves the outdoors—fishing, hiking, camping, picnicking—this park offers it all. The park is also of interest to geologists and history buffs. A small zoo with its resident buffalo and other animals has always been an attraction, too.

The Redwood River photographed from the swayback bridge. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

But it is really the land and the water that brings visitors like me here. Hills and gorges. Waterways. Trees thickening into dense woods, vastly different than the shelterbelts protecting farm sites from prairie winds.

Crossing the WPA swayback bridge over the Redwood River. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

I remember coming here as a child and feeling like I’d entered a different world. Yet, I was still in Redwood County, only 20 miles from the flat farm fields of home to the west. I recall the terror I felt when Dad maneuvered the Chevy around a tight hairpin curve in the park, the steep hillside falling below us. I remember standing in awe of Ramsey Falls, and being more than a little afraid of stepping too close to the fence at the falls overlook. I remember the car dipping across the swayback bridge.

Teenage years took me along a steep, narrow dirt path down to the massive rocks beside the falls for a picnic lunch with friends.

A bird sings in a riverside tree. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

On this afternoon, I lean into the sturdy overlook fence, focus my camera on the rushing waterfalls, notice the surrounding greenery, appreciate this Little Yellowstone of Minnesota. I’ve never been to the Wyoming national park, thus have no comparison to make. That really doesn’t matter; this place holds its own Yellowstone beauty.

The small zoo is home to several playful goats, other animals and birds. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

At the Ramsey Park Zoo, I focus on the buffalo, who seem considerably more docile than I remember. Still, I respect them and understand their importance to the Dakota, original inhabitants of this land. Long gone are the caged monkeys that once entertained me with their antics.

Close up with a buffalo in the Ramsey Park Zoo. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

Ramsey/Cansa’yapi Park lies 110 miles to the north and west of my current home in Faribault. Decades removed from Redwood County, I still feel connected to this oasis in the prairie where the water falls and they paint the trees red.

© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Noteworthy finds while on the road in southern Minnesota June 2, 2026

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Driving into Redwood County near Morgan. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo May 2026)

WHILE ON THE ROAD from Faribault to my hometown of Vesta and back recently, I noticed interesting roadside details. These may not necessarily catch the attention of other motorists. But they caught my eye.

Unleaded gas was priced substantially lower than other places at Morgan Convenience on May 26. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

“BARGAIN” GAS

Let’s start with the price of unleaded gas at Morgan Convenience, Food & Fuel. It was priced at $4.18 (rounded up a tenth) on May 26. Elsewhere along the route, the cost was $4.49 (rounded up a tenth). I don’t understand how the gas price in Morgan, a small rural Minnesota town of some 900, can be so much lower than in neighboring New Ulm, population around 14,000, for example. Or in Faribault with about 25,000 residents. This makes no sense to me and is not the first time gas prices in more rural outstate Minnesota have been priced considerably lower.

Signage at a restaurant and bar in Morgan. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

MORE THAN JUST BURGERS

Also in Morgan, I spotted this sign: THE SPOTT. And, yes, the period is part of the abbreviated name. Clever. Upon returning home, I researched this business, full name The Spotted Bear Ale House. It’s a restaurant and full service bar.

The Facebook page features lots of food I’d enjoy: loaded pulled pork baked potato; pulled beef Gouda sliders with Parmesan fries; caramel, strawberry lemon, raspberry and/or banana rolls with peanut butter frosting; General Tso chicken and rice with crab salad; and more. Yum. The offerings impress me as vastly different from your typical small town burgers and other bar food. As a side note, this business is for sale.

An old threshing machine is the backdrop for Gilfillan Estate signage. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

AN ESTATE IN THE MIDDLE OF FARM FIELDS

Just down the highway, another sign grabbed my attention. That was signage on an old threshing machine marking the Redwood County Historical Society’s Gilfillan Estate. It’s not the sign so much as this property west of Morgan along Minnesota State Highway 67 that is noteworthy. Here you’ll find both the estate and the site of Minnesota Farmfest.

The estate, with its long, tree-lined driveway leading to a stately house, has been here for as long as I can remember. The original owner, Charles Duncan Gilfillan (1831-1902), bought 10,000 acres of Redwood County farmland. He built a house, offices, a grain elevator, stockyard and tenet homes here and raised purebred livestock exported to Great Britain. Eventually his son, Charles Oswin Gilfillan, took over the estate. The younger Gilfillan was an active philanthropist in Redwood County. I must make an effort sometime to tour the estate and learn more about the Gilfillans and their generosity.

An A.C.O. silo still stands between New Ulm and Courtland. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

A NOD TO FARMING OF YESTERYEAR

More history is written onto a silo that hugs U.S. Highway 14 east of New Ulm. The A.C.O. on the brick silo stands for AC Ochs of the AC Ochs Brick and Tile Company in Springfield, several towns down the road to the west 30 miles distant. These silos, made from curved bricks, were built across the Midwest between 1910-1945. I love their historic, signature look and their unique construction. They are landmarks of a bygone era of diversified small family farms.

The Colonial Inn, with a 73-year history in New Ulm. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

AN OLD SCHOOL MOTEL

In New Ulm, the Colonial Inn along North Broadway/Highway 14 appears old school motel. And it is. Built in 1953, rooms in the U-shaped building open to the paved parking lot. While I’ve only seen the motel from the exterior and a few photos on the no-frills website, this motel seems exactly as I would expect. Basic. Simple. And a throwback to yesteryear with the exception of WiFi.

A billboard with an unusual question. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2026)

FIRE & BRIMSTONE

Finally, in the Smiths Mill area along Highway 14 east of Mankato, a thought-provoking sign asks whether you will go to heaven or to hell when you die. I have no idea who paid for this billboard with the John 3:36 notation at the bottom. But it’s certainly an oddity in highway signage. Fire or no fire?

You never know what you’ll discover while on the road.

© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling