Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Celebrating winter & the holidays at Winterfest in Faribault December 4, 2025

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The Winterfest logo banners a vintage pickup truck during the 2017 Winterfest Parade of Lights. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2017)

WITH SOME SEVEN INCHES of snow on the ground and freezing temps, Winterfest in Faribault this week will actually look and feel like winter. So I’ll dig out the long johns, wool socks, winter boots, stocking cap, scarf, new Thinsulate fingerless mittens/gloves and warm parka to take in the festivities.

The first event is not actually part of the official Winterfest schedule, but is still a local kick off to the holidays. The Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour hosts the Faribault High School Choir at a free concert of holiday classics and traditional carols at 1:30 pm on Thursday, December 4.

Ice carvers wrap up their work carving a teddy bear during the 2022 Winterfest. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo December 2022)

Things really get moving later Thursday with Hometown Holidays activities centered at Buckham Center. From 5-7 pm, there will be horse-drawn carriage rides through the historic downtown, ice sculpture carving, a Buckham West Pop-Up Shoppe, music and lots for the kids to do, including crafts, a bounce house, and visits with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Voting also happens for the best Christmas window display in the downtown window decorating contest.

A Grinch tops a Christmas tree in the 2024 Winterfest Adopt-a-Tree Christmas tree give-away to those in need. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2024)

Friday, December 5, brings another fun evening of events from 5:30-7:30 pm, this time at the new Viaduct Park along the Straight River. Activities include tree and park lighting, visits and photos with The Grinch, student dance and musical performances, and more carriage rides. Complimentary popcorn and hot chocolate will also be available.

Chris Delesha of Delesha’s Woods sells his handcrafted art at the 2024 Legion market. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo December 2024)

Saturday, December 6, promises a day jam-packed with things to do. That starts with a 10 am-3 pm Christmas Market at the Faribault American Legion. Also at 10 am, the Paradise Center for the Arts offers art created by more than 30 area artists during its Holly Days Sale. The sale will be open until 7:30 pm Saturday and continues during December. At 11 am and within walking distance of the Legion and arts center, 10,000 Drops Distillers hosts its annual Craft Spirits Holiday Bazaar until 4 pm (and again on Saturday, December 13).

In between all of the Christmas markets, Faribault Harley Davidson is hosting a Little Biker Santa Party from 11 am-2 pm geared toward the little people. There’s a coloring contest, photos with Santa and other activities, plus mac n cheese, while supplies last. The Harley shop is collecting non-perishable food items at the event for the St. Vincent de Paul food shelf.

The Alexander Faribault House dining room set for the holidays during the 2017 Christmas open house. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo December 2017)

Just as the Craft Spirits Holiday Bazaar ends, the nearby Alexander Faribault house opens to the public from 4-6 pm for an 1850s French-Canadian style Christmas. Town founder Alexander Faribault and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, lived in this house now owned by the Rice County Historical Society. The RCHS hosts the free Christmas open house annually during Winterfest.

As Saturday progresses, so do Winterfest activities with an Ugly Sweater Run/Walk beginning at 4:30 pm at Viaduct Park. Participants will follow city recreational trails in this first ever run/walk during Winterfest.

A crowd waits along Central Avenue for the Parade of Lights to start in 2024. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo December 2024)

Then, at 5:30 pm, the highlight of Winterfest for most, the Parade of Lights, begins, heading south along Central Avenue from Sixth Street Northwest to Division Street. Fireworks at Viaduct Park follow the parade. The direction of the parade route and the timing of the fireworks have both changed from previous years. Parking is also banned along Central Avenue, which pleases me greatly.

Capping off Winterfest is a street dance with music by Saint Suburbia at Crooked Pint (by Viaduct Park) from 6-10 pm. Amenities include a heated tent, an outdoor bar and burn barrels.

There you go. Join Faribault in welcoming winter in a big way this week via Winterfest.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Reflecting on Alexander Faribault, connecting past & present December 2, 2022

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The home of town founder Alexander Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2017)

ON SATURDAY, THE HOME of Faribault’s founder, Alexander Faribault, opens for its 15th annual Christmas open house. The event features the 1853 house decorated for the holidays in the French-Canadian style. Faribault was of French-Canadian and Dakota descent.

The Faribaults’ dining room set for the holidays during the 2017 Christmas open house. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2017)

To walk through the rooms of this historic home is to feel the presence of the Faribault family, including wife Mary Elizabeth Graham and their children. The Faribaults lived here only a few years before moving to a large brick mansion on the bluffs overlooking the Straight River. With 10 children, I expect they needed more space than the wood-frame house provided.

An overview of Alexander Faribault’s gravesite at Calvary Cemetery. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo April 2020)

Across town several miles to the west atop a hill overlooking the countryside on the edge of Faribault, the life of Alexander Faribault comes full circle. It is here, in Calvary Cemetery, that this fur trader, this friend of the Dakota, this town founder, this family man, is buried.

A memorial to Alexander Faribault stands at the Calvary Cemetery entrance. The birth date here differs from the one on Faribault’s tombstone. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo April 2020)

In April 2020, I visited this cemetery for the first time specifically looking for Faribault’s gravesite. I found it along with a memorial marker honoring him at the graveyard’s entrance.

Memorial marker words up close. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo April 2020)

Race or creed did not color his judgments, the marker states in part. That seems to match what I’ve read about Alexander Faribault. Both his mother and wife were of Dakota heritage, thus he and his children were, too. Alexander, who traded with and befriended the Dakota, later sheltered some of them on his land. Government treaties removed indigenous peoples from their land, including in current-day Faribault. Alexander Faribault served as an interpreter in the signing of regional treaties given his knowledge of the Dakota language and culture. I wonder if he felt conflicted by how the government treated the Dakota.

This sculpture of Alexander Faribault and a Dakota trading partner stands in Faribault’s Heritage Park near the Straight River and site of Faribault’s trading post. Faribault artist Ivan Whillock created this sculpture which sits atop the Bea Duncan Memorial Fountain. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

Today, 216 years after Faribault was born on November 28, 1806, an awareness and acknowledgment that indigenous peoples were the first inhabitants of this area is rising. Long before fur traders like Faribault set up trading posts in the region, the Dakota lived here, hunted here, fished here, raised their families here, called this place home.

This shows a portion of an in-ground marker for Alexander Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo April 2020)

When I consider the friendships forged among fur traders and the Dakota, I think of the Faribault community today and those who call this place home. This city truly is a melting pot of cultures and peoples. I celebrate that. Some day I hope we can all, like our town founder, view each other through a clear lens without the filter of race or creed coloring judgment.

A holiday greeting from Alexander Faribault displayed at a past Christmas open house. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

FYI: The Alexander Faribault House Christmas Open House is from 11 am- 3 pm Saturday, December 3, at 12 First Avenue Northeast, Faribault. The event is free and is part of this weekend’s Winterfest celebration in Faribault.

© Copyright 2022 Audrey Kletscher Helbling