Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

A flea market, riverside rendezvous & Syttende Mai celebration May 14, 2026

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A leather stitcher at the May 2025 Riverside Rendezvous & History Festival in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo May 2025)

WHETHER YOU’RE INTO HISTORY, flea markets, music or art, you’ll find a trio of events in the area this weekend covering those options.

Vendors set up shop outside the Rice County Historical Society. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo September 2025)

First up is the annual Rice County Historical Society Spring Flea Market from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, May 16, in Faribault. Vendors offer an array of goods from antiques and collectibles to crafts, art, oddities and assorted merchandise to endless to name. I’ve shopped here many times, enjoying the experience of not only poking around for something I may or may not need, but also socializing.

Making ropes at the 2025 Riverside Rendezvous. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo May 2025)

Just down the road from the RCHS grounds, the historical society is hosting its second annual Riverside Rendezvous and History Festival in North Alexander Park from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, May 16, and again from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday.

I attended last year and immersed myself in the living history with added music, food (try the frybread) and interaction with re-enactors and others rounding out the festival. The event features the trades, tradition and history of the 18th and 19th centuries via demonstrations of blacksmithing, leatherworking, fur trapping, candlemaking and more plus an appearance by MN Jack Sparrow.

Listen to the music of Curtis & Loretta, The Leather Souls, Bonnie Drunken Lad, the Roe Family Singers and The Skally Line. Try your skills in competitive Voyageur games, tomahawk throwing and archery. Buy goods from vendors, cash only. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for kids, a bargain considering all the rendezvous offers.

Musicians will perform inside the Valley Grove wooden church. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

Sunday brings more entertainment, this time at the historic Norwegian Valley Grove churches, rural Nerstrand. From 1-3 p.m. May 17, the Valley Grove Preservation Society celebrates Syttende Mai, Norway’s Constitution Day.

Inside the old wooden church, St. Olaf College students will play Norwegian hardanger fiddle music from 1-1:30 p.m. After that, until 3 p.m., the duet Over Yonder, with Martha Larson on cello and Brian Johnson on guitar, will play original compositions from their recent album “Valley Grove.” That includes the title track, “(The Big Oak at) Valley Grove.”

Crosses crafted from Valley Grove burr oaks. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

In honor of the big burr oak that once anchored a corner of the Valley Grove Cemetery until a 2018 storm blew the tree down, a pop-up art exhibit will be featured inside the old stone church. Attendees are invited to share their paintings, drawings, photos and wooden items (made from the 250-year-old burr oak) at the exhibit.

This trio of area happenings gets my recommendations. I can’t make all three. But if you can, go. Every single event promises to be worth your while whether you love history, flea markets, music, art or all four. This is a jam-packed weekend of educational, entertaining and enjoyable events right here in your own backyard.

© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

About growing up poor, books, garage sales & more May 17, 2024

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An abandoned farmhouse near my hometown of Vesta. The house no longer stands, but represents to me the financial hardships of growing up in southwestern Minnesota during the 1960s and 1970s. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

THE RESIDUALS OF GROWING UP in poverty remain today in my life. I am careful with my money. I don’t spend much beyond paying bills and for necessities. I seldom buy anything new for myself. Dining out, which I rarely do, always leaves me feeling guilty, thinking about how many groceries I could have bought with that money (although not that many anymore).

This is a thinking pattern ingrained in me by a mother who was a child of the Great Depression. I suspect she picked up on thriftiness from her mother. My mom stretched and budgeted and managed to raise six children on a Minnesota farm with income generated from crops and dairy cows and with food from the land. We wore mostly hand-me-downs and clothing stitched from feed sacks. There were no birthday gifts from our parents, no family meals out, no a whole lot of everything. But we had love. Lots of it.

I share this because it explains why I am the way I am. Content with what I have. And appreciative of second-hand. I don’t need new. Currently, recycling, upcycling, repurposing, keeping stuff out of landfills is trendy. I’ve never been labeled as trendy. But apparently I am now.

That brings me to a number of events this weekend in my area which fit my budget and environmentally-friendly way of living: book sales, plant sales and flea market/garage sales.

You can still find Little Golden books in stores today, like these at JT Varieties & Toys in Plainview. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo June 2022)

First up, books. I love to read, always have. Mom read Little Golden Book storybooks to me. And she let me select a book from school book orders. That’s how important reading was to her. Without a library in my hometown, this gave me access to books.

Some of the books I’ve purchased at past book sales. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

Today I live blocks from a public library and bring home stacks of books. I’ve also carried bags of books home from used book sales. This weekend Faribault’s American Association of University Women hosts its annual used book sale, its final one after 54 years. Hours are 10 am-7 pm Friday and Saturday and from noon – 5 pm Sunday.

Puzzles borrowed and bought new and used. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

In neighboring Waterville, Friends of the Library are hosting a used book sale from 8 am – 4 pm Saturday in Langerud’s Garage, 503 Marian Street. There’s no set charge for books, just a freewill offering. Oh, and they’re also selling puzzles, sure to be popular with puzzle enthusiasts.

And for those who love garage sales, like me, Waterville is also hosting city-wide garage sales on Saturday. There are garage sales, too, at Christ Lutheran Church in Faribault (Friday and Saturday) and at Nerstrand United Methodist Church (Saturday). Just check the classifieds in your local paper and you’re sure to find garage sales in your community.

A scene from a 2022 RCHS Flea Market. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo September 2022)

One other fun event is the Spring Flea Market from 8 am – 2 pm Saturday at the Rice County Historical Society in Faribault. I always enjoy poking through the merchandise and talking with people I haven’t seen in awhile.

Plants for sale at the Owatonna Farmers’ Market in 2014. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

Finally, gardeners looking for plants and free advice can get both at two separate plant sales on Saturday in Faribault. GROWS Garden Club is selling plants from 8 am – noon on the southeast corneer of Central Park. And from 9 am – 2 pm, Rice County Master Gardeners are selling plants in the 4-H building at the Rice County Fairgrounds.

A scene at a previous Car Cruise Night in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2022)

Two more things: Friday evening is Car Cruise Night from 6 pm – 9 pm along Central Avenue in historic downtown Faribault. It’s free as is entrance to the Straight River Art Festival from 9 am – 6 pm Saturday at Heritage Park in Faribault. The event features art, music and food.

Norwegian treats at a past Trondhjem celebration. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

And then two more things: Historic Trondhjem Church, rural Lonsdale, is hosting a Syttende Mai Celebration beginning at 1 pm Sunday. The event features music and stories by Steven K. Anderson of the Brainerd Lakes area, Norwegian songs sing-a-long and a reception with Norwegian goodies afterwards. Over in Owatonna at the Village of Yesteryear and Steele County History Center, the Sons of Norway will also celebrate Syttende Mail from 1 pm – 4pm with music, crafts, a medallion hunt and more.

So much to do…at no or minimal cost. My mom and grandma would have appreciated all of these budget-conscious opportunities. Just as I do.

© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling