Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

From Northfield: Of bank robbers & books, lots of books April 22, 2025

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The James-Younger Gang shooting it out during a past Defeat of Jesse James Days parade. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

NORTHFIELD, MINNESOTA is best-known as the community that, on September 7, 1876, thwarted plans by the James-Younger Gang to rob the First National Bank. Townspeople stood their ground against the outlaws, ending in the deaths of the acting bank cashier, a Swedish immigrant and two of the robbers before the gang fled. Northfield marks the failed bank robbery each September with a Defeat of Jesse James Days celebration. That draws 100,000-plus to this city of some 21,000.

Books I’ve purchased at a used book sale, not in Northfield, but in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

This week the masses will once again descend on this riverside college town, not for a historical occasion, but rather for one of Minnesota’s biggest used book sales, the Great Northfield Minnesota Book Fair. Certainly, crowds will not swell to levels gathered for the historical event in September. But they will be large, as I can attest from shopping past book fairs, although not recently.

The sale, sponsored by the Northfield Hospital Auxiliary, features an estimated 70,000 donated books, musical recordings, games and puzzles filling tables inside the Northfield Ice Arena. The goal is to raise $100,000 “to enhance healthcare in the Northfield Area.” That means funding special projects at the local hospital and clinics, supporting local health organizations and offering health education scholarships. The book fair began in 1961 and in 2018 hit $1 million in total sales.

Doors for this year’s sale open at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, closing for the day at 9 p.m.. The fair continues until Saturday, April 26, with the following hours: 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Friday is half-price day. Saturday is $5 bag day until 12:30 p.m. From 1-3 p.m. Saturday everything is free. Yes, free.

Puzzles will also be sold at the Book Fair in Northfield. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

Shopping this book fair almost leaves you feeling like you’re robbing the bank given the reasonable prices. Base prices for paperbacks are $1 and for hardcovers, $2, according to the Book Fair website. Of course, some are priced higher depending on rarity or newness. Musical offerings will cost a few bucks. Puzzles and games are priced around $5.

I’ve never shopped the first, or even the second or third, day of the sale. I suppose I’ve missed out by waiting, especially when looking for children’s books. But, hey, with a starting inventory of 70,000, it takes a while for the supply to diminish. There’s still plenty for people to haul out (and they do, by the wagon and box loads) during Saturday’s two-hour freebie close-out.

Defeat of Jesse James Days bobbleheads for sale at the Northfield History Center. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo April 2025)

Some 300 volunteers sort through donations, set up and run the sale in the sprawling ice arena with books separated into more than two dozen categories. The organization and efficiency are truly something to behold. The sheer size of this book fair is overwhelming. But then again, Northfield is a city that values books, knowledge and learning, as evidenced by its two liberal arts colleges, an independent bookstore, an engaged public library and an active writing community, especially of poets. That Northfield hosts one of Minnesota’s biggest book fairs should come as no surprise. This is a community which embraces books, and stands up to bank robbers.

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Beer, brats & bare feet January 24, 2014

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RIGHT NOW YOU’RE likely wondering about that title, Beer, brats & bare feet. What’s the connection?

The commonalities, my friends, are the letter “b” and Minnesota.

Let me explain.

The other morning a customer stopped by the automotive machine shop which my husband runs in Northfield, Minnesota. Nothing extraordinary about that. Customers filter in and out all day.

Imagine wearing sandals right now outdoors in Minnesota.

Imagine wearing sandals right now outdoors in Minnesota.

But this customer arrived in sandals. On a day when temperatures hovered around zero degrees Fahrenheit and the windchill plunged the “feels like” temp even lower. This guy wasn’t wearing socks with his sandals, as you might expect, although he was wrapped in a winter coat.

Naturally, my spouse inquired about the bare feet and sandals. The customer replied (and this is not an exact quote) that he was tapping into his inner hippie.

Alright then.

My husband loves brats and grills them in the winter along with meats that I will eat. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

My husband loves brats and grills them year-round along with meats that I will eat. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

Over at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in rural Gibbon, Minnesota, parishioners are apparently tapping into our state’s Scandinavian and German heritages via a Sven & Ole Book Fair at an All You Can Eat Pancake & Bratwurst Dinner from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday, January 26.

Bars made by Lutherans, but not from St. Peter's Church. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

Bars made by Lutherans, but not from St. Peter’s Church. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

Also on the menu are applesauce, cheese, cookies and bars. Yes, bars. How Minnesotan is that?

And how Minnesotan that the book fair comes via Sven & Ole’s Books in the nearby noted German city of New Ulm. And, yes, the proprietor’s name truly is Sven and his brother’s middle name is Olaf, Ole for short, according to the bookstore website.

Icy cold beer served up in a Minnesota Vikings mug.

Icy cold beer served up in a Minnesota Vikings mug. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

Now about that beer, which I think would be a better accompaniment for brats than pancakes. I like neither brats nor pancakes, although I am 100 percent German. But I do like bars, the kind you eat. And I enjoy an occasional mug of beer.

I learned through a recent column in The Gaylord Hub, a small-town newspaper where I worked as a reporter and photographer right out of college, about the Minnesota Historical Society’s “Beer and Brewing in the Land of Sky Blue Waters” lecture/workshop offering. It is funded through grant monies from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund as part of the Minnesota Historical Society in the Libraries Adult Programming.

August Schell Brewing Company in New Ulm. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

August Schell Brewing Company in New Ulm. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

A “discussion of brewing history along with beer tasting by Schell’s,” a New Ulm brewery, was recently held at the Gaylord Public Library, for adults 21 and over with valid ID, according to info written by Gaylord’s librarian. Two days later, nearby St. Peter hosted the same beer event at its community center.

So there you have it. Beer, brats and bare feet in Minnesota. Cheers.

Thoughts?

© Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling