Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Chief Sleepy Eye shouldn’t have a mustache June 6, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:19 AM
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In mid-April I photographed this sign featuring Chief Sleepy Eye on the east end of Sleepy Eye, MN.

HIS EYELIDS MAY HAVE DROOPED, but I’m quite certain Chief Sleepy Eye didn’t sport a mustache.

However, on this sign welcoming visitors to Sleepy Eye, in Brown County, Minnesota, the town’s namesake clearly has facial hair.

I didn’t notice the apparent defacing of Chief Sleepy Eye until now, while sorting through on-the-road photos I shot in April.

I expect that’s exactly the problem. Locals and travelers pass by the welcome sign along U.S. Highway 14 and don’t even notice. We get so accustomed to something that we overlook the details.

Scratching a mustache onto a person’s photo in a newspaper (haven’t we all done that?) is one thing. But marring a Sisseton Dakota chief’s image on a public welcoming sign is quite another.

So who, exactly, was Chief Sleepy Eye?

Born in 1780, this leader of the Swan Lake or Little Rock band of hunters was considered a friend of explorers, traders, settlers, missionaries and others. He was among those signing, albeit reluctantly, the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux in 1851. In that historic treaty, the Dakota ceded land in exchange for promises of cash, goods, education and a reservation.

From 1857-1859, Ishtakhaba’s (Sleepy Eye’s) main village sat along Sleepy Eye Lake. He died in 1860 while hunting in South Dakota. His remains were eventually buried beneath a granite obelisk monument that stands near the historic railroad depot in Sleepy Eye.

Even though I lived and worked in Sleepy Eye briefly in the early 1980s, I don’t recall ever taking time to view this monument or to appreciate the Dakota chief it honors. Perhaps it’s time to detour a block off highway 14 and educate myself.

FYI: To view Chief Sleepy Eye without a mustache, click here to an image on the City of Sleepy Eye website.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

What would you do with this old bakery in Lamberton? May 31, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:35 AM
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The former Sanger’s Bakery in Lamberton, a Minnesota farming community. I’d move the garbage bin in front of the building, replace it with a bench and add pots of vivid flowers.

I’VE PHOTOGRAPHED many an old building in a lot of small towns. My appreciation for history and architecture and for rural life keep drawing me back to Main Street.

One building in particular intrigues me. The former Sanger’s Bakery, a brick stronghold anchoring a corner in downtown Lamberton in southern Redwood County, possesses a sweet, timeless charm that causes it to stand out.

How long has this signage been painted on the front window of Sanger’s?

It’s not necessarily the exterior that catches my eye, although certainly the signage and sweeping arched front window and the fancy details in the brick appeal to me. Rather, it’s the interior which truly captures my interest.

The two times I’ve photographed the exterior, I’ve also paused to press my nose against the windows and peer inside to a snapshot of the past. You would swear the hands on the vintage 7-UP clock have not moved in decades. An old-fashioned candy counter and vintage lunch counter rimmed with stools look like something straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

A vintage sign suspended from the front of the bakery.

Honestly, you just don’t find places like this anymore. Martin Kuhar opened the bakery in 1928. The Sanger family purchased it in 1946 and eventually Bob, the youngest of Nick and Mary’s six children, bought the business in 1961. He was a 1955 graduate of the baking program at Dunwoody Institute.

All of this I learned on a recent stop at the bakery, where I found Bob’s obituary taped to the front door. He died March 30.

Just days before his death, this long-time baker was serving coffee to his friends. Oh, how I wish I could have been in that coffee klatch, listening to the stories.

I bet Bob would have shared plenty about the place where he served up baked goods, hand-scooped ice cream cones, malts and candy. He baked buns for local schools and churches and crafted wedding cakes. He also sold fresh eggs from his chickens and honey from his bees. He tended a garden.

After reading Bob’s obit, I desired even more to get into the bakery. I jiggled the front door knob, hoping the door might be unlocked. It wasn’t. I’m determined, on my next trip to Lamberton, to get inside the bakery, to share with you this treasure from the past.

In the meantime, owners of this building and Lamberton area residents, I hope you appreciate what you have here. I could easily see this former bakery reopened as an ice cream/sandwich/pie/coffee/gift shop. The location along U.S. Highway 14 only 10 miles from Walnut Grove, childhood home of author Laura Ingalls Wilder, is ideal. The area already draws plenty of tourists during the summer months.

The right owner, with the right ideas, a good business and marketing plan, and adept at using social media could turn this old bakery into a destination.

I can envision the possibilities.

Readers, what do you think? If anyone out there knows anything about plans for the old bakery, submit a comment. Or, if you simply have ideas, I’d like to hear those, too.

A side shot of the former bakery. Just imagine the possibilities for this spacious building. Let’s hear your ideas.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Thirty entertaining minutes at the swap meet & flea market May 26, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:16 PM
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THIRTY MINUTES. That’s all the time my husband and I had to shop at the 13th annual Rice County Steam & Gas Engines Swap Meet & Flea Market this morning before the rain rolled in.

Despite the hurried pace under threatening gray skies, I managed to snap enough photos to present you with a still-life infomercial designed for your amusement, education and entertainment.

An old wind-up toy that caught my eye.

Let’s start in the TOY DEPARTMENT where vintage toys abound.

The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe toy.

Moving on to the CHILDREN’S CLOTHING DEPARTMENT, meet model Mady modeling a fashionable frog hat purchased from a vendor.

Isn’t this 5-year-old simply too cute? Now what’s that fairy tale about kissing frogs and princes and…, oh, never mind, Mady doesn’t need to hear that story yet.

But I bet Howard from Farmington, over in MEN’S APPAREL could tell plenty of stories. He looks like a character. I can see it in his eyes, in the wrinkled folds of his face, in that beer cap he says garners plenty of attention. He’s a retired highway department employee, farmer, bus driver and cattle truck driver. And he once worked at a creamery.

That’s a good lead-in to the DAIRY DEPARTMENT, where I found these vintage milk bottles. Examine the one on the right. The City Dairy in St. Paul sold milk that was “Safe for Baby.” What a novel idea. Then slide your eyes over to the left. What is Velve “D” MILK and Mello “D” Milk for HEALTH?

OK, as long as I’m asking questions, have you ever heard of Heatwole, Minnesota (red button on lower right)? Even I haven’t, and I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about Minnesota communities. It’s apparently one of those ghost towns, located several miles south of Hutchinson. That’s your geography lesson for the day.

Tables and tables and tables of hardware and tools and more.

If you’re in need of tools and such, the swap meet and flea market features a massive HARDWARE SECTION. Men will most definitely savor shopping here. Enough said.

Need a shovel?

If you can’t find it on a table, Howard might have it in the back of his pick-up.

Need a 1915 combine? Yes, this would be one.

For the man who has everything, this 1915 International Harvester combine can be purchased for $800. I know. I know. It’s perhaps a bit difficult to envision this as anything but a heap of scrap metal. But if the right guy comes along…

Three duct tape dressed dolls on a pick-up. Strangest thing you ever saw.

And, finally, as we scurried through the rain toward the car, this pick-up truck pulled into the grass parking lot. Now, what do you make of those duct tape dressed dolls lashed onto that truck?

FYI: The swap meet and flea market continues from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday at the Rice County Steam & Gas Engines grounds three miles south of Northfield on Minnesota State Highway 3. A tractor pull is set for 9 a.m. Admission is free. A pretty good deal, I’d say, for all that entertainment.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Celebrating lutefisk, lefse & all things Norwegian at the Old Trondhjem Church May 23, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:52 AM
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Tina & Lena, waiting to perform at Historic Trondhjem Church, rural Lonsdale, Minnesota.

DID YOU HEAR about Ole and Lena’s recent home improvement project?

“We carpeted the bathroom,” says Lena. “We loved it so much we ran it (the carpet) all the way to the house.”

Now, I can appreciate a joke like that. I grew up in a farmhouse without a bathroom, meaning my family used an outhouse.

But when it comes to lutefisk, I’m not quite as informed, being 100 percent German and all.

However, Tina, a full-blooded Norwegian, certainly knows her traditional Norwegian foods. “Lutefisk,” she claims, “is the piece of cod that passes all understanding.”

I’ve eaten lutefisk (cod soaked in lye) once and, excuse me all you Norwegian readers, but I agree with Tina’s assessment.

Lena, aka Annette Hustad, chats with audience members before the performance.

Lutefisk, lefse, hotdish and more were the subjects of jokes and songs shared Sunday afternoon by the comedic duo of Tina & Lena during a Syttende Mai Celebration at the Historic Trondhjem Church. As Tina & Lena sang in their version of “This Land Is Your Land,” Trondhjem land would be “east of Lonsdale, southwest of Webster, west of 35.”

Rebuilt in 1899 with parts of the 1878 church, the second Trondhjem Church sits atop a 100-foot high hill. Listed on the National Register of Historic Sites in Minnesota, this Norwegian church has walls constructed with 24 corners, supposedly to brace it against the strong winds. The building is an architectural mix of Greek Revival and Gothic Revival with elements of the Norwegian stave church. Old Trondhjem is opened for special occasions as the congregation built a new church just up the road in 1988.

Driving down the gravel road just south of the Historic Trondhjem Church. The Trondhjem community includes the townships of Wheatland, Webster, Erin and Forest.

And I would add that the 1899 historic wood frame Trondhjem church is anchored atop a windy, very windy, hill just off Minnesota State Highway 19 and along a gravel road that dips and rises like the rolling waves of a stormy sea. I expect the immigrants who arrived here from Trondhjem, Norway, in the 1860s and 1870s experienced stormy seas before settling among the rolling hills and woods so much like the Motherland.

During restoration of the church, a pressed metal cover on the ceiling was removed to reveal original plaster with stenciling. As you can see, the church is bathed in light from the many windows, even on a rainy day.

Beautiful pews and the original pine floor grace the sanctuary.

The quaint Trondhjem store is tucked into a cupboard in a corner of the fellowship hall, which also includes a mini museum of historical items, photos and artifacts from the Trondhjem area.

That Norwegian heritage and the history of this place, this Trondhjem in Minnesota, brought about 120 people together on Norwegian Constitution Day for the annual meeting of The Trondhjem Preservation Society and that entertainment by Tina & Lena, who have been on the road for 28 years, performing in 20 states.

Their motto seems to be this: “It is bad to suppress laughter because otherwise it goes down and spreads to your hips.”

Tina pulls an audience member into the aisle for an impromptu dance.

Tina directs members of the Trondhjem Community Preservation Society/The Hotdish Hallelujah Chorus.

There was no chance in, well, you know where that Tina & Lena could suppress the laughter of the Trondhjem audience. The long-time friends rocked the church with laughter and song and dance, personalizing their performance to the location. They engaged the audience—singling out individuals for attention, pulling two men into the church aisle to dance and even calling upon Preservation Society members to sing in “The Hotdish Hallelujah Chorus.”

Tina & Lena, who in real life are Sue Edwards of Alexandria and Annette Hustad of Glenwood, sang in the church choir while growing up in Canby in southwestern Minnesota. Just knowing they are from my native prairie endears them to me.

But it is their ability to slip into the roles of Norwegian women—lilting accents and all—and tell good, clean jokes appropriate for all and spin stories and sing and dance and interact with others that endears them to so many. These women, with energy and enthusiasm, exude absolute passion for making people laugh.

And what Minnesotan wouldn’t laugh at this Tina & Lena joke: “Oh, we love hotdish. Hotdish is a wonderful Minnesota food that melts into your Jell-O and runs into your buns.” (For you non-Minnesotans out there, “hotdish” is the same as “casserole.”)

The church/preservation society ladies lay out a delectable spread of Norwegian goodies.

Just a few of the treats in the Norwegian buffet. That’s lefse on the right.

No hotdish, Jell-O or buns were served during the fellowship hour following the performance and annual meeting. But scrumptious Norwegian treats—none of which I can identify by name (except lefse) because, remember, I am German—were laid out on tables in the social hall.

Let me tell you, these descendants of Norwegian immigrants have not forgotten the baking traditions of the homeland.

Trondhjem pastor, the Rev. Howard White, had it right when he earlier prayerfully thanked God for the gifts of memory, laughter, tradition, heritage and new beginnings.

Amen and amen.

FYI: To learn more about Old Trondhjem, Historic Trondhjem Church and the Trondhjem Community Preservation Society, click here.

For more info about Tina & Lena, click here.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Cruisin’ on Central on a Friday night in Faribault May 22, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:44 AM
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Looking south on Central Avenue during the Faribault Car Cruise Night on Friday.

BY THE TIME my husband and I arrived at the first Faribault Car Cruise Night of the season around 9 p.m. Friday, the last remnants of daylight were morphing into a beautiful inky blue sky of darkness.

Illuminated business signs and lighted storefront windows and the flickering motion of a big screen television in a second floor apartment and the spotlight of streetlights provided enough light to view the few remaining vehicles and to snap a few photos.

Music rocked the 400 and 500 blocks of Central Avenue, and beyond, as we wandered.

Hanging out along Central Avenue during Faribault Car Cruise Night.

Love the colors: the green against blue.

While we’d missed most of the cars and most of the crowd and the poker walk, I didn’t particularly care. Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate events like this and checking out all the classic cars and trucks. But on this night, my focus was on the deep, rich shades of that inky blue sky.

The dreamsicle car, Peachy, a 1955 Chevy.

Seriously, do you not love that peachy pastel Chevy contrasting with the blue sky?

The contrast of light and dark, of vivid lime green and creamy dreamsicle orange against that bold blue spoke to the artist in me.

Then, as I shot my final photos, headlights shone like beacons and red taillights blurred as, one by one, the last of the vintage antique and collectible cars slipped into the dark of a balmy and windy evening that felt more like summer than spring in Minnesota.

In a blur of taillights, a vintage car exits Central Avenue.

FYI: Faribault Car Cruise Night is held from 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. on the third Friday of the month, May – September, in the 400 and 500 blocks of Central Avenue in historic downtown Faribault. I’d advise arriving well before 9 p.m. if you’re more interested in the vehicles than in the darkening sky.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Piper pets a pig & more fun at tasty BBQ fest in Faribault May 21, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:48 AM
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One of the humorous signs I spotted on BBQ equipment at the Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival in Faribault.

FROM TEAM “Drop It Like It’s Hot BBQ” of Little Canada to “The Oinkologists” from Rochester to the “Uff da- That’s Good Barbeque” from Anoka to “Rebel Fire Que’n Company” from Lake City to “The Heat Is On” from North Saint Paul, the creative names of teams competing in the Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival in Faribault this weekend simply amused me.

Some 63 – 65 teams, depending on who you asked, vied for $10,000 in prizes during the Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned event at the Rice County Fairgrounds in Faribault on Friday and Saturday.

My husband and I each ordered pulled pork sandwiches from two different vendors for a taste-test comparison. Hog Wild BBQ and Grill served up a smoke-flavored, ham-like sandwich (above right) while Daddy O’s BBQ Shack presented a pork roast-like sandwich which I flavored with a North Carolina sauce crafted by Jeff LeBeau from The Depot restaurant in Faribault. We each really liked our distinct sandwiches.  However, the bun from Daddy O’s rated far superior to the one from Hog Wild.

This year the Faribo Drag-On’s car club moved its annual show to the fairgrounds as part of the BBQ fest.

From the tantalizing aroma of grilled and smoked meat to the savory taste of pulled pork sandwiches purchased from vendors to the friendliness of the BBQ teams to the tasty cheese samples served by area cheese makers to the 165 classic cars and trucks in the car show, it was an event that truly impressed my husband and me. You can bet we’ll be back next year for the third time.

Mark Born, who started the Minnesota in May BBQ contest 12 years ago.

Mark Born of team “The Heat Is On” from North Saint Paul has been participating in BBQ contests like this for 15 years and has the hardware to prove just how much he’s advanced from backyard smoking of fish and other meat. He’s a multiple grand champion BBQer in seven states and today competes in upwards of two dozen competitions annually as far away as New York, Florida and Las Vegas.

Not only that, 12 years ago Born started the Minnesota in May BBQ competition which has also been held in Cambridge and Austin. For the past two years, Faribault has hosted the event, this year adding cheese to the fest.

Fest-goers could sample and buy cheeses from Caves of Faribault, Alemar Cheese Company of Mankato and Shepherd’s Way Farms of Nerstrand at the cheese shack.

Judges evaluated 10 entries in the Grilling with Blue Cheese Contest. Each entrant received 9 ounce of St. Pete’s Select blue cheese from Caves of Faribault to use in preparing an entree or side dish.

Entries like this one in the Grilling with Blue Cheese contest were judged on appearance/creativity and taste.

Russ and Marti (no last names given; they’re judges) traveled 1 ½ hours from Forest City, Iowa, to judge their 32nd BBQ contest in seven years. As certified volunteer judges, they evaluate the BBQ entries for taste, tenderness and presentation/appearance. They try, they say, not to be too subjective in judging the foods which are delivered, six to a judge, in plain white Styrofoam boxes. Contestants who try “something too fancy” in presentation risk disqualification, Marti says.

And why does this Iowa couple judge BBQ competitions?

“You can’t buy barbeque like this anywhere in the country,” Marti says, explaining that the competitors use the best meats, the best everything, when they compete.

Talk to the BBQers and you’ll learn that some are competing for the first time while others have been at it for years, even decades. They all smoke/grill an abundance of meats, assuring the just-perfect entry to submit to judges.

A BBQer’s extra beef brisket not entered in the competition.

These folks are serious BBQers, pulling into the competitions with over-sized grills and bags of charcoal and secret BBQ recipes they won’t share.

But they also like to have fun.

The Oinkologists, brothers Andy and Mike Braun from Rochester and Hugo, brought along their “lucky pig.” It was their second competition, but first time using their good luck charm.

This pig, which oinks when you pass by it, rested on the hood of an old pick-up until 2-year-old Piper’s mom showed her daughter the pig. After initially backing away from the mascot for team “Drop It Like It’s Hot BBQ,” little Piper eventually petted her papa’s pretty pet pig. Try saying that three times: Piper petted her papa’s pretty pet pig.

A member of Rebel Fire Que’n Company of Lake City, in her fifth year of competing.

“It’s so kicked back,” my husband judged as we meandered among the BBQers’ tents and campers and BBQ equipment Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

He’s right. The Minnesota in May BBQ festival rates as fun and kicked back—for both contestants and spectators.

DID YOU ATTEND or participate in the BBQ fest in Faribault this past weekend. If so, what did you think of the event? If you’ve attended/competed in a BBQ fest elsewhere, tell us about it via a comment.

CLICK HERE TO READ an earlier blog post from this weekend’s Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival in Faribault.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Touring the Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival May 19, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:21 AM
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Grilling burgers Friday evening at the Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival.

ON THE EVENING BEFORE the big BBQ competition, the atmosphere at the Rice County Fairgrounds felt kicked back. Contestants settled into lawn chairs with bottles of beer, others clustered around campers, some tossed bean bags and yet other competitors chatted it up with the locals.

Next to the Two Little Pigs BBQ site, a bean bag toss competition was underway.

The guys from QU Smokin’ Krewe, Waukesha, Wisconsin, took time to tell me about their “pit” and show me the meat cooking inside the massive wood pellet fired grill behind them.

A pig on a vintage Ford pick-up, placed their by the team of two brothers and childhood friends originally from East Grand Forks, Minnesota.

Only a few focused on prepping for the competition at the Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival which continues today (Saturday) in Faribault.

Judging begins at 11:30 a.m. in seven competitive categories in this Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned event that has drawn 63 teams from all over—Appleton, Wisconsin; Rapid City, South Dakota; Storm Lake, Iowa; Delano, Minnesota…

They came with their stacks of wood and their bags and bags and bags of charcoal. They arrived pulling campers and massive grills. And they came with an attitude of fun, a sense of humor and a love of BBQ.

Many of the grills, like that of the Lone Star Smoke Rangers from Rapid City, South Dakota, are massive. But some contestants cook on ordinary backyard grills.

One of the many creative and humorous signs you’ll see at competitors’ sites.

Tami Schluter, co-owner of the historic Hutchinson House B & B in Faribault, brought her English bulldog, Butler, to the BBQ fest Friday evening.

One of the vendors at the BBQ fest.

Food vendor Hog Wild BBQ and Grill from Luck, Wisconsin, displayed its collection of trophies.

Daddy-O’s BBQ Shack, another festival food vendor.

FYI: For more details about today’s BBQ contest in Faribault, click here and follow this link to a previous blog post.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Come on over to Faribault for a BBQ & more May 17, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:24 AM
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An example of the barbecued meat prepared for the 2011 Minnesota in May BBQ Contest.

MINNESOTA BARBEQUE LOVERS, this is your weekend.

The season’s first of six Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned competitions in our state kicks off this Friday, May 18, with the Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival at the Rice County Fairgrounds in Faribault.

And, folks, it’s free—unless you purchase food and/or beverages from vendors. And you’ll want to, once you smell the tantalizing aroma of BBQed meats. Vendors open to the public at 11 a.m. Saturday.

For the first time ever, Faribault hosted the Minnesota in May BBQ Contest at the Rice County Fairgrounds in 2011. Contestants cooked under tents during a morning downpour. By afternoon, the rain stopped.

Bubba and Sabrina’s home on wheels and traveling BBQ central parked at the 2011 Minnesota in May BBQ Festival. The couple owns Bubba-Q’s, a restaurant in Ottumwa, Iowa.

Artfully displayed bacon-wrapped pheasant prepared by a BBQ team from Appleton, Wisconsin, during the 2011 competition at the Rice County Fairgrounds in Faribault.

With $10,000 in prize money up for grabs, you can expect some top contenders vying on Saturday for awards in these divisions: turkey product, chicken, ribs, pork, beef brisket, anything butt and dessert. Contestants will be cooking all morning and into the early afternoon with judging from 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

These delicious-looking apple dumplings were entered in the 2011 dessert division.

Ten cooks will also compete in a “grilling with blue cheese” contest featuring Caves of Faribault cheese. Yes, we have some savory blue cheese made right here in my community and aged in sandstone caves. That contest is set for 3 p.m. Saturday.

Award-winning Amablu Gorgonzola from Caves of Faribault.

The Cheese Cave is a gourmet destination along Central Avenue in historic downtown Faribault. Stop by on Friday or Saturday if you’re in town for the BBQ Festival.

The Friday events, running from 4:30 p.m. – 7 p.m. include a Kids BBQ Competition,  BBQ Cook-Off and live music.

Now I’m not promoting this BBQ fest simply because it’s the nice thing to do. I attended last year and thoroughly enjoyed the festival, including chatting with numerous contestants. You would not believe how far these people travel, how much money they spend and how passionate they are about barbecuing. Click here to link to a blog post about the 2011 Minnesota in May BBQ Festival, which did not include cheese. Click here to read a post about BBQers Bubba and Sabrina from Iowa. And click here to read a third story from the 2011 BBQ fest.

The logo for the Faribo Drag-On’s car club on a member’s vintage car.

This year a car show, hosted by the Faribo Drag-Ons from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday, has been added to the festival.

Other draws include a Saturday pancake breakfast from 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. ($5 cost), live music, food and non-food vendors and more. Click here to read a promotional flier about the Minnesota in May BBQ & Cheese Festival.

Contest and festival proceeds will benefit IRIS (Infants Remembered in Silence) and The Faribo Drag-Ons. Two more good reasons to attend.

If you can’t make it to the Faribault BBQ festival, you’ll have more opportunities from June through September to attend Minnesota barbeque fests—in Owatonna, Rochester, Marshall, Albert Lea and/or Worthington. Click here to read details from the Minnesota Barbeque Society.

HAVE YOU EVER ATTENDED a barbeque festival? Please submit a comment and share your experience.

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This file photo shows the Faribault Woolen Mill days after a flash flood in September 2010 and before the mill reopened a year later. The mill had closed in 2009 and was not in operation at the time of the flood.

P.S.  If you’re in town for the BBQ fest, take time also to check out the Faribault Woolen Mill retail store across the Cannon River just south of the fairgrounds. The store, in the recently reopened and revamped historic mill, opened Tuesday. Retail store hours are 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday – Saturday.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Faribault area auctions offer historic Native American artifacts & western memorabilia May 2, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:52 AM
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Dakota beaded moccasins exhibited at the Rice County Historical Society Museum in Faribault, shown here only as an example of a Native American artifact and not on the auction here Saturday.

TWO HISTORIC COLLECTIONS will go on the auction block in the Faribault area this weekend during back-to-back sales that likely have collectors of High Plains Indian artifacts and western memorabilia pretty excited.

Starting at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 5, at the Elks Lodge, 131 Lyndale Avenue North, Faribault, a large collection of Native American artifacts from a private collector will be sold. The sale bill reads in part:

This sale consists of a complete lifetime collection of High Plains artifacts from two states and covers all time periods from Paleo to historic and everything in between. There will be more than 3,000 artifacts in frames sold by choice and complete frame, including many boxes of artifacts sold as a lot. Found on private land in North Dakota and Minnesota from 1940 to 1965, the artifacts are from the following cultures and time periods: Paleo, Archaic, Woodland, Copper Culture, Fur trade era, Civil War era, and Indian War era.

Now, before I continue, I must tell you that Helbling Auctioneers LLC of Hankinson and Kindred, North Dakota, is the auctioneer. Although my husband is a Helbling originally from the Mandan/Bismarck area of North Dakota, he is unaware of any family relationship to auctioneer Bob Helbling.

However, it was the Helbling name on an auction ad published last week in The Redwood Falls Gazette which initially attracted the attention of my mother who phoned me about the auction.  Redwood Falls is located between the Upper and Lower Sioux Indian Reservations and within the geographical area where, 150 years ago, the U.S. – Dakota War of 1862 erupted. I expect residents of that region, including New Ulm, will be especially interested in the Native American artifacts from Minnesota.

But what about Faribault area residents, museum curators, and local and state historians?

Faribault’s connection to the fur trade and Native Americans stretches back to its founding by fur trader Alexander Faribault, the son of a French-Canadian fur trader and a Dakota woman. Faribault traded with Native Americans in the area. Later he would be involved in negotiating land treaties between the government and the Dakota.

Indian artifacts found on-site and displayed at Indian Island Winery near Janesville. This photo is published here for illustration purposes only. These items are not on the weekend auctions.

So I would think, and I’m no historian, that the trade beads, arrowheads, stone tools, copper spears, knives and much more being auctioned Saturday would be of great interest to Minnesota historians. I don’t consider it a coincidence that this auction is occurring during the 150th anniversary year of the U.S. – Dakota War of 1862 when interest in that event, and Native American artifacts, is particularly high.

If it works into my schedule, I’m going to check out the auction—to see all that history, how much these artifacts sell for and who those buyers will be.

On Sunday, May 6, another auction, this one beginning at 11 a.m. at 10230 40th Street West, Webster, which is to the northwest of Faribault nearer to New Prague, features a collection of western memorabilia and antiques offered by Tom Doroff, aka “Tom Horn” – “Buffalo Bill Cody,” according to the Winter Auction Service bill. Those nicknames alone are enough to attract my attention to this auction.

Among the more interesting items (in my opinion) up for sale: 20-foot Teepee poles with Teepee liner, Thunderbird Hotel Indian artifacts, handmade Old West grave markers, wooden saddle rack, helmet with horse hair tail and steer horns, very old cactus skeleton and the upper half of a bison skull (8,000 BC) verified by the University of Minnesota/Bell Museum of Natural History.

So there you go. If you’re interested in Native American artifacts, western memorabilia, antiques/collectibles and/or history, you may want to head over to Faribault on Saturday and then over to Webster on Sunday for these two particularly unique auctions.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW the listing for the Native American artifact auction by Helbling Auctioneers on Saturday in Faribault.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW the listing for the western memorabilia and antique auction on Sunday by Winter Auction Service in Webster.

The Loyal Indian Monument at Birch Coulee Monument near Morton honors Native Americans and features strong words like humanity, patriotism, fidelity and courage.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Minnesota Museums Month: The Minnesota Machinery Museum, on the prairie May 1, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:43 AM
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THINK OF MUSEUMS in Minnesota, and what pops into your mind?

Probably the Science Museum of Minnesota or the Minnesota Children’s Museum or the SPAM Museum in Austin or any other such notable museum.

During May, “Minnesota Museums Month,” I challenge you to think beyond the obvious to those small town museums that are tucked away in nondescript buildings or along back roads or are mostly unknown except to those living within a region.

The Minnesota Machinery Museum in a 1939 WPA school building in Hanley Falls.

That leads me directly to Hanley Falls, home of the Minnesota Machinery Museum.

I expect already most of you are asking, “Where the heck is Hanley Falls?”

Hanley Falls, a small farming community, sits along State Highway 23 in southeastern Yellow Medicine County, nine miles south of Granite Falls on the southwestern Minnesota prairie.

It is one of those “blink and you miss it” type towns all too often dismissed by travelers simply flying by on the highway. Let me tell you, Hanley Falls is worth several hours of your time to tour this rural life museum which opened as the Yellow Medicine County Agricultural and Transportation Museum in 1980 and in 1994 became the Minnesota Machinery Museum.

For anyone who appreciates our state’s rich agricultural heritage, this museum rates as a must-see in the heart of our state’s richest farmland. I grew up in this strong agricultural region, in Redwood County next door to the east, and toured the museum for the first time in 2009. Yes, even I was unaware of its presence, having left the prairie in 1974 for college and subsequent employment.

You'll see plenty of old tractors and farm machinery, along with vintage cars and trucks.

The Minnesota Machinery Museum, which is somewhat of a misleading name because it’s not all about farm machinery, reconnected me to my rural roots and educated me on the area’s agricultural history. During my 2009 visit, I learned that visitors will discover “the things you would find on a typical farm before the 1950s” with thousands of artifacts primarily from surrounding communities in a several-county area.

An old-style farm kitchen on the second floor of the museum.

All of those artifacts are housed in five buildings, including a sprawling two-story 1939 Works Project Administration school, on six acres. The first floor of that former school, during my visit, was packed with mostly farm-related equipment while the second floor housed the domestic side of rural life.

A vintage embroidered dish towel and old wash tubs, both familiar to me. My mother used a wringer washer with wash tubs during the early years of my life on a southwestern Minnesota dairy and crop farm.

It is the mission of the museum, according to its website, “to recapture a century of stories about farm life. Implements, tools, tractors and gas engines in mint condition along with rural art help you look back to an era when neighbors worked together to harvest their crops, raise barns and build a better life for their families.”

Read those words again. They are the essence of this place—the feeling of community, the sense of neighborliness, the embodiment of that which defined rural life at one time. Yes, that life has changed. Neighbors don’t always know neighbors. Oversized farm machinery has, for the most part, replaced the need for neighbors to work together. Barns are falling into heaps of rotting wood. This museum preserves a way of life that exists mostly in stories now.

This bushel basket in the museum brought back memories of feeding cows.

The Minnesota Machinery Museum is as impressive as any you’ll visit in Minnesota. Take time to seek it out, to turn off the highway into Hanley Falls rather than driving by without even a thought of the historical treasure that lies within this small southwestern Minnesota prairie community.

FYI: The Minnesota Machinery Museum is open May – September from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday – Saturday and from 1 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Sunday and is closed on holidays. Click here for more information about the museum.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling