Red, white and blue define this front yard along First Street Southwest in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2026)
RED, WHITE AND BLUE banner everyday life annually around this time each year. I’m talking not only U.S. flags flying from poles, but much more. And this July 4, the 250th birthday of our nation, American pride seems especially abundant. Or maybe I’m simply noticing because of the milestone celebration.
Harvest Time Church in Faribault is celebrating the Fourth on July 5. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2026)
Whatever, I challenge you to see how your friends and neighbors, local businesses, churches and other organizations are celebrating and/or running with the July 4 theme.
A patriotic front window display at Keepers Antique Shop. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2026)
Locally, I found plenty of examples in expected, and unexpected, places. At Keepers Antique Shop along Central Avenue in Faribault, I always expect proprietor Nona Boyes to create a window display appropriately themed to a particular event. She didn’t disappoint, staging two mannequins draped in red, white and blue holding an American flag between them. The patriotic theme carries to a corner curio and additional window space. Boyes’ art education and background show in every single window display she creates for her antique shop.
A July 4 tabletop display at Books on Central, owned by the Rice County Area United Way and run by volunteers. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2026)
Across the street at Books on Central, I happened upon another July Fourth display, this one atop a table. Because this is a used bookshop, books center the space created by volunteer Jeanne Campbell with assistance from Mary Campbell.
“The Star Spangled Banner” was among patriotic songs performed at a recent concert by the Mankato Area Community Band in Faribault. Singer Barbara Dunker dressed in patriotic attire for the finale of “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2026)
Books about the White House, “The Star Spangled Banner” and Alexander Hamilton are for sale along with other volumes artfully placed among mini American flags, a Betsy Ross statue and touches of red and white ribbon. “We the People—A Pictorial Celebration of America” and “1776” by Pulitzer Prize winning author David McCullough are also among the selections.
A holiday ribbon adds a festive touch to a straw hat worn by a woman attending a recent concert in Faribault’s Central Park. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2026)
If you really want to get to the basics, you’ll find a pocket book of the U.S. Constitution propped in a front window display themed to celebrating the birth of this country.
A special holiday sale at Fashions on Central, selling used clothing for women with proceeds going to the local senior center, Buckham West. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2026)
To the north on Central Avenue, Fashions on Central promoted a RED WHITE BLUE SALE on a sandwich chalkboard.
A State Bank of Faribault flower pot decorated with an American flag for the holiday. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2026)
At the State Bank of Faribault, an American flag graces a lush pot of flowers outside the bank’s front entry.
A floral scene created by Faribault homeowner Kay in celebration of America’s 250th birthday. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2026)
But it was red flowers planted in galvanized tubs and backdropping white hydrangea that drew my admiration for July Fourth floral plantings. I was en route to a garage sale in a south-side Faribault neighborhood when I spotted the work of gardener Kay, who planted red, white and blue flowers throughout her yard. She wasn’t home when I stopped. But her husband, Paul, promised to pass along my praise.
Gerda Dolman pieced together Lady Liberty. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2026)
When I stopped at an estate sale, I purchased an unusual piece of art perfect for the Fourth of July. For $3, I snagged a puzzle of the Statue of Liberty pieced together by Gerda Dolman of Madison, Minnesota, when she was 100 years old. She lived to nearly 102, dying in 2021. Her son mounted the puzzle on wood. Gerda’s Lady Liberty now hangs on my dining room wall, a visual reminder of freedom, liberty and hope for all who came, and continue to come, to America. Like Gerda’s Norwegian ancestors.
I photographed this boy dressed in patriotic clothing and clinging to his mom’s leg at a recent car show in Dundas. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo June 2026)
As we celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, I focus on those foundational words of liberty and freedom. I hope others do, too, as they don patriotic attire, enjoy parades and BBQs, watch fireworks, and consider all this nation has endured from the Revolutionary War to present.
For sale in the Rice County Historical Society gift shop, 250th anniversary caps. The RCHS is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo 2026)
This message lifted from the tabletop display at Books on Central says it all: “For 250 years, we have maintained and loved this country that was created as the great American experiment, an exercise in self-governance and respect and freedom. Long may this great experiment reign, cherished and supported by those it protects and honors. Happy birthday to the United States of America!”
A display window at Keepers Antiques along Central Avenue in Faribault. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2024)
PHOTOGRAPHING SCENES behind glass often proves challenging. First, you need to watch for your own reflection so as not to photograph yourself. And then there are all the other reflections playing upon the glass.
I faced those obstacles while photographing a valentine themed window display with my cellphone outside Keepers Antiques in historic downtown Faribault recently. I tried my best, waiting for vehicles to pass, angling myself out of the photo, working to frame the scene. Yet, even with all that finagling, the results were not outstanding. Or so I thought.
When I viewed the images on my computer, I was pleasantly surprised to notice unseen details in the overall window display image. That prompted thoughts of the popular “I Spy” photo-based picture books for kids. Readers need to find specific items in each photographed scene.
With historic buildings across the street reflecting in the antique shop window, it appears that two faces are peering from second floor windows on the far left and to the right. Love that ghostly visual. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2024)
In the collage of antiques and collectibles Nona Boyes creatively placed in the window of her antique shop, I saw the makings of an “I Spy” book. (Study the first image in this post.) I spy a doll in a checked dress. I spy a red telephone. I spy a stop sign. I spy faces in windows. I spy a red ironing board. I spy a chandelier. I spy two candy boxes. I spy a valentine in a shoe. I spy a fleur de lis, the symbol of my community. What do you spy?
Shirley Temple dolls times three. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2024)
What you won’t spy in the overview window display are three 1970s vintage Shirley Temple Ideal dolls. They were there, just not in the section I initially framed. I photographed them separately. In the doll portraits, I spy a red brooch. Do you? I spy, too, one white shoe with a red bow. I spy the word “beverages.”
Those I spy candy boxes. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo February 2024)
And I spy in the all of this an opportunity to turn a photo challenge into something interesting as only a photographer and writer can do. Through my creative lens, I saw pages in an “I Spy” book unfolding before me.
MANY TIMES I’VE PASSEDthrough Kenyon, usually en route to visit family in Madison, Wisconsin, four hours distant. But many times also, this town of some 1,800 about a half hour east of Faribault has been my specific destination. Last Sunday afternoon on a drive to view the harvest and fall colors (before an unexpected snowstorm changed the landscape to winter), Randy aimed our van north out of Monkey Valley toward Kenyon just a few miles away.
This window features a classroom of yesteryear.
A close-up of a focal globe in the classroom display.
More details from the past…
We had no intention of stopping in Kenyon. But the passenger side window needed cleaning so Randy pulled into a corner service station and washed the glass. (He’s thoughtful like that.) Then we continued down Minnesota State Highway 60, which runs through the heart of the business district. As luck would have it, I happened to look, just at the right time, at the Held Bus Service building. And there, in the front windows, I spotted a school-themed display. Photo-worthy, I thought, as I asked Randy to swing around the block and return to the bus building. He even pulled ahead so the van wouldn’t reflect in the glass. (He’s thoughtful like that.)
Look at this bus-themed window display with the apparently handcrafted bus.
Photographing the window art proved challenging given the reflections. But I was determined to do my best. Someone worked hard to craft and create these educational-themed displays that show the importance of the Kenyon-Wanamingo School in this community—right down to the Knights mascot, the happy bus driver in the red cap and the smiling students. Yes, by that time I’d noticed two separate window displays, one an historic classroom and the other themed to school buses.
Love these portraits of students on the bus.
The school mascot even gets a place of honor.
More KW students riding the bus.
As someone who grew up riding the bus for 12 years to schools in southwestern Minnesota, I understand the importance of bus drivers. Mine were Jeff and Harley. Great guys. Friendly. Kind. Competent. It’s not easy driving on rural roads during a Minnesota winter. Nor is it necessarily easy dealing with a bus full of kids.
Presumably Jon Held behind the wheel of the bus.
But Jon Held, owner of Held Bus Service, loves kids. According to a 2016 KARE 11 TV feature on him, he is well-loved, too. He knows kids by name, greeting them daily before and after school (pre-COVID), often with hugs. He keeps a candy stash and one year even handed out his company’s signature red caps to some happy students.
The business is housed in an historic building which was damaged in an August 2016 fire. You can’t tell by looking at it now.
That’s a snapshot of the backstory framing these window displays. These are the stories that define small towns like Kenyon as caring communities, more than simply some place to pass through en route to somewhere else.
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Honoring America locally in red, white & blue July 1, 2026
Tags: 250th birthday of America, America, birthday of America, book display, books, Books on Central, commentary, Dundas, Faribault, flowers, Fourth of July, holiday, July 4, July Fourth, Keepers Antique Shop, Minnesota, patriotic clothing, patriotism, red white and blue, Statue of Liberty puzzle, window display
RED, WHITE AND BLUE banner everyday life annually around this time each year. I’m talking not only U.S. flags flying from poles, but much more. And this July 4, the 250th birthday of our nation, American pride seems especially abundant. Or maybe I’m simply noticing because of the milestone celebration.
Whatever, I challenge you to see how your friends and neighbors, local businesses, churches and other organizations are celebrating and/or running with the July 4 theme.
Locally, I found plenty of examples in expected, and unexpected, places. At Keepers Antique Shop along Central Avenue in Faribault, I always expect proprietor Nona Boyes to create a window display appropriately themed to a particular event. She didn’t disappoint, staging two mannequins draped in red, white and blue holding an American flag between them. The patriotic theme carries to a corner curio and additional window space. Boyes’ art education and background show in every single window display she creates for her antique shop.
Across the street at Books on Central, I happened upon another July Fourth display, this one atop a table. Because this is a used bookshop, books center the space created by volunteer Jeanne Campbell with assistance from Mary Campbell.
Books about the White House, “The Star Spangled Banner” and Alexander Hamilton are for sale along with other volumes artfully placed among mini American flags, a Betsy Ross statue and touches of red and white ribbon. “We the People—A Pictorial Celebration of America” and “1776” by Pulitzer Prize winning author David McCullough are also among the selections.
If you really want to get to the basics, you’ll find a pocket book of the U.S. Constitution propped in a front window display themed to celebrating the birth of this country.
To the north on Central Avenue, Fashions on Central promoted a RED WHITE BLUE SALE on a sandwich chalkboard.
At the State Bank of Faribault, an American flag graces a lush pot of flowers outside the bank’s front entry.
But it was red flowers planted in galvanized tubs and backdropping white hydrangea that drew my admiration for July Fourth floral plantings. I was en route to a garage sale in a south-side Faribault neighborhood when I spotted the work of gardener Kay, who planted red, white and blue flowers throughout her yard. She wasn’t home when I stopped. But her husband, Paul, promised to pass along my praise.
When I stopped at an estate sale, I purchased an unusual piece of art perfect for the Fourth of July. For $3, I snagged a puzzle of the Statue of Liberty pieced together by Gerda Dolman of Madison, Minnesota, when she was 100 years old. She lived to nearly 102, dying in 2021. Her son mounted the puzzle on wood. Gerda’s Lady Liberty now hangs on my dining room wall, a visual reminder of freedom, liberty and hope for all who came, and continue to come, to America. Like Gerda’s Norwegian ancestors.
As we celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, I focus on those foundational words of liberty and freedom. I hope others do, too, as they don patriotic attire, enjoy parades and BBQs, watch fireworks, and consider all this nation has endured from the Revolutionary War to present.
This message lifted from the tabletop display at Books on Central says it all: “For 250 years, we have maintained and loved this country that was created as the great American experiment, an exercise in self-governance and respect and freedom. Long may this great experiment reign, cherished and supported by those it protects and honors. Happy birthday to the United States of America!”
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling