Veterans and bikers commemorate Armed Forces Day at the Rice County Veterans Memorial in Faribault.
ON MAY 20, 1950, our country celebrated the first Armed Forces Day in a big way with parades in Washington, D.C., New York and Berlin and with air shows, open houses and receptions.
Sixty-two years later, in my community of Faribault, veterans and a group of Harley-Davidson motorcycle riders gathered Saturday, on Armed Forces Day, to honor those who have served or are serving in the military.
The Color Guard stands ready as the bikers arrive.
I am almost ashamed to admit this—especially as the daughter of a Korean War veteran—but I was unaware of an annual Armed Forces Day on the third Saturday in May or of Armed Forces Week, which ends today.
That was until yesterday, when I spoke with several veterans as we waited for the bikers to arrive at the Rice County Veterans Memorial at the county courthouse.
Bikers participating in the Faribault Harley-Davidson Harley’s Heroes raised $2,800 on Saturday for the Disabled American Veterans. In 2011, the Faribault dealership raised about $2,200 and earned status on the Harley’s Heroes Honor Roll as one of the top six fundraising dealers in the country. Thirty percent of Harley customers are active or retired military vets, according to the H-D website.
Around 4 p.m. the bikers, who were participating in the annual Harley’s Heroes nation-wide event to raise monies for the non-profit Disabled American Veterans, rumbled across Fourth Street, circled the courthouse and pulled into the west parking lot, American flags waving from the backs of their Harleys.
The bikers and the vets, my husband and I, and a photographer paid our respects in a short ceremony that included a gun salute, playing of the taps and a brief explanation of the vets memorial.
I am almost ashamed to tell you this, but no one else in my community paused or pulled off the street or took a break from their work or activities or fun to commemorate Armed Forces Day by attending this short ceremony.
Members of the Patriot Guard Riders were among those in attendance.
Said General Omar N. Bradley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on that first Armed Forces Day celebration in 1950:
The heritage of freedom must be guarded as carefully in peace as it was in war.
We would all do well to remember that, especially each year on the third Saturday of May.
I spotted this bumper sticker on the vehicle of a Vietnam veteran who had come to the ceremony.
© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Yes, Faribault is a diverse community May 3, 2012
Tags: City Pages, comments, diversity, Faribault, Minnesota, thoughts
In this file photo, a Somali family waits to cross a downtown Faribault street.
ON ANY GIVEN DAY, I can drive on a street in Faribault, walk along the sidewalk, glance out my office window or go shopping and see a racial diversity of people.
I can stand in my side yard and look toward the home of an Asian couple. I can glance up the hill and watch two preschoolers, the daughters of a white mother and an African American father, play outside. In my front yard, I can see, several houses down, the Hispanic family that has lived in my neighborhood for years.
Yes, Faribault, population 23,352, is a community of diversity. Thirteen percent of our residents are Hispanic/Latino and another 7.4 percent, black or African American, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. All totaled, about one-fifth of our residents identify themselves as “non-white.”
As my husband would say—and this is not meant at all as derogatory—shopping in at least one local grocery store is like walking into the United Nations. We shop side-by-side with Spanish-speaking Latino families and with Somali women clothed in billowing dresses and head scarves.
Just the other evening, as I entered the local public library, a Sudanese man held the exterior library door open for me while his pre-teen son opened the interior door. It’s been a long time since a young boy held a door for me and I expressed to him my appreciation for his respect and good manners.
The other day, while waiting in the car for my husband to pick up milk at a local convenience store, I observed a cluster of teenaged Somali girls, dressed in head scarves and flowing dresses, move along the sidewalk while, just across the street, a 60-something white woman clad in a jacket resembling an American flag pushed a cart of groceries. It was a unique visual illustrating diversity in Faribault.
Several Latinos lead in singing of Mexico’s national anthem last September during the International Festival at Faribault’s Central Park. Flags represent the birthplace nations of those participating.
The diversity of my community bubbled to the surface Tuesday after I read a comment on City Pages, an online Minneapolis-based information source. A post I published last week about jewelry store thefts in Faribault and elsewhere in Minnesota was linked to in “The Blotter” section as was an article in the Faribault Daily News which identified the jewelry store thieves as “black males.”
Now I don’t want to get into the issue of whether the news reporter should have racially-tagged the suspects. But I was miffed by the first Blotter comment on the blog post.
It looks like “diversity” has now spread to Hastings and Faribault.
That comment was followed by a reply I won’t print here because of the language. But you can read it by clicking here.
So why did the initial diversity comment rile me? Well, I’m tired of over-generalizations that those of us living outside the Twin Cities metro area reside in closed-up communities comprised mostly of Anglo-Americans. We are not just a bunch of white descendants of Scandinavians or Germans or Irish or French… We are racially diverse and growing in diversity.
If you ask the residents of Willmar or Worthington, St. James or Madelia, or many other Minnesota towns, they’ll tell you the same. Latinos, Asians, Somalians, Sudanese and others call outstate Minnesota home.
Diversity spread to Faribault decades ago. Just stroll through my neighborhood.
How diverse is your neighborhood, your small town, your suburb, your city? Let’s hear.
© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling