Mankato Magazine June 2018

MANKATO MAGAZINE

‘TEN, HUT! John Mayer leads the Govenaires to another summer of drum corps

We’ve got your

SUMMER READING list Essay by NICK HEALY Meet the Lancers’

MICHAEL THURSBY John Mayer JUNE 2018

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FEATURE S JUNE 2018 Volume 13, Issue 6

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Leader of the band John Mayer is the face of the Govenaires drum and bugle corps, the oldest continuously running corps in the land …

Or so he says.

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Get ready to read

The Father You Get

Summer has arrived, which means you’re probably looking for some summer reading material. Don’t worry: We’re here to help.

Mankato writer Nick Healy is back with a touching essay about fathers and sons.

ABOUT THE COVER John Mayer looks right at home in his Govies uniform inside the bar he partially owns, Patrick’s on Third. He was photographed by Pat Christman.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 3

DEPARTMENTS 6 From the Editor 8 Faces & Places 12 This Day in History 13 The Gallery Betsy Byers

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14 Beyond the Margin Take us to the river 16 Familiar Faces Michael Thursby 30 Day Trip Destinations Dorothy Molter Museum, Ely 32 Then & Now Mankato’s “Castle” 41 Food, Drink & Dine

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42 Food On Every Corner 44 Wine What makes wine taste

the way it does?

45 Beer Greener grass

(which is totally about beer)

46 That’s Life A placid existence

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48 Garden Chat Asparagus 50 Your Style Father’s Day style 52 Night Moves Bobaflex 54 Coming Attractions 56 From This Valley Drawer stuff

Coming in July

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Our annual

Best of Mankato issue!

IS THERE A BABY IN YOUR FUTURE?

If you are ready to start or grow your family, we are here to help. Our team of experts provides care from pre-pregnancy planning to delivery, right here in your community.

Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato Call 507-479-1473 to schedule an appointment. mayoclinichealthsystem.org MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 5

FROM THE ASSOCIATE EDITOR

By Robb Murray JUNE 2018 • VOLUME 13, ISSUE 6 PUBLISHER Steve Jameson EDITOR Joe Spear ASSOCIATE Robb Murray EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS Amanda Dyslin Ann Rosenquist Fee Bert Mattson Bryce O. Stenzel Diana Rojo-Garcia James Figy Jean Lundquist Leigh Pomeroy Leticia Gonzales Nell Musolf Pete Steiner Jen Heimer Nick Healy PHOTOGRAPHERS Pat Christman Jackson Forderer

Turn and face the strange, readers

I

f you’ve already gotten this far in With drum corps season ramping this month’s Mankato Magazine, up right about now, we thought it’d be a great time y o u ’ v e p ro b a b l y n o t i c e d to touch base with something: Mayer. What we Things look a didn’t know was little different.

AZINE We’re actually how interesting the MAG pretty excited rest of his life is, as about the well. So check that changes. Our goal story out. was to freshen up And in keeping the look a little with our marching bit, especially theme, we’re also t h e c o v e r, a n d using our Familiar present a magazine Faces feature to t your list We’ve go READING introduce you to that looks a little SUMMER Y NICK HEAL Essay by more current and the new leader of ncers’ Meet the La Y SB THUR MICHAEL modern. the band for the You’ll also see Mankato Area ess The Free Pr some changes 77 Lancers. throughout the Michael magazine. Our Thursby, who hails from talented p a g e designer Iowa (but we won’t hold that Christina Sankey played around against him), takes things over this and experimented with colors, fonts summer and, like the Govenaires, and design constructions and came June is a busy month for them. up with what we think is a strong new look for your favorite southern nnn Minnesota magazine.

And speaking of changes, we’re For you avid readers out there, Mankato Magazine definitely has debuting a new feature this month called “Night Moves,” and we’re you covered this month. letting one of our young and We called some of the region’s best writer’s and brightest minds promising writers do all the heavy to come up with a great summer lifting. Diana Rojo-Garcia, staff reading list for you. (And as a writer for The Free Press, will take you someplace new each month to bonus, we’ve got a mini-essay from show you the myriad faces of night Jen Heimer, whose book club is life in the Mankato area. We’re celebrating 10 years of great reads and good times. excited to offer it, she’s excited to be doing it — sounds like a win-win.

Finally, we’re very pleased to bring you the latest essay from Nick nnn Healy. As it’s the month of Father’s Day, Nick’s story about fathers and sons is timely and moving.

Our cover story this month takes you deep into the life of one of the region’s enigmatic figures: John Robb Murray is associate editor of Mayer, part owner of Patrick’s on Mankato Magazine. Contact him Third in St. Peter, and drum major at 344-6386 or rmurray@ for the Govenaires drum and bugle mankatofreepress.com. Follow him corps. on Twitter @freepressRobb.

MANKATO

‘TEN, HUT! s John Mayer leadto another the Govenaires corps summer of drum

John Mayer

PAGE DESIGNER Christina Sankey ADVERTISING Joan Streit SALES Jordan Greer-Friesz Josh Zimmerman Marianne Carlson Theresa Haefner ADVERTISING Barb Wass ASSISTANT ADVERTISING Sue Hammar DESIGNERS Christina Sankey 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 editorial inquiries, call Robb Murray at 344-6386, or e-mail rmurray@mankatofreepress.com.

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6 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 7

FACES & PLACES: Photos By SPX Sports

Day in the dirt

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1. Bryson Ponstein, one of the many athletes in the Miracle League, is excited to start his ride with Matt Schneider.

2. Crowds gather to wait for their turn to ride in the equipment provided

by Holtmeier Construction.

3. Logan and his mom, Brittany Strolt, enjoy lunch after playing on the large equipment.

4. Patrick and his dad, Grant Determan, like the sight from up top.

5. Ivan Schoenrock sees the view of a semi-truck driver.

6. Dennis Ginter-Ernsting shows off his new T-shirt before playing in the dirt.

7. Karsyn Lesreck puddle jumps in the parking lot.

8. Kelly Reed helps Craig Seppmann move dirt.

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FACES & PLACES: Photos By SPX Sports

YWCA girls on the run 1. Runners gather at the start of the 10th Annual YWCA Girls on the Run 5K. 2. Kids sprint in the Kids K (7-10).

3. The 10th Annual YWCA Girls on the Run 5K begins!

4. People of all ages run with capes.

5. Alyssa Rothmeier makes massive bubbles at the 10th Annual YWCA Girls on the Run. 6. Larissa Rohlik crosses the finishing line with delight.

7. “Running is my Superpower.”

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 9

FACES & PLACES: Photos By SPX Sports

International festival 1. An overview of the opening ceremony at this years International Festival.

2. A great turnout listened to speakers.

3. Dr. Nadja Krämer, 2018 Grand Marshal, 1 gave a speech during the festival.

4. A stand represented all the different flags of each country.

5. Students sold Boba Tea and egg rolls down Food Street.

6. Dr. Anne Dahlman, Dean of Global Education, welcomed everyone to the International Festival.

7. Students represented each country with a flag.

8. Glenn Wasicuna gave a Smudging and Blessing Ceremony.

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FACES & PLACES: Photos By SPX Sports

Tulips and tutus run 1.

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(From left) Ben Paul, Ally Muehlemann and Ashley Paul pose for a photo before the run starts.

(From left) Mary Murphy-Kruse, Kaitlyn and Megan Berry hoped to be considered for the best costume contest.

Xandra and Beckett Zachman walked the 5K course.

(From left) Paizyl Pribyl, Jeff Hancock and Aubrey Nicholson represented three generations to run for tulips.

Bretta Hansen crossed the finish line as the top female runner.

Dominic Stoecker is bringing home his tulips and a gift card for being the top male runner.

A teacher at Dance Conservatory, Sam Johnson, and her dog Reese 3 dressed for the occasion.

8. Members of the Dance Conservatory staff help organize the participants.

9. The race begins!

10. The Tulip and Tutu run was a great family event.

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Refresh

Color!

Your Look With

THIS DAY IN HISTORY Complied by Jean Lundquist

Tuesday, June 16, 1936 Sibley Park dam work to begin soon Real action on the Sibley Park Dam across the mouth of the Blue Earth River will start soon, Al M. Kircher said yesterday. Three large tractors have arrived from the WPA, and the derrick has been set up for preparatory to resuming work on the east spillway. When completed, the dam will form a recreational lake containing 19.75 acres adjacent to Sibley Park.

Tuesday, June 26, 1956 Health superstitions cost billions annually “We’re all ignorant, we’re just ignorant about different things,” Will Rogers once said. Unfortunately, a lot of what we think we know just isn’t so. This is particularly true of many of our beliefs about health, according to the Bulletin from the Minnesota State Medical Association. A recent study of the beliefs of high school and college students showed that more than half believe absurd things, and more than half were influenced by these beliefs. They confessed to believing that bread crusts make hair curly, that oysters renew youth, that eating fish enhances mental powers, and that eating meat makes one aggressive.

Friday, June 16, 1989 Foul tasting water called harmless No end appears to be in sight or smell to the foul-tasting tap water entering Mankato’s water system. But the source of the problem is no longer a mystery.

It’s coming from water that flooded over vegetation near the Rapidan Dam. But the problem is not a dangerous one, according to utilities supervisor George Rosati. “The algae isn’t in the water, it puts taste in the water. And it’s not a substance you can filter out and remove. The only way to deal with the taste is to try to cover it up,” he said. City crews have been using chlorine.

Rosati says the time frame for cleaning the water is longer than they had hoped, once they found the source. “I have no idea how long that’s going to last.”

Saturday, June 10, 1978 Clearly having fun in Waseca Despite a problem with toxic algae growth, campers at Clear Lake in Waseca are not letting the green slime ruin their weekend. Several campers pulled their campers in, as usual, at Kiesler’s Camp on the south shore of the lake off Highway 14. Some of the campers said there were activities other than aquatic that could fill their weekend hours. A spokesman for the campground said the publicity about the lake’s problem hurt business to some extent. The lake is closed for swimming today, but is expected to be open soon.

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THE GALLERY

By Leticia Gonzales

Grinnell Glacier 1911-2009, oil on canvas 7’ x 20’

Influenced by WATER

Gustavus’ Betsy Byers came late to painting

“I

loved drawing as a child, but I never imagined that I would become an artist,” said Betsy Ruth Byers, an Associate Professor in the Art and Art History Department at Gustavus Adolphus College.

Art not only spurred her imagination, it provided a gateway to explore her surroundings.

“Drawing was a way for me to understand the world,” she said. “When I was young, I imagined that I was a naturalist and would pack up a bag with binoculars and my sketchbook and go out ‘adventuring,’ looking for trees and animals to draw.”

Byers enrolled in her first art class while in high school, but didn’t take up painting until she was a freshman in college.

“I was hooked from that moment on,” shared Byers. “I switched majors from pre-med to studio art. Painting was the most difficult thing I had encountered, and honestly, I was not very good at it when I started.”

Despite the early challenges, Byers earned a B.A. from St. Olaf College with a major in studio art and a concentration in Environmental Studies, followed by a Masters of Fine Art in Visual Studies from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2008.

“I have become more interested in the use of mixed media and have largely improved my watercolor techniques,” Byers said. “It took me over a decade of honing my craft before I was willing to show my watercolors.”

As an Associate Professor of painting and printmaking, Byers said her studio practice is an integral part of her life, as well as her career as an educator.

“I aim to be in the studio at least three times a week, although when I am in production for an exhibition, there

is rarely a day that goes by that I am not painting,” stated Byers, who said the majority of her creations are heavily inspired by her “bodily interactions with the natural world.”

“The formative years of my youth were spent on and in the lakes of Northern Minnesota,” recalled Byers. “The influence of water, swimming and the boundary of the shoreline are evident in my work.”

In addition to her graduate thesis, which translated the experience of swimming at night through abstract painting, Byers is currently working on pieces that convey the impact of climate change on glaciers.

“I find that I repeatedly return to water, in some form, be it a lake or ice, as a way to understand and to contextualize my presence in our hectic and hyper-paced world,” she added.

Her recent series on glaciers involved both direct observation at Glacier National Park and the use of historical images from the USGS Repeat Photography Project Archive.

“Through the process of repeatedly painting the same glacier as a point of reference, I seek to hone a nuanced understanding of our subjective experience of place,” said Byers. “I am particularly drawn to disappearing glaciers because of their role in our culture as sensitive indicators to climate change.”

With a grant from the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council, Byers recently presented her exhibition, “Remnants,” this past February at Rosalux Gallery in Minneapolis. The exhibit included the largest painting in her career this far, an oil painting inspired by Grinnell Glacier, measuring 7’ by 20’.

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Le Sueur River near St. Clair.

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BEYOND THE MARGIN

By Joe Spear

Take us to the river N

ot many people know that Blue Earth County has 516.97 miles of rivers. It’s number 20 in most miles of rivers of all 87 Minnesota counties, but second only to Yellow Medicine County among 32 counties in southern Minnesota.

This information comes to me from Jim Sehl and his GIS data friends at the Department of Natural Resources.

Sehl, a fine spokesman for the DNR, schooled me on how the DNR counts rivers. There are two kinds of rivers.

Those that have names and those that are “unnamed tributaries.” And that can make a difference in how many miles of “rivers” a county may have.

The data does not count farm ditches, and unnamed tributaries are considered “public waters.” Lesson learned.

And all of this means something. Because rivers and streams are important. Rivers are used as metaphors in songs like “The River” by Bruce Springsteen and in movies like “A River Runs Through It.” Rivers have long been part of my orientation with nature. Some people grew up in the woods, and some people grew up on the lake. I grew up in St. Paul, where the Mighty Mississippi was a bike ride away.

In the 1970s, the Mississippi River flowing through St. Paul was a cesspool. But we fished it anyway. We rode our bikes downtown and parked along Kellogg Boulevard and scaled the concrete banks set up to hold barges filled with grain and fertilizer.

The river was muddy, and we caught carp. We used canned corn for bait, and sometimes bread dough. We caught big carp. I remember riding my bike through downtown St. Paul, with a big carp, probably 10 pounds, hanging from the end of stringer and swinging back and forth as I pedaled.

The downtown workers in their cars going home would honk not because they liked carp, but because they liked kids who rode bikes to the Mississippi and caught carp.

We brought that carp to my best friend Marty Kuhn’s mother, Crystal, a German immigrant. Crystal did not like the Fourth of July because the fireworks reminded her of World War II Germany. But she was happy to be in America where she had room in her yard for a garden.

She wore bright red lipstick and she gave us a big smile when we brought her the carp that would fertilize her luscious tomatoes. “Ach der lieber,” she would say. nnn

So my fascination with rivers had been developed by the time I came to college in Blue Earth County at Mankato State University. But the small, rapid-like rivers of Blue Earth County were like a tourist draw to me.

Ramsey County, where I grew up, is dead last in the state for miles of rivers at 34.01 miles.

Late spring freshman year an adventure on a warm June day with two college buddies brought us to a rural road, a steep bluff and a raging river somewhere south of Mankato.

In those days, we did things for no reason, or for the

reason to just do them.

We scaled the bluff and when we got to the river, we rolled up our pants and gingerly tried to find the depth of the first step. It was raging, but it was no deeper than a couple feet, so we crossed maybe 30 yards of river to reach the other side where there were woods and no sign of civilization.

When you get older, you often think about why you did things when you were young. And it’s a good exercise because it revives the interest in just doing things because it’s possible and available and might be fun as hell.

So we crossed the river because it was there. And because it was beautiful, and because man needs to interact with nature to feel whole and good. And when we crossed the river, it was an exhilarating and frightening feeling. nnn

Bruce Springsteen’s coming-of-age album titled “The River,” is about a place that was central to growing up.

The river of which he speaks always offered a respite to life’s challenges and hardships whether they be work, love or life.

He later resurrects river analogies, such as in the version of “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” that appears on his “Live in New York City” release. He sings about rivers in between verses and sermonizes about their importance best in a little aria.

“Take me to the river, wash me in the water. Take me to the river tonight. That’s where I want to go tonight. I want to go to that riverside. I want to find that river of life.

I want to find the river of love. I want to find that river of faith and that river of hope.”

Springsteen talks about the fear of these metaphorical rivers that can be overcome with friends banding together.

“But I stood one evening as young man before a dark grove of trees and I was frightened to pass through those trees even though I knew that on the other side the river of life was waiting.” nnn

Rivers have special qualities in a community. They offer narratives and backdrops. Rivers bring us places and take us places. They draw people to stay near them. And that we have 500 miles of rivers is a gift.

Rivers give us a chance to think about strength, overcoming obstacles and, of course, going with the flow. The sight of a river makes us stop and look, stop and think.

I could not describe exactly the place or river we crossed in college, but it seems very similar to the river I pass every day on my way home.

Joe Spear is editor of Mankato Magazine.

Contact him at jspear@mankatofreepress.com or 344-6382. Follow on Twitter @jfspear.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 15

Familiar Faces

Iowa native at the helm of the 77 Lancers?

Marching band director promises he’s Minnesotan now

Cutline (9/10)

Name:

Michael Thursby Age: 32

Job title: Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Athletic Bands at MSU; Director of the Mankato Area 77 Lancers Work history: Started teaching in Iowa, moved up to Grand Rapids and then down to Mankato in the fall of 2013 City of residence: Mankato Family: Wife, Sarah; 2 sons, Carter and Dillon 16 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

T

he 77 Lancers Marching Band … are there fiercer fans in the universe? If you’re from Mankato, you might think not.

So some might be interested to know that the Lancers’ new director (hold onto your feathered Aussie hats) is from IOWA. We know! We know! But don’t worry because Michael Thursby promises he is a full convert; he’s one of us now, my good people.

“I moved to Minnesota and am now a Minnesotan (although I’m not really a Gopher fan), but trust me I still hear all of the Iowa jokes!” Thursby said. “Don’t worry – I’m not going back. Mankato is our home, and we will be here for a long time because it really has become our family home.”

Good answer. So I say let’s hear him out and get to know a bit more about Thursby and his plans for the Lancers.

Mankato Magazine: When did you know music was more than just a passion and that it would become a career?

Michael Thursby: I grew up with music in my life, and I think I knew I would be involved as soon as I found out I wasn’t super gifted athletically. I’ve always loved sports and music and how they are intertwined.

When I found out that marching band was a combination of the two (especially at the highest competitive levels), I knew this was my future. To nail down a specific time, I guess I would say the end of middle school/early high school in attending a Bands of America summer symposium.

MM: Did you have a mentor? Maybe a band director who guided your talent?

MT: That is an extremely tough question to answer because I have had many excellent educators throughout my career. In high school I had a band director who helped show me the way, but I truly think it was my drum corps instructors and college teachers who helped mold me.

My drum corps instructors instilled a level of work ethic and discipline that I couldn’t have learned anywhere else.

My college professors helped refine that into a specific skill set and musical ability.

Then to top it off, both of my parents are teachers and have inspired me to do everything I can to help create lifechanging experiences for students. Again, not a specific answer but my experiences are a melting pot that have made me who I am, and I am thankful to all that have contributed to that.

MM: Coming into your position at MSU several years ago, what were some goals you set for the athletic bands, and what challenges did you face?

MT: When I first interviewed at MSU, I had a five-year plan. This plan was to build something unique and create a band that was unlike any other in the collegiate realm, but it has changed a lot over five years.

One of many challenges was that there are so many great programs – why would students want to come to a new program when they could go to a school with an established program?

Over my five years, we have experienced successes and failures. The way for us to keep moving forward is to look at both, but to analyze the failure to find ways to grow and get better. I think we are still on track to create a unique program, and the next two years will be very interesting in that development.

At the end of the day, we do band and have as much fun as a family that we can.

MM: The Lancers are such a strong and established organization in Mankato. When you took on the role of director, how did you approach a position knowing there was such a solid reputation?

MT: I was a little scared at first because it is the opposite of MSU. At MSU I have the ability to create traditions, but with the Lancers the traditions are in place.

But, I was more excited than scared because marching band is marching band. I’ve embraced the tradition and brought experiences from my past to reinforce the quality that has already been established.

The other main difference is that this group is competitive, and I am competitive. I like to see how we can be innovative and work together towards the common goal of competing on the street.

MM: What are your goals for the Lancers this season and beyond?

MT: I would like to be innovative through tradition. The Lancers have a great reputation as you mentioned, and I would like to honor that by helping this group keep an eye on the future of what the marching arts has to offer.

The other main goal is to help educate young people on how to succeed in life. Marching band is so much more than notes on a page and drill spots. These students learn how to work hard together. They learn life lessons that will help them succeed in our future. That, to me, is more important than anything, and I can’t wait to share those experiences with the students.

MM: What does it mean to you to work with youth who are passionate about music?

MT: It means a lot because they are there because they want to be. In both positions I have the opportunity to work with some of the best and brightest students in our region. Students who are involved in music are often at the top of their class, and they already know how to work hard to achieve a goal.

Music is such a beautiful thing in how it affects emotion, and in this case how over 100 students come together toward the common goal of creating art is truly amazing.

MM: Is it different working with younger students involved in the Lancers than it is with the Maverick Machine?

MT: Yes and no. As I said before, marching band is marching band. Some of the younger students are a little less coordinated, and if they haven’t marched and played an instrument before it can be a little challenging (but I see that with college students, too). There is a slight difference in maturity, but the process is exactly the same from one group to the other.

MM: Do you still love playing and performing?

MT: I really do love playing and performing. There is a different rush of energy that comes as a solo performer in front of an audience. The sharing of music with an audience is a unique feeling, and I don’t think anything truly compares. (The rush of having two sons is the closest thing to performing as a soloist).

I also really enjoy watching my students perform and pour their hearts into a performance – that is just as rewarding as performing for me!

MM: What is something people might be surprised to learn about you?

MT: I really enjoy grilling and tattoos. The grilling piece is something that has come about in the past few years, and the process is just as fun as eating the food.

And I don’t know why I like tattoos, but I think the artwork in a tattoo and the symbolism behind most tattoos is amazing.

I’ve actually got three larger tattoos – not something you would expect from a professor!

MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 17

LEADER OF THE BAND! (Sorry, the ‘Corps’)

Can you imagine the Govenaires, Patrick’s on Third or St. Peter without John Mayer? Neither can we

By Robb Murray | Photos by Pat Christman

J

ohn Mayer walks across the field like he owns it.

“Drum Major Mayer, is your corps ready?” the announcer asks him.

And for most drum corps, the response from the drum major would be an immediate “Yes!” followed by some kind of salute. But the Govenaires of St. Peter aren’t your regular drum corps, and Mayer isn’t your regular drum major.

Dressed in a sharply pressed Govenaires uniform, dark sunglasses and scores of swagger and attitude, Mayer waits to deliver his answer. He walks back and forth a little, looks around at the drumline, the hornline and the color guard. He checks out the pit crew. He’s ostensibly looking to see if lines measure up or if the corps members have their game faces on.

And when he’s ready, he clenches his fists in a show of strength, and the Govenaires, ready to perform, deliver a guttural growl back at him. Then he turns, nods, salutes and the Govenaires’ drumline kicks in. Seconds later, the hornline follows. Color guard members dart back and forth waving flags and jumping in unison, and finally, Mayer speaks his signature opening lines.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the men and women you see before you comprise the oldest competing drum and bugle corps in the world,” Mayer tells the thousands of drum and bugle corps fans in attendance. “We come from beautiful city of St. Peter, and we are the Govenaires!”

But … that line … the one about being “the oldest competing drum and bugle corps in the United States.”

Well, is it true?

“We don’t have any evidence to the contrary,” Mayer says, with his usual mirth.

18 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

For Mayer, it doesn’t matter if it’s actually true. What matters more is that it’s fun. It makes you think. It’s something you remember. And for a corps that will never be the biggest or flashiest or the most well funded, sometimes a note of irreverence goes a long way.

Mayer is a big part of that irreverence. It was his idea to take the staid and serious nature of the drum major and turn it on its head. He came up with that “oldest drum corps” catch phrase. He decided to wear sunglasses and have some fun with the mystique. He’s way more interested in pleasing the paying crowd members than he is with earning points with the judges. But make no mistake:

Mayer in no way takes drum corps lightly. Quite the opposite, actually.

Drum corps runs through his blood. His family has been involved in it since the 1950s. The bar he runs in St. Peter, Patrick’s on Third, has walls that are covered with framed photographs of Govenaires groups from yesteryear. The upper level of that building is basically a storage facility and historical repository for the group. It’s a place where old photographs and uniforms have gone to live out the sunsets of their lives, where trophies that document the Govenaires’ success populate unusual places, and where drum corps members sleep when they need a place to stay in the summer when their competitive season gets up and running.

Patrick’s has become a St. Peter institution, just like the Govenaires. And right now, the thought of either of them existing without Mayer seems absurd.

When asked about his on-the-field vibe, Mayer’s answer says a lot about his personality: “I like to cater to the people that paid to see you (the fans) instead of the six people that didn’t (the judges).”

Govies Parade

THE CORPS

The Govenaires Drum and Bugle Corps, as a competitive organization, dates back to 1927. It competes in the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) circuit, and captured the Class A Championship in 2006, 2009, 2011, and 2015. (Not familiar with competitive drum corps? Check out Thunder of Drums this year at Minnesota State University’s Blakeslee Stadium.)

The Govenaires were founded in 1927, but back then the group was called the St. Peter Legion Corps. It changed its name in 1944 to the St. Peter Drum and Bugle Corps, then changed it again in 1961 to the Vikings Drum and Bugle Corps. Not wanting to be associated with Minnesota’s new NFL team, the Govenaires changed its name soon thereafter to the Govenaires, in honor, the organization’s website says, “of the four Minnesota Governors who hailed from St. Peter.”

(It should be noted that, although Mayer claims the Govenaires are the nation’s longest-running drum corps, the Racine Scouts also claim to have been established in 1927. No word on whether these two storied groups have had — or plan to have — a bugle battle.)

Mayer, meanwhile, might has well bleed green and black.

“There was never a time in my life that drum corps MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 19

Govies 1992 wasn’t a part of it,” he said.

Mayer’s father joined the Govenaires in 1957 and played baritone through the 1990s. His mother was also a part of the group. In fact, Mrs. Mayer was a bit of a pioneer.

For many years, drum corps was for males only; its roots go back to WWI when they served as a communication tool during military actions and, thus, no women were a part of them. (Drum and bugle corps, which descended from drum and fife corps, were replaced by radio communication, but their popularity endured and they were often used for civic or community events. Rivalries eventually sprung, and that’s how the competition aspect was born.)

Mrs. Mayer was a member of the Govenaires when Mayer was a child. And he remembers the first time he marched with the Govenaires: a parade in Shakopee, which they were late for, so the entire family jumped in with the rest of the corps midway through.

“We marched as an entire family for two years,” he said.

Mayer played cymbals at first, then graduated to tenor drums, snare drum and, of course, drum major.

But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing.

“The corps almost folded in 1990,” he said. That year they only had four hornline members, seven drumline members and four color guard members. He recalls wondering if they’d make it through those lean years.

“We did shows just to survive,” he said.

But then, things got better. More members joined.

They purchased pit equipment (vibraphones and drums set up in front of the performance field area). And then, during a fundraising pitch in 1995 to a group in Fairmont, someone asked if they were a 501(c)3 nonprofit.

“They said, ‘Yes, we’ll give you the money. You’re a 501(c)3, right?”

Mayer paused. “...Yep,” he said.

“Then on the way home, we tried to figure out what that was and how to do it,” he said.

That weird number is a government code denoting a nonprofit group, and having that distinction allows it to raise money as such, which is an easier sell. And it worked.

20 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Govies 2003

With more money coming in — not a lot, but enough to grow — positive changes happened for the Govenaires. They bought a bus, a truck to haul all their equipment, better instruments, more frontline pit equipment, etc.

But as the corps got better, Mayer noticed an area of the show that could use some improving.

“There was a gap at the beginning of the show,” he said. “And that’s when I came up with the opening.”

It has stuck as the corps’ trademark.

For the record, Mayer’s tenure with the Govenaires includes five world championships, an induction into the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame, and eight awards for best drum major. He also spent two years with the Madison Scouts on tenor drums.

THE BAR

Patrick’s on Third is, of course, home base for the corps. Whether patrons like it or not, the place is adorned with Govenaires memorabilia. Patrons must like it; Patrick’s remains one of the most popular lunch, happy hour and nightlife spots in town.

Mayer says he owns the place with longtime friend Tim Bartelt (AKA the man only known as “Minnow”), but it used to be owned by his parents.

The way Patrick’s cam into the Mayer family was a surprise to Mayer. He said he came home after winning a Drum Corps International (DCI) championship with the Madison Scouts in 1988 to find his parents had bought the place. He worked for parents for a few years, and then took over the family business, so to speak.

Patrick’s is a friendly place with a killer patty melt, voluminous beer selection and a great variety of Irish whiskey.

It’s also the kind of place where people just love to gather.

Last spring, a group of folks who love the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” threw together a grassroots, come-as-you-are, folksy singalong that packed the joint for several performances. (In fact, during that inaugural run, Mayer and the Govenaires hornline made a cameo, adding some brass oomph to the performance.)

THE STORE

One of the latest and most visible endeavors the Govenaires have embarked upon is the Thrift store on Minnesota Avenue in St. Peter, aptly called Govenaires Thrift. The store will raise money for future Govenaires seasons, including the 2018 season, the title of which is “A Woman’s World.”

Mayer owned the building for year. After selling slot machines for a while out of it, he rented it to a group that ran a thrift store. And when they decided to fold, Mayer offered to take over the store’s contents and run it under the Governaires’ name. The store, which is run by one paid staff member and volunteers, is doing OK, he said.

For now, Mayer — who is entering his 39th year as a “Govie” — remains a part of the drum major unit, and will be leading the corps this summer. But next summer? That remains to be seen.

As the organization is hashing out what direction it wants to go, Mayer wonders if the time may come soon for him to make room for another drum major, and he wonders if the organization is looking to move away from its irreverent reputation.

But even if his particular brand of drum majoring gets written out of the Govenaires ethos, new developments in Govenaires land may keep him and his swagger around for awhile.

They’ve added another corps to the mix, one that will be used to march in area parades and Pridefests and other special occasions. As the Govenaires moves to become more serious, they also realize people love their irreverent vibe, and that in itself is a great public relations tool.

Mayer wonders if this new corps, which is called Govenaires International, may be where he fits in best. In Govenaires International — where there will be no frontline pit, where they’ll be free to be spontaneous and irreverent — Mayer can probably say whatever he wants about what year the corps was founded.

MM

John Mayer manages Patrick’s on Third in St. Peter and is the drum major the Govenaires drum and bugle corps. Govenaires Thrift is the corps’ latest attempt at a fundraiser.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 21

Creat Reads Summertime is here, which means you might be looking for some great reading material. We’re here to help.

By Robb Murray

W

ell, it’s finally summer, Mankato Magazine readers. And while we know you’re busy with baseball tournaments and trips to the lake, we also know you’re probably a reader, and most readers use the summer to park themselves on a beach or under and nice oak tree and dig into some literature.

Problem is: What should you read?

With so many choices out there, choosing something that won’t waste your time can be a daunting task.

So we assembled our crack team of literati and put together what we think is a pretty good starting point for your summer reading.

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Brian D. Fors

Kristin Cronn-Mills

Rebecca Fjelland Davis

n Brian D. Fors, Archivist and Historian, The History Writers While “The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu” by Joshua Hammer appears to be the title of a tonguein-cheek humorous novel, it is the true account of how librarians and archivists in the capital of Mali had collected and then saved an amazing collection of manuscripts.

The manuscripts document an incredible array of poetry, prose, science, and religious text from throughout North Africa, illustrating the rich scholarship of the region as well as demonstrating that such scholarship has been part of African history for centuries.

The manuscripts had been collected since the 1980s. When an Al Qaeda-affiliated group seized control of the regional district capital, Timbuktu, in 2012, the collection represented a danger to the twisted world vision Al Qaeda espouses. Historians, archivists, and librarians, led by Abdel Kader Haidara, smuggled 350,000 works out of Timbuktu to protect them.

The title catches your attention but the story, the danger, the rescue of a rich heritage, a heritage that few among the western public are aware of, keeps the reader engaged.

and funny, though they’re a bit “out there.” My ultimate favorite is “A Dirty Job,” but a person could start with his first, “Practical Demonkeeping,” and read cheerfully until Labor Day.

characters have come full circle in my fictional world.

Africa is a beautiful continent on which to spend a chunk of summer immersion, and I can’t imagine a reader being disappointed in this story.

n Kirstin Cronn-Mills, author of several books and professor at South Central College First on my reading list is “The Soul of an Octopus” by Sy Montgomery, for my new book project (a girl should never be separated from her octopus). Next after that is Christopher Moore’s new one, called “Noir.” Moore is a pretty perfect summer read because his books are fast-paced

n Rebecca Fjelland Davis, author of several books “Circling the Sun” by Paula McClain. If you liked “Out of Africa,” this is an absolute mustread.

I didn’t have to think twice when asked for a summer read recommendation. What I can’t figure out is how I never heard about this book before this year.

The cover isn’t one that would beckon me, but SCC librarian Kim DeMarce shoved the audio version into my hands, and Kim never steers me wrong. I was entranced by the lyrical language within the first moments of the book.

This is the epic story, a novel based on real-life memoir of female aviator Beryl Markham and much research, too. The story stretches decades across Kenya, into England and back, and includes abandonment, friendship, love, family, and a woman’s fierce spirit of independence.

Protagonist Beryl Markham breathes and fights for life with absolute unwillingness to be shaped by society’s conventions in the early part of the 20th century.

Within the first few lines, the lyricism reminded me of Isak Dinesen’s novel “Out of Africa,” as well as the narration in the movie adaptation. Then, come to find out, Karen Blixen and Denys Finch Hatton (played by Meryl Streep and Robert Redford in the movie) show up in “Circling the Sun.” Real-life

n Rita Rassbach, board chair for Mankato Ballet Co. Every once in a while, when my daughter is in the throes of her budding adolescence, I tell her that she is too young to be a crotchety curmudgeon. My comment is usually not received very well.

Ironically, the crotchety curmudgeon in “A Man Called Ove” made me giggle and cry, something that doesn’t happen often when I read a book.

At 59, Ove is the epitome of a crotchety curmudgeon. He is dealing with society’s lack of respect for those of us who are aging. He has lost his wife and does not want to exist in a world without her. “He was a man of black and white. And she was color. All the color he had.” He patrols his neighborhood and keeps track of any offenses. He doesn’t know the meaning of “politically correct” and says exactly what his mind is thinking.

The world and its inhabitants are confusing to him and he never seems to fit in.

“Ove glares out of the window.

The poser is jogging. Not that Ove is provoked by jogging. Not at all.

Ove couldn’t give a damn about people jogging. What he can’t understand is why they have to make such a big thing about it.

With those smug smiles on their faces, as if they were out there curing pulmonary emphysema.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 23

Either they walk fast or they run slowly, that’s what joggers do. It’s a 40-year-old man’s way of telling the world that he can’t do anything right. Is it really necessary to dress up as a 14-year-old Romanian gymnast in order to be able to do it? Or the Olympic tobogganing team? Just because one shuffles aimlessly around the block for three quarter of an hour?”

Yet, despite all of his black and white, crotchety “curmudgeonness,” Ove is a hero in his own sense, one who reluctantly gets pulled into the lives of his new neighbors when they accidentally scrape the side of his house with their moving van. One who sticks up for the homely neighborhood stray cat. One who manages to make you like him despite the black and white pessimist that he is.

A Man Called Ove is a heartwarming book that deals with death, loss, friendship in the most unlikely of situations and love.

Rita Rassbach

Shelley Pierce

n Shelley Pierce, host of KMSU’s Shuffle Function The book I would like to discuss is not a book for everyone because hands down it was the scariest book I’ve ever read. It also happens to be incredibly timely for reasons that I don’t think anybody involved with it’s recent release could have ever predicted. The book is called “I’ll Be Gone In The Dark” by Michelle McNamara, and it details the crimes of the Golden State

Killer. That makes this a True Crime title, but it is much more than that.

Much like Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood,” you get a glimpse into McNamara’s life as she slowly gets sucked into and obsessed with one of the most vicious criminals ever on record. That personal touch and insight that McNamara brings to this book is what draws you in and makes it so hard to put it down. It is also what makes you sleep with your bedroom lights on, close and

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Ken Freed

Ann Rosenquist Fee

Allen Eskens

lock every door and window in your house and wake up with a start at any random creak or bang in the night convinced there is an intruder in your room.

Don’t be ashamed to admit your fear, the hundreds of crimes and murders attributed to the Golden State Killer are overwhelming.

Imagine if you will your Mankato neighborhood being terrorized by a rapist and murderer who would hit a house almost on a nightly basis. That’s what happened in every neighborhood that The Golden State Killer stalked. The community invested in more house lights, locks, and organized patrols.

Parents would take turns staying awake so nobody could sneak into the house unawares. It is truly horrifying to imagine.

Michelle McNamara passed away unexpectedly without finishing this book. Her husband, comedian Patton Oswalt pushed to have it completed by the very people who assisted her research. She also sadly didn’t live to see the press conference just two weeks ago by the Sacramento Sheriff Department stating that they had finally made an arrest in the case of the Golden State Killer. After decades and decades of getting away with hundreds of break-ins, rapes and 12 murders, the perpetrator is now behind bars awaiting his day in court. This surprising turn of events only makes me want to read the book again, only this time I’ll know that the Golden State Killer is no longer out there stalking out another neighborhood to terrorize.

n Ken Freed, violist for the Minnesota Orchestra, conductor for the Mankato Symphony Orchestra “Himself,” by Jess Kidd. This insanely beautiful debut novel takes the reader through a who-done-it detective story but through the lens of fairies, ghosts and sprites, real and imagined, that make a little corner in Ireland and its inhabitants come alive. The writing is poetry in motion, and a veritable narcotic.

Savor this book. And then read it again. The writer is a true student of the human condition, and through her poetry, makes one exquisitely aware of all the joys and sorrows of being alive.

I can’t wait to see what Jess Kidd sends us next.

the main ideas and feel glad you’re not whatever-their-circumstancesare, those characters in that book you didn’t fully read but it stuck with you all day, anyway. Maybe you just gaze at the author photo and think, damn, I am going to go get me a black turtleneck just like him/her. Maybe you read the acknowledgements and think, hey, I should say more thank-yous to everybody who helped me get where I am.

Are you seeing this? Do you see how this makes everybody feel good, you and also the authors? I don’t know this for sure but I think most authors would be supportive of you carrying their book around for a day like a charm, like a rune or a bunch of tea leaves, opening it up now and then to see what wisdom or inspiration it had to offer, a phrase at a time.

n Ann Rosenquist Fee, director, Arts Center of St. Peter, and Mankato Magazine columnist I cannot in good conscience recommend a book when everybody I know is being stared down by multiple books they want to read and told people they’d read and bought in order to read, etc., yet have not read. Instead, I’ll recommend a way to fix that and end the summer with a sense of accomplishment. Here it is: Spend a day with a book. One day per book. That is your new summer book relationship plan. Whatever you get from the book in the course of that one day, that’s it. That’s all you get and all you needed.

Maybe you get through a whole full page if you’re lucky enough to have to wait in line somewhere and instead of your phone you pull out that book, to browse. Maybe you just read the back cover and get

n Allen Eskens, author of several books and former southern Minnesota lawyer I recently met an author at a writer’s conference by the name of Thomas Mullen; we sat next to each other on a panel. He wrote a book called “Darktown,” a novel based on the first black police precinct in Atlanta back in the 1940s. I thought the premise sounded intriguing, and so I purchased the book. It turned out that the writing was outstanding as well, great characters, wonderful tension, and a plot that more than held me in its grip. The story isn’t just about the solving of a mystery, it is full of weight and tension as justice battles injustice. MM

MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 25

10 years in, this book club has evolved into a family

By Jen Heimer

L

aughter. Divorce. Separation.

Marriage. Re-marriage.

Death. Babies. Graduations.

The MOJO Sisters book club has seen it all. Ten years.

One book a month, 12 meetings a year, a million laughs, a hefty amount of tears, and hundreds of bottles of wine later, we still can’t wait for the next book.

Marcia Bahr, now the head of marketing at Mankato Clinic, gave me my first job in Marketing at Midwest Wireless. I was a 22-yearold intern, and I had no idea I was about to spend the rest of my twenties riding the wave of cellular phone popularity, starting by wearing a blow-up phone costume at a radio remote in front of Walmart and ending by writing for a living, helping communicate with our customers.

Midwest Wireless was a unique place. We didn’t just work together; we all became family. When the company was purchased in 2007, the family didn’t really break up, we just didn’t get to see each other every day. I like to think the MOJOs gave us an excuse to see each other on a regular basis. Made up of a motley crew of strong, independent women, our roots started back in that Midwest Wireless store on Madison Avenue.

My whole family loves to read, I grew up with books, and I am

happiest when I shut the world out behind the pages of a great story. I subscribe to the Stephen King philosophy: “Few things are as lovely as having an uninterrupted hour with a good book.”

Marcia knew this about me and decided after the first meeting that I needed to join this fledging club.

It was 2008, I wasn’t quite a year into a new job, and only a few months into new motherhood. To be honest, I didn’t think I could add another thing to my schedule, but Marcia has a way of convincing me to do things the way only your old boss can. This is how I found myself at the second meeting of the as yet unnamed book club.

At first, the book nerd in me was very focused on the book discussion, and many of those early conversations were focused on questions I prepped before the meeting. I was often asked to pick the book, and I took it very seriously. We rated each book we read from 0 – 5, and we decided to keep track of all the ratings on a spreadsheet that lists where we met that month. I am often so grateful we decided to do this, because looking at the list gives me both tremendous pride while also reminding me of how our lives have changed over the years.

We have changed members as people moved away, like when

Ruth, who joined when she was going through a divorce, left when she found her soulmate and moved to the metro. We still keep in touch and she is a welcome book club visitor. MOJO is a combination of the first initials of some of the original members, I can’t remember how we came up with it except to say that we had a lot of Ms and Js. The current group consists of six women, of which two are original members: Marcia Bahr and Mary Oudekerk (we worked with her late husband at Midwest Wireless). I technically didn’t join until the second meeting. Brenda Hanel and Shelly Megaw are also former Midwest Wirelessers, with Sheila Daggett rounding us out as the only one without Midwest Wireless history (except that she worked with me at that first job after leaving).

We still rotate the location of the monthly meeting, but the one who hosts is the one who gets to pick the book that month now.

Sometimes we skip the hosting, especially during the holidays when we just hit up a bar. We have also been known to field trip to the movies to see a book adaptation or to see an author speak. There has been more than one MOJO weekend to Marcia’s cabin on Red Lake, where we always seem to

Top 10 (with 3-way tie for 10th place) Meeting Date 9/16/2011 12/21/2009 4/27/2009 10/1/2014 11/1/2008 7/22/2010 9/2/2015 7/1/2008 9/1/2014 10/1/2008 12/17/2010 9/1/2015

Book These Is My Words: Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine - (Nancy Turner) One Thousand White Women My Sister’s Keeper Harry Potter, Sorcerer’s Stone (JK Rowling) To Kill A Mockingbird The Help The Orphan Train (Christina Baker Kline) Kite Runner The Whip (Karen Kondazian) Duma Key Hunger Games The Invention of Wings (Sue Monk Kidd)

26 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

Avg. Rating 4.79 4.79 4.75 4.75 4.67 4.64 4.61 4.60 4.60 4.50 4.50 4.50

Meeting Location Marcia Number 4 Ruth Jen Jen Shelly Shelly Mary Cabin Jill The Tav Cabin

S DAY IS ER’ TH

June 17

FA

find an adventure or two.

The most important change is that, although we still talk about the book and take time to rate it on the spreadsheet, the meetings are about our friendship more than anything else. We have lost spouses and parents, we have helped organize graduation parties, babies and grandbabies have been born, and this group has turned into a support system I didn’t know I needed. Sometimes all we talk about is work and the shared bond we have as women who are passionate about what we do. We have a combined 12 children, ranging in age from 4–31, and often the talk turns to our kids.

That baby who was only a few months old when I started attending meetings is now 10 years old.

We have our traditions like any other family. We joke about Mary’s love for World War II books that make us cry, but we have all picked a World War II book at least once.

Every October meeting calls for us to dress as a character from a book we read that year. There’s always wine, fruit and cheese, no matter what. Sometimes the meeting ends by 9 p.m., and sometimes, like last week, we end up talking past midnight and need to hit up Zanz for some recovery food the next day.

We have been through a lot together, and I’d do anything for them. They’ve asked me to write a book about our lives someday, and maybe I will. It better be first on the list.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 27

REFLECTIONS

By Pat Christman

28 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

W

e’re fortunate enough in the Midwest to be able to watch as our food is grown. We know corn doesn’t come from the grocery store, but from the sweat of farmers who till the land, plant the crop, care for the young plants and harvest their bounty.

From mid-May to October we can watch the process as farmers work the land.

It all starts in the spring, preparing equipment, planning, buying seed and planting. Minnesota’s indecisive weather rarely helps as winter seems to hang on too long and spring rains never seem to stop for quite long enough. Every year, though, the planting gets done and before MM long rows of little green shoots peek through the dark soil.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 29

DAY TRIP DESTINATIONS: Dorothy Molter Museum

By James Figy

From the age of 23, Dorothy Molter lived at least part time at the Boundary Waters resort where she’d eventually make her famous root beer. (Photo courtesy of the Dorothy Molter Museum)

Root Beer Renegade Learn about Dorothy Molter’s life in the Boundary Waters

D

orothy Molter, the “Root Beer Lady” of the Boundary Waters, is a Minnesota legend. She operated the remote Isle of Pines fishing resort where she thrived despite the tough work, harsh weather and government regulations inherent in life on Knife Lake.

But when Molter first visited the resort in 1930, she was a nursing student in Chicago who had little experience in the wild. That trip changed everything, said Jess Edberg, executive director of the Dorothy Molter Museum.

“Imagine you take a train from Chicago, and you get to Ely. … From the city of Ely, you have to drive down a fairly developed but still gravel road, and then stop at a boat landing. From there, you have to get in a canoe 30 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

and paddle another 15 miles to get to the island where this fishing resort was,” Edberg said. “This was basically Dorothy’s first experience in a real wilderness.”

The Dorothy Molter Museum in Ely offers exhibits and programming that explain the Root Beer Lady’s life. The Museum, which opened May 6, 1993, will celebrate 25 years of honoring Molter’s legacy with Dorothy Day on June 24.

When visitors arrive, they can check in at the main building and flip through copies of her original guest registers. The museum building, a historic house east of town, holds smaller exhibits and a gift shop with Isle of Pines Root Beer. There’s a nature trail, community bird feeding area, picnic area and geocaches on site.

The main attraction, however, is a set of three cabins from the Knife Lake resort. “It really is an immersive experience,” Edberg said. “You can walk into one of her cabins and imagine yourself on the Isle of Pines in 1976, … and it gives a sense of what it might have been like to live on Knife Lake, off the grid.”

One cabin has exhibits on the Boundary Waters and its different seasons that Molter lived through.

The smallest cabin houses a new exhibit — “Creating the Boundary Waters: 25 Objects, 25 Stories”a — for the Museum’s 25th anniversary.

It features a timeline of events that contributed to the Boundary Waters’ development. There is one item from the museum’s collection to represent each event and a note written from Molter’s perspective. One example is a vintage, 1940s chainsaw that represents the controversy over logging in that era, Edberg said.

The final cabin is the most important. It’s the one Molter lived in for years, and it is set up similar to how she had it, with photos from her life and her root beer making equipment.

The root beer resulted from a federal ban on flights below 4,000

feet in the area, which took full effect in 1952, according to Edberg.

Molter had been business partners with previous owner Bill Berglund since the mid 1940s, and had become owner-proprietor of the resort in 1948 after his death. When she could no longer fly in supplies, she had to be selective about what to bring from town, since it was a 30-mile drive and 15-mile boat trip away.

“Sometime between 1952 and 1955 she got the idea to recycle the glass bottles that she already had out there and start making root beer,” Edberg said.

Newspapers, radio programs and TV shows featured Molter due to her unorthodox lifestyle. This publicity helped her when the Wilderness Act of 1964 condemned her resort and made it illegal for her to live on the Isle of Pines, Edberg said. The Forest Service made an exception after public outcry on Molter’s behalf, and she lived there until her death in 1986.

After Molter passed away, a group loved ones and area residents, known as “Dorothy’s Angels,” got permission from the Forest Service to relocate the cabins. The “Angels” worked with the Voyageur Outward

Bound School and Northern Tier Boy Scout base to disassemble and move the structures, along with numerous personal items, across the lake on dog sleds.

It’s important to remember how she bucked the expectations of the government and society to live how she deemed fit, Edberg said.

“As a female living in the lifetime that she lived in and being independent, persevering through adversity but all the while maintaining her integrity — those are all admirable qualities,” she said. “It’s a story that can be really inspirational to people, especially to women.”

IF YOU GO: Dorothy Molter Museum

Where: 2002 E. Sheridan St., Ely, MN When: 10 a.m.-6 p.m., opening May 26 Admission: $4.50-$6.50, free for military personnel and children 5 and under Visit rootbeerlady.com/visit for more information MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 31

THEN & NOW: Mankato’s “Castle”

By Bryce O. Stenzel

This house at 810 S. Broad Street has long been known as The Castle in Mankato.

Mankato’s “Castle”

M

The Broad Street home is one of the town’s most historic

ention the word “Castle,” to anyone who has lived in Mankato for almost any length of time, and they are likely to know exactly which home is being referred to—810 South Broad Street, directly across the street from historic Lincoln Park.

Generations of local residents (including my mother) have called the Castle “home,” when it was a boarding house. It has survived violent windstorms, the concussion of a Spanish-American war vintage cannon being fired from across the street by a group of boys engaged in a Fourth of July prank (the roof ornament on the tower of the house was knocked off in the 1909 “siege”), the ravages of time, and numerous attempts at remodeling the structure to suit the needs and tastes of generations of renters. The Castle has been a private residence, boarding house, college party house, and apartment house.

Urban legends about the Castle abound: one story describes an underground escape tunnel leading from the house to the Minnesota River that was built for settlers to defend themselves in the U.S. Dakota War of 1862; another suggests that the original owner of the Castle built a special room in order to hide away a child with 32 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

disabilities when company came; still another suggests that the house was haunted.

The escape tunnel was pure fabrication. No settlers were attacked in Mankato during the Dakota Conflict, forcing them to flee for their lives. No trace of any tunnel has ever been found, according to Jim Rassman, a contractor who worked with a former owner of the house, Barry Koskovich, to renovate the house from 1980-1983.

The story of a hidden room does hold up architecturally, according to Jim, since he located the wall with a pocket door that divided off this area from the rest of the house; however, what it was used for, remains a mystery.

Another mystery is when the Castle was actually built, and by whom. Blue Earth County Courthouse records reveal it to be 1891. The National Register of Historic Places establishes the construction date to be 1897, and describes the house as being built by Dickenson Rose; in fact, the National Register refers to it as the “Rose House.”

The name “Castle,” was given to the house because of its reddish-brown brick and limestone trim, along with the tower, built in the Queen Ann style of architecture, popular in the 1890s. The National Register entry also

referred to the structure as being “unusual in the Lincoln Park District because of its French Renaissanceinspired design.”

Just when it appeared as if a 1890s construction date for the Castle was likely, evidence of an earlier construction date had to be considered, based on documents housed at the Blue Earth County Historical Society. These documents referred to the house being built in the 1860s, and later purchased

by Dickenson Rose.

He inherited a successful real estate and insurance business from his father, Major Robert Rose, who moved to Mankato after fighting in the U.S. Dakota War. Major Rose had been one of the first commanding officers of Fort Wadsworth (now Fort Sisseton) in Dakota Territory.

One of Dickenson Rose’s sons, Reed Rose (renowned research physicist), wrote a letter claiming his father bought the house in 1889, after others had lived in it, and he (Dickenson) moved in the following year. Reed Rose went on to say that his older brother, Dickenson Rose Jr., had been born in the house in 1891, and he [Reed] was born there in 1896.

After visiting with both Jim and Barry, it was clear that both men knew the Castle from top to bottom, inside and out. If anybody could explain the discrepancies in when it was built, they could.

Jim pointed out that the house wasn’t built all at the same time, but rather in stages. His proof was the discovery of the original brick foundation that runs all the way from the back of the house to the front. Jim stated that part of the house could date from as early as the 1860s.

Another clue was the presence of The Castle has endured since its construction in 1891 gothic style windows in the front portion of the original part of the house. Newer sections of the house have arched windows. Jim revealed some other interesting architectural details which were still intact, as late as the 1980s, when he worked on the home, in order to renovate it for apartments.

At one time, the house had as many as five fireplaces— Mankato area residents and visitors three on the main floor, one on the second floor (this is the will soon have the opportunity to tour the one that caused the devastating fire that almost destroyed “Castle,” along with four other houses in the the Castle on February 12, 2015) and one on the third. historic Lincoln Park Neighborhood.

The original oak stairway, connecting each floor is still The annual Tour of Historic Homes, intact—one of the few architectural details that survived all the remodeling the house has undergone in its history. sponsored by the Lincoln Park Neighborhood There was originally no plumbing or electricity; putting Association will be held on Saturday, June in these utilities severally weakened the structural 23, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pre-sale tickets are integrity of the foundation, with all the holes drilled into available from any Lincoln Park resident. it, to run the lines. The house had its own coal bin in the Cost of the tour is $15, and includes dirt-floor basement. Jim even described finding a leadadmission to each of the five houses, trolley lined box near the coal bin, likely used to store water in rides of the neighborhood and a guest visit the early years.

While the house has by no means given up all its

by General James Baker at the Boy in Blue secrets, they only add to its intrigue.

Civil War Memorial in Lincoln Park.

Tour of

Historic Homes

MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 33

Y A S

ES

The Father You Get

By Nick Healy | Submitted photos

T

he old priest at my father’s funeral got to talking about life, death, and what comes next. Having been set up with a chair and a handheld microphone, he seemed at ease as he spoke — moving freely between anecdotes about his past and thoughts about the fate we all might expect in the end. He was 34 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

91 years old, and his own fate, he said, was often on his mind. But even late in life, he also found himself thinking back on his youth, his parents, and what they’d meant to him.

A sweetness came into his voice when he mentioned his mother. After a pause, during which some of his

audience wondered whether he’d lost the thread, he said, “Our mothers teach us how to love.”

What he said next remains a mystery. My attention jumped to memories of my mother and how she’d managed with a huge pack of kids and, for many years, no partner at her side. If the old priest had glanced my way, he might’ve mistaken me for an earnest listener, but I was long gone. Daydreaming, I’d traveled back in time to the late 1970s, when times were most difficult for my mother, and to the things I’d learned from a childhood in her care.

Eventually I blinked my eyes, looked around, and remembered where I was. By that time the priest had moved on. If he had shared a parallel insight about what our fathers teach us, I had missed it. Later on I asked my wife what the priest had said about fathers.

She didn’t know. She, too, had been lost in thoughts of her mother.

Now I wonder if anyone heard what he had to say about fathers. I suppose I’d like to know.

••••• The long-term care facility where my father grudgingly lived his final years allowed us a few days to clear out his room. On a Saturday morning in midMarch, my siblings and I showed up with boxes and garbage bags and got to work. The job didn’t take long.

After several downsizing moves late in life, our dad didn’t have many possessions left beyond his clothes, toiletries, and a big jar of candy.

We moved out a couple pieces of furniture and sorted through the last artifacts of his 85 years. It was a curious collection — a painted portrait of a dog that died 30 years ago, two framed photographs from his time as a Vulcan during the 1968 St. Paul Winter Carnival, recent snapshots of various grandchildren, a few old wristwatches (only one of which appeared to be working), and a stack of black-and-white photographs from his boyhood.

Near the bottom of a dresser drawer we discovered a memento that clearly meant something to him — the T-shirt he received after completing the 1984 Twin Cities Marathon. The gray cotton had over the years been laundered to near-transparency, and when I held it up, I recognized that the shirt surely hadn’t fit him in decades.

Still, he’d kept that old shirt with him for nearly 35 years and through move after move from homes in Stillwater and St. Paul and, in later years, at least a half-dozen apartments in Arizona and Minnesota.

••••• My mother once offered a bit of unexpected parenting advice. “You get what you get,” she said.

What she meant, we’ve concluded, is that there’s only so much a parent can do. There are places deep inside each child that no parent can change — or, for that matter, reach at all. We figure she was thinking of something essential in each child’s nature, something foundational.

You get what you get. That was all. But implied in it was more: Kids are who they are. Don’t think you can control everything. Do your best to bring out their best.

Do your best to show them a decent way of living. Be understanding. Be forthright. Be generous. Be forgiving. Let them be themselves.

••••• I took the marathon T-shirt home and put it on. The fit was a little snug, but I imagined it would’ve been just right before its hundreds of tumbles through clothes dryers. My dad would’ve been 52 years old when he ran that race, a little older than I am now, and he would’ve spent more than four hours on the course. At age 15, I’d stood along a Summit Avenue curb to watch him pass, and when he finally came along, I wondered how he could keep going. And why.

He’d started running sometime in his late forties.

Although he was no celebrated athlete as a younger man, he’d always liked to be active and to be out in the fresh air. In the winter he skied, and for several years in the 1980s, he devoted spring, summer, and fall to running. He trained on country highways with his dog — the one memorialized in the aforementioned painting — trotting along at his side and occasionally fending off farmyard dogs who ran out to snarl and snap and give chase.

He ran alone, and he ran with friends. Sometimes he followed a training regimen to prepare for Grandma’s or the Twin Cities Marathon. Other times he followed his whims, went where he felt like going, and turned back whenever he was ready to.

Endurance and persistence turned out to be his gifts.

He ran without a great deal of speed or grace. He didn’t make it look easy. I sometimes worried while waiting on roadsides in Duluth or St. Paul, and as other runners streamed past, I imagined things that might’ve gone wrong. But then he’d come along — moving with short, methodical strides and holding his fists chesthigh as his pumped his arms. He always looked fatigued but pleased.

••••• To consider endurance and persistence as my dad’s gifts is to poke irony in the eye. In one obvious and important way, he neither endured nor persisted. He married and divorced three times, and those divorces severed him not only from wives, children, and stepchildren but from communities of friends and neighbors. He walked away from several good lives. He left behind no small amount of ache. Those truths can’t be outrun.

For many years it was hard for me to consider him outside of the framework of those abandoned relationships. Without thinking much about it, I measured everything he did against those defining events. Even small generosities and everyday kindnesses got stacked up against his larger failures.

But he’s gone now, and I’m walking around in one of his old T-shirts. And suddenly I recognize the ways he did endure and persist. His marathons were nothing compared to the physical pain endured during the last 20 or 25 years. He lived with debilitating back pain, and several failed surgeries seemed only to make things worse. To compound the trouble, a wrong-way driver slammed into my dad’s car on a Phoenix street and left him with injuries from which he never really recovered.

He didn’t always meet the pain with good cheer, but he had a remarkable capacity for optimism. He believed he would somehow get better.

During one of my last visits, I sat in a chair beside his bed, and we talked. He was in obvious pain at the time, MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 35

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and his thoughts seemed to move in and out of reality, backward and forward in time. I didn’t want to annoy him, and questions or attempts to spark conversation seemed likely only to frustrate. So I started talking about some good times we’d had together. I mentioned a ski trip that he, my stepbrother, and I took in the late 1980s.

“Maybe I’ll be ready to ski next winter,” said my dad.

“Maybe,” I replied. “That’d be fun.”

priest was all heart. We lost track of time while he spoke. He seemed to have not a single boring thought. He left us with plenty to talk over while we ate chicken and potatoes in the banquet room and to think about in days to come.

I’m grateful for that old priest, but I still can’t tell you what he said about what fathers have to teach us. That’s a mystery, but maybe someday I’ll find the answer. Lately, though, I’ve been thinking about my mother’s hard-won clarity on parenting: You get what you get.

That’s true of children, and it’s true of their parents. We get the parents we get. If we’re lucky we get a mother who teaches us how to love and a father who shows us something valuable about how to live. MM

••••• One of my sisters and I went to see him shortly before he died. He looked miserable. The head of the bed had been elevated, but he wouldn’t or couldn’t lie back. He seemed incapable of relaxing.

When a nurse adjusted his position in the bed, he groaned and cursed.

My sister and I finally decided it was best to turn out the lights and leave him to sleep. On the way out, I squeezed his hand and said, “I’ll see you again.”

A few weeks passed before we gathered for the funeral. The old

Nick Healy is a writer and editor living in North Mankato.

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southern mn style

’m fascinated by food trucks.

When we visit my daughter at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, there’s 10-15 of them lined up near State Street. You want Asian? There’s two or three trucks there just waiting to fill your hands with spring rolls or fried rice. Mexican food more your speed? A handful of trucks will gladly take your cash in exchange for tacos, nachos or burritos. Burgers? Got ‘em.

Smoothies? Puh-leeez. They can blend you up a mangopeach-pineapple smoothie faster than you can say Bucky Badger.

I’m excited for the food truck movement to hit Mankato. While I hope it won’t adversely affect any existing businesses, I’m always happy for any culinary progress that comes Mankato’s way. We’ve got the market cornered on pizza, and chain restaurants are easy to find. But no one would ever accuse Mankato of being too rich in culinary options. In fact, one thing I hear consistently from transplants is that they wish there were more diverse dining options in town. It’s improving around here, but there is still progress to be made.

So bring on the food trucks! And in this month’s Food, Drink & Dine, we’re bringing you the story behind one of them: On Every Corner, which offers authentic Mexican food.

food, drink & dine

Food truck hub heaven

MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 41

Food

food

By Amanda Dyslin

southern mn style The On Every Corner food truck is avialable at the food truck hub in Mankato’s Old Town.

TRULY authentic Mexican food can be found

T

On Every Corner in Mankato

wo corn tortillas, warmed on both sides, topped with a heaping portion of steak, onions, cilantro, cabbage salad, lime vinaigrette and hot sauce, with a side of rice and frijoles charros (Mexican beans).

THAT’S an authentic Mexican taco in Coahuila, northern Mexico. That’s how Adam De Leon and his wife, Deisy De Leon Esqueda, would have eaten a taco where they grew up, and it’s how they like to eat them now.

Many Mexican restaurants in the U.S. are pretty “Americanized,” they said. Lettuce can be a sign of that.

“No lettuce,” Adam said.

“Even in the Twin Cities, we would go to a place and leave and say, ‘That wasn’t what we were expecting.’ We wanted to be able to bring a little bit of home here,” Deisy 42 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

said.

That was the inspiration behind On Every Corner, an authentic Mexican food truck built from scratch by Adam that launched last fall. All winter long, the truck was invited to park in the J. Longs parking lot, where it grew quite a following.

“Everyone, at some point, has had really good food with good service somewhere,” said Chad Lockling of J. Longs. “What makes On Every Corner different than a typical eatery is their sincere desire to feed people good, authentic Mexican cuisine made from scratch, using fresh ingredients.”

That was exactly Adam’s hope for customers to take away from his food.

“This was our dream,” he said.

The dream was a long time coming, too. Adam grew up just over the Texas border in Mexico and worked as a cook in various places, including a company that catered for 650 people, three meals per day.

Despite the volume, attention to detail was always very important.

“I have always been pretty picky with my food,” he said.

“That’s good for me,” Deisy said with a laugh.

Adam had been working for about $50 a week in Mexico, often for 60-65 hours per week. With $50 in his pocket, he came to Minnesota, where he had family, on a three-day bus trip in 2003 to make a better life for himself.

Adam worked different skilled labor jobs in Windom, including butchering cows (which he hated doing) and doing electrical work.

Het met and married Deisy, and the couple had four children together over the next few years.

Adam settled into welding work with Thorstad Construction, where he worked for 10 years and enjoyed it. But in 2011, he was up very high in a basket and an operator’s error caused the basket to fall abruptly about 20 feet, causing various serious ligament tears in Adam’s body.

“That completely changed everything,” Adam said.

There were three major surgeries, tons of time spent in and out of hospitals, lots of medication, and Adam could only work on and off due to the pain and immobility.

“I was feeling hopeless. It was really hard for me to want to start doing something different,” he said.

“I had always been fixing something, or building something. It was hard. I fell into a big depression.”

Eventually, Adam couldn’t work for Thorstad any longer and left with some money to get by until he and Deisy carved out a new plan. Their discussion quickly turned to food.

“We had talked about it a long time. It was kind of a dream. He wanted to do something with food service,” Deisy said.

Adam had cooked wonderful food for his family all along, and he had served as one of the cooks for ECHO Food Shelf’s annual Pasta with the Padres. He even took part when he was recovering from ankle surgery after his accident.

“It’s something I love to do,” he said.

Money was, of course, a concern.

A restaurant would be too much money and risk. After doing research, Adam learned that a completed food truck would cost between $50,000 to $80,000.

So, using all of the skills he had learned from his previous jobs, he bought a big empty trailer for $7,000, and he built a food truck from scratch in the family’s rural North Mankato yard.

“I spent so much time designing, dreaming, thinking about every single thing: ‘What’s it going to be?’

I spent many nights thinking about it,” he said. “Every single screw, that was me. The whole project took about a year. I did all the plumbing, electrical and metalwork.”

There were days when he couldn’t put much time into the project, though.

“He could only do so much at a time,” Deisy said. “He had to work

around his pain.”

After all the paperwork was in place, the couple opened On Every Corner on a cold, windy, snowy day.

It was Oct. 26, 2017, when most food trucks were completely shut down for the winter season.

J. Longs invited them to park there, and every weekend, people came.

“We have people who were there every single weekend we were out,” Deisy said. “The weather really did impact when we were out. We were out on Dec. 23rd, and our pipes (in the truck) were freezing, and you can’t be out there without any water.”

April’s weather was so terrible that the food truck didn’t go out then, but they relaunched in May, having learned so much over the winter about what works and what doesn’t. They also finally have a logo on their truck featuring a lion for the couple’s last name.

Quesadillas, tacos tapatios, steak tacos, chicken tacos, tres leches cake — everything on the menu is made from scratch. They have also incorporated vegan and vegetarian options.

“It takes us five hours to prepare the food,” Adam said.

Plus, Adam’s mind is always onto the next dish. He spends a lot of time thinking about what to add.

“I have so many recipes in my mind. We want to go for one new thing every week. Chicken enchiladas, barbacoa, lamb … .”

Adam and Deisy also said their priority is to give customers plenty of food.

“We want to make sure when you’re done eating, you feel full and maybe have leftovers the following day,” Deisy said. “If you’re buying food, you want to be full.”

Lockling said the care and concern the couple has for their customers is clear.

“They make connections with people with their food,” he said.

“Each greeting, each dish, tells a story of their journey, and they welcome everyone to the experience.”

For more information about On Every Corner, find them on Facebook or email oneverycornerllc@gmail.com.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 43

Wine & Beer

wines

By Leigh Pomeroy

southern mn style

What makes wine taste the way it does?

D

om Pérignon is credited with saying, “Come quickly, I’m tasting stars!” when he allegedly discovered Champagne. He was describing its bubbles, of course, created by a secondary fermentation in the wine.

Dom Pérignon was a Benedictine monk who lived during the late 17th and early 18th centuries and who contributed much to the development of the world’s most famous sparkling wine. We now know that the “I’m tasting stars” story is myth, but that hasn’t kept the legendary Champagne house of Moët & Chandon from capitalizing on it. Indeed, Moët has long called its top-ofthe-line Champagne “Dom Pérignon” in the old monk’s honor.

To compare the tiny bubbles of Champagne to stars is just one aspect of poetic license that wine lovers use to describe their favorite beverage. Today it’s in vogue for wine writers to describe wine flavors in terms of fruits, spices and other odd things. For example, from recent write-ups in the Wine Spectator: “Cherry, red plum and rhubarb flavors are fresh and clean in this lively red. Orange peel acidity and light tannins impart focus to the supple texture.”

“This light- to medium-bodied red is balanced and accessible, with light tannins and easy-drinking notes of brambly blackberry and black cherry fruit, fennel seed and fresh-ground black pepper.”

“Floral tangerine aromas lead to soft and supple tropical fruit and spice flavors.”

Hmmm.

Some of this description is worthwhile, but if a wine tastes of its component grape, such as cabernet sauvignon or chardonnay, why don’t they just say it?

Of course, not all Cabernets taste the same, nor do Chardonnays, as the resulting wine is influenced by a whole host of factors, from climate to soil to exposure to winemaking. Put a light and lively Pouilly-Fuissé and an oaky, high-alcohol Napa Valley Chardonnay side by side, and it’s hard to believe they’re made from the same grape.

So, what are the components that make wines taste different from each other?

44 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

First of all, wine is mainly water, about 80 to 85 percent on average. So, it’s the alcohol plus tiny bits of other things that give it flavor.

Perhaps the most important flavor component of wine is the naturally occurring acids found in the grapes. Of these, the predominant is tartaric, which has a rather neutral flavor but gives the wine its zip. (Its salt derivative, by the way, is cream of tartar.) A second is malic acid, which offers a fruitier flavor. Apples, for example, have a high level of malic acid. A third is lactic acid, better known as the acid in sour milk.

It is a part of winemaking that, in virtually all red wines and some white wines, winemakers deliberately encourage a secondary fermentation in tank or barrel that converts some of the malic acid into lactic acid. This lowers the overall acidity in the wine and makes it softer and creamier (getting back to the sour milk part).

A fourth acid is citric, the stuff that makes citrus fruit puckery. And then there is acetic acid, better known as vinegar. This you don’t want much of in the wine, but a little bit adds complexity.

It is this dance among these acids, together with components like sugars, tannins and other phenols (or phenolics) — literally hundreds of chemical compounds — that give wine its unique flavors. Most of these occur in very small amounts but can have a big effect on a wine’s aroma and taste.

Perhaps you’ve heard of tannins. These are components that exist in the seeds, skins and stems of grapes, and they give red wines their sometimes bitter flavor. (Red wines are fermented with their skins; white wines are not.) While this bitterness can be off-putting in a young red, the tannins are a key antioxidant and contribute to longevity in wine. As the wine ages, the tannins gradually soften while other components undergo metabolic changes, which lead to the incredible aromas and flavors in properly aged wines.

As Dom Pérignon indicated, the wine experience is not just about smell and taste but feel as well. Not only can we sense bubbles in a wine, but we can sense, for example, alcohol (too much burns!) and unctuousness — that is, does it coat the mouth or seem to slip away? In wine parlance, “mouthfeel” indicates a complex perception beyond taste. Does the wine “feel” full, tart, astringent, light, hot, chewy, harsh, soft, puckery?

This interplay of complexity is why people can spend a lifetime studying wine.

Of course, you don’t have to. All you have to do is pop a cork and enjoy.

Leigh Pomeroy is a Mankato-based writer and wine lover.

BEER

By Bert Mattson

Greener grass and a yard glass

PATIO NOW OPEN!

T

his is the month that makes people yard-people.

Even those that don’t enjoy planting warm weather vegetables or fussing with flowerbeds eventually end up dividing plants or pruning or some such. And if by chance they do avoid that, they’ll learn soon enough not to procrastinate at pulling small weeds. Ignoring these chores comes at the cost of more uncomfortable ones. And this is why otherwise unfussy people can be caught at last-minute fertilizing or aerating of their lawns. These tasks can be so tedious that it’s easy to lose sight of the ultimate aim of a yard — the sole purpose of the thing becomes to perpetuate it.

This is assuming, of course, one has a yard to care for. But even if one has avoided having a yard, the sights and sounds of yard maintenance are unavoidable, and the thought of one creeps in. I recall in college the yard of a fortunate friend becoming an object of jealousy one June among those that stayed for summer jobs.

His fire pit filled up nightly, and we’d eagerly volunteer to gather the old elm’s fallen branches and snap them into kindling. In fact, the process approached obsession.

I think about this when I see otherwise sensible men indestractibly devoted to manicured lawns. That this level of grooming could come to be considered a manly pursuit is exhibit “A” for just how insidious yard work is. I half suspect that the primitive aspects of grilling culture have emerged as a kind of compensation. I’ll stop before I sully it though, because the reality is that there’s hardly a better way to survey one’s domain than at the grill with a glass.

Upon reflection, over time I’ve eschewed big slabs of bone-in beef in favor of more esoteric forms of asado, such as Sinaloa-style chicken and Lechon con Mojo Criollo. Some of the attraction

is undoubtedly the interesting condiments these incorporate, which also make for intriguing beer pairing opportunities.

In the coastal region of Sinaloa, chickens are spatchcocked, marinated in a mixture of citrus, garlic, dried chile, and cilantro and set to slowly roast over smoldering embers. Vienna Lager is a classic with Mexican fare and my go-to for Sinaloa-style chicken. The version from Fair State, true to style, has some caramel qualities that compliment the mahogany skinned bird, and sweetness that contrasts the dish’s spices. Subtle hopping won’t churn up chile heat, and suits the grassiness of young cilantro.

Lechon, strictly speaking, is roasted suckling pig. Shoulder is a common substitute. Mojo Criollo is a brilliant compound of sour orange, garlic, cumin, oregano, and olive oil, native to Cuba. These render a flavorful foil for rich cuts of meat, at the same time echoing elements of the beers.

Lazy Sipper, the Blonde Ale (originally a limited release for the State Fair) from Summit Brewing Company is crisp and bubbly enough to handle the richness of lechon.

Citrus and herbal hop characteristics echo those of Mojo Criollo ... a more powerful mojo, fortunately, than the spell of carefully clipped lawn.

Bert Mattson is a chef and writer based in St. Paul. He is the manager of the iconic Mickey’s Diner. bertsbackburner.com

Authentic Mexican Food and Amazing Drinks Check Our Daily Specials!

1404 MADISON AVE., MANKATO 507.344.0607 | laterrazamankato.com Open: Monday–Thursday 11–10 Friday & Saturday 11–10:30; Sunday 11–9 MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 45

THAT’S LIFE

By Nell Musolf

I’ll call my placid existence a win-win M

y father had a stock response whenever any of his offspring asked him a question about, well, anything. “NOYDB,” he would reply which meant, of course, “None of your damn business.” He might tell you the time if you were extremely persistent, but most of the time he kept his mouth shut about virtually everything.

To this day I don’t know why he was so tight lipped but he was.

Dad never shared anything, from things that really weren’t anyone else’s business, such as the amount of his annual salary, to much more mundane things, such as what he had for lunch on any given day. He never struck me as an especially paranoid person, just an extremely private one, so private that I’m still not one hundred percent sure if he was a Republican

46 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

or a Democrat.

Part of me suspects that he never told us anything because he thought we should figure all of the little nuances of life out on our own and another part of me thinks he kept quiet because the man simply didn’t like to talk. Then there’s the third part of me that wonders if he wasn’t so taciturn because he knew it drove the rest of the family crazy(ier).

Over the years he mellowed and occasionally shared a few personal tidbits about his likes and dislikes. Every so often he stated an opinion on the governor and on one momentous occasion he announced he preferred mushrooms to green peppers on his pizza. Then there was the rare glimpse into his past when he shared that he had to take kindergarten twice but he was well into his seventies before spilling those beans.

Dad not only didn’t like to talk about himself; he also wasn’t all that interested in other people’s lives either, not even his offspring’s. One would think having grown up in such an extremely quiet and repressed household that one might have been trained not to stick her nose into other people’s business. One would be wrong.

Growing up in a repressed household had the exact opposite effect on me since I was apparently born itching to know everything about everyone. That ingrained urge explains why I’m always on Facebook (a cornucopia of people with no privacy issues if ever there was one) and why my sons know the first thing I’ll ask whenever they go somewhere is what they ordered for dinner. While I know the majority of things people do/think/say really are NOMDB, I can’t seem to help myself. I’m simply an extremely nosy person although I prefer to think of myself as a student of life. Anyone’s life.

I’ve learned (somewhat) to reign my nosiness in, at least to the point where I don’t look like I’m eavesdropping when we’re eating at a restaurant. But the core of my personality remains ridiculously curious about other people’s lives. This also explains why my favorite books are biographies and autobiographies — especially the unauthorized ones.

I’m sure my hard-boiled desire to hear everyone else’s life story isn’t only an attempt to make up for my father’s reluctance to tell his children anything. I like hearing about what other people are up to because my own life is incredibly dull. Maybe dull isn’t quite the right word.

Placid might be better, or possibly serene, although that isn’t quite right. Staid?

Whatever it is, I’m not complaining; I actually like dull.

Dull is good when the alternative might be middle-of-the-night trips to the emergency room, unexplained charges on your credit card or learning your husband has been living under an alias for your entire marriage. Those types of things can all be classified as exciting but that kind of excitement I can live without.

I will gladly, avidly really, listen while people tell me about their vacations, boyfriends, kids and bosses. I love hearing about childhoods, pets and favorite recipes.

Tell me what you had for lunch last Thursday and I’m in heaven. The best part of all is that, thanks to today’s world of everyone sharing everything, this dull, placid, serene, staid nosy person has plenty to mull over without ever having to leave her laptop or get out of her bathrobe.

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Nell Musolf is a mom and freelance writer from Mankato.

She blogs at: nellmusolf.com

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 47

GARDEN CHAT

By Jean Lundquist

Thoughts on asparagus, heirlooms,

retirement

J

ust when I thought spring would never arrive, the asparagus came up in the garden.

I tend to harvest it when the spears emerge, before the stalks grow. Larry gives me grief for not letting it grow taller, but everyone likes the heads, and just abides the stalks, anyway.

We always have enough to eat, and plenty to freeze. No need to tax the asparagus plants, I say.

The sad part of this asparagus season is that I always quit picking it by my birthday, the latter part of June. I just hope we get enough this crazy year!

This summer is going to be a special one in my garden.

By the time you are reading this, I am just hours away from retirement.

Since I was 12, I have had exactly three months when I was unemployed. Often, I had more than one job, in fact, and sometimes as many as time and one fullfour parttime jobs at a

48 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

time.

So people ask me what I will do when I retire, I say, “Garden, of course!”

The chicken manure I put in my garden last fall should be weathered enough to not burn my plants this summer.

I certainly hope so, anyway, because I put it out there last fall and let winter mellow it a bit. I hope it’s been long enough!

Time will tell. It hurts me a little to think that next year I might have to buy manure for fertilizer.

My red Grow Bags seem to be doing well for my tomatoes and potatoes so far. I was really impressed last year with their results, so I hope that doubling the number of bags I am using multiplies my harvest.

Container gardening has always been a challenge for me because the container plants needed a drink of water while I was at work. Now that I’ll be retired, this should not be a problem for me or my plants.

Even though I have doubled the number of grow bags I am using this year, Sam and I (mostly Sam) will increase the size of my garden with the chain link panels just a little bit!

I probably should have sold those panels so I would not be tempted to enlarge the garden after working so heartily to downsize it.

Fortunately, I have sold my chicken coops so I cannot cave in and get, “Just a few hens,” and get back into chickens.

My obsessions always start small, it seems.

One of my first obsessions was with different varieties of tomatoes. Heirloom and open pollinated varieties captivated me, and I learned to save seeds. There is always a new variety to try. Though I have found my favorites, I still keep experimenting in case I find a new favorite.

The heirloom tomatoes have such a bright taste, especially when compared to grocery store off-season tomatoes that are picked green and shipped.

They blush red, but they don’t taste red.

This past winter, we found some lumpy, bumpy heirloom tomatoes

in a local grocery store. They may be picked green as well, but they offered a lot more taste, even so. Still not like a sun-ripened, sun-warmed homemade tomato, though.

The past few years I have been experimenting with new pepper varieties. I used to plant two bell peppers and a jalapeno, and call it good.

Now, half my garden and grow bags are peppers. Most are hot peppers.

A favorite is the Fish pepper. The plants offer beautiful variegated leaves, which are stunning. The p e p p e r s t h e m s e l v e s a re a l s o variegated. I don’t know if I’m in love with the pepper, or just the plant, but I grow some every year.

Another favorite pepper is the Aji Limo. This hot beauty bears a bright yellow fruit. Unlike banana peppers, which are a more dusty hue, the Aji Limo is brilliant yellow.

If the weather holds, by the end of this month, we’ll all be eating well from the garden!

79

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 49

YOUR STYLE

By Ann Rosenquist Fee

Sure, swank stripes and good credentials, but honestly, Dad. Dad. The comb-over.

Ann’s Father’s Day Fashion Tarot E

xactly four people have taken me up on my offer to give combination Tarot-cardreadings-plus-style-guidance. All women, all for high-stakes special occasions. For instance, “what to wear to a wedding when you’re the mother of the groom and also the ex-wife of the groom’s father, who will be showing up with his new wife, making this the first time you two ladies meet.” That kind of thing. Those are the situations that generally call for Ann’s Fashion Tarot.

Nobody has asked what to wear for Father’s Day, but that’s not going to stop me from prescribing attire for the occasion. Such as, what to wear on Father’s Day when you have a father who means the world.

What to wear regarding having a father who bugs you. What to wear for missing a father, wanting to be a 50 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

better father, wanting your father to stop with the comb-over.

That was my main issue with my own dad. As a teenager, I was like, Dad, please, just go short with the whole thing, stop combing those dozen evenly spaced hairs from one side to the other because it’s awful. He refused to comply which I now understand probably had to do with the fact that it was lumped in with other complaints, from me, about how humiliating it was to be seen with him at the mall, for instance, could he please park in the parking lot and let us find him instead of pulling up to the curb in that green Caprice Classic. With that constant kind of static, how could he have tuned in to my loving wisdom about fixing his awful hair?

He couldn’t. Not his fault. I’ve now (right now, June 2018) passed the age he was when he died, which

was forty-nine-and-a-half. It’s a milestone I’ve thought about for a long time, obviously, like I remember the main thing people expressed in condolences was that he was so young. Too young. And while I appreciated that, as a 19-year-old I actually thought 49 was sufficiently old. Old enough to be “old.” Now that I’m there, I still think it’s old enough to be “old,” but not in a “done” way, more like a way that feels like a promotion. Like I’ve won at something. And the prize-getting kicks off with Ann’s Father’s Day Fashion Tarot.

WHAT TO WEAR TO CELEBRATE THE FACT THAT YOUR FATHER MEANS THE WORLD:

Fleece, flannel, cotton, unmatching socks, whatever equals extreme s h a p e l e s s c o m f o r t . I f y o u ’ re

fortunate enough to really love and like and cherish your dad, chances are he said and did things to let you know you were just fine in the world.

Capable and worthy. Show this with personal style that cares enough to smell clean, but beyond that, you don’t need to minimize or maximize or cinch or stuff a damn thing.

WHAT TO WEAR TO WORK THROUGH HAVING A FATHER WHO BUGS YOU: Moisturizer.

Nothing accentuates an emotional rut like a scaly frown! Whatever he’s doing or saying or marrying might be legitimately bothersome, but you know what, he’s not going to start listening to you and he probably isn’t going to change so I would say get yourself a good exfoliant and a moisturizer and maybe a freshening spray and start working on having skin you can allow to be glowy and translucent because you’re so OK with everything that shows through.

WHAT TO WEAR AT TIMES WHEN YOU JUST GENERALLY MISS YOU FATHER: Wear things

appropriate to wear to places his friends still go. Then, go there.

The Legion, the waiting area at the barber or the oncologist’s office, Target Field, the basement of the church for post-service coffee.

Wherever they are, the men who dress like or walk like or smoke like your old man, figure out where they are and just show up. It won’t bring him back, but some random thing one of those guys says might be just what you need. Bonus if you wear or carry an object of his, which in the rules of Fashion Tarot will most definitely for-sure act as a spiritual lightning rod. Plus, if you’re a man, it’ll make you classy. And if you’re not a man, OMG — menswear plus nostalgia, plus moving forward using all the powers and gifts he gave you, plus forgiveness of the combover? Is an amazing style statement.

Happy Father’s Day. Ann Rosenquist Fee is executive director of the Arts Center of Saint Peter and a vocalist with The Frye.

She blogs at annrosenquistfee.com.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 51

NIGHT MOVES

By Dianna Rojo-Garcia

Jymmy Tolland of Bobaflex unstraps his bass guitar as the audience cheered during their last sang in a performance at Red Rocks.

Photos by Jackson Forderer

Red Rocks

Welcome to another great live music venue

R

Bobaflex lead singer Marty McCoy sings during the group’s performance at Red Rocks. The band first formed in 1998.

52 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

ed Rocks has a bit of a reputation in town, one it acquired since its early days when it was called The Haze: it’s usually the last stop after a cocktail-fueled night on the town in Mankato. It’s known for its 2-for-1 drink specials, and is about the only “dance club” in the area. According to most online reviews, the typical Red Rocks crowd is one that is younger, and generally are looking to squeeze in a few last drinks and a little dancing before bar close. And that’s it.

For the last few months, however,

Red Rocks has begun to evolve and form a new reputation. It has consistently booked bands such as Kind Country, Useful Jenkins, Watermelon Slush and Royal Bliss.

And every Thursday night since February, Red Rocks has hosted open mic nights. Not exactly that one-dimensional nightclub described above.

Good thing, too. Having a night or dance club in Mankato isn’t a negative thing, but Red Rocks’ uniquely open space has been a great addition to the downtown Mankato music scene.

Marty McCoy (finger in air) of Bobaflex gets the crowd pumped up during one of the band’s songs while they played at Red Rocks in Mankato.

The scene here has always been lively, thanks in part to the big names that roll through venues such as the What’s Up? Lounge — from Michale Graves of the Misfits and Agent Orange to the ubiquitous names in the local music scene like Watermelon Slush, The Porchlights, Good Night Gold Dust and many, many more. Mankato’s music scene is growing bigger and stronger. The addition of Red Rocks as a venue will add to the already thriving music community.

But Red Rocks isn’t just for college students. It’s evolution has resulted in it becoming a place for anyone who enjoys live music. The show that took place mid-April with Trip 6, Andrew Boss and headliner, Bobaflex, shows that pretty much anyone can go to Red Rocks and have a baller time.

•••• Doors opened at 6:30 p.m. and the show was on a Wednesday night — not your typical concert night, but that didn’t stop a few early birds parked at tables and bar stools.

Just like any concert, though, the floor was wide open with some concert-goers getting beers at the bar while others sipped on theirs over a game of pool. And unlike an ordinary late night at Red Rocks, which usually consists of a younger audience dancing, usually dressed in high enough heels to break an ankle, dresses so tight that are seen in Chingy music videos or dudes dressed like as if they were Chingy himself, but tonight the place is full of rock fans dressed in black or in Lamb of God or Bobaflex T-shirts (which they could have purchased

at the merch table on the way in) and others dressed in T-shirts and jeans. They were all there to party with Bobaflex.

The patrons weren’t all necessarily from Mankato, which one would expect, considering it’s a Wednesday night. Melissa Miranda, 47, and Amanda Wolsky, 30, drove down from Paynesville to celebrate Miranda’s birthday, and specifically to see Bobaflex. It wasn’t their first time at Red Rocks, either. They recall that the last time at Red Rocks was a year ago when Bobaflex was performing.

“The whole night was awesome,” Miranda said.

Warm-up band Trip 6 from Chicago kicked off the night with their song “Hellbound,” which started the movement of bodies from barstools to the open floor. They reassured the crowd they were in for a hell of a time. Warm applause followed each song, and another audience member would hit the floor to head bang.

After a 30-minute set, Andrew W Boss began setting up their equipment. In other words, it was a good time to get a drink at the bar.

Red Rocks’ selection varies from classic cocktails to some typical beer on tap to a variety of bottled beer (my favorite, Nordeast, was available, so it was a win).

But even if drinking isn’t your scene, you can still have an excellent time at Red Rocks. Enjoy the music, play some darts or play some patio games (weather permitting).

Jacob Tolzman, 35, of Mankato, spent the night just enjoying the live

music with a friend, neither of whom were drinking alcohol. Tolzman says he rarely goes downtown, but decided it was a good time to get out of the house. Plus, Bobaflex fits his musical tastes.

“The music is good,” Tolzman said.

“There have been more and more of these bands.”

Tolzman said Red Rocks allows concert goers to be a little more open than some other venues that might be a little too small. For him, Red Rocks’ space is the key.

And really, that is the key for a good music venue. There’s not only enough room to walk around others — especially if you’re in the need to go to the bathroom — but it also has seating spaces and enough room to head bang (all without intruding someone else’s space.) This is especially important at this event, since Bobaflex is a headbanging kind of band.

Andrew W Boss (a metal/rap band) got most of the bar sitters off their bar stools to jump around and get their blood flowing for the headliner. And at about 9:30 p.m.

Bobaflex came onto the stage; as they did, more patrons poured into Red Rocks. The audience nearly filled the front portion of Red Rocks in front of the stage. And there was plenty of head banging. Even a small mosh pit.

For others like me who get headaches headbanging, I was comfortably sitting at the bar drinking a beer while being wellattended by the bartenders. I could have been on a beach in Hawaii somewhere drinkin’ a beer, but for me, nothing is better than drinking a beer, listening to live music — regardless of the venue or genre.

•••• Red Rocks is a promising venue for local acts, and also for bigger acts that attract not only people from out of town on a work night but also people who just really want to hear some good music.

Perhaps over the years Red Rocks may have earned a reputation as merely a rowdy dance club for college students. But I think it’s safe to say it is moving on and evolving, offering patrons a more diverse palette of experiences and a favorable concert venue.

MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 53

COMING ATTRACTIONS: JUNE May 30-June 2

Highland Summer Theatre presents: “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” 7:30 p.m — Andreas Theatre — MSU — Mankato — $22 regular; $19 discounted (over 65, under 16 and groups of 15 or more); and $15 MSU students — mnsu.edu/theatre

1

Finale Concert with the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra and Gustavus Wind Orchestra, 7 p.m. — Bjorling Recital Hall — Gustavus Adolphus College — St. Peter — free and open to public — gustavus.edu/finearts

16-21

Summer Music Camp: Choir, Band, & Strings Bethany Lutheran College — Mankato — $275 tuition — grades 9-12 — blc.edu/events

14

Songs on the Lawn presents: Kind Country 11 a.m.-1 p.m. — Civic Center Plaza — Mankato — free — greatermankato.com/songs-lawn

14

Beer, Brats and Bourbon for BackPack BackPack Central’s Warehouse — 2120 Howard Drive W. — North Mankato — $50 — feedingourcommunitiespartners.org/bbb

15

Three Dog Night 7 p.m. — Vetter Stone Amphitheater — Mankato — $89, $75, $65, $45 and $35 — verizoncentermn.com

21

Songs on the Lawn presents: The Porchlights 11 a.m.-1 p.m. — Civic Center Plaza — Mankato — free — greatermankato.com/songs-lawn

7

Songs on the Lawn presents: Jeremy Poland Band, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. — Civic Center Plaza — Mankato — free — greatermankato.com/songs-lawn

9

Blue Felix, Enemy X, and Piranha 8:30 p.m. — The What’s Up? Lounge — 118 Rock St. — Mankato — $5 — 21+ — whatsuplounge.com

10

Music on the Hill: Timothy Lovelace and Peter McGuire 2-4 p.m. — Good Counsel Chapel — 170 Good Counsel Drive — Mankato — $12 general or $17 premium advance; $15 or $20 at the door — mankatosymphony.com

13-15

Highland Summer Theatre presents: “Steel Magnolias,” 7:30 p.m. — Andreas Theatre — MSU — Mankato — $16 regular; $14 discounted (over 65, under 16 and groups of 15 or more); and $11 MSU students — mnsu.edu/theatre

54 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

22

Gary Allan 7:30 p.m. — Vetter Stone Amphitheater — Mankato $125, $95, $69, $55, $45 and $35 — verizoncentermn.com

22-23

Solstice Music Festival Land of Memories Park — Mankato — $20 presale weekend pass, $25 weekend day of event, $10 Friday only, $20 Saturday only — Facebook @solstice.mankato

26-July 1

Highland Summer Theatre presents: “Shrek,” 7:30 p.m. — Andreas Theatre — MSU — Mankato — $22 regular; $19 discounted (over 65, under 16 and groups of 15 or more); and $15 MSU students — mnsu.edu/theatre

28

Songs on the Lawn presents: Murphy Brothers, 1 a.m.-1 p.m. — Civic Center Plaza — Mankato — free — greatermankato.com/songs-lawn

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PLUthNisGE SUMMER

This summer, beat the heat at the sand-bottomed swim facility located in beautiful lower North Mankato!

2018 SEASONAL SWIM FACILITY INFORMATION SWIM PASS RATES Swim Facility Phone 388-1767 Family - $40.00 Opening - Saturday, June 2, 2018 Single - $20.00 Closing - Sunday, August 5, 2018 Babysitter - $7.00 HOURS 10-Swim Punch Card - $17.50 Daily: 1:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Single Admission - $2.00 Open daily except during inclement weather.

Not open if the daytime temperature falls below 70˚.

HOW TO GET YOUR SEASON PASS: 1. Go to www.northmankato.com, click on Spring Lake Park Swim Facility then on Swim Pass Sign Up 2. Or, stop into North Mankato City Hall and sign up for a pass there

FAIRMONT Aquatic Center • Splash Pool • Aqua Climb Wall • Speed Slide • Lazy River Slide • Sweet Shop

OPEN JUN 2 - AUG 25

[Check website for hours and information]

1400 S. Prairie Avenue, Fairmont 507-238-9292 • fairmont.org/aquaticpark

Offering the Mankato area Offering the Mankato area Fun and Affordable Dance Classes Fun and Affordable Dance Classes

Summer Classes

Summer Starting June 5th and Fall Fall Classes

Starting Sept.7th Classes

Check it out at ImpulseDanceMankato.com ImpulseDanceMankato.com MANKATO MAGAZINE • online JUNE 2018 • 55 & online & register register

FROM THIS VALLEY

By Pete Steiner

I

Stuff we stuff in drawers

’m guessing every American household has one.

Or two. Maybe more. That DRAWER where we put thingamajigs. And anything else you can’t logically put in, say, the utensils drawer or the dish towel drawer or the Tupperware drawer or the plastic wrap and aluminum foil drawer. Maybe it is something you bought at the dollar store on a whim, or at a point-of-sale display at the hardware store, or a cute knick-knack from a garage sale. You really thought you could use it. Or maybe it was something that came WITH something you DO use — the directions you didn’t read or the warranty card you intended to fill out. Things you were afraid to discard or were too rushed to put in some proper place, or maybe something you were about to throw away but then got sentimental about. It’s easier to put it all in THAT DRAWER. A byproduct of modern marketing and capitalism, it’s the catch-all place you use for things too small to go in the basement, the garage or mini-storage.

In our house, it’s the third biggest drawer in the kitchen, the one beneath the counter under the radio and the landline we still keep to make sure telemarketers and robocallers can reach us. Maybe before long, the landline will go into the Catchall Drawer, kept as a souvenir, or just in case they discover that cell phones really DO cause brain cancer. Right now in that drawer, there’s a ceramic paper clip holder, a stapler, a few rubber bands, and an assortment of highlighters and Sharpies, all things I occasionally use, and a bunch of other detritus that’s simply in the stage matter is in before it becomes dust.

I relish it, when I’m at a party at a friend’s or relative’s house, maybe helping with the dishes, and I make an excuse of looking for a dish towel and stumble upon the thing-a-mah-jig drawer! Or maybe everybody else is in the kitchen, and you’re still sitting in the living room or dining room, and you start to get up to go join them, but you casually pull open one drawer in a hutch, and VOILA, it’s that drawer! Proper etiquette would say, don’t do this, but the spy in me comes out. It’s as irresistible as gawking at a train wreck. I know any friends who read this will no longer invite me to their houses; just know I am getting paid to report these findings! Here’s a partial, non-comprehensive survey of what I’ve found in these drawers (even neat-freaks often fail to organize this particular drawer, this haven of randomness and chaos): A deck of old cards missing all the face cards. A dozen wine corks. Lots of old pencil stubs that need sharpening.

A roll of undeveloped film (note to those born after 2007: film is what was used to take photos before there were smart phones). A Post-it pad with three sheets remaining.

A complimentary notepad from a charity you gave ten dollars to 20 years ago, with only a few sheets left attached to the cardboard backing, and those few sheets bear your name and the address you lived at two moves ago. An open box of Q-tips with two Q-tips left in it. A 56 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE

small cardboard jewelry box filled with miscellaneous screws and washers and picture hangers. A nearly used-up roll of masking tape. A nearly empty pocket-pack of Kleenex. Some empty CD cases. A pink flip phone with a very dead battery. One Canadian penny. A baby’s tooth.

An old cribbage board missing most of its pegs (which aficionados know as “spilikins”).

I should mention, there were some positives that came from researching this article: I did recycle a long-voided warranty for the coffee maker we recently replaced, as well as some discount coupons that expired in May of 2016. I put several highlighters in a plastic bag so they would not roll around so chaotically when we are looking for, say, the stapler. I tossed a few promotional key rings that we have never used. And I threw away several straight pins that pricked my finger as I was rummaging for a paper clip in the ceramic container. I also learned from some friends that they call theirs the “hodge-podge drawer,” or the “gallimaufry.” There’s a word you wouldn’t have known if you’d skipped Steiner’s page! (It means, “a confused jumble or medley of things.”)

A thousand years from now, if there’s still intelligent life on this planet, cultural anthropologists may stumble on gallimaufry and attempt to piece together a portrait of the 21st-century. And they might well ask: what the heck did these people intend to do with 3,524 adhesive stickers printed with their name and address?

Peter Steiner is host of “Talk of the Town” weekdays at 1:05 p.m. on KTOE.

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MANKATO MAGAZINE • JUNE 2018 • 57

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M-F: 8am to 8pm | Sat: 8am to 11am | 507-386-6600 58 • JUNE 2018 • MANKATO MAGAZINE