Minnesota Prairie Roots

EARLY MAY IN MINNESOTA always appears fresh, vibrant, new.

It’s as if our senses have reawakened from hibernation. The landscape looks especially lush. The sun feels warmer. Birdsong sounds louder. And the desire to get outdoors and take it all in runs strong.

Mother’s Day weekend brought locals out in droves in the Faribault area, including me. Bikers, hikers, dog walkers, anglers, picnickers, shoppers at a vintage shop hop…

The river drew many. A father and his young son fished at Two Rivers Park, using chicken skin coated in red Kool-Aid as bait. A young boy snagged a frog along the Cannon River in North Alexander Park where he fished with a friend. Anglers lined the river banks by the two dams near the Faribault Mill.

And some, like me, watched six fluffy ducklings swim against the current and traverse the rocky bed of the Straight River in Teepee Tonka Park as they tried to keep up with their mother. The word “cute” fit.

Everywhere Randy and I hiked on this splendid—and, yes, that word fits—Sunday, the essence of spring enveloped us. Wildflowers bloomed. Greenery enveloped us. The water of the Straight River flowed clear below us. Clouds puffed the blue sky.

The perfume of lilacs scented the air. Maple leaf seed pods dangled from branches. Maple leaves shadowed a tree trunk.

And in the shadows of a 442-foot long tunnel leading into River Bend Nature Center, several teens clustered, music blaring. We didn’t walk far enough to see what they were doing, but rather scanned the graffiti covering the walls of this 1937 Works Progress Administration project, built as a root cellar for the former Minnesota School and Colony (state hospital). I’m not informed enough to interpret the art, much of which includes obscene language and unidentifiable symbols. Yet, I found a patch of art that seemed devoid of anything offensive.

We emerged from the coolness of the tunnel back into woods hugging a steep hill on one side of the trail, the river bottom on the other. A rail line rises high like a wall along a portion of the path. Only later, in another location, did I hear the blast of a train whistle.

Even in the quiet of parks and trails, the background of city noise, the presence of people remains. Yet, it’s possible to shut out the distractions, to immerse one’s self in nature.

I deeply appreciate the trail system, many parks and nature center within the city limits of Faribault. For a while on Mother’s Day afternoon, I observed just how much they are used, valued. To see people out and about like the young boys angling for fish and frogs, the families grilling in the park, the bikers pedaling, the dog owners walking their canines and more, reaffirms the importance of the outdoors to all of us, for our physical and mental well-being. To embrace spring after the season of winter feels good, oh, so good.

© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling