Mankato Magazine

mankato magazine

RIBtastic!

Jeff Lang, aka ‘Stunt Monkey,’ takes his grilling very seriously

Also in this issue:

A river reminiscence by

TIM KROHN

Top 10 moments in MINNESOTA RIVER history Get to know

MSO’s BETHEL BALGE

The Free Press MEDIA

AUGUST 2022

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FEATURES AUGUST 2022 Volume 17, Issue 8

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Meat lovers Some people fire up a propane tank, heat up some hot dogs and call it a day. But for others, the act of outdoor grilling is an art form … or maybe an obsession.

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Top 10 moments in Minnesota River History From glacial movements to Apollonia Kotero, the Minnesota River has seen a lot. Some really good things, and some really, really bad things.

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A river reminiscence Writer Tim Krohn and photographer John Cross took two memorable voyages down the entire length of the Minnesota River in 1998 and 2008. Krohn’s essay this month looks back at those trips to what has changed.

ABOUT THE COVER In what may be his biggest stunt yet, Jeff Lange (aka “Stunk Monkey”) poses for our cover for photographer Pat Christman.

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DEPARTMENTS 6

From the Editor

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This Day in History

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Faces & Places

12 Avant Guardians Masa Ishikawa

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14 Beyond the Margin Zen and the art of lawn maintenance

16 Familiar Faces Bethel Balge

18 Day Trip Destinations New Ulm

36 Living 55 Plus

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44 Let’s Eat!

The Boathouse in Waseca

46 On Tap

What the heck is a Cicerone?

48 Wine

The good, the bad and sometimes ugly

50 Lit Du Nord: Minnesota Books and Authors

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46

Getting in on the Gatsby game

52 Ann’s Fashion Fortunes Topography of T-shirts

54 Garden Chat

Those pesky raccoons

56 From This Valley

On long-lost favorite eateries

Coming Next Month

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Sober life!

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FROM THE EDITOR

By Robb Murray AUGUST 2022 • VOLUME 17, ISSUE 8 MAGAZINE Robb Murray EDITOR DESIGNER Christina Sankey PHOTOGRAPHER Pat Christman

COPY EDITOR Kathy Vos CONTRIBUTORS James Figy Jean Lundquist Leticia Gonzalez Ann Rosenquist Fee Pete Steiner Nick Healy Dana Melius Renee Berg Tim Krohn ADVERTISING Danny Creel SALES Jennifer Flowers Jordan Greer-Friesz Josh Zimmerman Theresa Haefner Tim Keech ADVERTISING Barb Wass ASSISTANT ADVERTISING Christina Sankey DESIGNER CIRCULATION Justin Niles DIRECTOR

PUBLISHER Steve Jameson EXECUTIVE EDITOR Joe Spear

Mankato Magazine is published by The Free Press Media monthly at 418 South Second Street, Mankato MN 56001.

To subscribe, call 1-800-657-4662 or 507-625-4451. $59.88 for 12 issues.

For all editorial inquiries, call Robb Murray 507-344-6386, or email rmurray@mankatofreepress.com.

For advertising, call 344-6364, or e-mail advertising@mankatofreepress.com.

Stories of grill guys and river rats

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or me, few things are as quintessentially summer, and altogether soothing, as firing up the charcoal grill on the deck and pouring a cold beer.

Maybe it’s a guy thing. Maybe it’s something instilled in me by my father. Maybe it’s become the tiniest of escapes for me for a world that is becoming, with each passing day and Trump rally, harder and harder to fathom.

The smell of burning coals, the taste of a Mad Butcher IPA, the knowledge that, in a few moments, steaks will be cooking over those coals and all the cares, stresses and worries in the world won’t matter. Throw a little Springsteen on the outdoor speaker and, well, I’ve got myself a nice little moment there.

My grilling chops are exceedingly amateur. It’s taken me several years, but I’ve finally figured out how to do steaks right, how to not burn chicken breasts on the outside while leaving them raw on the inside, how to cook potatoes, artisan mushrooms, marinated tofu, corn on the cob — anything really.

But I’ve always been intrigued by the guys who take it one step further, the guys who sink a few grand into having an arsenal of machinery that can cook anything.

In this month’s Mankato Magazine, we visit with a couple of guys who take their outdoor barbecue game very seriously — a concept that may seem slightly incongruous for one of them.

Jeff Lange, aka Stunt Monkey, is well known in the region as a happy-go-lucky radio personality who loves to make people smile and laugh. He also loves, we’ve learned, to share the fruits of his barbecue labor with anyone who wants to stop by.

With two electric smokers, a Green Mountain smoker and a Blackstone flat-top grill, Lang is routinely in his man-cave-like garage smoking briskets, baby back ribs, or his latest specialty item: Stunt-flavored Chex Mix. It’s enough to make a guy consider investing in a Traeger or a Big Green Egg. Then again, I’m not sure I have the patience to spend six hours perfecting a piece of meat. Maybe I’ll just mosey on back to Lang’s place when the smell of his latest rib rack wafts through the neighborhood …

Also in this issue, we’re spending some time celebrating the Minnesota River. And who better to help us do that when the uniquely (and curmudgeonly) talented Free Press writer Tim Krohn.

In 1998, just a few years after I started working for The Free Press, Tim and photographer John Cross embarked on what remains one of the most baller pieces of Gonzo journalism ever attempted here.

They canoed the length of the Minnesota, employing fellow newsroom staffers to ferry film rolls to and from wherever they were on their trip. It was riveting. Readers loved it. To this day I don’t think a special project from Free Press Media has ever come close to matching its heft, interest and importance.

And then, 10 years later, they did it again, this time with better equipment, more context and (slightly) creakier bones.

Tim’s essay this month looking back on those two trips should be required reading for anyone interested in learning more about the river, the issues it faces and what it’s like to canoe down it.

Robb Murray is associate editor of Mankato Magazine.

Contact him at 344-6386 or rmurray@mankatofreepress.com.

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY Compiled by Jean Lundquist

Camp Fire Girls enter fourth week at Patterson

Aug. 14, 1947 Days at Camp Patterson on Lake Washington were filled with swimming, waterfront activities and crafts for the 80 Bluebird Campfire Girls attending summer camp. But the evenings were storybook fantasies.

Blue Birds ranged in age from 7-10. They attended the first week of the monthlong camp. Their first evening was a Cinderella Ball, with both Cinderella and Prince Charming attending.

Tuesday night was Treasure Island night, complete with pots of gold on each table, followed by a treasure hunt in the campground. Wednesday night was a nursery rhyme competition. Thursday, they visited Alice in Wonderland. Friday night completed their week with a Storybook Campfire.

Number of local, state diseased elms smaller

Aug. 15, 1983 Dutch elm disease was responsible for eradicating the trees from the state.

The state of Minnesota provided funding for municipalities to eliminate the trees from public property, but cut the funding in 1982.

By 1983, only 30 to 40 diseased trees on Mankato city property were slated for removal.

Floyd Roberts, Mankato Parks and Forestry superintendent, estimated there were only 200 to 250 elms remaining on municipal property in the entire city, and fewer than 1,000 on private property. “We lost most of them,” he said.

Dave Haack of the city of North Mankato echoed the circumstances.

“We’re just plain running out of elms.”

State officials estimated almost all elms would be gone in Minnesota by the end of the following year, 1984.

Relax!

We will get your job printed and delivered on time!

Politicians talk pork and beans at annual farm gathering

Aug. 6, 2003 A light and steady rain was falling over Gilfillan Estates when politicians took to the stage to talk to farmers at the 2003 Farmfest event west of Morgan.

Featured were Sen. Norm Coleman and U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknectht, both Republicans, along with Democrats Sen. Mark Dayton and Rep. Collin Peterson.

