EVERY TIME I VISIT Montgomery, I discover something new in this town of some 3,400 only 22 miles northwest of Faribault and the self-proclaimed Kolacky Capital of the World.
But this community is about much more than the Czech pastry baked in many an area kitchen and at Franke’s Bakery and celebrated every July during Kolacky Days. Montgomery is also about historic architecture, locally-grown businesses, the arts, history, farming and a people proud of their Czech heritage.
My recent brief stop in Montgomery came near the end of a fall color drive through four area counties. That included hiking at Richter Woods County Park just west of town. Colors weren’t there. But still, walking through the woods in a park situated like an island among farm fields always proves peaceful, calming.
Then it was onward to Montgomery, where getting onto Minnesota State Highway 13 during school dismissal time meant waiting and more waiting as a steady stream of traffic flowed by. Eventually Randy was able to turn the van right, then turn left toward the downtown.
We passed Montgomery Brewing, where we’ve previously enjoyed excellent craft beer. And then we passed the new grocery store in town, Mike’s Discount Foods, next to the grain elevator. I was happy to see a grocery store reopened some two years after a long-time grocer shuttered in September 2023. A small town without a grocery store creates a local food desert and a challenge for residents, especially those who are aging.
I snapped a few photos of Mike’s and then of a farmer waiting with his John Deere tractor and grain wagon outside the elevator during the height of the busy harvest season.
Then it was on to the Arts & Heritage Center of Montgomery, one of my favorite places to pop into while in town. Volunteer run, this center in the historic Hilltop Hall always stages interesting exhibits in a narrow gallery decorated with formal portraits of Kolacky Days royalty lining the walls.
Volunteer Kathy welcomed us to the “Toys from the Past” exhibit which features homemade and manufactured toys dating back nearly 100 years. I saw toys I played with, toys my kids played with and then some from my parents’ era. It was just plain fun to reminisce as I viewed all those toys loaned by locals for the exhibit which ends October 31.
Kathy, upon my inquiry, directed me to the latest Wing Walk mural, part of the art center’s public art project collaboration with Tri-City United High School art students and the Montgomery Community Foundation. I found the newest mural—meat-themed wings—at Edel’s Meat Market, passing Czech Point along the way.
Now that’s a new place I need to Czech/check out. The inviting patio was enough to make me pause. The restaurant and bar serve up not only food and drink, but entertainment in a community gathering spot. The online description of food prepared from locally-sourced ingredients whenever possible appeals to me as do specials like a Hot Beef Commercial, $8 burgers and a Crispy Chicken Mashed Potato Bowl. It sounds like a whole lot of good rural comfort food to me.
In some ways, that’s how I feel about Montgomery. Comfortably at home every time I visit. I have no personal connections here. Yet I feel warmly welcomed in a place that celebrates its Czech heritage, values community and understands the importance of the arts and of bringing people into Montgomery to experience life in small town southern Minnesota.
FYI: The Arts & Heritage Center is open from 2-5 p.m. Thursday and Friday and from 9 a.m.-noon Saturdays. If you’re looking to visit a specific local business, check hours ahead of time. Montgomery is a small town and everything isn’t open every day.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Barns, an enduring symbol of farming June 25, 2026
Tags: agricultural symbol, agriculture, barns, childhood memories, commentary, cosmos, farm sites, farming, Hutchinson, Mantorville, Minnesota, photography, road trip, rural life, rural Minnesota, southern Minnesota, travel
IF A SINGLE BUILDING symbolizes agriculture in Minnesota, it is a barn.
Barns hold the history of farming within their walls. They hold the stories of farm families who labored therein. They hold memories—the heat of cattle, the lingering scent of manure, the pulse of milking machines, the scurrying of barn cats and much more.
Barns also hold heartaches and challenges and the satisfaction and rewards that come with farming.
To step inside a barn, or even to observe one from a distance as I did on recent trips out and about in rural Minnesota, is to understand the importance agriculture plays in this state.
Sure, farming has changed. Many barns no longer house animals, once a farm staple, as ag has shifted to crop farming. But at its core, this profession, this way of life, still centers rural parts of Minnesota, keeps small towns going. I saw that, from Mantorville to Faribault and from Faribault to Morris and back home.
Barns dominate farm sites just like grain elevators landmark many small rural communities.
While I see too many dilapidated barns fallen into heaps of rotting wood, I also see those that are well-cared for, still standing strong against the ravages of time and weather. I know that comes at a cost to the landowner. Keeping a barn properly roofed and painted is a major expense. I appreciate efforts to preserve barns built by generations past.
My ancestry traces to farming, to German immigrants who arrived in America, eventually making their way to southwestern Minnesota. There they found rich dark soil in which to plant seeds. Land upon which to build farmhouses, barns and other buildings necessary to the operation of a farm.
I am rooted in farming. I worked inside the barn my father built. I shoveled manure, scooped silage, pushed a wheelbarrow heaping with ground feed, carried pails brimming with milk, bedded straw, tossed hay bales from the hayloft, fed calves… I worked the land, too, picking rock and pulling cockleburrs. I carried lunch to my dad and uncles on hot summer days of baling hay.
There is nothing romantic about farming. It is hard work. It is a risky business affected by weather, markets, prices, too many factors out of a farmer’s control.
Yet, I will unequivocally state that I am incredibly thankful I grew up on a working farm. The lessons learned there about working together, about forging forward despite setbacks, about standing independent and strong are ingrained in me.
My dad laughed when I told him I wanted to be a farmer when I grew up. He knew better. There was nothing to keep me on the farm. And so I left, went to college, became a journalist. But even though physically-removed from the farm, I’ve always carried my ruralness within me, reflected in my writing and photography.
I find myself still drawn to rural scenes. A farm site. A grain elevator. A gravel road. Cattle grazing. Farm machinery, especially tractors, traversing fields. These all define agriculture. But it is the barn which symbolizes farming and the enduring strength and hope of a farmer.
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NOTE: I took these photos from the front passenger seat, either through the windshield or side window while traveling at highway speeds. Locations of several photos are not noted as I don’t recall the exact locations.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling