Selections from Jamaica included “Linstead Market” and “Stand Up For Your Rights” at a 2014 Songs of Hope concert in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
HOPE. IT’S A POWERFUL WORD. A universal word. A word that is both noun and verb. Likewise, music is universal in the power it holds.
On Tuesday, July 15, the power of those two words comes to Faribault in a 7 p.m. free performance (donations are encouraged) by Songs of Hope at the Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour. The high-energy international performing arts group, which is part of a six-week summer camp in St. Paul, presents songs with messages of peace, love and respect. Therein lies the hope. You’ll leave this show feeling hopeful, that perhaps we can all get along if we work at it, embrace one another and our differences, and follow the lead of these young people.
Song and dance from Vietnam.(Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2014)
Youth performers from Italy, Vietnam, Guatemala, Jamaica, Turkey, Israel, China and the USA will sing and dance their way into your hearts. I know. I’ve seen this global group perform locally. They’ve been to Faribault multiple times on their out-state Minnesota tour. They uplifted me and gave me hope, along with joy.
The group’s mission is “to share musically the global cultures of its young singers in concerts that mix traditional and popular songs from many countries with English-language songs chosen sometimes to entertain and sometimes to provoke thought.”
Artistic Director Jeanne Junge says, “…when we’re choosing the songs in English, we are careful to include a rich mix of messages, because we feel strongly that audiences need to know that young people in every country see the violence and injustices around them, and they want a better world.”
Isn’t that what we all want? A better world. These select youth, some as young as ten, make this a better world via their concerts. Yet, that they even have to think about, witness and/or experience violence and injustices troubles me. But that is reality world-wide today.
From Italy…(Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2014)
I encourage you to take in the Songs of Hope show with its song, dance and cultural dress if you have the opportunity. Additional public performances in southeastern Minnesota are set for 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, July 16, at LARK Toys in Kellogg (a 20-minute show) and full shows at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 17, at the State Theatre in Zumbrota and Friday, July 18, at Potter Auditorium in Chatfield. To see a list of all upcoming Songs of Hope concerts, click here.
The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, seats 2,100. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo May 2015)
A TIME EXISTED when ballrooms centered weekend entertainment and socializing across southern Minnesota: The Monterey Ballroom in Owatonna, no longer a dance hall, but an event center. The Kato Ballroom in Mankato, today primarily a place for banquets, wedding receptions and meetings. The Gibbon Ballroom in Gibbon, once the site of Polka Days, now closed. George’s Ballroom in New Ulm, demolished. The Blue Moon Ballroom in Marshall, destroyed in a 1981 fire. Ballrooms, as they once were in their heyday, are mostly non-existent or altered in usage.
Inside the Surf Ballroom, portraits of Ritchie Valens, left to right, Buddy Holly and J.P. Richardson. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo May 2015)
But just across the border along Interstate 35 in northern Iowa, an historic ballroom remains open and going strong. That’s the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, an 84-mile or one hour and 15-minute drive from my community of Faribault. I’ve been there. Not to dance. But to tour the venue that marked the final performance site for Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson on February 2, 1959.
This display inside the Surf references “American Pie.” Displays like this line spaces in the museum part of the Surf. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo May 2015)
The next morning, a chartered plane carrying the trio crashed in a field shortly after take off from the Mason City Municipal Airport, killing the musicians and pilot, Roger Peterson. February 3, 1959, was, according to singer and songwriter Don McClean, “the day the music died.” The tragedy is forever immortalized in McClean’s 1971 “American Pie,” a lengthy song I know well given I was a teen of the 70s.
The ballroom stage, where a crew was setting up for a LeeAnn Womack concert during my visit. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo May 2015)
Ten years have passed since I visited the Surf Ballroom. But nearly every January, I mentally revisit that experience of walking onto the wooden floor of the iconic ballroom and immersing myself in yesteryear. It’s not that I’m a big Buddy Holly fan or even into music all that much. But I can appreciate the significance of this place in rock ‘n roll history.
In the back of the ballroom are layers of booths, all original. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo May 2015)
The three musicians, plus Dion and the Belmonts, Frankie Sardo, Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup and Carl Bunch, were on a 24-day Winter Dance Party tour through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa when they so tragically died. They had been crisscrossing the Midwest in a tour bus, playing in big cities like Milwaukee, Green Bay, St. Paul and Duluth, but also in smaller towns like Montevideo and Mankato in southern Minnesota. That Mankato performance was January 25 at the Kato Ballroom. Following the February 2 gig in Clear Lake, Holly decided to charter a small plane rather than endure the 364-mile bus ride to Moorhead for the next stop on the tour. That decision proved fatal.
The marquee advertises upcoming events on the day I visited in May 2015. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo May 2015)
The Winter Dance Party continues to this day at the Surf Ballroom as a way to honor the rock ‘n roll legends. This year’s celebration is January 30 – February 1. Closer to home, the Paradise Center for the Arts in Faribault is hosting “Buddy Holly: Oh Boy!” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, January 31. The next day, Saturday, February 1, the show will be at the State Street Theater in New Ulm at 7 p.m. This is a re-staging of Holly’s Winter Dance Party.
This sign inside the front entry summarizes the importance of the Surf. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo May 2015)
Whether you’re a fan of Buddy Holly or not, I think it’s important to recognize the significance he held in American rock ‘n roll culture. Music, in many ways, is like an historical account of life. It carries messages, entertains, connects us to memories and events, and touches us emotionally. And when the music died on February 3, 1959, the nation cried.
This stacked album sculpture in Three Stars Plaza honors Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo May 2015)
Riding and performing for UniCircle Flow from Japan on July 18 at Unicon 21. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
THEY ARE TRUE ATHLETES in every sense of the word. But they are also performance artists. Recently they traveled from around the world to compete in the Freestyle Group Small category at Unicon 21 in Bemidji. That’s an international competition and championship for unicyclists.
Teams from Germany and Japan practice before the group competition begins. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
I watched the athletes practice before performances began in the Bemidji State University gym on July 18. I saw seven teams perform their choreographed routines before I headed back to a cabin near Crosslake and then home the next morning. I wish I could have stayed longer, because these athletes put on quite a show.
The UniCircle Flow team wheeled like figure skaters. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
Combining gymnastics, acrobatics and dance, these unicycle athletes had the crowd roaring, applauding, stomping. I was in awe of what they could do while maintaining their balance on one wheel.
The Tokyo Boys begin their routine. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
The unicyclist on the right really played to the audience. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
The Toyko Boys’ act even included acrobatics/gymnastics. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
The Tokyo Boys from Japan worked the crowd. They were about showmanship as much as performance in their black pants, white shirts, red jackets and bow ties. Popular boy band comparisons popped into my mind. The audience loved them. So did I.
Spinning on unicycles, the UniCircle Flow team. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
UniCircle Flow spinning, a performance matching their name. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
Likewise, UniCircle Flow, also from Japan, was a personal favorite. The three female athletes in gauzy white dresses edged in blue twirled across the gym floor like ballerinas or figure skaters. It was easy to forget they were actually dancing on unicycles rather than on their feet. Their performance flowed with ease and grace, not what I would ever expect while unicycling.
The Black Pearl Group from Germany shows off their unicycling acrobatics in group competition. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
I also watched several teams from Germany and a family of three from The Wonders Unicycle Club participate in the Freestyle group competition.
UniCircle Flow circles the gym together. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
UniCircle Flow leans on each other during their routine. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
Every single unicyclist, every team, impressed me. To see this level of skill, this talent right here in Minnesota was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I am grateful my unicycling son flew in from Boston to attend Unicon 21 and that his dad and I had to pick him up from Bemidji.
UniCircle Flow strikes a graceful pose during their performance. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
And to think the road to this international unicycling competition started many years ago when we gifted our then grade school son with a unicycle for Christmas. Oh, the choices we make…and where they lead.
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NOTE: Check back for more photos of the Freestyle Small Group competition and more as I continue my coverage of Unicon 21, held July 14-26 in northern Minnesota.
Randy and I pose in front of a Unicon 21 banner at Bemidji High School. (Photo credit: C. Helbling)
THEY ARRIVED from around the world, some 1,200 strong, to attend the Unicycling World Competition and Championships July 14-26 in Bemidji. Everything aligned for me to be there on July 18. Not many Minnesotans can say they’ve attended an international unicycling convention. But I can, and the unicyclists impressed, entertained and inspired me.
Unicycles were everywhere, including on the basketball court at Bemidji High School. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
The US last hosted Unicon in 2002 in Washington state. And 30 years ago, Minneapolis hosted Unicon 7. Held every two years, the prior international gathering was in France in 2022.
Paul Bunyan, his sweetheart, Lucette, and Babe the Blue Ox graphics on the back of a Unicon t-shirt. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
My road to Unicon 21 in Bemidji started when my son, who lives and works in Boston, and, yes, rides a unicycle, decided to attend the convention. Not as a competitive athlete, but as someone who likes unicycling and wanted to connect with, and learn from, other unicyclists. Randy and I happened to be vacationing only 1.5 hours from Bemidji, so the timing was perfect to head farther north into Paul Bunyan land.
A graceful freestyle performance by Japanese unicyclists reminded me of ballet. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
On the Thursday we were in Bemidji, we watched relay races, basketball, an obstacle course competition and freestyle performances along with touring the pop-up unicycle museum and watching people try their skills on a wide range of unicycles.
Skilled unicyclist Indiana (who is from Michigan) unicycles outside the Sanford Center. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
It takes balance, skill, patience, determination and a certain amount of fearlessness to ride a unicycle. At least that’s my assessment after observing both competitive athletes and ordinary unicyclists like my son. He started riding in grade school, performing once at a local church talent show—simultaneously unicycling and yo-yoing. I thought that took skill, and it does, but the skill level of the athletes in Bemidji was beyond impressive.
A team from California plays basketball with a team from France. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
Imagine dribbling and passing a basketball, then shooting a basket all while balancing and rolling and turning on a unicycle. I saw all of that as a team from California played a team from France in the Bemidji High School gym.
Pedaling with a baton in hand during the relay race. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
Outside, unicyclists pedaled around the high school track as they raced to connect with their team members to pass a baton. It was there that I used the German I learned more than 50 years ago. Although a bit rusty, I was able to welcome a man from Germany and exchange a few other words with him. He clued me in that a young boy from Japan was a speed demon, the athlete to watch. He was right.
The Unicycling Unicorn’s 44-foot tall unicycle. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
Then it was over to the Sanford Center across town to visit the Unicycle Museum. Unicycles of all ages, sizes and styles ringed the conference room along with unicycle t-shirts, merch and more. Among the unicycles was a 44-foot long custom-made unicycle stretched across the floor. Jamey Mossengren, known as The Unicycling Unicorn, rode the tower-like structure at Unicon 21 in an attempt to break the World Record for Tallest Rideable Unicycle. He failed during his public performance, but achieved his goal during practice, pedaling seven revolutions while in control. I didn’t see his attempt. My son did. As a side note, Mossengren travels around the world performing his unicorn unicycle themed comedy and circus show. He appeared at this year’s Bullhead Days in Waterville.
Riding this unicycle requires two riders who weigh about the same. A weighted backpack on the front rider’s chest makes attempting to ride this unicycle possible. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
The Unicycle Museum was about much more than looking, reading, learning. It was also participatory, with most unicycles available for temporary check-out. Outside the Sanford Center, individuals of all ages and skill levels tried out an assortment of unicycles. Me? I passed.
This unicyclist navigated planks, pallets and steps before jumping onto a plank atop a tire. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
For a while, we watched solitary unicyclists ride across narrow planks onto stacked pallets, jump steps and leap onto a single plank inside the Sanford Center. Short on time, we headed to the Bemidji State campus for supper in the cafeteria before the evening freestyle performances.
Acrobatics, dancing, gymnastics…all were part of the freestyle performances. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
This was my favorite event with costumed unicyclists performing together. They twirled, leapt, moved like gymnasts, acrobats, dancers and ballerinas in time to music. It was beautiful. Mesmerizing.
The crowd does the wave in between performances at the freestyle competition. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo July 2024)
In that university gymnasium, filled with people from around the world, I felt an overwhelming sense of unity. The crowd encouraged performers with whistles, shouts, applause and foot-stomping. Flags waved. Smiles abounded. I felt a spirit of positivity, the sense of joy that prevails when we realize that we are all just people enjoying an event together. Our differences mattered not in that moment, in that place, among some of the world’s best unicyclists. To be part of that experience at Unicon 21 proved particularly uplifting and inspiring. And that it all happened right here in Minnesota felt, oh, so incredibly good.
NOTE: Check back for more photos from the international unicycling convention in Bemidji.
In July 2014, Songs of Hope performers presented selections from Jamaica, including “Linstead Market” and “Stand Up For Your Rights.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo July 2014)
TEN YEARS AGO, Songs of Hope danced and sang their way into my heart at River Bend Nature Center in Faribault. Now this group of young musicians and performers from around the world will be back in town, this time at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 16, at the historic Cathedral of Our Merciful Saviour.
Song and dance from Vietnam. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo July 2014)
I encourage you, if you live in the area, to attend this free 90-minute concert in the Cathedral, which boasts incredible acoustics in a remarkable setting. The concert is part of the Cathedral’s Merner Concert series offering free music to the community.
In nearly constant motion during this 2014 performance in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo July 2014)
Young people from Finland, Italy, Germany, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Mexico, Jamaica, Turkey, Madagascar and the USA will present a program that features singing, dancing and cultural dress in a high energy show. I can vouch for that. When I attended the Songs of Hope performance at River Bend in 2014, I felt, heard and saw their energy. I left feeling uplifted and incredibly hopeful about the future of this world.
The message on this singer’s t-shirt is as relevant today as it was during this performance 10 years ago. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo July 2014)
In a time when there’s so much conflict, so much discontent, so much unease, this coming together of international youth infuses hope into communities. And who doesn’t want to feel hope?
Ready to perform in traditional Chinese attire in 2014. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo July 2014)
These youth are sharing their cultures via their performance art and dress. When we begin to learn about other cultures, we begin to recognize the commonalities among us, rather than that which we think divides us. We all share basic human needs of food, shelter and love.
Songs from Guatemala. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo July 2014)
The name, Songs of Hope, fits this group, which is part of St. Paul-based Sounds of Hope. Youth ages ten and older from around the world attend a six-week overnight performing arts summer camp before heading out on a three-week concert tour. Those concerts are performed in the Twin Cities metro and in communities outside the Cities, primarily in southeastern Minnesota.
Songs of Hope performers present a selection from India. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo July 2014)
To have Songs of Hope back in Faribault, a decidedly diverse, but not always united, community, is a gift to all of us.
The southern Minnesota based Rural Route Dance Ensemble performs Sunday afternoon next to a log cabin at the Treaty Site History Center along Highway 169 in St. Peter.
ON THE OTHER SIDE of the log cabin, traffic thrummed in a steady rhythm, the noise sometimes detracting from the five young women dancing barefoot in the grass and from the poets reading in to the wind.
A Smithsonian exhibit on water is currently showing at the history center.
This photo shows a side view of Kay Herbst Helms’ photo of Swan Lake, one of the largest prairie potholes in the contiguous United States. Located in Nicollet County, the lake covers 14 square miles. I’ll tell you more about Kay’s exhibit of 19 black-and-white photos in a follow-up post.
Sunday afternoon, along with other invited southern Minnesota poets, I read “In which Autumn searches for Water,” a poem published four years ago as part of an “It’s All One Water” collaboration in Zumbrota. I clarified before reading my poem that I wrote this when our region was suffering a drought, unlike now when Minnesota has been deluged with rain. Here’s the third verse in my five-verse poem:
But she finds at the pond site, the absence of Water, only thin reeds of cattails and defiant weeds in cracked soil, deep varicose veins crisscrossing Earth.
League of Minnesota Poets President Christina Flaugher reads her poetry. Christina’s mother, Susan Stevens Chambers, also read, both her poetry and that of Henry Panowitsch. Two others, Craig Nelson and Mira Frank, read the works of published poets, including that of local poet Jim Muyres who was unable to attend.
Mira Frank reads the works of published Minnesota poets, here from County Lines.
I’ve come to enjoy poetry readings—listening to the rhythm of words penned by those who, like me, are moved to string words together in a lyrical way that touches emotions.
This water bottle was sitting in the grass at Sunday’s event venue site.
With water as the theme for Sunday’s celebration, poets read of lakes and rivers, of rain and of drought, of ships steaming immigrants across the ocean, and more.
An appreciative audience attended the water celebration.
Dressed in blue, members of Rural Route Dance Ensemble moved with such grace, like water lapping at the shore, waves rolling in the ocean, rain falling from the heavens. I won’t pretend to be an expert in dance; I have viewed few dance performances. But dance, like poetry, is open to interpretation.
North Mankato poet John Hurd reads.
Life experiences, emotions and more shape poetry—how it is written, read and interpreted.
Susan Stevens Chambers reads from her new book, Good Thunder, Blue Earth.
The poetry readings of Good Thunder writer Susan Stevens Chambers mesmerized me. Susan has a melodic voice that soothes and comforts like the sound of rushing water. Except her words don’t rush. They flow. I especially savored Susan’s selected readings from her recently published compilation of rural-themed poems, Good Thunder, Blue Earth, published by River Place Press.
As this poet read, her long blue dress swayed in the wind and I thought of gentle waves. Of water.
FYI: Check back for a post on the Smithsonian “Water/Way” exhibit, including more information on Kay Herbst Helms’ photography exhibit, “Water Rights.”
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