Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

A glimpse of Gilman, including Kelash’s Corner October 21, 2024

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Amy Kelash ready to serve from her food truck. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2024)

IF ONLY I HADN’T JUST EATEN a picnic lunch, I would have ordered a bag of mini donuts from Kelash’s Corner Food Truck in Gilman. But I wasn’t hungry. Even though I really really really wanted donuts, one of my favorite fair food sweet treats, I stood strong. I shouldn’t have. Life is too short not to occasionally cave to cravings. Especially at my age.

My eyes landed right on this sign. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2024)
Kelash’s Corner is an inviting community-centered space. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2024)
You’ll find garden fresh vegetables for sale here. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2024)

If I lived in or near Gilman, I could pop in at Kelash’s Corner for not only those coveted donuts and other food, but also for garden fresh vegetables and whatever goods twin sisters Ann and Amy Kelash sell at their seasonal business.

The Kelash party wagon was parked on-site. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2024)

My stop was brief, yet long enough to appreciate this home-grown corner set-up of food truck, vegetable/merch stand with a party wagon to boot.

These SMALL TOWNER t-shirts are available in assorted colors. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2024)

The “SMALL TOWNER” tees with grain bin graphics caught my eye given my rural roots. Had the town name of Gilman not been printed on the shirts, I might have bought one. Gilman, located five miles north of Foley off Minnesota State Highway 25, definitely fits the definition of small town with a population of about 220. There’s not a whole lot here, but enough. Catholic church. Municipal liquor store. Bank. Post office and city hall. Gas station and auto body shop. Co-op creamery and feed store. And maybe more, but not much more.

Gilman sits deep in farm country. Here a pickup pulls a load of hay through town. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2024)

It’s the type of small town most would pass by without stopping. I’ve always mostly just passed through as a shortcut route to my husband’s childhood farm, no longer in the family. This trip we were in the area for Randy’s 50th class reunion, aiming for a drive by the Buckman Township farm site, then on to Buckman and Pierz. We hadn’t planned on stopping in Gilman. But then I spotted Kelash’s Corner.

While I photographed Amy, she photographed me. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2024)

When I see a place like this, I feel compelled to document it with my camera…because I love one-of-a-kind/home-grown/small town spots. They are grassroots appealing. I’m a person who always chooses a local eatery over a chain restaurant, who likes small town bakeries, who finds roadside stands Norman Rockwell charming.

This sign was impossible to miss. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2024)
Once upon a time, this building housed a pizza place. I was shooting into the sun, thus a subpar image. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2024)
Although I saw signs, I didn’t see any eggs. These signs were posted on what appears to be a former bank building. There were lots of “interesting” notices posted in the lobby. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo September 2024)

My stop in Gilman was periphery really—a few photos snapped and a quick glance at a town rooted in rural. I watched as a pick-up truck pulled a wagon of hay bales through town. I noticed the fading sign of the former Ball Park Pizza. I spotted a sign advertising farm fresh brown eggs for $3/dozen.

I spent the most time at Kelash’s Corner, perhaps subconsciously because of those mini donuts. The ones I should have purchased…

© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

From Minnesota: Reflecting on small towns January 29, 2021

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Buckman, Minnesota. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.

RURAL MINNESOTA. For Randy and me, that represents our upbringing, the place of our roots, the land that is part of our personal geography.

A road grader grades the gravel road near Randy’s childhood farm southeast of Buckman. We pulled off the narrow road to allow the grader to safely pass by our van. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.
A farm place between Buckman and Gilman. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.
In the small town of Gilman. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.

We both grew up on farms, in large families—his three kids larger than mine at nine. We both picked rock—he more than me as Morrison County in central Minnesota sprouts more rocks than Redwood County. We each labored in fields and barns and understood the value of hard work and our importance in the farming operation. Even at a young age. That carries through in our strong work ethics and our strong link to the land.

Pierz, a small town to the north of Buckman and bigger than Buckman, still has a hardware store. Randy attended junior and senior high school in Pierz. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.
As we passed through Pierz, I photographed this updated community gathering spot. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.
Genola, just to the south of Pierz, is home to the Red Rooster. BINGO is big in this part of rural Minnesota as is weekly Bologna Day (as noted in the banner on the building). Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.

And, though we left our rural communities at age 17, we still hold dear the small towns—Buckman and Vesta—that were such an important part of our upbringing. Both have changed with familiar businesses long gone. Society changed and locals began driving farther for groceries and other necessities.

A nod to this area’s rich agricultural base outside Sev’s Food & Liquor in Buckman. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.

It’s easy to get caught in the memories, of the back then, of wishing nothing had changed. But it has and it does. And life goes on.

Housed in the old bank building, the Buckman Bank Tavern. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.
Signs on Sev’s in Buckman. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.
Sev’s Food & Liquor along Buckman’s main street. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.

Returning to our hometowns, our home areas, causes me to reflect while simultaneously appreciating that which remains. Cafes and churches and hardware stores. Post offices and bars and grain elevators. These are the community gathering spots that still mark many of Minnesota’s smallest communities, those towns that span only blocks from east to west, north to south.

I often see can collection sites in small towns, like this one in Buckman. They offer insights into a community. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.
On the door of a Buckman bar, a young man remembered. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.
A warning sign posted on a house in Buckman. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.

But more than buildings, people form community. Even in Faribault, where Randy and I have lived since 1982, we’ve found our small town in a city of around 25,000. That’s in our faith family at Trinity Lutheran Church, the “town” that centers our lives. An uncle and I discussed this recently. He lives in Minneapolis. His neighborhood is his community, his small town.

A place to gather outside Sev’s Food & Liquor in Buckman. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo September 2020.

No matter where you live, whether in rural Minnesota or New York City, the mountains of Idaho or the plains of Nebraska, I hope you’ve found your community and place of joy.

© Copyright 2021 Audrey Kletscher Helbling