TO WRITE A FICTIONAL BOOK, you begin with an idea, which births words. Words beget sentences, then paragraphs, then chapters. But the process is not quite that simple. Creating a work of fiction requires attention to detail from character development to dialogue to setting to plot. I’ve written short stories that have published, thus understand the craft.
I want to hone in on one word—details. They are a hallmark of a good story, of creative writing. And they are also the hallmark of small towns. Let me explain.
How many times have you driven through a community without really seeing it, without noticing the rich details that, like details in a story, make it unique, interesting?
I notice the little things. Perhaps it’s my journalism and photography background that draw me to look closer, beyond the surface. I seek out anything that is different, unusual, surprising. And I’m never disappointed.
Drive slowly around any small town or walk along Main Street with a focused perspective and you will soon see the details that integrate into the story line of a community. That includes Kenyon, a Goodhue County town of around 1,900 best known for its Boulevard of Roses.
Minnesota State Highway 60, along which all those roses grow, runs right through the heart of Kenyon, intersecting with state highway 56. The intersection thrums with traffic. But I wonder how many motorists notice the bold Fox’s Garage Firestone Tires sign painted on the side of a stalwart brick building half a block away from that busy intersection? It’s an artsy nod to local history.
Nearby, at the Kenyon Veterans Memorial Park, I discovered Jacob’s Tree and a plaque honoring Jacob Wetterling and all missing children. It was an unexpected memorial in a place focused on veterans. But it also seemed fitting to honor the 11-year-old Minnesota boy who was abducted by a stranger in 1989, his remains found 27 years later. Jacob was, after all, a small town boy grabbed while biking to a video store.
Kenyon once had a video store, now a tobacco and vape shop. The K-Town Video sign tells me that.
Likewise, remnants of fuel pricing signage still banner a former gas station where today Che Che’s Lunchera food truck serves up Mexican food under the station canopy.
Details like these point to a town’s history, to its evolution. Back at the vets park, a fading vintage sign once directed snowmobilers to gas and food along a designated trail route.
I hold a fondness for signs and Kenyon offers plenty of homegrown signage. That includes clever and humorous messages posted outside Kenyon Meats along highway 60. I expect many motorists have noticed SMOKE MEAT NOT METH and DON’T FRY BACON NAKED. And now the newest—YOUR MOM LIKES OUR MEAT.
But it takes a turn onto a side street and through an alley to see an old John Deere tractor parked next to a pick-up truck behind a building. This is a farming community rooted in rural.
Along that same alley, next to the post office parking lot, I noticed a basketball hoop standing between dumpsters and a recycling bin. It seemed out of place until I realized there’s probably an apartment above the post office. The hoop hints at teens dribbling a basketball across the pavement on a hot summer evening, arms and legs flailing in a pick-up game, sweat beading their foreheads.
Across the street at the Kenyon VFW, I spotted the silhouette of a veteran on a side door with an honoring message of “WE SALUTE YOU.” More characters, more dialogue, more stories. On this visit to Kenyon, I looked for details that often go unnoticed. And when I looked, I saw community.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
The value of village, especially now April 7, 2026
Tags: African proverb, art, charity, collection boxes, commentary, community, donations, Faribault, Faribault Community Action Center, food insecurity, food shelf, giving, Minnesota, Operation Metro Surge, Shattuck-St. Mary's School, village
“IT TAKES A VILLAGE to raise a child,” according to an African proverb turned catchphrase by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in her 1996 book, It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us.
While I’ve not read Clinton’s book, I understand the importance of a village, of community, in the lives of children. Kids learn, not only from their parents, teachers and each other, but also from being out and about in their communities.
They learn, and teach us adults, about care and compassion, about service and giving back, of lifting up community. In these days of innumerable challenges in America, such lessons are truly more important than ever.
I need only look within my own core family to see this. In mid-February, my two elementary-aged grandchildren helped their mom, my eldest, transport items from their Lakeville church to a food shelf in nearby Farmington. The kids sorted donated items. And my first grade grandson wrote about the experience for a school assignment complete with illustrations. “I helped at church (beacus (sic) of ICE),” Isaac wrote.
He knew. His mom has been working tirelessly soliciting cash donations, buying and delivering groceries to a south metro food shelf, and sorting and bagging donations during and after Operation Metro Surge. Not only has she assisted those sheltering in their homes, but she has also taught her children an important lesson in helping others.
Kids are never too young to learn about generosity, about loving their neighbors. About giving of themselves in service to community.
That brings me to Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a private college prep school in Faribault. While heading to walk at the Shattuck dome on a recent morning, I noticed several cardboard collection boxes in the public gathering space/hallway of the athletic complex. I stopped to investigate.
While the boxes were empty, I read about their purpose. Students, calling themselves “Sabre Storm,” “The Breakfast Club” and “Team Cheese,” are collecting non-perishable food and household and personal care items for the Faribault Community Action Center.
Most needed are: dry beans, canned soups, ramen noodles, canned chicken/tuna, size 7 diapers and pull-ups. I expect those attending hockey and soccer games, and other activities inside the sports complex will drop donations into the collection boxes.
I love that students like Jorge, Lara, Max, Miranda, Yujin, Rhys, Gael and 38 others, who signed the boxes, are connecting with the Faribault community via this drive. There’s not only a “heightened need” for food, household and personal care items at the Community Action Center, but also for cash donations.
I read that on the CAC website. But I’ve also heard this from a friend who volunteers at the CAC. The increased need all circles back to my grandson’s words, “beacus (sic) of ICE.” Many people in Faribault were sheltering in place, unable to work, during the height of federal immigration enforcement. And just because that operation has scaled back, the crisis has not ended.
The CAC has established a Community Response Fund “to meet urgent and evolving community needs” for food, rental assistance, etc. Every donation helps, my friend says. Even $10.
It takes a village. It takes a village to raise children. And it takes a village to help our neighbors through a crisis, a crisis created by the federal government. A crisis that has left too many Minnesota families facing overwhelming financial challenges, trauma, personal struggles and an uncertain future.
FYI: Please consider making a financial gift to the Faribault Community Action Center Community Response Fund. Click here to learn more. To those of you who have already donated, thank you. I appreciate your generosity during these challenging times in my community. It takes a village.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling