LIVING 55 PLUS
Mankato’s Farmers’ Market
BUZZIN’ CUTS Local barbers show their craft
Also in this issue:
COMFORT is the trend for back to the office wear From sewing to donuts to real estate MEET LISA FINCH Take a deep dive into restaurant WINES The Free Press MEDIA
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1 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
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2 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
FEATURE S AUGUST 2021 Volume 16, Issue 8
16
FRESH CUTS Local barbers share stories, crafts and talent.
20
26
HITTIN’ THE BOOKS
BACK TO WORK
Librarians love books, but they love their students more. Meet South Central and Minnesota State University’s librarians and what they do for students.
Most of us got comfortable in our sweats working from home. Let local boutiques help you prepare your back-to-work outfits.
ABOUT THE COVER GoodyZ Barbershop owner, Zach Goodsell. Buzz into the cover story about barbers and their craft.
MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 3
DEPARTMENTS 6
From the Editor
8
This Day in History
9
Avant Guardians Elizabeth Lange
10 Beyond the Margin
Community voices speak volumes
9
14 Day Trip Destinations
Art museums in the Twin Cities
16 Familiar Faces Lisa Finch
30 Living 55 Plus 38 Let’s Eat!
Flame Bar & Grill in St. Peter
10
40 Wine
The wine list can be a win-win for customers and restaurants alike
41 Beer
Whetting the dry season
42 Lit Du Nord: Minnesota Books and Authors Sinclair Lewis, A writer who did the work
44 Ann’s Fashion Fortunes
38
42
Pleasing gods, shearing sides
45 Community Draws
Audio news for the visually impaired
46 Garden Chat
Bugs, heat and vacations
48 From This Valley Mournful memories
Coming in September
44 4 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
48
The pets we know and love
Use Looking thoseforinherited the right diamond engagement diamonds to makering? a custom design Have mestunning ringit for you! that you’ll
wear all of the time!
Goldsmith & Gallery Owner Patty Conlin 420 N. Minnesota, St. Peter, MN 507.934.5655 stonesthrowgallery.org
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WeWeare are grateful for gratefulfor for your support! We are grateful support!Thank you!! grateful foryouryoursupport! Thankyou!!you!! your support! Thank Thank you!!
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 5
FROM THE ASSOCIATE EDITOR By Diana Rojo-Garcia AUGUST 2021 • VOLUME 16, ISSUE 8 PUBLISHER Steve Jameson EDITOR Joe Spear ASSOCIATE Diana Rojo-Garcia EDITOR COPY EDITOR Kathy Vos CONTRIBUTORS Bert Mattson Dan Greenwood Jean Lundquist Kat Baumann Leticia Gonzalez Ann Rosenquist Fee Pete Steiner Nell Musolf Jane Turpin Moore PHOTOGRAPHER Pat Christman
PAGE DESIGNER Christina Sankey ADVERTISING Danny Creel SALES Jordan Greer-Friesz Josh Zimmerman Theresa Haefner Tim Keech ADVERTISING Barb Wass ASSISTANT ADVERTISING Christina Sankey DESIGNER CIRCULATION Justin Niles DIRECTOR
Mankato Magazine is published by The Free Press Media monthly at 418 South Second St., Mankato MN 56001. To subscribe, call 1-800-657-4662 or 507-625-4451. $35.40 for 12 issues. For all editorial inquiries, call Diana Rojo-Garcia 507-344-6305, or email drojogarcia@mankatofreepress.com. For advertising, call 344-6364, or e-mail advertising@mankatofreepress.com.
6 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Good hair, don’t care
L
ike most students, each August I began to gripe and moan at the thought of heading back to school. My main beef? Getting up early after months of sleeping in on most summer days. But unlike some students, I actually enjoyed going to school. Particularly, I liked the back-toschool shopping that took place yearly. The first indication summer would soon be over was when stores began to fill their seasonal aisles with school supplies — a smell I can never really place but transported me to fall’s chilly breeze and the good vibes from the Scholastic book fair. Apart from hand-selecting each type of pencil I’d inevitably lose by the end of the year or which Rugrat character would be on the cover of my English notebook, I was preparing that new drip for the school year. The fresh new sneakers, a T-shirt with a sassy quote paired with those sequined pants Mom always thought were cute. (I didn’t … but I wasn’t buying it, so I lost that battle each time.) Donning the back-to-school outfit wouldn’t be complete, however, without a fresh, slick cut. Fortunately for me, Mom didn’t want my hair to be cut short. For years, my hair was cut to have a few layers with a V shape. And since we went to the same hairdresser all of my life, she knew exactly what to do each year when we geared up for back-to-school haircuts. Plus, I was in elementary school — hairstyles weren’t a big thing for me such as, let’s say, making sure I had the coolest mechanical pencil. As long as the hair stayed out of my face in a ponytail while I was swinging away on the monkey bars, it was a good haircut. My brother, on the other hand,
always kept up with the latest trend. He took pride in what he wore — cleaning his shoes to be squeaky clean, freshly ironed his plaid shirts and always looked fresh with his hair. Two decades later, he’s still the same. It’s always been his hair he’s taken the most pride in. Over the years, it’s changed drastically. Looking through photos, we can pin the year the photo was taken by looking at his hair — almost like an archaeologist relative dating an artifact. There was the accidental buzz cut in the early 2000s in seventh grade, performed by an older gentleman. (It didn’t go well … My brother remained upset until his hair grew back.) There was the emo phase beginning circa 2005 — spiked hair in the back and hidden eyes in front; the buzz cut during his punk phase around 2010; the slightly longer, flat-ironed style late 2012 during his hipster phase, and finally, his primp and crazily expensive fresh fade. For me, a relatively lowmaintenance kind of gal, I’d never understood his obsession with his haircut. Especially because I only get my haircut once a year … OK maybe once every two years. That obsession, he said, was more than just being trendy. It was a statement in which he’d express himself through hair. And, most importantly, he felt good — especially important on the very first day of school. This month, writer Jane Turpin Moore spoke with four local barbers who’ve helped people feel their very best when getting their haircut. Learn the new trends coming up and about their perfectly honed craft that is hair, and book an appointment before school starts or heading back to the office!
Also in this issue: ■ If you have some spare time in your schedule and not sure what to do with it, head over to this month’s Community Draws. Cartoonist Kat Bauman tells us all about Mankato Area Newspaper for the Visually Impaired — volunteers are needed! ■ Got a craving for some burgers but not sure where to go? Check out Let’s Eat, Dan Greenwood speaks with St. Peter’s Flame Bar & Grill.
■ Find your next adventure — art museums! Nell Musolf rounds up a few museums for your next trip in this month’s Day Trip.
Diana Rojo-Garcia is associate editor of Mankato Magazine. Contact her at drojogarcia@ mankatofreepress.com
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THIS DAY IN HISTORY Compiled by Jean Lundquist
Pooches promenade at Le Sueur County Fair
Aug. 20, 1975 A total of 15 dogs were entered in the 4-H dog show at the Le Sueur County Fair. The training seemed to have been a good learning project for both humans and their beasts, according to Mrs. Berlyn Teig, the volunteer who taught the obedience classes required for entry into the dog show at the fair. She said “it results in better dog behavior, and teaching children to assume responsibility … I wish I’d taken movies of that first night.” Twelve-year-old Sandy Appelgren said the training was educational for her. She said of her dog, a Pekingese terrier, “Some days he just doesn’t like to be messed around with. But you be nice to him, and he’ll be nice to you.”
Family penalizes golfing trespassers
Aug. 14, 1996 When North Links Golf Course opened on the western edge of North Mankato in 1992, it was widely heralded as a boon to the region. But a neighbor near the No. 7 hole had already had enough. Two days earlier, Mankato held its annual golf tournament at North Links, and 144 Elks members from around the area attended. When one golfer from Marshall sliced his ball onto the neighbor’s property, he went to retrieve it. The homeowner called the Nicollet County Sheriff’s Department to report a trespasser. The Marshall golfer first denied going on the property, but when the homeowner identified him, he admitted he had retrieved his ball from the yard. Since the property was clearly posted with “No Trespassing” signs, the Marshall golfer was cited and fined $50. The golfer said he would never come to a tournament at North Links again. “That’s a long way to come to get busted for chasing a golf ball.” The homeowner was mostly disturbed by golfers urinating on the property. North Links put a port-a-potty at the seventh hole in response.
Corn pack sweet – so far
Aug. 17, 1989 Back in the day, there were packing plants for sweet corn and other vegetables in Waseca, Le Sueur, Montgomery, Wells and Blue Earth. Many of those plants are closed now, but in 1989, the slightly fermented smell of sweet corn was prominent in all those cities as a rite of August. Mountains of sweet corn, freshly picked from the nearby fields, were dumped on a concrete pad, pushed onto a conveyor belt, ferried into the packing plants, and processed by hundreds of temporary, seasonal workers. A drought in 1988 meant a small corn pack, but the 1989 season was robust. “We’re 100% better than last year,” said the personnel manager at the General Foods Bird’s Eye Plant in Waseca. He had concerns about keeping workers for the remaining five weeks of the corn pack, as many students, both high school and college, returned to school after Labor Day.
Getting down to business for training camp frenzy
1750 Northway Drive • North Mankato, MN 56003 www.corpgraph.com
Aug. 2, 2004 From 1966 through 2017, the Minnesota Vikings football team set up a training camp in Mankato using Minnesota State University facilities. Restaurants, bars, hotels, motels, and shopping centers looked forward to the influx of fans visiting their establishments. In 2004, the new owners of The Underground Bar and Grill had just one goal – to be open by Vikings Training Camp. The opening of the camp, a scrimmage with the Kansas City Chiefs and a girls softball tournament all coincided to mean there was not one spare hotel or motel room to be had in town. For some reason, there seemed to be a heightened interest in the camp in 2004, and several downtown establishments banded together to get fans down the hill from campus after practice. Training camp lasted only three weeks, but it was always an intense time for local merchants.
AVANT GUARDIANS By Leticia Gonzales
Dedicated to Art Painter inspired by the smallest of details
F
or 48-year-old Elizabeth Lange, art started as a means of self-expression that developed throughout her childhood. “I have enjoyed creating art, making up songs and stories since I was a child. When I was preschool age, my family lived in the Arizona desert, and it was my job to help tend our goats; my days were spent making up stories and songs, to entertain the friendly creatures,” Lange said. “In high school I realized that I was good at communicating with others through my art. I began creating visual works like paintings and drawings as a way for me to continue to tell the stories that were in my mind.” That early introduction stuck with her, influencing her decision to study art in college instead of astronomy as she’d intended. “I grew up thinking that studying art was not a career choice — that it wasn’t something people went to school for.” She went on to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Minnesota State University and graduated magna cum laude in 2006 with a double major in painting and printmaking. “My schooling and training taught me that making art and coming up with new, creative, fresh ideas takes dedication and commitment. You have to be willing to make sacrifices for this commitment — to stay in the studio while others go out to a bonfire, to say ‘not this time’ when you’re invited to a family get together. This kind of dedication has been one of my most powerful strengths through the years.” With a primary focus on acrylic landscapes, Lange said she paints just about everything. However, she
tends to gravitate toward semi-abstract landscapes. “I also really enjoy creating world maps in my own unique style. I use a vast variety of colors, layer upon layer. I love the ability to include texture through direct application of various media, to the actual physical brush strokes. I love adding texture you can see and texture you can touch. The forms that arise and are hinted at in this building of layers and texture are organically created for me to then work with.” There is also no shortage of innovation when it comes to her creations. “I pull my inspiration from just about everything I see. For example, I will notice the color of the grass or how the sun shines on a bed of flowers. Or I’ll hear a conversation in passing from strangers and that will spark my interest to create something new. Mostly I am inspired by how you and I will see the same object but come away describing this object completely differently. I am passionately drawn to talking about individual reality perceptions in a visual way.” She is working on a series of large-scale semi-abstract landscapes, featuring a limited color pallet. “My goal is to create work that helps the viewer destress and heal. I have discovered that I absolutely love starting my paintings with watercolor as a stain and then building layer upon layer on top of those first stains and those first marks with acrylic. As this builds up, I create a place that has depth and heart and meaning.” Lange is set to launch online painting courses, is working on pieces for a solo show and is commissioning pieces. She can be reached at EELFineArt@gmail.com. MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 9
BEYOND THE MARGIN By Joe Spear
Community voices speak volumes
O
ne can get a sense of the wealth of soul, the goodness of thought and the kindness of spirit in the conversations a community has with itself. So it’s worthwhile to listen in, take in and be in. The stories are often in front of us with the daily news, but the larger message is not always obvious. Some 150 years ago, the small town of Cambria celebrated its first Fourth of July. The returning faithful who celebrated this year with a decorator cake auction and parade far outnumbered the town’s listed population of 60. Mary Deopere has been at Cambria Fourth of July celebrations since 1933, and she’s grateful for the welcoming nature of the community and America. “While these celebrations may have started with our Welsh ancestors, the addition of our neighbors of many countries, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, England, the Czechs, the Dutch, the Scots, Irish and more really reflected the melting pot that is our country,” she said. Some 36 miles northwest, the old farm tractorcade left the grounds of the Le Sueur County Pioneer Power Show a few weeks before July Fourth, but it was a celebration of independence nonetheless. These tractors, old but shiny, show the driver’s allegiance to John Deere green, Allis Chalmers orange, Farmall and International red and Ford blue. The tractor show followed county roads through small towns like Belle Plaine, past a field of dreams at the Union Hill baseball diamond, and finished at Henderson Sauerkraut Days where the kraut was abundant and so was the beer. Manufactured products that last more than 100 years are reason to celebrate. “Even though we got wet, I didn’t hear any complaints,” said Richard Ostendorf of Pemberton, one of the tractor faithful. “Camaraderie and seeing the scenery. What’s really neat about it, you get in the middle (of the pack) and you look both ways, all you see is tractors, tractors, tractors.” Tom Graham is chair of the committee that organizes the 40-mile, 60-tractor journey. “It’s the memory and knowledge of our rich agricultural history in the Minnesota River Valley. They think, ‘Yeah, this is what our country was about 40 to 50 years ago.’” And the 4-H kids were glad to be back to the county fairs after riding around for a year on their horses by themselves. And people are glad baseball is back. The New Ulm Baseball Association finally got to christen the remodeled Johnson Park in New Ulm, the historic ballpark where people like Bob Skillings spent days and days in the 1970s growing up, changing the manual 10 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
scoreboard for 50 cents and fetching foul balls for a nickel. “We just loved baseball and so we would hang out at the park as much as we could,” said Skillings, president of the New Ulm Baseball Association. And the teenagers who sometimes see Legion baseball in the summer as a diversion seem glad to be back and are finding that playing baseball was atop Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs pyramid as self-actualization. “You can see it on the guys’ faces. This is a season that matters,” said American Post 11 coach Collin Risting with the opening of the first season post-COVID. Grant Hermer, a three-sport star from Mankato West, said it best after seeing his senior seasons canceled in many sports. “I just want to play baseball.” And others were inspired to be throwing shot puts and slinging discus at the state track meet. Marcus Hansen of Waseca won the state title in shot put and discus and was honored as Minnesota’s Mr. Track and Field. “Just a kid from small-town Minnesota, no one really knows where we are (and), I’ve just been recognized as the best track athlete in the state. … It was just unreal. It was really super humbling for me.” And the Le Sueur girls softball team won the first state championship in school history with eighth grader Rhyan Fritz knocking in the winning run (her sister Olivia) in extra innings and getting the win after pitching 3 2/3 innings in relief. “It’s like a dream come true,” she said. And people have become charitable in new ways. The first ever “2 Wheels to Heal” motorcyle ride to help prevent suicide among veterans made Mankato one of four cities in the world to host the event. Dozens of motorcycles descended on the valley and raised money for the suicide prevention nonprofit Mission 22, named for the number of veterans who kill themselves each day. Two friends in North Dakota got the idea after one’s soldier brother committed suicide. His boots were tied to their motorcycle as they rode the 100-mile journey. Taken together, these acts of gratitude, kindness and hope help define how a community speaks. Remembering can give lasting value to the things that make up how we view the world and treat it going forward. The tractorcade continued on through the pouring rain in the midst of a drought, and the farmers got joyfully soaked. And so did the healing riders. Good thoughts. Kind spirits. Wealthy souls. Take it in. Joe Spear is editor of Mankato Magazine. Contact him at jspear@mankatofreepress.com or 344-6382. Follow on Twitter @jfspear.
MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 11
FAMILIAR FACES
It’s a CINCH for LISA FINCH Finch talks real estate, donuts and keeping busy
L Photos by Pat Christman
NAME:
Lisa Finch HOMETOWN: Janesville
FAVE DONUT: Old-fashioned
FAVORITE SEASON: Summer
LEFT OR RIGHT TWIX?:
Right, though I have not had a Twix in a long time, might need to test a left one out.
isa Finch knows how to keep everything in balance — she’s always been to-the-minute punctual. Finch, who owns her own online shop on Etsy, selling handmade baby-friendly gifts, has kept busy during the pandemic, including studying for her real estate license, donut marketing and picking up a new hobby. She even discovered during 2020 that stepping away from one recreational activity (aka taking a break from sewing) for a while is OK to venture into other things. MANKATO MAGAZINE: It’s been a long, long year. What has kept you busy (and sane) during this time? LISA FINCH: My job! Or, all my jobs, specifically. I was promoted to property manager at CBC Fisher Group so much of my time has been learning the ropes and streamlines processes while navigating COVID responses. Professionally, I have never been busier in both property management and (donut) marketing. For Dunkin,’ it’s been nothing but growth as we pivoted to relying on our dedicated staff and really leaning into the drive-thru experience. We are expanding into a new location in downtown Mankato so it’s been exciting to watch that process unfold. MM: Since November 2019, you’ve been the creative director for Southern Minnesota Dunkin locations. What has been your favorite part about this position? LF: There is not much that I don’t love about that role. I have the opportunity to be involved in our community through events and social media, so it’s a joy. My favorite part is definitely making posts for upcoming holidays and events. Any time I can take some fun pictures with sweets – I am IN! MM: From having a full-time job, plus your own handmade goods Etsy shop, how do you do it all? LF: In all honesty, I can’t answer that concisely. I was the middle schooler that scheduled her plans with a
12 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
white board, so I have always been one to manage my time down to the minute, lol. My family comes first, but I have a strong work ethic and believe in the power of delegation. MM: In 2016, Mankato Magazine spoke with you on being a social media influencer. In your own experience, what is that like and what does it entail? LF: I really fell into social media influencing, to be honest. Trying new things and letting people know what experiences and products work for me has been something I have always done, so rolling that over into social media with pretty pictures was pretty easy for me. It’s been wonderful working with brands across the country and watching their business grow as well. MM: What has been your favorite place to travel to and why? LF: My husband and I took a trip to the Azores in 2019 and it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. The Azores are islands off the coast of Portugal and I discovered them on a whim while searching for places to travel to on the SkyScanner app. It looked beautiful (and reasonably priced!) so we booked a trip and spent just over a week there. They have gorgeous beaches, volcanic springs, amazing hiking and loads of dolphins, so it was paradise for us. We loved it so much that we are headed back next May. MM: In 2020, you started painting and also studying real estate to get your license, while also continuing your Finch at Home design shop. What was this experience like for you? LF: It was BUSY, haha! Studying for my real estate license was no joke. Painting watercolors was such a relaxing experience for me, and I am so thankful for Let’s Make Art and their business. All of their tutorials are free and taught me the fundamentals so I could start making my own designs. I did step away from sewing more in 2020 as I had some creative burnout, but that is something I knew would happen eventually with non-stop sewing and working for eight years. Recognizing when you need to stop doing something is a really powerful thing, and I am glad I accepted that sometimes I just didn’t need to sew. I could read
a book, go for a bike ride or paint instead. MM: If you had just one takeaway from this pandemic, what would that be? LF: Oh gosh, probably to just give people the most patience you can. People across all industries are just trying to make things work and everyone needed patience. I don’t think I have ever been busier so I know I appreciated when people were understanding. MM: What is something that most people might not know about you and find surprising? LF: That I am not tall at all? Hahaha, I can whistle through my front teeth very loudly so that’s a skill too. MM: If you could give the whole world (or at least the readers of Mankato Magazine) one piece of
advice on anything, what would that be and why? LF: I should take my own advice more often, but this is what I tell myself: Will this matter in five years? If so, do it – if not, ehhhhh think it over for a bit before responding. MM: Anything else you’d like to add? LF: I am so thankful to the Mankato community for its generosity during the pandemic. Working with Dunkin’ and FOCP (Feeding Our Communities Partners) made me realize just how giving this community is and it was so wonderful to see people be so openhearted. Thank you all for being such staunch supporters of locally owned businesses and local nonprofits.
Compiled by Diana Rojo-Garcia MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 13
DAY TRIP DESTINATIONS: MUSEUMS By Nell Musolf
The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit comes to Minneapolis. Tickets are available now. Courtesy Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit
Let’s go to a museum!
I
Immerse yourself in art this late summer
t’s hot outside, but you’re bored and want to do something fun. Something interesting. Even something educational. After all, school will be starting soon, and it would be nice to take the kids somewhere mentally stimulating as well as air-conditioned. Luckily for all of us, just a short drive away there are many museums in Minneapolis and St. Paul that offer fun, interesting, educational and air-conditioned spots to spend a sticky summer day. What follows is just a sampling of some of the choices. 14 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO ANKATO MAGAZINE
Minneapolis Institute of Art
The Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2400 Third Ave. South, Minneapolis, not only has almost 100,000 works of art, it also has free admission, making it a win-win place to go for art lovers of all ages. Stroll through cool galleries filled with pieces spanning 5,000 years. See classical art as well as more contemporary pieces. Current exhibitions include “Sixties Psychedelia: San Francisco Rock Posters from the Paul Maurer Collection” and “In the Presence of Our Ancestors: Southern Perspectives in African
American Art.” Museum hours are 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
Minnesota Children’s Museum
Located at 10 West Seventh St. in St. Paul, the Minnesota Children’s Museum boasts three floors of fun things to do with the kids. Learn all about dinosaurs at the “Fire and Ice” exhibit that will take you back to the prehistoric time when dinosaurs roamed the planet. After that, you can visit a pretend town and then go up to see the rooftop terrace. Children of all ages will find something to do and plenty to learn during a day at the museum. The museum is open 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
Spend the day at Minnesota Institute of Art with dozens of exhibits on display. Wikipedia
Twin City Model Railroad
The Twin City Model Railroad Museum has existed since 1934 and is dedicated to all things train related, from steam engines to Thomas the Tank Engine. The museum has more than 11,000 square feet of interactive displays and layouts. There are also vintage train cars guests can climb aboard along with artwork, artifacts and equipment collected from local railroads. The museum is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and 12-5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $10 for adults (over age 5) and free for children 4 and younger. It is at 668 Transfer Road, Suite 8, St. Paul. The museum will be hosting hobby shows and sales July 24 and Sept. 18.
Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery
The Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery, 1256 Penn Ave. North, Fourth Floor, Minneapolis, opened in 2018 and is dedicated to preserving, documenting and highlighting the “achievements, contributions, and experiences” of African Americans in Minnesota. The museum carries out its mission via exhibits and events that aim to educate and inform the public. The museum is also a gathering place for community members where people can meet and celebrate Black history.
The Minnesota Children’s Museum is full of fun activities for children of all ages. Reservations are required for non-member and masks strongly encouraged for all visitors ages 2 and older. Courtesy Minnesota Children’s Museum The museum is open 1-5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is free.
Immersive Van Gogh
One of the most talked about upcoming events of the summer is the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit. The exhibit opens in Minneapolis Aug.1 and runs through Oct. 31 at a yet-to-be announced location. At the event, visitors will be “immersed” in some of Van Gogh’s most famous works, including “Sunflowers” and “Starry Night” and will feel like they are part of the painting.
According to the Immersive Van Gogh website, the location of the exhibit is being kept a secret until shortly before the exhibit opens, but it has been shared that it will be somewhere in the heart of Minneapolis. The exhibit has already been shown in several other major cities where it has received rave reviews for being a unique and memorable experience. For more information, go to vangoghnyc.com
MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 15
From left, Richmond Clark, Tyson Hennis and Charlie Dundas cut hair at Unique Hair and Ink.
What’s the buzz Four area barbers fill in style gaps
I
By Jane Turpin Moore | Photos by Pat Christman
n a lather about Junior’s shaggy locks as the school picture date rapidly approaches? Never fear — Mankato’s barbers are here. They’re well-trained, experienced and primed to cut any which way their customers prefer. Classic comb-over? They’ve got you covered. Low, medium or high fade? It’s made in the shade with these pros. Need a perm for a stylin’ curly top? Just say the word. Mad for a mullet? They’ll make it yours. Need knowledgeable hands to manage your biracial locks? Look no further than the streets of Mankato. Four barbers, representing locally owned barbershops, buzzed about their businesses and backgrounds — and the “mane” benefits of being a barber. 16 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Unique Hair & Ink
Former high school athlete Charlie Dundas knew he liked to work with his hands — and that he probably wasn’t cut out for collegiate academics. “My grades weren’t there for college, and I wasn’t interested in four more years of school,” said Dundas. “But I was cutting my own hair during my senior year (at Mankato West). “There weren’t too many barbers here who could cut and line up my hair — basically, there was a lack of providers for people with hair like mine,” said Dundas, who is biracial. Contemplating his post-secondary plans, Dundas and his mom researched various trades and he landed on barbering.
Tyler Hennis puts the finishing touches on a haircut. “Within a few months, I loved it,” said Dundas, who — like all the other barbers interviewed here — graduated from the Twin Cities’ Moler Barber School of Minnesota. Now with five years of barbering under his belt, Dundas works at the new-in-2021 Unique Hair & Ink, 826 S. Front St., owned by Richmond and Jennifer Clark. Marketed as a tattoo and grooming parlor, Unique Hair & Ink keeps its two barbers — Dundas and Richmond Clark — clipping apace. “I’ve started helping fill the niche for curly hair, but I cut all kinds of hair — white, Hispanic, African, Ethiopian, anyone’s,” Dundas said. “I’d say we cut hair for everyone from age 1 to 90. “And even after five years, we still hear some new customers say, ‘Oh, we always went to the Cities to get our hair cut,’ but they don’t have to anymore.” Dundas likes doing bald fades — a style that progresses from “no hair on the sides to hair on the top” — and taper fades. He also finds pleasure in creating hair designs for adventurous clients. “Many kids like lightning bolts or stars etched in, and I can do free-style designs, too,” Dundas said. “I’ve had a lot of comments from people saying I’m pretty artistic, and I guess, after five years of barbering, OK, it’s an art.” For men desiring some pampering or simply a good close
shave, Dundas is ready with the smooth moves. “I specialize in beard trims and shaves with a straight-blade razor,” he said, describing what sounds like a relaxing process. “I recline them, apply a hot towel to loosen up the facial pores, lather ‘em up, do the shave, apply another hot towel, then some after-shave and they’re good to go.” Dundas suggests a barber’s shave is an excellent way for a man to treat himself when preparing for a return to an in-person office after months upon months of pandemic-enforced working from home.
Above: Charlie Dundas trims up Jermaine Combs’ hair. Below: Jermaine Combs checks Charlie Dundas’ handiwork after a haircut at Unique Hair and Ink.
“A lot of guys like to come in for a shave before work or on their lunch breaks.” With school days fast approaching, Dundas suggests parents pick up the phone or visit a website to make an appointment, if possible, so those young heads will look their best come picture day. “We do more of the classic Ivy League cuts or comb-overs with a nice part for back-to-school because most parents don’t want a hair design for those photos. It’s all about nice clean cuts.” Besides perfecting his barbering skills, Dundas has honed his listening abilities over the past five MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 17
than the average franchise shop,” he said. “I look at barbering as an art, and I take pride in my work and craft. I like to see customers walking out of our shop happy and looking their best.”
MJ’s Sports Barbershop
Barber Zach Goodsell finishes cutting Al Johnson’s hair at Goodyz Barber Shop. years. “Honestly, a lot of barbers start feeling like therapists. People come in and talk about their problems, and it feels good when I can give them a great haircut,” he said. “It changes their day, knowing they look good, and that makes my day. The best part is when I hand them the mirror and they glow up; that’s what I go for.”
GoodyZ Barbershop Inc. Zach Goodsell, owner/barber at GoodyZ Barbershop Inc. located at 407 Range St. in North Mankato, cuts right to the chase. “We specialize in quality haircuts,” Goodsell said. “We do a lot of fades and razor fades, and the older gentlemen love the hot lather shaves on their beards or heads. I do a lot of those.” Goodsell is skilled at using enhancement sprays, using an airbrush gun and a dye that lasts roughly five days. “We can darken any light spots or fill in a patchy beard.” While Goodsell has worked since November 2019 as a licensed barber, his haircutting days extend back about five years. Some tough life circumstances nearly derailed him along the way — his brother died, and shortly after starting at Moler Barber School, he broke his dominant hand (“I thought my career was over before it ever really began.”)
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But Goodsell weathered the obstacles and, when the shop at which he worked closed due to the pandemic, he decided to open his own. “GoodyZ opened in September 2020,” said Goodsell, who stumbled on the business’ moniker when trying to find a domain address that featured a combination of his last and first names. “I like it.” Goodsell spent months remodeling his shop, which he hopes to expand from its twobarber setup to include cosmetologists as well. Meanwhile, he and his employee keep their scissors flying. “Business is really good. We’ve had nothing but five-star reviews, and we keep building our customer base,” he said. “We have clients from 2 to 90, and we do whatever is requested — bald fades, flat tops, combovers with parts in them, designs — you name it. Mullets, bullets and flat-tops are popular, and we give discounts to college students, seniors and active-duty military or veterans.” While Goodsell recommends appointments, walk-ins also are accepted. A Mankato-area native, Goodsell strives to offer first-rate customer service with a personal touch. “I’m about quality, and we’re trying to do something different
The husband-wife barber team of Marco and Alexia Juarez opened the lively MJ’s Sports Barbershop, located in the River Hills Mall, 1850 Adams St., in Mankato in 2014, deciding to tap into the sports interest they knew many men harbored. “It’s definitely a sports atmosphere here,” Alexia said. “A lot of guys make it their tradition to talk about sports while getting haircuts, so we have screens with games going on and someone is always talking about something — football during that season, UFC fights, World Cup soccer — you name it.” But, she said, “Everyone’s welcome. We cut for all ages, from about 3 or 4 years old on up, and I know we’ve even done some 1-year-olds.” The Juarezes have 10 barbers working at MJ’s Sports Barbershop, with those who rent chairs from them taking their own appointments. “We’re open seven days a week and we accept walk-ins, so it’s easy for you to get your hair cut whenever it’s convenient for you,” Alexia said. With the lengthy list of styles available, including fades, tapers, Mohawks, Afros, razor shaves or designs, clients can select any game that tames their mane. “Mullets are really trending, believe it or not. And perms are getting popular with the guys; they really want that curly hair on top. All kinds of ages and types get hair designs these days, too.” That includes numerous women who request cuts featuring designs in back while keeping their hair longer on the top and sides. “Then they can show off their design when they want to or let their hair down and hide it at other times.” The Juarezes relish the positive effect their haircuts have on customers. “Getting that reaction when a customer sees their finished haircut is great,” Alexia said, “and we like hearing, ‘I got that job; the
haircut really helped.’ “I’ve been cutting (hair for) people here for seven years and have enjoyed growing with our customers; some who were in elementary school when I started are now in college and that’s really awesome. “It’s great to grow with people and be involved in their lives.”
Dan’s Barber Shop
At this classic shop that’s been part of Mankato’s head game “since Jesus walked on water,” as master barber/owner Mark Weingartz put it, the seasons of life drive the shears. “It’s a very interesting business,” said North Mankato native Weingartz, who bought his shop from Dan Quaderer in 2009. Quaderer still fills in for Weingartz and barber Jerry Krueger on a “cameo basis,” and the eponymous “Dan” in fact opened the shop in 1964 — somewhat more recently than Weingartz first suggested. “Sure, we get some back-toschool haircuts,” Weingartz said, “and summer is our busiest season with lots of weddings and social events guys want to clean up for. “And part of our business is ag-oriented. In autumn, we don’t see many bear hunters during September and October or deer hunters in November; the outdoor sportsmen turn up again around Thanksgiving.” But when they do show their faces and fuzzy pates at the door of Dan’s Barber Shop, 201 N. Victory Drive, Weingartz and Krueger know exactly what to do, with both barbering veterans set and skilled to serve. “We’re seeing a throwback to ‘40s and ‘50s cuts, with hair shaved down or clipped real close to the side and longer on top,” Weingartz said. “It’s a kind of blending together of two different hair styles, with lots of low, medium, high and even military-type high fades. If you look at any movies from the ‘40s, those are the (male) styles we are seeing.” Such trends don’t phase Weingartz, who switched to barbering in 2003-04 after a 26-plus-year career at Carlson Craft. “I remember a barber school instructor saying we could expect the styles to change about every
Mark Weingartz cuts Don Pawlitschek’s hair at Dan’s Barber Shop.
Barber Jerry Krueger cleans a clipper blade. 10 years,” he said. “Keep your eyes on male models and actors because people tend to follow the styles Hollywood creates.” Although Weingartz says 99.9% of Dan’s Barber Shop customers are men, increasingly they have female clients dropping in for short haircuts, too. Weingartz observes it’s been a “slow return to normal” following the 11-week public health-related shutdown of the hair industry in 2020, but as summer 2021 unfolds, he and Krueger are draping capes over the shoulders of two to four new customers daily. “Due to the great circle of life, we sadly lose about one customer
a month, but then a new face shows up at the door,” said Weingartz, who also notes they have a “healthy student customer base” from the area’s colleges. Weingartz appreciates the autonomy of self-employment, which was a primary motivator for his career shift 17 years ago. He also finds satisfaction in helping other people look their best. “There was a man in Jerry’s chair not long ago who hadn’t had a cut in five years. It’s basically a transformation at that point.” Weingartz said. “But we saw a lot of dramatic ‘before and afters’ due to the pandemic, too.” MM MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 19
MSU librarian Kellian Clink.
Hittin’ the books College librarians love books, websites, and most importantly, students By Nell Musolf | Photos by Pat Christman
F
or the past 34 years, librarian Kellian Clink has been helping Minnesota State University students navigate the maze that higher education often can be. Clink, who attended Concordia College in 20 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Moorhead and received her master’s degree in library science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, sees her job as a “privilege.” “I love the promise of working with college-age students. All of them are in the process of becoming. I
love that when I meet them across my desk to when they are graduating that they have solidified. I call it the Jell-O effect,” she said. “They start off with basic understandings of who they are and as they interact with others, they discover their strengths and their challenges. They do the absolutely ineffable thing called maturing. I just love them with all my heart.” Clink’s desk is the reference desk she shares with other MSU reference librarians, located on the first floor of Memorial Library and where all students can go with any question. Clink said students often do not initially ask the question they need answered. They might start by asking where the periodicals are or where other reference materials are shelved. It is Clink’s job to start digging and find out what the student needs and how she can help them. “I pry out of them what is the assignment, how big is it, when is it due? Then I try to break it down into more manageable pieces.” Those pieces might include encyclopedias, articles and editorials. Or perhaps searching for current statistics that can be found on websites such as the Wilder Foundation or Minnesota Demographic Center or Culture Cares. Clink said students often come to the reference desk after struggling on their own for hours. “The last thing we try to say to every student is: ‘Please come back with more questions.’ One of the things I emphasize is don’t struggle. If I, with 35 years of experience, can’t help you find whatever you’re looking for quicker and more efficiently, they’re paying me too much.” In addition to her time behind the reference desk, Clink also spends time in front of the classroom teaching library sessions where she shares more tools students can use to make their studies more efficient and enriching. “In library sessions, I emphasize the assignment. I talk about the kinds of information they need — contextual, specific studies, geographically specific information. I talk to them about keywords, such as analysis, study, demographics. Mostly though, if they understand at the end of the session that I care about them, I feel privileged and honored to be
South Central College librarian Heather Biedermann. on their educational journey.” Having been a librarian for three plus decades, Clink has seen many changes over the years and also has witnessed firsthand how important a university’s library can be. “I think it is so important to be open to big conversations. I think librarians should work on understanding the college journey better in general and with all our special populations. We could have monthly sessions about veterans and college, LGBTQ in college, Somali, Hmong, Karen, Sudanese, Indigenous, Latinx in college,” she said. “These years are when kids think about their ethnic identity, their spirituality, their intellectual development, as well as the skills and characteristics that are going
to come into play as working adults.” Clink also believes learning how to develop thinking skills is vital during the college years. “I think it is super important when students respond to a teacher’s assigned reading, they already know what the teacher wants them to think about it. I feel that if students don’t have to wrangle with making up their own minds about what they are reading, they are not getting the critical thinking skills they will need as a human, as a citizen and as a practitioner.” Clink takes the time to look at the university’s health survey results every year and buy books based on what she has learned from them, such as self-help books MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 21
about sleep, anxiety and whatever else students indicated they are experiencing. “They can and probably do go to social media for help, but books written by someone who has practiced in the field for lots of years has strategies to offer our students.” In addition to receiving awards for the work she has done with MSU students, the emails Clink has received over the years thanking her for her help also mean a lot, she said. “I love it that some of my former students keep in touch and reach out to me if they’re back in Mankato.” One of those students was someone Clink saw almost every week while the student struggled with chemistry. “She was convinced she was going to flunk so I looked at her grades as soon as they were posted and she got a B plus! She was also someone who I had pretty in-depth conversations with about her career plans and she did well for herself.” Clink recalled giving a graduation party for two of her students. “Both of their grandmothers pulled me aside to ask if their grandchild was ‘the best kid I’d ever met,’” she said. Clink is still in touch with both students 10 years later.
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Students are why we’re here
At South Central College in North Mankato, Heather Biedermann has been a faculty librarian since 2018. Biedermann, who has lived in Mankato since the early 1990s and received her library science degree from Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois, said her main duty is to serve the campus community as a reference and instruction librarian. “I help students identify their information needs for their college courses. I also do collection development — I select, purchase, catalog and maintain our collections of materials that support all our academic programs,” Biedermann said. “I also teach information literacy in the classroom so students can identify quality resources in their research.” Her job requires that she keep abreast of new library technology so she can keep electronic resources working for online students. She frequently gets questions about how to narrow down students’ search terms in the library’s databases because the students often get too many hits on their search. “It is a lot of fun to show students how to use the built-in features of databases to narrow things down, which is often as easy as adding additional search terms, using ‘and’ or ‘not,’ or turning on limiters to dates, subjects and article type,” Biedermann said. “I love to sit down with students and talk about what they are
looking for, to have them describe it in their own words. Sometimes just having a person talk out their research ideas helps them figure out a solution on their own.” While many students come to Biedermann as Google fans, they are often disappointed with the results. “The library databases take a lot of the pain away in searching. The best for me was having a student try a few of my tips on his search and find the perfect article. He shook my hand and said he will always come to the library for help. That made my day!” The library at South Central College fields upward of 400 reference questions a semester, not including all the questions asked at the circulation desk. The college’s librarians visit about 25 classes each semester and have online tutorials integrated into online learning, the usage of which picked up quite a bit after the pandemic started. “Our headcount before the pandemic was around 250 people throughout a typical day. We are a small library, so it always impresses me how many students make the library their main destination to do schoolwork.” Over the years Biedermann has noticed a few changes in how students use the library. Students used to only want to use print materials, such as local newspapers and magazines, for their research. “Now they almost all want to use our online databases to find articles and news,” Biedermann said. “But some things do stay the same, and for that I’m grateful. I remember news sources saying many years ago libraries were on their way out. That hasn’t happened, and it
seems libraries are needed now more than ever.” She cites being a good listener as important when helping students. “Sometimes chatting with a student, you may learn about other problems happening in their personal life that are making it hard for them to succeed in school. The library tries to connect students with the people who can help them fix their problems,” Biedermann said. “We try our best to help. The students are why we are here. I think we all do our best to make the students feel valued and have great services. SCC is a wonderful school community. The faculty and staff all work hard to help every student succeed. We love our students.” Working with college-age students reminds Biedermann to see the world through the same enthusiastic eyes. “It is like the fountain of youth when you work at a college. All the students remind you how cool and new life is when you are starting out. The students make me a lot more optimistic and happier when they’re around.” Biedermann will be happy when the campus — and the library — is back to normal this fall. “I think this fall semester if
everything goes back to normal, I am going to be beyond happy,.” MM
MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 23
REFLECTIONS By Pat Christman
T
here is something about fishing that strengthens the bond between people young and old. The act of baiting a hook, casting out and trying to find fish is an experience easily learned and fun to share. Catching, of course, is the most fun experience to share. The excitement on a young person’s face when he pulls in his first fish is a wonderful thing, no matter how big the fish. Those experiences can’t be bought in a store or found on a screen. MM
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Sherry Swart opened Vivian Rose Boutique five years ago. She’s been busy at her downtown location.
Comfortable
& Cute
Boutique owners help women curate back-to-the-office outfits By Diana Rojo-Garcia | Photos by Pat Christman
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Accessories, accessories, accessories. Chain necklaces are in and an easy way to dress up an outfit.
B
usiness on top. Comfy on the bottom. The last year and a half, most office workers set up their workstations at home — living rooms, kitchen tables, bedrooms, beds. It was that new normal that everyone was talking about. Instead of heading out for the morning commute to our 9-5 jobs, we rolled into a new routine — which did not include pulling out those ironed slacks and blouses. For many, working from home allowed a sense of freedom when it came to picking out the daily thread. Some (much like myself) opted for comfy stretchy pants and stained college sweaters. Others threw on nice shirts and cardigans to be presentable at the neverending Zoom meetings. And some, maybe not many, continued to dress up. Largely, people chose comfort and it was a main trend of 2020. In fact, according to the data from Adobe Analytics, sales between March and April 2020 for PJs went up by 143% — pants fell by 13% and bra sales even dropped by 12%. As the workforce heads back to the office, the trend — and desire for — comfort remains.
The basics
Sherry Swart’s passion has always been styling and clothes. And five years ago, with some encouragement from her husband, she began her shop, Vivian Rose Boutique. The boutique initially was exclusively online — it was just about a year ago that Swart opened her physical store near the event center, 12 S. Riverfront Drive in Suite 132. “Our ‘warehouse’ took up the second floor of our
home, so we said, ‘OK, it’d be awesome to have our home back,’” Swart said. For customers, that means browsing the boutique’s items in person, returning online items and even partaking in private styling sessions right in the boutique. (Swart offered styling sessions before in her own home, too.) Helping others feel comfortable and great in their own skin is the best part about styling for Swart. “You see it on their face,” she said. Sometimes when customers have been searching for a perfect outfit for a job interview, party or any event, they come to Swart almost resigned. “You help them find something that speaks to them and fits them perfectly — you can see the change on their face — that’s my favorite feeling.” And it all begins with a few basic staples: a pair of bottoms, a couple of basic tops, a great pair of jeans, a jacket and a classic blouse. The key, Swart said, is versatility and longevity to any piece of clothing. “I think that styling basics, you have a couple of amazing pieces and go from there,” she said. A few items that the owner of Sota Sisters, Amber Bannerman, would include are a great dress shoe — perhaps a brown or black boot for the upcoming fall season. One item she’s seen flying off her racks is liquid leather jackets. “I’m showing people every time I work if they’re looking for a jacket,” Bannerman said. The jacket can easily be dressed up with a dress or even worn to the office with black dress pants. Bannerman, who also offers personal styling before and after operating hours at the boutique, suggests adding color to a basic outfit. MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 27
Vivian Rose Boutiqu
e
Facebook and Instag ram @Vivianroseboutiq : ue vivianroseboutique .com
“Easily dress up an outfit with a great necklace … A cute purse adds a pop of color — mustard or a burgundy purse is great for fall,” Bannerman said. Basic T-shirts also can be added to that list, said Abby Frey, owner of Generations Boutique at 326 S. Minnesota Ave. in St. Peter. Frey, who’s owned Generations for a few months, also offers personal styling. “I want to make everyone feel confident in themselves, and I love the whole ‘generations’ — having clothes for all ages,” she said. Generations offers a variety of clothes that’ll suit anyone’s taste, including all of the basics. And even though the trend seems to be going toward more comfort, Frey tries to provide something for everyone. “Some people come in here and want dressy clothes, some people come in here and do not want dressy clothes, so it’s important that I have stuff for everyone.” But having a few basic items in a closet can help build a perfect — and comfortable — outfit for work. “A camo jacket, jean jacket, cardigan or sweaters — they’re easy to dress up,” Frey said. “Depending on your shoes, you can dress it up or down with heels or boots, or sandals. It’s really easy to build off of something simple.”
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Generations Boutique
Facebook and Instagram: @generationsboutiquemn generationsboutiquemn.com
Fashionably comfortable
Pre-pandemic times, office wear was more structured pieces — blazers, classic dress pants and more dresses. “We’ve had a big shift and I think we, collectively as women, are saying we want our pants to be comfortable,” Swart said. “We deserve comfortable pants.” Swart’s noticed more pants are available with great stretch but they still look professional. “Even jeans that have more of a trouser type of look can go business casual,” Swart said. At this moment in our shift back to the office, the vibe is more business casual than it ever has been, she said. The Sota Sisters has seen more requests for skirts. Though some shoppers look for more comfy clothes to wear back to the office, Bannerman’s also seen a mix of casual and dressy items. But one trend that’s been hitting the stores and fashionistas are the widelegged dress pants. “That goes along with the shift during the pandemic — dressing more comfortably,” Bannerman said, who sells wide-legged pants. The pants are typically pull-on — no zipper — to maximize comfort. Of course, everyone’s comfort level is different, Swart said. Some may feel better wearing the typical office outfit with heels and all — it all boils down to the person wearing the clothing. But there’s bound to be a shift in the everyday
outique B s r e t is S a Sot Instagram:
nd Facebook a rsboutique @sotasiste tique.com ou sotasistersb
office outfit as a result of the pandemic. “I think we realized that we’re more productive when we’re comfortable,” Swart said. “If I’m not comfortable, I won’t gravitate towards (a piece of clothing). … I want to look good and be comfortable, and I think that can be done.”
Upcoming trends for fall
If there’s one thing everyone knows about fashion is that it always comes back. For the upcoming season, shoppers can expect vintageinspired jeans, animal and floral prints, flannel and plaid — lots of it. “Plaid’s going to be huge,” Bannerman said. At a recent clothing market Bannerman visited in St. Paul, she saw a ton of plaid jackets in different color combinations and design styles ready to be worn this upcoming season. Colors such as mustard yellow and other fall colors will remain the year’s trendy colors. One that may be surprising for some are different shades of greens. “Lime greens are coming back in a big way, and I think we all think ‘80s,” Swart said. “Lime green can be appealing if it’s just the right cut or if it’s just the right piece.” And the most surprising trend making a comeback for Frey are flare jeans. She’s gearing up to sell the trendy comeback jeans at her store.
Back to the office. Blazers, cardigans and blouses are still in, just more comfortable. “They’re going pretty quick at other stores,” Frey said. “Flare jeans have been very popular — I see them everywhere.” Other jeans hitting the racks are the wide-legged jeans and the so-called Mom jeans. Though trends come and go, the best part of fashion is being uniquely you — no rules are necessary to be fashionable. “Anything goes when expressing yourself,” Bannerman said. “That’s becoming more popular — unique style — you can find something for everyone.” Going back to work may spur an inspiration to try something different or new. Swart encourages people to look through online boards such as Pinterest. “I even personally go on there and I’m amazed,” she said. “It’s an easy way to develop a sense of style and you can see what things you keep gravitating towards.”
But personally, Swart usually gets inspired by the everyday woman walking down the street. “For instance, there’s this really fabulous woman who is head to toe vintage, and it looks so modern, so beautiful,” Swart said. “It’s all about finding pieces that speak to you and wearing them with confidence and you’ll start a trend.” And the most important thing to remember is to feel great in your skin. “There’s something for everybody,” Swart said. “The best quote I ever saw was to learn to dress the body you have— don’t punish your body, dress in what makes you feel good. And if you don’t like the size, cut it out. These are clothes. They have no power to make you feel bad — only good.” MM
MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 29
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Mckayla Kaardal (left) and Sara Duck.
Visiting Angels By Katie Roiger
D
uring the beginning of 2020, many vulnerable Minnesotans faced a gut-wrenching choice: Should they check into an assisted living facility to ensure that they would be cared for, or should they isolate themselves at home in the hopes that no contact would equal no virus? The only thing more terrifying than a global pandemic that spreads from interpersonal contact, attacks the respiratory system, and shuts down national economies, is the idea of being unable to receive adequate healthcare the whole time it lasts. Kelly Simmons, the customer relations manager at Adara Home Health in Mankato, said that most of the people she chatted with were too concerned about contracting COVID-19 even to schedule 32 • LIVING 55 PLUS • AUGUST 2021 • Special Advertising Section
themselves doctor’s appointments. “People weren’t getting services,” she said. “Everyone was afraid to go anywhere.” The fear was legitimate, considering that the coronavirus extracted a particularly heavy toll on the elderly and immunocompromised – the very community that needs the most interpersonal contact for care and monitoring. Families and friends were also impacted as they struggled to help their loved ones make difficult decisions. Many assisted living facilities had chosen to impose a ban on visitors in a carefully-considered tactic to keep possible COVID exposure to a minimum. This meant that many residents experienced a lengthy isolation from loved ones.
“Especially during the pandemic, a lot of people didn’t want to not be able to see their loved one,” said Sara Duck, Assistant Director of Mankato’s Visiting Angels. “It’s really hard to put a loved one in a facility knowing that they wouldn’t be able to talk with them.” While nursing homes and care facilities implemented their own techniques to keep their residents healthy and engaged, home healthcare professionals like Simmons were working to spread the word about an alternative form of help. A longtime employee of Adara Home Health, Simmons was assisting the homebound long before social distancing made selfquarantining a global phenomenon. When she joined Adara, Simmons said she was surprised by the range of services offered by the organization. In addition to skilled nursing care, the company could provide physical, occupational, and speech therapy to help clients of all ages navigate their homes and care for themselves as much as possible. At Visiting Angels, Director McKayla Kaardal classifies the organization’s service options into three levels. The professionals in the companion service tier perform housekeeping duties but also take the companionship aspect literally, whether by offering to accompany their clients on a walk or drive them to the grocery store. The other two levels involve personal care, such as washing and dressing, and intensive care for any tasks involving a lift or an individual who has severe difficulties with mobility. “Our staff are there to help,” Kaardal said. “We really promote the fact that they are there to include the individual in the task, not just do it for them.” Duck said that one of the biggest perks of home care is that the professionals and clients frequently become close. “When we do pop in and say hi, they get a big smile on their faces,” she said. “You start to really get to know them on a personal level and enjoy visiting and helping even with the smallest tasks.” Home healthcare doesn’t have to be cost-prohibitive. Many services are completely covered by Medicare if an individual qualifies – a fact that many Southern Minnesota residents don’t know. Part of Simmons’ role
as Adara’s customer relations liaison is to educate the community on the resources available to them. This task proved challenging during the early days of the coronavirus. “I couldn’t go anywhere,” Simmons said. “At first, everything shut down. We really had to switch things up with phone calls and emails.” Fortunately, the new digital push helped to demonstrate to potential clients just how helpful home healthcare could be. Simmons’ team was instrumental in setting up appointments for those who wanted to qualify for homebound services. “Instead of patients going to see their doctors [physically], because they do need doctors’ orders and we need documentation, we would help facilitate a virtual encounter with their doctor,” said Simmons. Virtual appointments aren’t the only pandemic-driven change to the home healthcare field. While professionals always practiced careful hygiene around their clients, their daily uniform now looks very different during COVID. In some situations, Adara and Visiting Angels employees will
wear protective gowns, masks, face shields, gloves and more to protect themselves and those in their care. Besides providing great service, the goal of home healthcare workers is always to make sure that their clients feel safe. “It was a very difficult balance,” Simmons said. “We understood that [clients] were nervous about people coming into their homes during a pandemic. It’s a risk no matter how much protection you use, but we try to mitigate the risk as much as possible.” Ultimately, the time spent on extra precautions are worth the effort for all involved. Professionals appreciate being able to still complete their jobs, and clients enjoy the freedom that comes from living at home. “We are able to help keep people at home and safe even through a global pandemic,” Duck said. “Our clients and caregivers are still safe and healthy.”
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Special Advertising Section • AUGUST 2021 • LIVING 55 PLUS • 33
Diane and helpers at Market Bakery.
Mankato’s Farmers’ Market C
By Katie Roiger
innamon rolls are the answer. What was the question? Just ask Diane Dunham, President of the Mankato Farmer’s Market – or better yet, ask the cheerful customers who swarm her booth in Best Buy’s parking lot every Saturday morning and Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. By the time she opens shop, Dunham has already put in a good 20-hour overnight shift with a crew of 3 to 4 part-time helpers just to get her delicious goods baked, frosted, and ready for sale. The market experience makes the hours of prep time well worth the trouble. “What makes it fun is seeing the customers running into friends at the market, getting a cup of coffee, or a pastry, or vegetables to take home,” Dunham said. “For a lot of people, it’s a regular Saturday event.” 34 • LIVING 55 PLUS • AUGUST 2021 • Special Advertising Section
It’s an event for her visitors, but it’s a full-time job for Dunham, who said that she started selling plants at the market as a retirement gig in 2009. The plants were popular among customers, but Dunham, who had managed a prison bakery in past years, said that she wanted to add something more. She began offering breads, scones, cookies, Danishes, flatbreads, and other treats, including the cinnamon rolls that became almost instant crowd favorites. Now, Dunham’s stand is strictly devoted to keeping up with the community’s sweet tooth. From the spicy, sugary scent of sweet rolls wafting over the tented stands, to the happy clamor of shoppers meeting friends and making purchases, the Mankato Farmer’s Market is just as much an event as it is a place to shop. Beginning the first Saturday in May and lasting until the final weekend in October, the Market attracts loyal families and curious newcomers with
Gulden Family Farm
its wide range of goods. As President, Dunham searches for new vendors to add to the Mankato roster. “We picked up a cheese vendor this year!” Dunham said. Besides the anticipated array of seasonal produce and bakery items, the Market’s vendors hawk crafts, home décor, and beauty supplies. The two biggest requirements for new recruits are simple: They have to live within 40 miles of Mankato, and they have to grow or make the majority of their wares themselves. “We’re big on keeping it local, and we ask ourselves what the Market needs,” Dunham said about accepting applications for new vendors. “We have to have a product that fits the Market.” A few booths down from Dunham, longtime vendor Barb Page makes a habit out of offering the unexpected and whimsical. Page, whose love for pottery began during a high school elective, reconnected with her passion for clay creations when her friend group planned a pottery class activity. From
that day on, it was official: Page and pottery were a match made in heaven. “That’s how the whole farmer’s market thing got started,” said Page. “I was like, ‘Ok, what do I do with this pottery?’” Page’s earthenware selection for sale typically includes a variety of bowls, mugs, teapots, and candle and succulent holders. She is locally famous for her Minnesota coffee mugs that feature a clay cutout in the shape of the state. Most of her pieces are covered in colorful glaze, then fired in a kiln at the Saint Peter Art Center. On a good week, Page can create 10 or 11 mugs, but the type of firing she chooses for each piece can affect how long it takes. “If I do wood firing, it’s an even longer process,” Page said. “I do it in an outdoor kiln made out of brick and it’s a community effort. It’s a three-day process of constant firing and there’s a number of people taking shifts because you have to throw wood in every five minutes. I did some a few weeks ago
when it was really hot outside, and that was brutal!” No 100-degree outdoor temperature can stop Page from creating her pieces, and hardly any inclement weather can stop the Market from operating. Rain or shine, heat or chill, the vendors will open their stands and enjoy chatting with whomever visits. Only when conditions pose a safety threat, such as lightning or tornado sightings, will the Market close early. Its Facebook page keeps the community informed of changes. When snow and sleet make outdoor gatherings uncomfortable, the Mankato Farmer’s Market opens its winter stands in Drummers’ Garden Center off of Victory Drive. Year-round products, like Page’s pottery, are staples of the colder months. She also features her family’s creations at her booth: Her son-in-law crafts leather goods, another son sells photography, and Page and her daughter make stenciled dish towels among other gift items. “We call ourselves the Melting Pot –
Special Advertising Section • AUGUST 2021 • LIVING 55 PLUS • 35
we brainstormed the name, and that’s what we came up with, because we’re a little bit of everything,” said Page. Page isn’t the only one for whom the Market is a family business. Vice President Tim Guldan owes his start to his mother, who showed up in the early 1990s with a card table, strawberries, and some fresh kohlrabi. Now, as Guldan likes to joke, the Guldan Family Farms shows up at the market with the alphabet of produce: Everything from asparagus to zucchini. For Guldan, who has been visiting the stand since he was very young, the Market feels like home. “I grew up at the farmer’s market – I was one of the little runts running around the lampposts and climbing into trees,” said Gulden. “One of my favorite memories was claiming my own tree at Madison East [where the Market used to be held]. There was this purplish tree that was right behind our stand and it’s still there. Whenever I drive down Madison Avenue, I say, ‘There’s my tree!’ I bet there’s not another kid in Mankato who’s spent as much time in that tree as I did.” Nowadays, Guldan’s focus is running his family’s booth rather than climbing the nearby shrubbery. A schoolteacher during the fall and spring semesters, Guldan spends the warmer months getting the farm’s 50 or so varieties of produce ready for sale and he has plenty of help. His kids and wife often come to the Market to help with sales, and his parents still pitch in when they can. “In passing a few years back, I had mentioned to someone that, because a lot of our board was up for reelection, that I wasn’t all that interested in it due to the amount of time it could entail, I would be willing [to be a board member] if no one else was,” Guldan said. “I wasn’t able to make the next meeting and it turns out that when no one said that they were interested in the Vice President role, another person said, ‘Well, Tim said he would do it!’ My dad, who was at the meeting, said ‘Sure, nominate him!’” The unexpected nomination was almost nine years ago, and Guldan still enjoys helping to promote and expand the Market in addition to his sales duties. He, Dunham and Page all said that the community aspect of each Market is what keeps them excited to set up shop every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. “To me, it’s all about the relationships between the customers and growers,” Guldan said. “This past Saturday, I
had my head under the table filling something, and I heard a voice, and I instantly knew who that customer was. We have so many of those relationships where people have said that they remember me from being that little pipsqueak in the corn trailer, watching me grow, and now seeing my toddlers and son filling that role that I had when I was younger.” The friendship also extends to from seller to seller. Guldan and his fellow vendors make a point of hitting up each other’s booths for goods and often choose to trade a bundle of radishes for a log of goat cheese or to make similar swaps. Another benefit of buying local in a community-driven organization is knowing exactly where each lettuce, strawberry, or ear of sweet corn was sourced. The vendors encourage questions about how their products were grown or produced. The open communication between seller and buyer contributes to a fiercely loyal consumer base. To enhance their customers’ overall experience, the board members often try to find entertainment options for Market days.
“We have music nearly every Saturday, and sometimes two musicians – one at one end of the Market and one at the other,” Dunham said. “We always have something for the kids. Right now, it’s a take-and-make project. Before COVID, we had a gal that did glitter tattoos for them, or sometimes a balloon tier. That person is a paid employee and is funded by the vendors.” The idea of giving back to the customers stems from an overall feeling of gratitude for 30-plus years and some recent record sales, especially during the COVID crisis. Page, Dunham and Guldan all agreed that their stand activity stayed unusually high throughout the pandemic. “It was a surprisingly fantastic year,” said Dunham. “I think we picked up a lot of new customers because there was less to do last year. That might have driven people initially, but I think they stayed because of the fun of the market.” “I love meeting people and having them come back and tell me about the goods they loved or the pottery pieces they bought,” Page said. “I love knowing how much they appreciate us and that they’ll come back.”
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RESPITE CARE
Travel options opening up “M
By Katie Roiger
y late husband Philip proposed to me by showing up in my garden and asking me if I liked to cruise,” said Ann Clark. He certainly knew the way to her heart. The Southern Minnesota resident has explored the globe and enjoyed its wonders for years. Her happy memories from past trips include standing on the Great Wall of China and taking in a ballet in St. Petersburg. “I cruised with Philip in the Baltic and we agreed that our favorite city in the world is Russia,” Clark said. “It’s like the Venice of the North, with beautiful museums and restored churches.” After nearly a year of cancelled trips and quarantine measures, Clark is already making travel plans for the next several months. She isn’t alone in her wanderlust. Thanks to lightened health and safety restrictions, thousands of Americans have come down with serious cases of the travel bug. “I think next year [2022] will be a huge travel year,” said Amber Pietan, founder of the award-winning Amber Pietan Travel Agency. “People are already booking for March and April, and the most popular destinations are almost three-quarters full.” The sudden surge of tourism is a far cry from the past 12 months’ activity. The Amber Pietan Travel Agency was forced to close entirely for several months during 2020, shrinking from a team of five to a one-woman band. Pietan has come through the shelter-in-place time period with new tips and tricks to share with her post-quarantine trekkers. The biggest concern still facing the tourism industry is safety. Even with COVID-19 vaccines readily available, worries about contracting the virus are still high. Although airlines have ceased requiring that middle seats on aircrafts be blocked to preserve social distancing, they still require masks to be worn at all times, except when guests are enjoying their mid-flight bag of pretzels. As of January 2021, if you are flying outside of the United States, the CDC mandates a COVID-19 test 72 hours before your return to America. A positive test will mean a prolonged stay in the foreign country that could last as long as 10-14 days. Frequently, the best way to ensure safety is to be proactive. Besides following the rules set by the CDC, travelers can go above and beyond to protect themselves and their families. “Before COVID, I had lots of travel agent friends who used to bring hand sanitizer with them on airplanes, and they would wipe down their seats and seatbelts and tray tables, all of that stuff,” Pietan said. “I would just consider still bringing all of that with you even though things are starting to loosen up.”
Hotels and other destinations are also making changes to promote health safety among their patrons. Many have staff on hand to their guests’ temperatures upon arrival. Hand sanitizer stations are as common as that welcoming lobby coffeepot. Streamlining service to involve less unnecessary interpersonal contact is also becoming mainstream. “I went to Jamaica in January [of 2021] and they were still serving buffets, but instead of serving yourself, you go up to the buffet, point to what you want, and one person with a glove will grab that spoon tong or fork and get it for you,” said Pietan. These and other safety-conscious initiatives are contributing to the travel boom as people become more and more comfortable about dusting off their suitcases. Would-be voyagers should consider locking down their flights and accommodations as soon as they can. Not only does early planning save money in the long run, it also ensures that you can schedule your vacation on or close to your ideal date. According to Pietan, two-bed rooms in many resorts are already booked for the fall. The Boy Scout’s “Be Prepared” motto is a good slogan to live by when it comes to prepping for foreign travel. “Don’t wait to apply for your passport,” said Pietan. “Right now, they’re taking four to six weeks [to receive after initial application].” While this is an improvement over the months-long COVID timeframe, no one wants to get excited for a European vacation and be foiled by expired documents. Pietan’s number-one advice for navigating the post-lockdown world is to invest in travel insurance for major vacations. “I’d say 99.9 percent of my clients buy travel insurance since COVID started,” Pietan said. “You can cancel for any reason [CFAR], and that’s big right now. That was a huge lesson throughout COVID because a lot of people canceled because they just didn’t feel comfortable and you had to have the CFAR to be able to get your money back. Most people just got vouchers.” Packing, planning, and preparing will frequently get you where you need to go with minimal fuss, but if you have concerns or a completely stress-free experience, Pietan recommends utilizing your local travel agents. Whether your dream trip is a cruise down the Mediterranean or a spa in Mexico, their job is to take care of all practical matters so that you can go straight to the business of having fun. “I know what I’m doing and I have a lot of knowledge to share,” Pietan said. “I want to help people create fun memories.” Special Advertising Section • AUGUST 2021 • LIVING 55 PLUS • 37
Food & Beer
LET'S EAT!
By Dan Greenwood
SOUTHERN MN STYLE Flame Bar & Grill's owner Mike Hobday (left) and daughter Shannon Hobday. The pair have cooked up delicious recipes at the St. Peter bar such as the Thousand Island pizza.
The Flame Bar St. Peter bar and restaurant serves up unique burgers, pizza
S
ince 1992, St. Peter’s Flame Bar and Grill has been a popular meeting place for locals and college students. Whether it’s catching the Minnesota Vikings on TV, a place to celebrate a softball game win, or just grabbing a burger and a beer with friends and taking in live music on Friday nights, many customers have been coming here for generations. “We do have customers that have been here since the day we opened up,” said owner Mike Hobday. “We 38 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Photos by Pat Christman follow families that we know that we’ve grown up with.” And that applies to his own staff as well. “One guy we had – he worked here and now his kids work here. We see their children grow up and then their kids start working with us.” Hobday added a kitchen about 20 years ago and has been perfecting the menu ever since with homemade pizzas and appetizers. The burgers here have developed a reputation as being among the
best. “We’ve done well with the burgers,” Hobday said. “We have an au jus burger that we’ve done really well with.” With more than a dozen burgers to choose from, there’s something for everyone, from staples such as the California burger and the double bacon cheeseburger to other more unique offerings. “Our big one is our cheese curd burger,” Hobday said. “We run that on a special on Mondays. We do cheese curds on top of the burger
Green olive and pepper jack burger. with bacon and a slice of cheese” Other popular burgers include the green olive burger topped with pepper jack cheese, the western burger – smothered in barbecue sauce, onion tanglers, cheese and bacon – and the German burger. “That has sauerkraut, Thousand Island dressing and American Swiss cheese,” he said. “It’s very good.” Another top seller here are the pizzas, like the bacon cheeseburger pizza or the garbage pizza which includes basically every topping a customer wants, from sauerkraut to jalapenos to tomatoes. Hobday said his daughter, Shannon, who he hopes will take over the business in a few years, has come up with some unique ideas, such as the Thousand Island pizza. “She just uses Thousand Island dressing for the sauce instead of the marinara sauce with whatever toppings and seasonings you want on it. They do very well and are very good.” Hobday said the recipes are inspired by looking into what other restaurants are serving in different parts of the country. When he’s on vacation, he’ll look through different menus for ideas. The family takes an annual trip to Fort Myers Beach every year in Florida and will see what other restaurants are serving. “You do some different appetizers each time – we have deep-fried pickles now and we have a buffalo shrimp and garlic herb shrimp – just some different things that we do during Lent. It’s just kind of word of mouth and going with the trends we try to stay with.” The buffalo wings here are served with homemade ranch dressing, and Hobday said they experiment with different sauces – keeping the ones that become a hit among customers. “We’ve got a bunch of different
Flame Bar & Grill is a local staple in St. Peter.
Flame Bar and Grill provides plenty of outdoor space for dining and chatting. sauces for our wings, so we try to switch those up,” he said. “We’ve got a honey garlic stinger, it’s a little spicier, we have a buffalo sauce, bourbon, and teriyaki. Whenever something new comes out, we try something different. We have a chipotle mayo and a honey mustard. You can go on and on with these sauces and you try to keep the ones that are moving. We try to stay with the times.” Hobday also wants to bring back live music on Friday nights – a regular feature at the Flame Bar and Grill before the pandemic. With that on the wane, he’s excited to see familiar faces again.
“We’ve been very lucky – we’ve been surrounded by a lot of decent people.”
What:
The Flame Bar
Where:
225 W Nassau St., St. Peter
What they’re known for:
More than a dozen different burgers as well as unique pizzas, including the "garbage pizza" MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 39
WINE
By Leigh Pomeroy
The wine list can be a win-win for customers and restaurants alike
R
estaurant wine lists can be a daunting challenge for wine newbies and aficionados alike. For those new to the wine experience, the names on the list, except for a few, may be unfamiliar. For experienced wine drinkers, they may be too familiar, as in the same old labels one finds in most liquor stores — boring! My travels to the Colorado mountains and Seattle this summer allowed me to sample great food and wines at a variety of venues. And more often than not, I'd find myself wishing that our local restaurateurs could sample these experiences as well, in order to understand what's really possible … and what to avoid. The first point to understand is that quality should never be equated with price. For example, the most disappointing experience my traveling companions and I shared was at a very expensive Austrian restaurant in Vail Village. While the location was lovely and we were able to sit outside, only one of the dishes was truly exemplary: a slightly spicy beef and veal stew with Austrian potato dumplings served as a first course. The rest of the meal was good, not great, and one dish, a pasta carbonara, was subpar. To digress a bit: Pasta carbonara is an Italian dish of pasta with a creamy egg, cured pork, butter (or olive oil) and Parmesan (or Pecorino Romano) cheese sauce that is frequently found on menus throughout that country. However, too often non-Italian chefs cheat by adding cream, which carbonara purists roundly criticize and avoid. Unfortunately, the carbonara that was served contained cream, thus diluting the flavors of the dish, which reminded us of a lesson we had forgotten: Always ask before ordering if the house carbonara contains cream. The other drawback of the restaurant was that the wine list was outrageously expensive. The least expensive bottle was $55. Yikes! Ultimately, we settled on a Kerner, a lively white from the highly regarded producer Abbazia di Novacella, a working monastery dating back to 1142, located in the northern Italian district of Alto Adige near the Austria border. Lest you haven't heard of Kerner, don’t be embarrassed, because few wine drinkers have. It's a cross between Riesling and Schiava, strangely enough a red grape. The resulting flavors combine Riesling's citrus-tart fruit and Schiava's strawberry, Pinot Noirlike characteristics. Yet it finishes dry, so it goes well with seafood and light poultry dishes, or it's great for just sipping with antipasti. 40 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Finding a unique wine like Kerner from a producer like Abbazia di Novacella was an upside. Yet the downside was that it was $60 on the wine list while the wine retails for about $20 if you can find it. Which brings me to my primary pet peeve with restaurants: high wine prices. I don't mind that restaurants charge fair prices for the foods they create because that is what they do. But they don't grow the grapes or make the wines, yet they end up with a lion's share of the profits. For example, on that $60 restaurant bottle, the winery gets only about $8 for the grapes plus production, while the restaurant gets about $54. Highway robbery. In Europe, wine is considered part of the meal, so in most restaurants (except for the Michelin-starred) wine is fairly priced. In the U.S., unfortunately, wine is too often treated as a profit source and thus becomes a luxury for the poor customer. Further, too many restaurants have what is called "corporate" wine lists — that is, they offer only wines from large corporate producers such as Kendall-Jackson, Gallo and Consolidated Brands. This is especially true for chain restaurants — in other words, big loves big. Thus, when independent restaurants could set themselves apart by offering unique wines from smaller producers, they too often fall into the same corporate wine trap because it may be convenient or simply because they don't care. In most states, customers may take their own wines to restaurants if the restaurant allows. Minnesota is such a state, though Colorado is not. In most cases, the restaurant charges a corkage fee, usually from $15 to $25. This helps both restaurants that don't want to carry a large wine inventory and customers who prefer wines that are not available on a restaurant's wine list. This is a great advantage for wine lovers like my friend John Bell, a retired winery owner, who has cases of older vintages in his cellar. In fact, he says, if a restaurant refuses to let him bring his own wine, that's a "deal killer." He just won't patronize it. So, restaurant wine policies can be tricky though not impossible. The bottom line is this: Restaurants open to expanding the wine experience by featuring a well-chosen selection and fair wine prices, as well as allowing customers to bring their own wines, actually do much better by these policies. By doing so, they attract a larger and more wine cognizant clientele who are happier for the experience. Cin cin!
BEER
By Bert Mattson
T
Whetting the dry season
he song of the Dogday Cicada runs long in August - like that stretch in Grand Funk Railroad’s “I’m Your Captain” between the 8and 10-minute mark, where I become less interested in how close the subject is to home than I am anxious for him to get there. For better or worse, this was the soundtrack to surveying the parched lawn — deciding to let it go — and realizing I’m a bit burned out on lawnmower beers. Late August brings breezes to shoo bugs from porches and patios … but also sets the clock ticking on outdoor cookery. Fortunately, August also cues the seasonal release of complex beers, which suit cooking over coals. For folks cramming to stave off the season of kitchen cleanup, here’s a sweet spot. Pumpkin beers are on the horizon, but for me that’s too m u c h t o o s o o n . H o w e v e r, seasonal release porters do begin to look appealing. Deschutes Brewery rolls out their Whiskey Butte Porter in August. A blend of their flagship Black Butte Porter and whiskey barrel-aged Imperial Porter, Whiskey Butte bridges the calendar gap before the sticky, dessert-flavored
imperial porters indicative of the frosty months. Merging the spice of bourbon and oak in the imperial with the slight hop bitterness and darkly roasted malts of the creamy porter poses an intriguing pairing to a rich, smoky, slow-cooked cut such as brisket. Toasted oak echoes smoke on the beef. The crusty bark and velvety brew make for tactile contrast. A faint booziness and carbonated lightness prevent fat from lingering on the palate. Smoke on the finish of the Whiskey Butte could also stand in with ribs cooked slowly over charcoal-fine companions for a lazy afternoon. While I’m more than reluctant t o b re e z e p a s t t h e p r i m e evenings of September, neither am I rushed by the August vanguard of Octoberfest releases. O’dell Brewing’s malty and rich Marzen style lager, Oktoberfest, creeps into August like long shadows and earlier sunsets. I’d sooner gaze into its clear copper than the straw-dry roots of my turning turf. A whiff of toffee sweetness is salve to the withering of my failing flowers. Its herbal hops are easier on the nose than my thyme, drying on the stem. The toasty biscuit,
Best of Mankato 10 yearsa in a row! Summer Lovin’..having Blast!
malty goodness of this one calls for grilled sausage and perhaps a pretzel bun. Pale ales present a more tempered approach to the seasonal transition. Bent Paddle Brewing Company’s Lollygagger Pale Ale drops in August. A hoppy note of cut grass harkens to what I once had. The gold in the glass is gentler than the sepia cast of late-summer sun. Hops are forward and carbonation lively. It’s a cheeseburger beer. Extra cheese — any lost will fall on a paper plate. A buttertoasted bun teases out the malt. The bubbles lift away a drop of bacon grease, clearing the path for another bite. Easy drinking, but not basic. Fries would be good – worth tossing some in the turkey fryer… if the back forty looked anything like a controlled burn.
Bert Mattson is a chef and writer based in St. Paul. He is the manager of the iconic Mickey’s Diner. bertsbackburner.com
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 41
LIT DU NORD: MINNESOTA BOOKS AND AUTHORS By Nick Healy
A writer who did the work
on of 1920 first editi " et re St n ai "M
This photo is inscribed by Lewis “amiably” to Chicago Sun literary critic C. N. Thomas, and dated Chicago, October 10, 1922. Credit: Emil Otto Hoppe, 1922
W
hen you enter the Minnesota History Center’s new exhibit about author Sinclair Lewis, you are meant to turn to the right, and if you do, you will find photos of his parents, his boyhood home and Lewis himself as a child — the sorts of things you expect at the beginning of a story. From there, you should proceed on a path providing a roughly chronological trip through adolescence, his years at Yale and his rise as a writer. I didn’t go that route. When I arrived, I glanced to the left and saw the books — dozens upon dozens of them arranged on a long swath of wall space. Lewis wrote 24 novels, the first published under a pen name in 1912 and the last released in 1951, soon after his death. The exhibit includes the famous and obscure among his books in 42 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Many of Lewis’ s translated for fo works were reign readers, including this 19 48 Danish language vers ion of "Kingsbl ood Royal." Credi University of M t: Courtesy innesota Librarie s
first editions, later hardcover editions, foreign editions and paperbacks in all shapes and sizes, including three novels that were printed as Armed Services Editions, pocket-size for American soldiers in World War II. It’s an amazing sight, that wall, and it represents an astonishing amount of effort. As I stood in front of all those books, I thought about all the work involved — the creative energy and the physical demands of banging out so many words on a manual typewriter, a task Lewis apparently handled with a two-fingered, rapid-fire typing style. I found myself thinking back to something I happened upon and read 20 years ago — the eulogy given by Frederick Manfred at Lewis’ funeral, which was on a subzero day in January 1951 in Sauk Centre, where Red Lewis, as friends knew him, had grown up. Several bits and pieces of Manfred’s depiction of Lewis had stuck with me through two decades — in part because Manfred was unusually frank about some shortcomings of the deceased man, describing him as a “struggle writer” and explaining how loneliness shaped his life and work. “Writing came hard for Red Lewis. He had to wrestle with it, and out of the wrestling came discipline and the need to work for the rest of his life,” said Manfred, a Minnesota novelist from a subsequent generation whose books had a style quite different from the biting satire that helped make Lewis famous. While explaining that his art did not come naturally to Lewis, Manfred told the gathered mourners that Lewis’ first six novels were “neither distinguished nor successful.” (Six books amounts to a lifetime output for many successful authors, of course.) Lewis’ seventh book was “Main Street,” which, Manfred said, “became world famous and which helped change the whole course of modern American literature, perhaps even world literature.” The History Center’s exhibit, called “Sinclair Lewis: 100 Years of Main Street,” marks a milestone since Lewis
released his breakthrough book, which tells the story of a woman aspiring for better things for her town and herself who is thwarted by the complacency and narrowmindedness of her neighbors. Lewis spent time in Mankato working on “Main Street,” living at 315 S. Broad St. in the summer of 1919. Lewis would reach his greatest heights in the 1920s, publishing six more novels before the decade’s end. The exhibit has a mission beyond marking a milestone, though. It makes the case that Lewis’ work remains relevant after so much time. With a style that was accessible and readable, he took on issues that do not sound like dusty history. His 1925 novel “Arrowsmith,” for example, tells the story of a doctor who finds himself in a struggle between science and compassion while fighting an epidemic that kills his wife and many others around him. “Babbitt,” released in 1922, pokes fun at the conformity and hollowness of middle-class life, and “Elmer Gantry,” from 1927, presents a charismatic preacher with secret vices and dubious motives. In 1930, Lewis became the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (his medal is part of the exhibit), and he continued publishing novels through the 1930s and 1940s, including 1935’s “It Can’t Happen Here,” which tells of the rise of an American dictator and which returned to the bestseller list early in the Trump era. Among Minnesota writers, no one compares to Lewis in terms of the number of important novels he produced, the accolades and praise he won, and the commercial success he enjoyed. But even at his own funeral, Lewis was compared unfavorably to contemporaries including fellow Minnesotan F. Scott Fitzgerald, who is now widely considered a writer of greater import and skill. In his eulogy, Manfred acknowledged Lewis “was not a natural and fluent writer as, say, Scott Fitzgerald was.” But, true to his thesis, Manfred reminded mourners of Lewis’ commitment to finishing his work and to making himself a great writer. Manfred said, “Writing came easy for Scott Fitzgerald and, one can argue, because of it Scott did not learn discipline.”
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Mankato | Amboy | Eagle Lake | Vernon Center | cbfg.net MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 43
ANN’S FASHION FORTUNES By Ann Rosenquist Fee
Pleasing gods, shearing sides DEAR ANN: Recently on a new country radio station (not my usual listen, but I like to hear what’s out there), I swear I heard some lyrics about “you make thrift shop clothes look good.” Since when did thrift shopping become chic with the new country crowd? Should/can I feel offended? DEAR READER: I mean, you can, if you want to fall into the petty ditch that’s always waiting off to the side of the high road. You wouldn’t be the first person to think they were some early adopter of a novel thing and then get all mad as soon as your thing is embraced by the masses. It’s normal but it’s also unproductive, and it can be so preoccupying that you’ll miss a chance to embrace your next new favorite thing, and your next one and your next one. And pretty soon bitterness overtakes you and you’re not even open-minded enough to browse radio stations. I suggest you tune back into new country until you hear that song again, and see if you can muster up a more gracious and inclusive response. I have no doubt you’ll be rewarded by the thrift shop gods, the ones responsible for the amazing finds that got you addicted in the first place. Choose the petty route and I don’t even want to think about what their wrath might mean for your shopping life. Good luck. DEAR ANN: I really want to enjoy wearing summer dresses all the time, as normal-day non-special-occasionwear, especially since we skipped a whole summer of getting to say “I love your dress” “no I love YOUR dress” to each other. But it’s hot, and when I go to get dressed I’m already pre-wilted, and I don’t feel dressy, I just feel like standing naked in front of a fan until it’s time to go to bed. Is this a failure of the climate or of my wardrobe? DEAR READER: It’s both, and you can address the entire situation by declaring and then fulfilling two simple commitments: 1) Wear the 44 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Yeah, no, you’re not imagining it. Undercuts are everywhere and they’re the hot new emblems of sapience. dresses whether you feel like it or not. This is how all creative practices take hold, through discipline that doesn’t wait around for the muse to strike. It’s like how writers talk about morning pages, where they sit down and write, first thing of the day, whether they have anything to say or not. “Just keep moving your hand,” is the mantra, which, transposed for personal style goes something like “just keep putting on one thing and then taking off whatever other thing is the first thing you notice” (not as catchy but you get the point). If you can adopt this as a daily practice, I guarantee your closet will start feeling more like a delightful toy box and less like an emotional traction chamber. 2) Buy nothing. Your personal consumer habits aren’t to blame for climate extremes, but you’re not making things better when you support the production of earthunfriendly dyes and fabrics and transportation of those things and and and. So just don’t. Consider it part of your creative muscle-building to work with what you’ve got. Embrace these two commitments and you’ll find yourself drifting through the rest of summer neither wilted nor naked in front of a fan, but decisive and inspired and dressed. DEAR ANN: Is it just me, or does everybody have a fresh undercut right now, and not the 2015 version just above the nape, but on the sides?
Why is this happening and why does it look so right? DEAR READER: Oh, it’s definitely happening, and while I don’t have sufficient data to say for sure — see photo montage, which represents three (3) subjects I personally encountered in one (1) day across two (2) zip codes, which may not be a scientifically valid study this but it’s not nothing — I suspect it has to do with intentionally embracing the unintentional unwanted home haircut situation that was our shared style experience last year. None of those DIY shearings gave us the looks we wanted, yet there was something thrilling about a style that conveyed our emotional state more so than it flattered our faces. The 2021 undercut may be the first artifact of pandemic recovery — living evidence of lessons learned and incorporated into some deeply examined post-lockdown lives. Congratulations on your astute observation of this phenomenon. And if an undercut calls to you, feel free to answer with a bold and enlightened “yes.” Got a question? Submit it at annrosenquistfee.com (click on Ann’s Fashion Fortunes). Ann Rosenquist Fee is executive director of the Arts Center of Saint Peter and host of Live from the Arts Center, a music and interview show Thursdays 1-2 p.m. on KMSU 89.7FM.
COMMUNITY DRAWS By Kat Baumann
MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 45
GARDEN CHAT By Jean Lundquist
Summer Madness Bugs, heat and vacations — not all of summer was a bust
I
’m never too old to learn, and this summer has sure been a teacher. I stopped planting sweet corn several years ago. As soon as it was just getting ripe, the raccoons would come and enjoy it without me. I decided my best bet for getting sweet corn was a pickup truck parked somewhere in town. My pineberries – the white strawberries with red seeds – spread like crazy. I planted them next to my asparagus patch, now they are the asparagus patch. Fortunately, they don’t seem to deter the asparagus. Unfortunately, they yield only the rare berry. Or maybe the raccoons (or somebody else) is getting to them first. When I do get one, I eat it right on the spot. They are delicious. The wild black raspberries growing under the volunteer mulberry trees are definitely worth picking. They are small but very tasty if you like that sort of thing. I don’t care for them because of the seeds, but everyone I pawned them off on seemed to like them. These are also called bramble berries, but if you call them wild black raspberries, people seem to like them better. Unable to take camping vacations during the 46 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
pandemic last year, we set out in early June for Illinois and Missouri. I really wanted to hear the cicadas everyone was talking about. We missed the 17-year Brood X and their supposedly raucous cacophony. All we got to see was a glimpse of the white (albino) squirrels in Olney, Illinois. This camping trip definitely had a bearing on gardening. I learned not to leave home without getting someone to pick the asparagus. Although I did recruit someone to water my greenhouse seedlings, I neglected the asparagus. When we returned, it had grown up and gone to seed already. When that happens, it stops sending up edible stalks. Except for the white rodents, that whole vacation was a bust. And I don’t even have to mention the day we spent in a St. Louis Emergency Room. The company that makes the grow bags I garden in weren’t kidding when they say their bags last three years. This year I had planted one bag and was carrying it out to where I wanted it when one of the handles broke. Just one, which meant the other held, and I was off balance, and I went face-first into the bag on the ground. Fortunately, it was the bag in which I had planted
my sacrificial pak choi, so I didn’t feel too bad about messing it up. All my other brassicas, like kohlrabi, broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, I treat with Bacillus Thuringiensis, Dipel Dust, a biological insecticide. It keeps the bugs away from them, and the pak choi draws them away, feeding them. Not that I care about their happiness at getting fed, so long as they stay away from the vegetables I intend to eat. I expected my morning glories and marigolds from last year to selfseed. They didn’t. All summer long I have been looking at the “column of color” I hoped for last year to show a color other than brown from the dead vines of last year. I always leave the old vines so the new ones have something to climb upon. Even a totally green column would have been better. The whole summer, so far, hasn’t been a bust, though. My first tomato, though far from ripe, was blushing heavily on the Fourth of July. My beloved Packman broccoli did well, as did my zucchini when not crammed into a bag with too many others. Plus, Larry found some canning lids. Things to be aware of this time of year are mostly bugs. Squash vine borers are better prevented than treated. If overnight you find your squash and pumpkins have wilted leaves on strong stems, they don’t need a drink of water. They need to be pulled out and disposed of because they are infested. If they don’t look like that, best to treat them with the pesticide of your choice to prevent it. Then there are the “stink bugs” that like to feast on squash and pumpkins. My zucchini are usually the first to draw them. Again, treat with the pesticide of your choice, but don’t let it go unabated if you want to harvest any squash/ pumpkins. This time of year I start to get those mid-summer blues when it’s all work and almost no food. The heat and the work can beat down even the most robust gardener. But harvest awaits, so I keep my chin up and persevere. I try to remember all my enthusiasm when those seed catalogs first arrived, and I was chomping at the bit! Jean Lundquist is a Master Gardener who lives near Good Thunder. gardenchatkato@gmail.com
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MANKATO MAGAZINE • AUGUST 2021 • 47
FROM THIS VALLEY By Pete Steiner
Mournful Memories
I
t’s been a while since I’ve told any radio tales. This month, however, brings to mind two radio anniversaries that demonstrate how our wonderful town is not always as copacetic and quiet as Lake Wobegon. I need to relate these tales for the record while I still can. ■■ ■ ■ August marks the 40th anniversary of the murder of local radio personality Bud Quimby. At 37, Quimby was already an 18-year veteran of the local airwaves. For 11 of those years, he’d hosted the popular “The Bigger and the Better” afternoon drive show on KTOE, as well as serving as chief station engineer. He was fun, funny, a bit eccentric and an electronics wizard. Bud lived alone at his North Mankato home but could often be found socializing in the evening at local bars. As a fellow DJ, I had attended a couple of the “afterhours” late-night gatherings he liked to host at his home. Most of those featured larger groups of friends and acquaintances. But on Aug. 17, 1981, Bud ended up in his living room drinking beer with just one other person. Just before 3 a.m., that other person called police to tell them Quimby was dead. ■■ ■ ■ Twenty-one-year-old Tom Kulseth initially told police arriving at the scene, he had stabbed Quimby once in the chest with a knife taken from a kitchen drawer. He claimed that Bud had made homosexual advances. Kulseth was eventually charged by a grand jury with first-degree murder. Because Quimby was well-known in the area, the prosecution agreed to move the trial from Nicollet County to Redwood County. Despite prosecuting County Attorney Bill Gustafson giving what one of the appointed defense lawyers would call, “one of the best closing arguments I ever heard,” the Redwood County jury bought the “homosexual advances” angle 48 • AUGUST 2021 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
Columnist Pete Steiner is pictured here on the far right of the photo. and convicted the defendant of the lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter. The Minnesota Supreme Court later agreed with Kulseth that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress statements he made to police at the scene of the stabbing before his Miranda rights were given. However, the court added, “… if anything, defendant benefited from having his extrajudicial statements (re: homosexual advances) admitted as evidence….” In what can only be considered as a cautionary fact, it came out at the trial that Bud’s blood alcohol content the evening he died was nearly four times the legal limit, while Kulseth’s was nearly 2 1/2 times. ■■■■ Forty-five years ago, AFTRAaffiliated announcers were two months into a strike against radio station KYSM. Feelings among those involved, as well as their friends and relatives, remained raw for decades, but with only a few of us who participated still alive in the area, it’s time to tell. On-air staffers had organized with AFTRA by the summer of 1976 but did not yet have a contract – which, of course, proposed higher wages and benefits. The station at the time was in the stone building on the northeast corner of Second and Main streets. It has since moved
to the North Mankato hilltop and undergone several changes in ownership and management. I have always believed that I was brought in as a potential strikebreaker, given my long family ties to the local business community. Be that as it may, I will never forget that first day in the Monday morning sun, on the sidewalk outside the station with a picket sign, and management walking in past us telling us they could not believe it had come to this. Soon I would be sitting in a wood-paneled conference room at a negotiating table with some of my cohorts and our union agent across from my bosses and their lawyer, whom I had once socialized with. Now we were sniping at each other, occasionally using unprintable epithets. Rod Serling could have used it as a setting for an episode of “The Twilight Zone.” The strike grew more bitter as secondary boycotts were set up to discourage advertisers. We knew we were in trouble when a Teamster delivery truck crossed our picket line, as did legendary Star Tribune columnist Jim Klobuchar. As family pressures grew along with financial need, I eventually left the strike and moved to Minneapolis. At last, by the fall of 1977, a contract was signed, and most of the striking staffers were brought back. I was rehired as a nighttime country DJ to begin in 1978. The U.S. union movement was already in decline; soon would come President Reagan’s firing of striking air traffic controllers. I leave it to you to decide if there’s a correlation between unions’ decline and the decline of the middle class and the widening wealth gap in this country. ■ ■ ■■ Correction: Apologies to Fred Lutz for misspelling his name in last month’s “Best of” article; everyone knew anyway who I was talking about! Longtime radio guy Pete Steiner is now a free lance writer in Mankato.
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