90 Vibrant Years in Fargo!

NDSU Women’s Club Celebrates Friendships

BBonnie Kirkpatrick made many of her best friends at the club. She and her husband moved to Fargo after living in Mexico and Honduras. Tatjana Miljkovic, a native of Serbia, heard about the club from her husband. Judy Petermann had no real connections, just a love for reading that drew her in. The NDSU Women’s Club brought these women together, where they not only became friends, but have served as past, current, and president-elect of the club.

Can you tell me a little history about the NDSU Women’s Club?

Bonnie: The NDSU Women’s Club has celebrated more than 90 years as a club in Fargo. We began in 1920 as an exclusive club open only to wives of faculty and female faculty. It was a white glove, invitation only group. Currently the club is open to anyone interested in membership.

What do you find to be the most interesting part of the club?

Judy: I love the big annual events. I’ve gone to the NDSU president’s home, seen a style show of museum dresses presented by The Country Aires out of Mapleton, and learned about the botanical gardens.

Bonnie: You know you will laugh and have fun. We definitely have great food from all over the world. When a student from Tanzania made a presentation, we found ingredients to make traditional foods. It’s fascinating to learn about women and their home countries.

Tatjana: We have 119 members coming from seventeen different countries. About 20% of our members come with international backgrounds. Women come here and make connections. We are a resource to each other.

So you are primarily an international club?

Bonnie: There are many different interest groups within our club: books, sewing, writing, gardening, and midday meet-up. The international group is the largest.

Can you tell me more about the international group?

Bonnie: International women’s group meets the third Thursday of each month and typically has a presentation and food. We meet in each other’s homes. In the past year, we had presentations from France, Germany, Serbia, Morocco, Honduras, Pakistan, Bali, and Syria. The international group is a place to learn about women from different countries.

In a time when most women are very busy with careers and families, what keeps this group vibrant?

Tatjana: The group is held together by a desire to learn and share friendships. For international women it’s extremely important. We are new to the area. We don’t have relatives in town. It’s a great social network and support. We want to educate ourselves to the world, be around other women, and share common experiences from a woman’s perspective.

What is the main purpose of the NDSU Women’s Club?

Tatjana: We are a nonprofit educational organization whose purpose is to provide social opportunities and to give financial scholarships to NDSU students.

What are your biggest events?

Judy: We have three main events: spring, fall, and winter. President Bresciani talked about his vision for the future of NDSU at our 2011 Winter Event. Last spring the President of Northern Plains Botanic Garden Society talked about the Japanese gardens being built in Fargo. The Fall Event is the official beginning of our calendar year. We were excited to have Chris Linnares as our guest speaker. And recently our

Winter Event featured Dayna Del Val of the Arts Partnership and our special guest, Donna wife of NDSU’s new Provost.

What has the club meant to you personally?

Tatjana: The club asked me if I’d talk about Serbia. I’ve lived in the U.S. for twenty years, and that is the first time I’ve made an official presentation about Serbia! It was a huge event for me. It was really nice in terms of respect.

People respect your roots, where you are coming from, and they are curious to learn about you. What I have found in general is that people are uninformed about Serbia. Geographically, they don’t know where it is. How do you break that? By giving information and education. The club provided that opportunity for me.

Are there future plans for the NDSU Women’s Club?

Bonnie: We are discussing how to get the word out to others who might be interested in our area-wide group of lively women of all ages drawn together by a mutual interest in learning, friendship, and culture.

For more information contact womensclub.ndsu@gmail.com or join us on Facebook at NDSU Women’s Club.

Good Health and Great Meals

Red Goose Gardens CSA Provides for Red River Valley

Thor Selland, owner and operator of Red Goose Gardens (RGG) in Shelly, MN, has early memories of the land on which his successful CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) now stands. It was named Red Goose Gardens because the farm lies on the land where the Red River and the Goose River meet to provide the rewards of a bountiful garden for those living in the Red River Valley. RGG’s mission is to put good food into the hands of people who care about their health and the soil where their food is grown.

Seedlings

“My earliest memories of RGG were standing next to my Great Uncle Carl in the yard of the then dilapidated farmhouse, in awe of the grass that lapped at my chin.” recalled Selland.

While attending high school in Oklahoma, Selland resisted the idea of pursuing a path in agriculture, even though his mother suggested it. About this time, Selland’s mother was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that eventually ended her life at the tender age of 47.

“This made a deep and profound impact on my life,” said Selland. “It gave me a much deeper appreciation of the quality of our food and the environment we raise it in.”

The Farm

Armed with a degree in sustainable agriculture, Selland moved to Shelly in the fall of 2002, after an internship at a CSA. He began the gradual process of turning the farmstead retreat into a sustainable farm that could feed those who worked the land, as well as surrounding community members who wanted an opportunity to enjoy fresh, local produce. To Selland, beginning a CSA farm was about connecting a community of people who care about the goodness of their food as well as the way in which it is grown.

With the help of a business planner, the CSA began in 2005. Though he’s loved and appreciated the outpouring of help over the years since the CSA began, Selland knew that, ultimately, he did not want to operate the business alone.

“I was trying to make this farm life work without anyone else,” shared Selland. “Every year, as the responsibilities grew, the thought, ‘I can’t keep doing this alone’ grew louder and more pressing in my mind.”

Then, the flood of 2009 came.

“I’ve heard it said that one good thing about disasters like our floods is that they bring people together,” said Selland. “I would have to agree since the 2009 flood led to Jaclyn and me meeting.”

“Sometimes our buildings move about a bit … it keeps our pioneer spirits alive!” exclaimed Weber. “The waters come and go, but the land continues to provide. The gardens continue to grow.”

Jaclyn and the Flood of 2009

“The one good thing about the flood was that it stranded Thor in Fargo where we met,” said Jaclyn Weber, Selland’s partner. “We struggled with the flood. There have been several years that it has created a great deal of extra work.”

Selland and Weber had to canoe down their quarter-mile driveway and over their eight-foot deer fence to reach the farm. Last year, Weber scraped Red River silt from the farm house floors with a pastry knife and helped Selland hunt down their topsoil.

“Sometimes our buildings move about a bit … it keeps our pioneer spirits alive!” exclaimed Weber. “The waters come and go, but the land continues to provide. The gardens continue to grow.”

The CSA

By purchasing a 20-week share ($395 for a regular share and $630 for a full share) members receive a weekly box of fresh, hand-harvested produce that is grown locally, sustainably and free from pesticides, chemicals and genetically modified organisms.

Boxes are delivered to several drop sites in Fargo-Moorhead, Grand Forks and surrounding communities. Members are encouraged to connect with the farm and farmers through events held at the farm throughout the season.

“I love getting positive feedback from CSA members—this always seems to give me a much needed boost,” said Selland. “I love eating the stuff that RGG grows! It is a daily reminder that what I’m doing is good, because that’s what my taste buds and body tell me.”

[AWM]

For more information, visit www. redgoosegardens.com.

I think in general people from this part of the country may be a little tougher... We have a long cold winter, and people have perseverance.

HANEY’S PHOTOGRAPHY

The 8th annual Scheels Fargo Marathon is set for the weekend of May 17-19. Since 2005, thousands of runners from around the country and the world have made the trip to Fargo to be a part of this community event.

Fargo Marathon founder, Mark Knutson, said that neither he nor his wife Sue grew up enjoying running. “When I was growing up, I hated the 50 and 100 yard dashes. Speed doesn’t describe me,” Mark said. “Sue hated running so much that in sixth grade she faked fainting in order to get out of the 600-yard dash!”

Running did not enter Mark’s life until 1996. “A high school buddy of mine

HANEY’S PHOTOGRAPHY

said he’d run the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth and I thought if he could do it, so could I. I’d never even run a 5K before then,” Mark said. “It was my competitive ego. My first race was a marathon. It was a life changing decision in many ways.”

Sue began running in 2006. “I started a new job in 2005,” Sue said. “It was a sit-down job and I gained ten pounds. My kids were complaining to me that they had to run a mile for gym class. I thought I’d show them. So I went out to run a mile and I couldn’t. That experience made me want to start running. When I’d finally made a mile, I added two, then three.”

Three days before Sue turned 40, as a birthday present to herself, she ran her first race. “I decided I was going to run a five mile race,” she said. “I had to walk part of it. But I finished it.”

In the meantime, Mark had put several years into running. “I wanted to see a marathon here in Fargo,” Mark said, “And started working towards that goal. In May of 2002, the Scheels All Sports Run for the Children Half Marathon hosted 300 runners and it seemed huge! After three years of half marathons, in 2005, Fargo hosted its first full marathon. There were over 2,400 participants.”

Mark was putting more and more time into unpaid marathon work, and he decided to stop his job and start a new business: GoFarEvents. The Fargo Marathon, Inc. incorporated and became a 501(c) (3) organization and Mark became one of many volunteers who work on its board of directors.

Sue began training for her first marathon in 2007. She and Mark met when Mark was talking about running at MSUM. “I had the feeling,” Sue said, “That running was going to change my life somehow. I just felt it. My sister, Dr. Renee Schwandt, who had passed away in 2003, had been a runner. Running was a way of connecting with her and honoring her. When I ran my first marathon, it was like I could hear her telling me not to stop, to keep on running.”

“I was attracted to Sue because of her drive,” Mark said. “I remember seeing her come across the finish line of her first marathon. I handed her the medal. I remember thinking she seemed so confident and strong.”

Mark and Sue were married on December 18, 2010 and they combined their two families. Their six children include: daughter Michael Knutson, a freshman at NDSU who played violin at West Fargo High School; daughter Courtney Blinn, a freshman at MSUM, who swam competitively for Moorhead High School and the Moorhead Marlins; son Levi Blinn, a sophomore at Moorhead High, who enjoys paintball, hunting and fishing, and ran his first 5K last year; son Denver Blinn, a 7th grader at Horizon Middle school who plays baseball for Fargo Little League and for West Fargo Traveling Babe Ruth baseball; daughter Carly Knutson, a fifth grader at South Elementary in Fargo who swims with the West Fargo Flyers; and son CJ Knutson, a second grader who also swims with the West Fargo Flyers and plays West Fargo Babe Ruth baseball.

“We don’t push the kids to run,” Sue said. “Not everybody likes to run. But we encourage activities and they are all fitness oriented.”

Women Run

The overwhelming majority of runners at the Fargo Marathon are women, making up 62 to 74% of the participants. This is much higher than the national percent of women running in marathons, which is 51 to 52%. “I think in general people from this part of the country may be a little tougher,” Mark said. “We have a long cold winter, and people have perseverance. Women here are less timid. They come from the strong ethnic backgrounds.”

Statistically, most marathon runners have graduated from college and many have gone on to get their master’s degrees. “These are women who have a lot of drive. They know how to set goals for themselves,” Sue said.

“Over the last ten years I’ve seen a lot of women come to my training classes,” Mark said. “They come in and say they can’t even walk a mile, and now they are running faster than I am! It’s awesome. The running industry has started to cater to women. If guys have shoes and shorts, that’s enough. For women, running is a lot more. It’s a way of having fun. It’s community. It’s a fashion statement.”

This year the Fargo Marathon, Dakota Medical Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota and NIKE have partnered together to produce a matching funds program: Shoes For Kids 5K Run.

“There is a huge market right now in exercising, aerobics and health clubs. The whole fitness industry is growing,” Sue said. “It used to be that women didn’t exercise. Then Jane Fonda came around and exercise came into vogue for women. Women didn’t want to be the super skinny waif image like Twiggy. Women wanted to look stronger and to have more muscle tone. The way the industry is moving right now is definitely in that direction. Women want to look more muscular and toned. It’s considered trendy to run in a marathon.”

Fargo Gets Going

Fargo’s first half marathon was run out near the edge of Fargo on County Road 20. Mark had seen the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth and he took a newspaper with the race results in to show it to Mayor Bruce Furness, saying, “I want to do this here, in Fargo.” Mayor Furness responded, “You want to bring 10,000 people to our city and run through our streets? Let me know how I can help.”

“That was a real turning point,” Mark said. “In 2004, with the mayor’s full support we ran the half marathon in Fargo, by the Civic Center, and down Broadway. It was really cool. We got to run through downtown Fargo!”

Mark says he and Sue could write a book about all the goofy stories surrounding the marathons over the years. The coldest marathon was the first one. “It was held on May 14 and was maybe 34 degrees outside and snowing! That remains the coldest marathon we have run. It was fun, but we knew we had to find a fix for the weather issues.”

The following year, the marathon moved to the FARGODOME. “The Dome has been a great sponsor,” Mark said. “The marathon now starts and ends in the Dome. Without it we wouldn’t have the marathon as we know it.”

2008 was the hottest marathon with a temperature of about 75 degrees. “We had 30 to 40 mile an hour winds that day,” Mark said. “The last event of the day was the kids’ race. Running outside, with all the wind, was just funny to watch. The kids looked like they were barely moving, running into that wind.”

Fargo’s 8th marathon in 2011 broke all records with over 23,000 participants. “I still get nervous,” Mark said. “Everybody works so hard, but there are a lot of details. Our helpers and volunteers are awesome. We are thankful for all of the support we get. Mayor Dennis Walaker loves the event and what it does for the city.”

FARGO ROCKS & RUNS

The Fargo Marathon draws people from all fifty states and from many countries around the world. “People come here for the marathon who otherwise wouldn’t,” Mark said. “The marathon is a great way to attract people. Some of the race’s best feedback comes from people out of New York, California, and Florida. Many people have run the big city races; I’ve run them too. They’re cool.

It’s an experience. But there are often long lines, big costs and hours of waiting in traffic. Fargo is easy to get around, and we have good food and hotels. It’s easier than the big city races.”

“We try to go all out,” Mark said. “Sue and I have done races where there aren’t mile markers or the aid stations were out of water. Our goal for the Fargo Marathon is to do the little things right and to emphasize quality. The experience is everything. We want the race to be a good experience for everyone.”

In many ways the marathon in Fargo has become a 26.2 mile long block party. “People have parties all along the entire route,” Mark said. “Last year we hired bands to play along the whole course. We want the runners to be out there, but we also love to see people having parties in their yards. There is a lot of community spirit. Neighbors get together and invite friends over. That’s been very cool.”

“The last few years have been challenging with the floods. People are burned out from sandbagging. And the marathon has turned into sort of a spring celebration,” Mark continued. “It’s hitting the streets, but not with trucks and loads of clay. After a long winter, people want to get out and cheer. People want something to celebrate about, especially after a flood, and a long winter. “

Sue agreed that the party atmosphere is very present and fun. “The first year I ran the 5K, I felt as much a part of the whole event as if I’d run the whole marathon,” she said. “People were cheering; there were the t-shirts and the medals. Whatever race you run, you are a part of the whole exuberant experience.”

Shoes For Kids

Since its inception, Fargo Marathon, Inc. has given over $250,000 to groups such as the Children’s Hospital, the YMCA’s Partner of Youth Program, the Shriner’s Children’s Hospital and the Fargo-Moorhead Children’s Museum.

This year the Fargo Marathon, Dakota Medical Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota and NIKE have partnered together to produce a matching funds program. One dollar will be taken out of each registration in the Shoes for Kids Friday night 5K run. The goal of the 3.1 mile Friday night run is to raise enough money to purchase new running shoes for 1,000 needy children in the Red River Valley.

Anybody Can

There are many benefits to running,” Sue said. “It’s great to be outside. It’s good for your health. You make friends. But everything needs to be done with reason. Some people are not meant to run 26.2 miles. But most anybody can walk 3.1 miles. The marathon offers many different events to choose from. You can walk or run. Some people like to run in groups and some run and train on their own.”

The Fargo marathon now includes: a youth run, 5 K fun run, 10 K race, 2 and 4 person relays, a half marathon, and a full marathon. The Fargo Marathon is also a USATF Certified Course and a qualifying race for people seeking a trip to the world famous Boston Marathon.

And if one run is not enough, the State Bank & Trust is again offering the Go Far Challenge: Run or walk the 5K on Friday evening, then run the 10K, Half Marathon or Full Marathon on Saturday morning. This entitles you to a special Go Far Challenge medal and all the bragging rights you want. You can also join or support a GoFarCharity Team. All Fargo Marathon Walk/Run Events qualify. Learn more at www. gofarcharity.com.

This year’s Fargo Marathon 2012 will kick-off with a half-mile youth run on Thursday May 17 at 6:30 p.m. Anybody can join. Anybody can be part of the crowd, host a party, or sign up for a run. It’s sure to be a rocking, running weekend. So go ahead. Join the party. Spring is here, and Fargo is ready to celebrate! [AWM]

For more information including history, registration, race information, course information, a full event schedule, entertainment, GoFarCharity Events, volunteer descriptions, signup, race fees and deadlines, visit the Fargo Marathon website at www. fargomarathon.com