The Alexander Faribault house, a historic site owned by the Rice County Historical Society. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
MANY YEARS HAVE PASSED since I toured the nondescript wood-frame house built by Alexander Faribault in 1853. Multiple times a week I pass by this house which sits along busy Minnesota State Highway 60 in downtown Faribault. It’s become so much a part of the local landscape that I don’t even notice the building which was briefly home to Faribault and his family. But it’s an important part of local history given Alexander Faribault founded the town in 1855.
A promo for the upcoming birthday celebration features a photo of Alexander Faribault. (Promo credit: Rice County Historical Society)
Attendees at the upcoming birthday celebration can learn a whole lot more about Faribault, the town and the house from staff and volunteers with the Rice County Historical Society. I’m always up to learning more about the city I’ve called home since 1984.
This sculpture of Alexander Faribault with a Dakota trading partner stands in Faribault’s Heritage Park near the Straight River and site of Faribault’s trading post. It sits atop the Bea Duncan Memorial Fountain. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
I know the basics about Alexander Faribault, a licensed fur trader who first established a trading post along the Cannon River in 1826 or 1827, depending on your information source. He was only twenty years old. He grew his business throughout the region, trading with the Wahpekute, a band of the Dakota, and moving his trading post to the confluence of the Cannon and Straight Rivers, current-day Faribault.
A mural on the former Erickson Furniture business features Alexander Faribault against the backdrop of the city’s historic viaduct. The “bridging” theme fits Faribault the man and Faribault the city. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
I imagine for Faribault, who was French Canadian and Dakota, developing trading partnerships with the Dakota proved easy given his understanding of the people, their language and culture. But later that same relationship proved challenging for him. Some locals, after the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, no longer appreciated his friendship with the Dakota and his willingness to shelter some of them on his farm.
This scene in downtown Faribault reflects our community’s diversity. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
Back then, just like today, this community has not always been accepting of others. In the 1860s, the Dakota were targeted. Today it is the Somali community. It’s disheartening when history repeats itself, when differences in skin color, food, culture and language separate us. Alexander Faribault, as a mixed blood who embraced the Dakota, surely witnessed and felt the challenges of injustices and discrimination.
Children gather around a pinata at an international festival in Faribault. It is one of my favorite award-winning photos. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
My community has certainly made progress in welcoming all to our city. Yet, we could do better. I still hear derogatory comments about our Somali neighbors, worsened by the current political climate. I still hear derogatory comments about our Hispanic neighbors, made worse by current immigration policies. We are all, unless Indigenous or descendants of slaves, of immigrant roots, something people often forget.
An overview of Alexander Faribault’s gravesite in Calvary Cemetery on the west edge of Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
Alexander Faribault wasn’t “from” here. He was born in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. But he came here, established a fur trading business and eventually founded the city of Faribault. By all accounts, he was kind, generous and compassionate and served in many capacities from interpreter to territorial legislator to school board member to postmaster. I’m sure he had his flaws. We all do. But it seems Alexander Faribault did his best to build a strong and inclusive community that has grown into the diverse city of today. I think he’d appreciate a legacy of diversity.
A snippet of the words written about Alexander Faribault on a memorial marker at Calvary Cemetery, Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
On a 1958 marker at the entrance to Calvary Cemetery where Alexander Faribault is buried, these words are written about him: Race or creed did not color his judgments. He saw in every man the image of God and thereby the possibility of making this a better place in which to live.
Those seem necessary and profound words for all of us to read. Especially today.
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.
The service program cover featured an historic photo of Native Americans incarcerated at Ft. Snelling following the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 prior to their deportation from Minnesota. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2026)
WE GATHERED. On a day when I learned that a friend, an American citizen, was recently racially-profiled and stopped by ICE. On a day when I learned that ICE vehicles have been parked in my neighborhood. On a day when several Minnesota children were released from federal detainment in Texas. On a day when the border czar announced the draw-down of 700 federal agents (out of 3,000) in Minnesota. On this early February day, 75 of us gathered for an “Evening Prayer Service for Our Nation” at the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour in Faribault, Bishop Henry Whipple’s church.
The prayer service was open to anyone who wanted to attend in a church I’ve always considered especially welcoming and focused on serving community. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2026)
I needed this service of prayer, scripture, Psalms, reflection and hymns to quiet my troubled spirit. But I needed, too, to hold space, to sit and stand and sing and pray in community, in support of anyone—especially our immigrant and refugee neighbors—illegally stopped, taken and/or detained by ICE.
A couple leans on one another during the service. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2026)
This was not a protest service. Rather, this was a reflective, prayerful, unifying, worshipful coming together of people in my community who care deeply about their neighbors and about this nation.
People arrive for the 7 pm service inside the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour, Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2026)
The Rev. James Zotalis welcomed attendees to the event held inside the massive Episcopal cathedral completed in 1869 under the leadership of Bishop Whipple. “Welcome to the Whipple building,” Zotalis said in opening his short homily. “This is the real Whipple building.”
Gathered inside the cathedral for the prayer service. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2026)
He contrasted the beautiful church to the stark seven-story Whipple Federal Building 50 miles to the north that bears the good bishop’s name and which is now a temporary detention center for those detained by ICE in Minnesota. Conditions inside have been described as “inhumane” by officials who have visited the facility.
A portrait of Bishop Henry Whipple hanging inside the cathedral. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2026)
The cathedral, Zotalis said, is a place of love and peace, its ministry modeled after that of Bishop Whipple and his first wife, Cornelia. Arriving here from Chicago in 1859, the couple had already served in dangerous areas of that city, connecting with people in tangible, helpful ways, much like we see Minnesotans stepping up and helping others today.
The Rev. Henry Doyle, left, a church member, and the Rev. James Zotalis, right, start the service with a processional. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2026)
With a repeated directive to “always say no to evil,” Zotalis said Minnesotans have done just that since the invasion of our state by masked federal agents two months ago. He listed specifics: bringing food to people afraid to leave their homes, providing rides, offering free legal aid and peacefully protesting.
Among the many hymns we sang was #482, “Lord of all hopefulness.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2026)
“Love your neighbor as yourself” was emphasized often in love-themed Scripture readings (Luke 10:27, I Corinthians 13:13, I John 4:11) during the Wednesday evening service. Like the good people of Minnesota today, Bishop Whipple showed that love long ago in his ministry to the Dakota people locally, across the state and during their imprisonment after the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 at Fort Snelling, where the Whipple Federal Building is located. Whipple faced death threats for those who opposed his compassionate work with Native Americans.
Death. In a time of remembrance during Wednesday’s service, attendees could speak the names of “deceased and alive during this time of tragedy and strife.” I spoke first: “Renee Good.” Then another voice: “Alex Pretti.” And then an attendee read the names of 32 individuals who died in ICE detention in 2025. Thirty-two.
A woman holds a prayer book used often during the service. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2026)
Many times my emotions verged on tears. As we asked, “Lord, keep this nation under your care.” As we sang “America the Beautiful.” As we prayed a Collect for Peace. As I thought of Jesus, who also lived in troubled times and who served with love and compassion.
Theme words of love, compassion, mercy and neighbor threaded throughout the service led by the reverends Zotalis and Henry Doyle. I could feel those words. And I could feel, too, the collective sense that we all needed this evening of prayer, scripture, Psalms, reflection and hymns to quiet our troubled spirits.
A mural on the bandshell at Faribault’s Central Park honors Bishop Henry Whipple. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
I EXPECT BISHOP HENRY WHIPPLE may be turning over in his grave under the altar inside the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour in Faribault. He would be appalled by what’s happening in this community with ICE enforcement. And he would also likely be standing side-by-side with protesters outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling protesting ICE’s presence in Minnesota. The federal agents are based inside the building named after him.
Whipple was all about compassion and embracing others, especially as a friend to the Dakota in Minnesota following his arrival here in 1860 and throughout his ministry. He would not be fine with ICE violently, or non-violently, taking people from their vehicles, their homes, clinics, outside schools and churches, inside businesses…and illegally detaining them without due process. That includes those here legally and American citizens imprisoned inside the building bearing Whipple’s honorable name.
I am not OK with this. None of us should be.
HOW BISHOP WHIPPLE MIGHT REACT
As Minnesota continues to deal with the presence of 3,000 ICE agents in our state, I think of the Episcopalian bishop, known as “Straight Tongue” for his honesty, and how he would react. He would assuredly be on the streets advocating for human rights. He would be talking with the current president, just like he did in 1862 with President Abraham Lincoln. Whipple traveled to DC then to personally plead for the lives of 303 Dakota sentenced to death by hanging.
Whipple would probably also be out buying groceries for Faribault residents afraid to leave their homes. He would be walking kids to their bus stops in trailer parks. He would be preaching peace, love and compassion.
HONORING WHIPPLE’S LEGACY
Those who disliked Whipple, and the Dakota, disparagingly tagged the clergyman as “The Sympathizer.” Little has changed. There are far too many in my community who hate, and, yes, that’s a strong word, anyone whose skin color is other than white. I don’t understand. They all, unless they are Native American, can trace their presence in America back to immigrants.
If only Bishop Henry Whipple was still alive to spread love in Faribault and beyond. It’s up to us to honor his legacy by loving and helping our neighbors during these especially dark days of injustice and oppression.
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FYI: To learn more about the bishop, I direct you (click here) to a previous blog post I wrote about him and his role in Minnesota history following a 2023 presentation at the Rice County Historical Society.
Walking along the Straight River Trail near Fleckenstein Bluffs Park on a recent winter day. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo December 2025)
WITH WINTER OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED, it’s easy enough to stay home, settle in, curl up with a good book and avoid the ice, cold and snow that define Minnesota weather in January. When winter burrows in, I’m more inclined to hibernate. But I push myself to get out. It’s good for my physical, mental and emotional health.
An extensive city trail system runs throughout Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo December 2025)
Faribault offers plenty of options for aging Baby Boomers like me and others who simply want to take a walk. On the worst of winter days, I can loop around the soccer field at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School, which opens its dome to the public most weekday mornings (except holidays) from November into early spring. Hours vary, but generally run from around six-ish to 9:30 am.
The Straight River Trail stretches before me in the area known as Frog Town. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo December 2025)
And when I want to be outdoors, the city’s paved recreational trails are usually cleared, allowing me to safely immerse myself in nature. There’s something about walking outdoors at a brisk pace on a cold winter day that invigorates.
Even in the drab winterscape, color can be found, such as in these dried berries. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo December 2025)
Sometimes, though, I opt to carry my camera and focus on the environment rather than upping my heart rate. Photography improves my well-being, too, because I begin to notice nature’s details in a mostly monochrome landscape. Winter’s beauty emerges. And that is good for my spirit, my soul, my creativity.
The Straight River is anything but straight as it winds between woods and bluffs in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo December 2025)
I especially delight in following the Straight River Trail because water, whether frozen or flowing free, mesmerizes me. I think humans have always been drawn to water. Near Fleckenstein Bluffs Park, the Straight River curves, winding through the woods, under the railroad bridge, along the bluffs.
Barely discernible, a temporary riverside shelter in the woods near Fleckenstein Bluffs Park. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo December 2025)
On a recent afternoon along the trail, with Canon camera in hand, I spotted a flash of red across the river in the woods. From a distance and through the trees, I couldn’t clearly distinguish details. But I knew this was a temporary shelter for someone without a permanent home. I saw a person shoveling snow.
Tangled twigs along the Straight River Trail. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo December 2025)
And I thought of my poem, “Misunderstood,” inspired by a previous walk along the Straight River Trail. That poem published in 2024 in Talking Stick 33, Earth Signs, a Minnesota literary anthology:
Misunderstood
Tents cluster along the Straight River,
home to the homeless on land
once held by the Wahpekute.
History and hardship merge here
in long-ago and present-day stories.
Bison skin tipis and nylon tents.
Different times. Different peoples.
Drawn to the water, the sheltering woods.
Misunderstood then. Misunderstood now.
This homemade trail sign, screwed to a tree along the Straight River Trail in Frog Town, leads to a path beaten through the snow. I did not follow the unofficial trail, not this time. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo December 2025)
Getting outdoors feeds my creativity. If not for that walk and my knowledge of Faribault history, I would not have crafted that poem about the Dakota and those experiencing homelessness today in my community. I observe, photograph, write, creating photos and stories that need to be shared.
Barn Bluff in Red Wing as photographed from Sorin’s Bluff in Memorial Park. Zoom in and you will see people on a path atop the bluff. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
AT THE BASE of He Mni Caɳ, also known as “Barn Bluff,” I contemplated whether to climb the 340-foot cliff rising high above the Mississippi River in southern Minnesota. It seemed like a good idea when Randy and I were considering just that on our drive from Faribault to Red Wing recently. But reality set in once we found the bluff, started up a steep pathway and determined that this might be a little much for two people pushing seventy. My vision issues and fear of heights also factored into discontinuing our hike.
An historic photo in an informational plaza shows teepees at the bluff’s base, circa 1840s. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
While disappointed, I was still thankful we were here because He Mni Caɳ holds historical, cultural and sacred significance for the Bdewakantunwan Dakota Oyate, the Indigenous Peoples who originally inhabited this land. They lived on land below and around the bluff on the site of current-day Red Wing. They held ceremonies and rituals atop the bluff, also used for burial, shelter from enemies and more. This was, and always has been, a sacred place to the Dakota.
This sign welcomes visitors to Barn Bluff. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
That message is shared in an Entrance Plaza to He Mni Caɳ. There storytelling markers and seven towering pillars reveal details about this place and its importance to Native Americans. Via images, words and art, I began to learn, to understand. By learning, I am also honoring National Native American Heritage Month celebrated in November.
An overview of the seven columns rimming a center plaza at the base of Barn Bluff. That’s an aged power plant in the background. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
I admittedly did not read every single word and somehow missed noticing the buttons to push on the storytelling markers that would allow me to hear the spoken Dakota language. But I still gathered enough information, enough story, to recognize the value of this land to the Dakota and the respect we should all hold for them, their history and the sacred He Mni Caɳ, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Mississippi River Valley is a place of remarkable natural beauty, here photographed from atop Sorin’s Bluff in Memorial Park. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
The city of Red Wing and the nearby Prairie Island Indian Community have partnered to preserve and honor this place along the Mississippi following the guiding principles of heal, sustain, educate and honor. I saw that and read that in the plaza.
A message highlighted on a plaza column. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
The pillars feature traditional Dakota patterns. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
Strong words on a storytelling marker. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
As I viewed the historic Dakota patterns on the seven plaza columns and walked around this history circle reading and photographing, words and phrases popped out at me: We are all related. Interconnectedness. Kinship and a shared landscape. If only, I thought, we would all hold those words close, remember them in our differences, remember them in our relationships with each other and with the earth, remember them in our struggles and disconnect.
A sculptured head tops a storytelling marker. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
The city of Red Wing is named after Tatanka Mani (“Walking Buffalo”), long ago leader of the Mdewakanton Dakota in the upper Mississippi River Valley. Early immigrants who settled in the area gave him that name. Tatanka Mani helped shape the history of this region through his decisions and leadership. He was clearly connected to his people, to the non-Natives who arrived here, and to the land.
A current-day view of Barn’s Bluff from high atop Sorin’s Bluff. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
Today He Mni Caɳ/Barn Bluff remains a major attraction in Red Wing, just as it was years ago for those traveling the river, exploring the region. Henry David Thoreau, Henry Schoolcraft and Zebulon Pike are among the countless who viewed the river and river valley below from atop the bluff.
Two of the storytelling markers at the entrance plaza and steps leading to paths that take hikers onto and up the bluff. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)
But not me. I was content to stand at its base, to take in the history shared there. And then later to view the bluff from Sorin’s Bluff in Memorial Park, a park with a road leading to the top. Even then I settled for a partial ascent, because I’d had enough of heights on this day when He Mni Caɳ challenged me and I learned the history of this sacred place.
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.(Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
HOW DO YOU DEFINE heritage? I ask that question because this week my southern Minnesota community celebrates Heritage Days.
I would define heritage as a cultural or ethnic background. I am, for example, of German heritage.
So one would likely assume then that Heritage Days focuses on heritage. It did. Once. But no more. Not primarily. Rather, this multi-day event in Faribault seems more a June get together with the usual food, music, parade, craft fair and such of any summer community gathering.
It’s not that my city of some 24,000 lacks in cultural and ethnic diversity to theme Heritage Days. We are a bit of a melting pot with our newest residents arriving from Somalia and Sudan. Early on, the French, Irish, Germans and others settled here to shape and grow Faribault. Latinos also define a sizable part of our population. Many others have come from multiple countries to this place along the Cannon and Straight Rivers. Most are generations removed from the homeland. Some, though, are first-generation immigrants.
Jeff Jarvis created and handed out this mini booklet about the Wahpekute Band of the Dakota at a previous presentation at Books on Central. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
But back to Heritage Days. Looking through the long list of events, I see several opportunities to learn about local heritage and history. The first happens at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 11, at the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour. Regional artist and historian Jeff Jarvis will talk about “The Wakpekute Dakota & Early Faribault History.” I’ve previously heard Jarvis speak on the Dakota, original inhabitants of the land. He’s done his research. I highly recommend attending his presentation. I’m always surprised by how little long-time residents seem to know about the Dakota and their long ago presence in what would become Faribault. Jarvis presents an informative lesson in local Native heritage.
Likewise, the Rice County Historical Society Museum will be open, free of charge, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. It’s a good place to see Native American and other artifacts, learn about our early fur trading and additional local history, learn about notable people like Chief Taopi and Bishop Henry Whipple, and more. Bishop Whipple founded and served the Cathedral where Jarvis is speaking.
The historic Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour sits across from Central Park and is a must-see in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2024)
The historic Cathedral will be open for tours at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, June 15, following a 10 a.m. Ecumenical Service including bluegrass music. This massive cathedral—and, yes, it really is a cathedral—is important in local Dakota history as the bishop worked closely with Native Americans, some of whom worshipped here.
Fur trader and town founder Alexander Faribault, who was of Dakota and French Canadian heritage, also worked closely with the Dakota. His wood-frame house will be open for free tours from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, June 14.
Downtown Faribault features well-kept aged buildings in our historic district. I photographed this scene during a Car Cruise Night. There’s a Car Cruise here Friday, June 13, from 6-9 p.m. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
The Rice County Historical Society will also offer a guided Downtown Walking Tour on Friday and Saturday with two time slots of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. The $5 tour, led by RCHS Program and Outreach Coordinator Kiran Loewenstein, begins at Central Park. Anticipated to take 1-1 ½ hours, the tour route follows Central Avenue with a focus on the historic district and buildings and early general Faribault history. I expect that will offer ample opportunity to not only learn about early history and heritage, but also to see the heritage of our newest residents in downtown core ethnic businesses.
Two more opportunities to embrace local history (although not officially part of Heritage Days) are inside the State Bank of Faribault along Central Avenue. Local streetscapes and landscapes by Father Jim Zotalis, spiritual leader of the Cathedral, are displayed in a pop-up exhibit in the bank lobby. And for those interested in Faribault’s brewing history, the bank holds an extensive collection of Fleck’s beer memorabilia form long ago Fleckenstein Brewery. Both are accessible during business hours only.
Learning about pirates at the pirate ship sitting near the Cannon River. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
TO READ ABOUT THE PAST is one thing. To learn about history via people passionate about the past is quite another.
Folk singers Curtis & Loretta from Minneapolis perform Sunday morning. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
The past came alive over the weekend at the first-ever Riverside Rendezvous and History Festival in Faribault organized by the Rice County Historical Society. I spent four hours of my Mother’s Day roaming the festival grounds alongside the Cannon River at North Alexander Park. Listening. Learning. Connecting. Questioning. Observing. And photographing.
Many rendezvous feature medallions (like these for the Faribault festival) which participants post on their tents. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
This re-enactor taught kids and adults to stitch mini leather pouches. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
Small handcrafted leather bags for sale. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
The Rendezvous covered 1701-1900 with participants dressed in period costume. Think top hats, mountain hats, head scarves, long skirts, lots of leather and fur.
Before shooting off three cannons, this re-enactor talked about cannon balls, loading and firing a cannon, and safety. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
Firing one of three cannons. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
Before the cannons were fired, fest attendees were told to cover their ears “like fish.” The boom was loud. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
The re-enactors shared their period skills from blacksmithing to hat making to cannon shooting, rug weaving, leather stitching and much more. There was a lot to see, a lot to learn. And a lot to do, if you chose to participate.
Spools of colorful string for rug weaving fill a vintage suitcase. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
Folks gather around Lori Feltis as she weaves on her portable loom and talks about rug making. She operates Bohemian Rag Rug Studio near Stewartville. My grandkids enjoyed some hands-on weaving with Lori. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
A narrow strip woven on Lori’s loom. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
I left the hands-on activities to others, including two of my elementary-aged grandkids. They joined many kids trying out new skills, making memories. School classes attended the festival Thursday and Friday. So many lessons taught and learned.
Valin with his “pet” skunk. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
My biggest personal lesson of the day came in an unexpected way, and not until I arrived home. While walking from one tent to another at the Rendezvous, I crossed paths with Valin cuddling his pet skunk. I’d never seen a real skunk up close and I was rather excited to photograph Little Stinky. I even called my husband over for a close-up look. Valin assured me Stinky’s stinky part had been removed. Back home, Randy revealed to me that Little Stinky was a pelt. “Didn’t you see his (Valin’s) hand underneath moving the skunk?” Uh, no. I can only imagine the story Valin told around the evening campfire about the lady who thought his skunk was alive. This is now the stuff of laughter and legend for my family. Lesson learned: Everything is not as it appears.
Sam Temple presented about early Minnesota history with a focus on Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
That humorous moment aside, I did appreciate the honest and informative storytelling of local historian and documentary filmmaker Sam Temple. Smartly attired in a top hat and dress clothes, he talked about early Minnesota, about Indigenous Peoples, about the illegal French Canadian fur traders who came here first—about their relationship of interdependence and co-existence with Native Peoples and how a new mixed race culture developed.
Scraping a beaver hide, the woman in this tent focused on the Dakota, their connection to nature and how that wove into their way of living. They traded furs for goods. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
Temple shared much more before shifting his focus to Faribault town founder Alexander Faribault, of mixed race (his mother was part Dakota) and a licensed fur trader by age 21. Alexander arrived in a multi-cultural community with “a foot in both worlds,” Temple said. Wood-frame houses and teepees stood side-by-side. As I listened, I considered my multi-cultural community today. Getting along, but not always. By the time Alexander Faribault, who was historically-influential both locally and state-wide, left Faribault, “the teepees were missing and his mother’s culture was gone,” Temple said.
There were several food and beverage vendors on-site, with Baby’s Indian Frybread proving especially popular. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
If there’s something else I learned while attending the Rendezvous it is that I absolutely love fruit-filled Indian frybread, which I’ve not previously eaten. The sugar-topped pie-like dessert oozed blueberry filling and cream cheese. It was beyond decadent.
A blacksmithing demonstration. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
As much as I loved frybread and Little Stinky, the good folks who participate in history fests like the Riverside Rendezvous assuredly love stepping back in time. Their passion and desire to present the past in a way that engages people in history was something I felt, saw, heard while moving from tent to tent, space to space. To be part of this proved a cultural, historic experience, growing my knowledge and appreciation of those who shaped Minnesota and Faribault, this place I call home.
Tents were scattered across the spacious, shady grounds of riverside North Alexander Park. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo May 2025)
FYI: Please check back for more photos from the Riverside Rendezvous and History Festival in Faribault.This year’s Rendezvous was so successful that the Rice County Historical Society is planning a second one for 2026, but a weekend later so the event does not fall on Mother’s Day and the fishing opener weekend.
Prominent signage at Maple Lawn Cemetery directs visitors to the gravesite of Chief Taopi, “Wounded Man.” He was wounded in a battle with the Ojibwe. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
HE FOUND HIMSELF AT ODDS with his own people. A “Farmer Indian” among “Blanket Indians.” A peace promoter among those who favored war. He was Chief Taopi, a member of the Little Crow Band of the Mdewakanton Dakota. He’s buried in Faribault, at Maple Lawn Cemetery.
A tipi formation easily identifies the burial site of Taopi and his daughter, Cornelia Whipple Taopi. She died at age 18. He died at 56. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
Recently, I attended a presentation about Taopi by Rice County Historical Society Executive Director Dave Nichols. It’s not the first time I’ve listened to local talks on the history of Native Americans in Minnesota, focused on those who called Faribault home. Each time I learn something new.
A Taopi exhibit at the Rice County Historical Society. The carving (by Ivan Whillock) and photo show Taopi with short hair as a “Farmer Indian.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
During his talk, Nichols called Taopi “a poster child for what an assimilated Dakota looks like.” And he didn’t mean that in a negative way. “You either assimilated or you would be destroyed,” Nichols said, qualifying that he wasn’t saying assimilation was right. Understood.
As settlers moved into Minnesota, pushing onto Native lands, the Dakota found themselves facing many challenges. Some, like Taopi, gave up their culture and adopted European ways, believing that was the only way to survive. That included learning to farm as the White man farmed. Taopi was considered the leader of the “Farmer Indians,” a term assigned during the U.S. Census. Dakota who continued in traditional cultural ways were labeled “Blanket Indians.”
A photo panel at the Traverse des Sioux Treaty Center in St. Peter shows Dakota leaders photographed in Washington D.C. in 1858. The photo is from the Minnesota Historical Society. The war followed broken treaties. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
Taopi farmed and established a school and mission, Hazelwood Republic, with chiefs Wabasha and Good Thunder on the Lower Sioux Reservation along the Minnesota River in southwestern Minnesota, Nichols shared. Because I grew up in that region, I’ve always been particularly interested in the Indigenous Peoples who were original inhabitants of the land, including Redwood and Brown counties. The region became the epicenter of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, which centered around issues of land, hunger and broken promises.
An historic-themed bench on the corner of Central Avenue and Sixth Street in Faribault highlights Taopi. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo April 2025)
That war facilitated the banishment of most Native Americans from Minnesota. If Taopi and other Dakota would have had their way, that war may not have happened. He led the Peace Party opposed to war, while his cousin, Little Crow, led the War Party, Nichols said. Taopi protected White settlers during the short war which claimed countless lives on both sides.
The names of the Dakota who were hung are listed at Reconciliation Park in Mankato. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
Post-war, though, it mattered not to the U.S. government whether you were a Dakota person who opposed the war or who engaged in war, according to Nichols. All were considered guilty, imprisoned and eventually exiled from Minnesota (although not the Mdewakanton). Thirty-eight Dakota men were hung on December 26, 1862, in Mankato (40 miles from my community) during the largest mass execution ever in the U.S. It’s truly a tragic event in Minnesota history. But what multiples the awfulness is that 1,600 Dakota prisoners were marched to Mankato to watch the hangings before being marched back to Fort Snelling. That was new information I had not previously heard and it troubles me greatly.
These portraits by Dana Hanson of Faribault’s Founding Fathers, Alexander Faribault (left to right), Taopi and Bishop Henry Whipple, hang in Buckham Memorial Library. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
Taopi avoided prosecution and banishment, eventually landing in Faribault with 180 other Mdewakanton. About 80 were family members, according to Nichols. It was his friendship with Bishop Henry Whipple, who had long worked with and advocated for Native Peoples, that brought Taopi here. Town founder Alexander Faribault housed “the Peacefuls,” as the 180 were considered, on his land. They lived in tipis and lodges.
The home of fur trader and town founder Alexander Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2017)
As you might rightly guess, not everyone in Faribault liked the Mdewakanton living among them. A wall was built in the area around Alexander Faribault’s house to protect them. Taopi became a community leader, said Nichols. As such he represented his people and mediated when necessary.
By the time of Taopi’s 1869 death, 90 of the 180 Mdewakanton who settled in Faribault had already left. But they left behind an imprint upon the land, not necessarily seen or appreciated even today. Yet, efforts are underway to change that with The Faribault Dakota Project. Nichols couldn’t speak specifically to that, only to say that local historian Jeff Jarvis has been working with the Dakota community on how to memorialize and honor the Indigenous Peoples of Faribault. That also includes the Wahpekute Dakota.
Peace Park, a protected Dakota burial site (but unmarked as such) next to the parking lot of Buckham Memorial Library. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
Among the locales discussed by those attending Nichols’ talk was Peace Park, a triangle-shaped slice of property near Buckham Memorial Library. Alexander Faribault donated the land to the city with the stipulation that it never be developed. According to Nichols, the park is a protected burial site, where at least two Dakota are buried. Their bones were unintentionally uncovered in 1874 and then reburied. Today nothing marks that land as a cemetery. Rather a faith-based WWII monument stands in Peace Park. There is no reference to the Dakota. Perhaps some day this will be righted and the land publicly recognized as sacred ground. That is my hope as I continue to learn about the Dakota who once called Faribault home. I am grateful for every opportunity to grow my knowledge of them and their importance in local and state history.
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FYI: Here are some suggested Dakota-connected places to visit in Faribault: the Rice County Historical Society Museum, Maple Lawn and Calvary cemeteries, the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour, a mural on the Central Park Bandshell and information on an historic-themed bench along Central Avenue.
Two fun facts:A small southeastern Minnesota town in Mower County near the Iowa border is called Taopi, named after the Mdewakanton Dakota chief. It suffered a devastating tornado in April 2022. The town celebrates its 150th birthday this year.
A woman attending Dave Nichols’ talk named her horse Taopi after Chief Taopi.
This limestone sculpture by Thomas Miller depicts a Dakota warrior. It sits across from Reconciliation Park in Mankato at the Blue Earth County Library. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo November 2023)
FORGIVE EVERYONE EVERYTHING.
Powerful words on a bench at the Dakota 38 Memorial in Reconciliation Park. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo November 2023)
Those uppercase engraved block words, white against red on a stone bench at the Dakota 38 Memorial in the heart of downtown Mankato at Reconciliation Park, hold the strength of a people who really have no reason to forgive. But they choose to do so. And in forgiveness comes healing.
The names of the 38 Dakota men hung in Mankato are listed on the Dakota 38 Memorial. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo November 2023)
December 26 marks the date in 1862 when 38 Dakota men were hung near this site along the Minnesota River in America’s largest mass execution. Originally, 303 Dakota were sentenced to death following “trials” (the quotes are intentional) after the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. President Abraham Lincoln reviewed the list of those sentenced to death, approving the hanging of thirty-eight. Thousands gathered to watch the execution on the day after Christmas 162 years ago.
Up close, names of the Dakota who were hung. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo November 2023)
This history I learned early on, but only from a White perspective and only because of my roots in southwestern Minnesota, at the epicenter of the war. I expect many Americans, including many Minnesotans, to this day know nothing of this conflict that killed hundreds of Whites and Dakota. Internment and exile of the Dakota followed. Native Peoples suffered because of the atrocities before and after the war.
A massive limestone sculpture of a white buffalo in Reconciliation Park represents the spiritual survival of the Dakota. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo November 2023)
This is history I’d encourage everyone to study. And not just from a one-sided perspective. I won’t pretend that I am fully-informed. I’m not. I do, though, have a much better understanding than I did growing up. I’ve read, listened, learned. I know of stolen land, broken treaties and promises. Starvation. Injustices. Demeaning words like those attributed to a trader who told starving Dakota to “eat grass.” Andrew Myrick was later reportedly found dead, his mouth stuffed with grass.
A sign in Reconciliation Park directs visitors to the many sites around Mankato focused on reconciliation and remembrance. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo November 2023)
But back to those three words on that stone bench in Mankato: FORGIVE EVERYONE EVERYTHING. The Dakota truly have no reason to forgive. But they choose to do so. I’ve learned that forgiveness is part of Dakota culture and beliefs.
An overview of the location of Reconciliation Park along Riverfront Drive in Mankato, along the Minnesota River and across from the public library. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo November 2023)
In the month of December, the attitude of forgiveness extends beyond words in stone to an annual horseback ride honoring the 38+2 (two more Dakota were sentenced to death two years later). This year, two rides—The Makatoh Reconciliation & Healing Horse Ride and The Dakota Exile Ride, the first originating in South Dakota, the other in Nebraska—will end on December 26 with gatherings at Reconciliation Park and the Blue Earth County Library, located across from each other.
Just down the street from Reconciliation Park, murals on the Ardent Mills grain silos celebrate the diversity of Mankato, including that of the Dakota. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo November 2023)
These rides focus on educating, remembering, honoring, healing and forgiving. Five powerful verbs when connected with the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.
Katherine Hughes’ poem ends with the word “forgiveness.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo November 2023)
The poem “Reconcile,” written by Katherine Hughes and posted in Reconciliation Park, closes with this powerful verse: Hope for a future/When memories remain/Balanced by forgiveness.
A Dakota prayer in the park ends with the word “reconciliation.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo November 2023)
FORGIVE EVERYONE EVERYTHING.
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FYI: Here’s the schedule for the December 26 events. A community gathering is set for 9 am-10 am at Reconciliation Park and the library. Horseback riders arrive at 10 a.m. A ceremony in the park takes place from 10 am-11:30 am. From 11:30 am-1 pm, a healing circle will happen at the library with discussion surrounding the events of December 26, 1862, covering the past, present and future. A community meal for the horseback riders, who rode hundreds of miles to Mankato, follows.
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Reflecting on Alexander Faribault upon his June 22 birthday June 17, 2026
Tags: Alexander Faribault, Alexander Faribault House, birthday, Calvary Cemetery, celebration, commentary, Dakota, diversity, events, Faribault, fur trader, history, June 22, Minnesota, open house, Rice County Historical Society, Wahpekute
MANY YEARS HAVE PASSED since I toured the nondescript wood-frame house built by Alexander Faribault in 1853. Multiple times a week I pass by this house which sits along busy Minnesota State Highway 60 in downtown Faribault. It’s become so much a part of the local landscape that I don’t even notice the building which was briefly home to Faribault and his family. But it’s an important part of local history given Alexander Faribault founded the town in 1855.
On Monday, June 22, Alexander Faribault will be celebrated at a free birthday open house from 5-6:30 p.m. in his former home at 12 First Avenue Northeast. Born 220 years ago in 1806, Faribault died at age 76 in November 1882.
Attendees at the upcoming birthday celebration can learn a whole lot more about Faribault, the town and the house from staff and volunteers with the Rice County Historical Society. I’m always up to learning more about the city I’ve called home since 1984.
I know the basics about Alexander Faribault, a licensed fur trader who first established a trading post along the Cannon River in 1826 or 1827, depending on your information source. He was only twenty years old. He grew his business throughout the region, trading with the Wahpekute, a band of the Dakota, and moving his trading post to the confluence of the Cannon and Straight Rivers, current-day Faribault.
I imagine for Faribault, who was French Canadian and Dakota, developing trading partnerships with the Dakota proved easy given his understanding of the people, their language and culture. But later that same relationship proved challenging for him. Some locals, after the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, no longer appreciated his friendship with the Dakota and his willingness to shelter some of them on his farm.
Back then, just like today, this community has not always been accepting of others. In the 1860s, the Dakota were targeted. Today it is the Somali community. It’s disheartening when history repeats itself, when differences in skin color, food, culture and language separate us. Alexander Faribault, as a mixed blood who embraced the Dakota, surely witnessed and felt the challenges of injustices and discrimination.
My community has certainly made progress in welcoming all to our city. Yet, we could do better. I still hear derogatory comments about our Somali neighbors, worsened by the current political climate. I still hear derogatory comments about our Hispanic neighbors, made worse by current immigration policies. We are all, unless Indigenous or descendants of slaves, of immigrant roots, something people often forget.
Alexander Faribault wasn’t “from” here. He was born in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. But he came here, established a fur trading business and eventually founded the city of Faribault. By all accounts, he was kind, generous and compassionate and served in many capacities from interpreter to territorial legislator to school board member to postmaster. I’m sure he had his flaws. We all do. But it seems Alexander Faribault did his best to build a strong and inclusive community that has grown into the diverse city of today. I think he’d appreciate a legacy of diversity.
On a 1958 marker at the entrance to Calvary Cemetery where Alexander Faribault is buried, these words are written about him: Race or creed did not color his judgments. He saw in every man the image of God and thereby the possibility of making this a better place in which to live.
Those seem necessary and profound words for all of us to read. Especially today.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling