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.