All four touted federal initiatives for corn producers to create ethanol, and the message was apparently well-received by the crowd.

Questions turned the conversation to small livestock producers competing with large producers, and feedlots overtaking the hog industry.

Peterson blamed Walmart for driving the industry to more automation and specific machines that govern the size of animals in the plants. He also blamed “city slickers” for moving to the country, then complaining about smells from agriculture production.

Man’s invention is a reel fish catcher

Aug. 7, 1992 There were motorized fishing reels, but Jay Jensen of St. Peter wanted one for his wife that attached to a pole and worked with any reel.

Using a motor from an electric toy car his son had outgrown, he did just that.

His wife, Denise, had lost the use of her right arm in a car accident. With his device, Denise could, with the touch of her thumb, reel in any fish onehanded, as long as the line was strong enough.

Jensen took his device to the Minnesota Inventors Congress where he won an honorable mention. “I had a fantastic response,” he said.

With a one-handed fishing reel invention under his belt, he said his next project was a chin-controlled fishing apparatus for quadriplegics.

1750 Northway Drive North Mankato, MN 56003

800-729-7575 www.corpgraph.com

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FACES & PLACES: Photos By SPX Sports

Artsplash Art Fair in North Mankato 1

1. Friends (from left) Lexi Larson, Taylor Rohrich, Bailey Rohrich and Henley Van Asten show off their face paintings.

2. Nicolai Amende sells his hot sauces.

3. Harlow (right) and Maeve getting their balloon animals.

4. Emily Fritz of The Messy Apron sells treats.

5. Marti from Making Faces Mankato paints kids’ faces.

6. Ella Grommersch gets her face painted.

7. Cooper and his mom, Lisa, do crafts.

8. Artsplash Art Fair in North Mankato.

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FACES & PLACES: Photos By SPX Sports

Movies in the Park

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1. Heather Paulson (right) and Caitlin Galagan enjoys Movies in the Park in North Mankato.

2. Faye VanBeck gets her face painted with her mother, Marissa VanBeck.

3. Elizabeth Calsbeek shows off her face painting.

4. Mac Johnson (right) and Cody Johnson check out the tractor.

5. A group plays with a parachute.

6. Aria Huffstutler holds Yoda the pig.

7. Benson Miller waits for his face to be painted.

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FACES & PLACES: Photos By SPX Sports

Songs on the Lawn 1. Billy Steiner of City Mouse performs at Songs on the Lawn at Civic Center Plaza in Mankato.

2. Tim Waters of City Mouse performs at Songs on the Lawn.

3. City Mouse plays at Songs on the Lawn.

4. The Seymour family dances to City Mouse.

5. Caleb Erickson of Gillette Pepsi distribute samples of Rockstar.

6. Families dance to live music.

7. Bo Erast and Lynda Erast dance to the music of City Mouse.

8. Charyl and Don Korpal enjoy live music at Songs on the Lawn.

9. Abby Mershon (left to right ), Capri Mershon and Arnie Arlt.

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FACES & PLACES: Photos By SPX Sports

St. Clair Days Parade 1. MoonLighting Property Management keeps the crowd cool during the St. Clair Days Parade.

2. Little Miss Pemberton Ava Rollins and Miss Pemberton Jaden Ehlke.

3. Minnesota Lake Festag Royalty (from left) Miss Congeniality McKenna Eichhorn, second runner-up Abbie Bertndt and Miss Festag Kylie Standahl.

4. The Maple River Marching Band puts on a show for the crowd.

5. Miss Janesville Ava Appel and Attendant Ariana Aguilar.

6. Brekken Elbert watches the parade.

7. Jeff Wersal supporters throw candy to the crowd.

8. The Maple River Marching Band.

9. The always popular Osman Shrine T-Birds.

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AVANT GUARDIANS

By Leticia Gonzales

From the heart Masa Ishikawa makes emotional connection through music

M

asa Ishikawa’s connection with music stems from his upbringing in Japan.

“My mother would play a little tiny cassette tape with folk songs,” he said. “She would play that music when I was sleeping, when I was in the room, all day long.”

Although Ishikawa participated in choirs from elementary school into high school in Japan, he didn’t learn to play the piano until he was an adult.

“I did not really play piano until I came to the United States when I was 23.”

Although he initially moved

to Washington state in 2003 for choir, Ishikawa said he developed his love for jazz and piano along the way.

“It was really Stevie Wonder that I was so interested in knowing more about, not just about his music.”

He also gravitated toward the music of Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye, among other American soul artists. He began playing the piano as part of his musical curriculum, which included a keyboard course. He taught himself to read music despite never taking lessons. He

has been teaching music theory and jazz at Gustavus Adolphus College since his arrival to the state in 2016 as a visiting assistant professor in music.

It was the relationships between jazz and the sound and harmony that he heard in Stevie Wonder’s music that brought on his passion.

“It’s like a circle of a connection.

I kind of made a shift to start learning piano and jazz.”

He continued his education in Seattle, followed by Colorado, Florida and Nebraska, before calling Minnesota home in 2016.

He lived in Iowa from 2019 to 2020

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but returned to Gustavus at the onset of the pandemic. He began composing music and original compositions 10 years ago.

“I found more and more that it’s something I would enjoy and continue doing for a long time besides just playing piano,” Ishikawa said. “I had a different starting point, but I enjoy what I do and I am happy. I am fortunate to continue to play music.”

Ishikawa also doesn’t believe in the preconceived notion that individuals must start learning an instrument at a young age to succeed. With a supportive environment, he said anyone can make progress.

He was recently awarded a grant from the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council to record his second original jazz piano album with a bassist and drummer. His first album, “Dialogue,” was produced in 2019 with help from another council grant. The recordings for the newest album, due out later this year, will likely consist of five original compositions Ishikawa wrote in the past few years.

“A lot of times I write music based on my experiences or

reflections or cultural experiences I have had or cultural aspects of my own country; it’s a mixture of things.”

His composing often has reflected on the tsunami earthquake that hit Japan in 2011, including the radiation explosion, which continues to impact the area. He commemorates the event through his music each year, each time using a different performance type.

His performances have ranged from his signature piano to playing a transverse Japanese flute or

Japanese drums. One year he even composed a jazz orchestra piece featuring five saxophones, four trumpets and four trombones.

“It’s a personal thing I write about. I kind of utilize this opportunity to raise awareness.”

He will perform some of his latest recordings at the Hot Jazz for Decent People outdoor concert series in St. Peter this month.

“Writing music kind of takes a real center of my heart as well as playing piano, and has been a meaningful experience to share with others,” he said.

IF YOU GO

What Hot Jazz for Decent People: Masa Ishikawa Trio Minnesota Square Park, St. Peter When 7-8:30 p.m. Aug. 19 Admission Free.

Visit artscentersp.org for details.

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BEYOND THE MARGIN

By Joe Spear

Zen and the art of lawn maintenance W

ith the lazy days of summer, a man’s mind tends to wander.

The tedium of lawn maintenance and lawn equipment maintenance begs for a deeper meaning.

Remembering a book I read in college, but couldn’t figure out what the author was trying to say, I figured I’d Google: “What was Robert Pirsig trying to say in his book: ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’?”

Google, as it often does, delivered: “Pirsig is capable of seeing the beauty of technology and feels good about mechanical work, where the goal is ‘to achieve an inner peace of mind.’ The book demonstrates that motorcycle maintenance may be dull and tedious drudgery or an enjoyable and pleasurable pastime, depending on attitude.”

Motorcycles. Rebels without causes.

And so I was on a mission to find the gestalt of green grass and the solace of summer lawn care.

The first challenge was a weed whip that wasn’t whipping. The Black and Decker model LST 220 unit was nicely displayed in the big-box store where I bought it.

The orange and black design with a swale-shaped whip guard and the adjustable, retractable handle sold me.

But weed whips can only create so much happiness. When the 0.65inch blue cutting line runs out, the weed whip hisses like a rattler snake, and you know you will be faced with the tedium of all tedium in lawn maintenance: rolling more line onto the spool of the feed mechanism.

This is not only the most tedious of tedious tasks, it takes manual dexterity that left my hands years ago. There was no need to read the instructions on how to wind a weed whip and which way to go. You’ve got a 50-50 chance right?

And you only realize you have

wound it the wrong way due to the arrow pointing the other way on the spindle, and the fact that the weed whip discharges the line and leaves 6-inch pieces at every turn of the switch.

I figure I don’t have enough Zen, so I turn to Pirsig for inspiration.

From the explanation of the book which, Wikipedia notes, could be challenged if not further verified with facts, we have: “In an example of the classical approach, the narrator explains that one must pay continual attention: when the narrator and his friends come into Miles City, Montana he notices the engine running roughly, a possible indication that the fuel/ air mixture is too rich. The next day he is thinking of this as he is going through his ritual to adjust the jets on his motorcycle’s carburetor.

During the adjustment, he notes that both spark plugs are black, confirming a rich mixture. He recognizes that the higher elevation is causing the engine to run rich. The narrator rectifies this by installing new jets and adjusting the valves, and the engine runs well again.”

Inspiration. I go to the guy store and buy a pre-rolled weed whip spindle. Click it into place. We’re good. It’s not blue. It’s green, a happier color.

But the whole “continual attention” thing is intriguing if not simultaneously annoying, and I turn to the art of trimming around trees with the weed whip.

While the Black Decker LST 220 has plenty of vertical reach, it falls short of the 22.5- to 45-degree angle I need to get under Scotch pine trees that have a diameter of about 12 feet.

Paying “continual attention” to all the tools at my disposal, I notice the push lawnmower, a Craftsman 130cc with a real carburetor. It has a handle-to-cutting surface angle that will be much more suitable for getting under that pine tree. A near

perfect 45 degrees.

Ah. Zen. This continual attention stuff is getting to me.

More from Wiki on Zen and the pull between the detailed-oriented person and the “romantic” person.

“He understands that technology, and the “dehumanized world” it carries with it, appears ugly and repulsive to a romantic person.

He knows that such persons are determined to shoehorn all of life’s experience into the romantic view.”

But we know we’re headed in the right direction taking a cue from Pirsig. Amazon, for example, thinks his work is just splendid describing his book.

“One of the most important and influential books written in the past half-century, Robert M. Pirsig’s ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ is a powerful, moving, and penetrating examination of how we live … and a breathtaking meditation on how to live better.

Here is the book that transformed a generation: A story of love and fear — of growth, discovery, and acceptance — that becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life’s fundamental questions, this uniquely exhilarating modern classic is both touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence … and the small, essential triumphs that propel us forward.”

The push mower indeed propelled me forward to the task of trimming under the pines. I pondered how one can achieve Zen-like feeling in the moment with the tedious task of lawn maintenance.

The weed whip whips. The mower glides flawlessly and the angles of the sun, the trim and the world are in perfect alignment.

Joe Spear is editor of Mankato Magazine. Contact him at jspear@mankatofreepress.com or 344-6382. Follow on Twitter @jfspear.

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Familiar Faces

Beautiful music Bethel Balge leads the Mankato Symphony Orchestra to a new chapter

F Photos courtesy Mankato Symphony Orchestra

NAME:

Bethel Balge HOMETOWN: New Ulm

OCCUPATION: Executive director of the Mankato Symphony

FAVORITE PIECE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC There are too many to list here!

ew artistic organizations in southern Minnesota have as long and storied a history as the Mankato Symphony Orchestra.

For 70 years, the MSO has produced beautiful music, attracted talented musicians, and kept the beat going through thick and thin. And in recent years, the MSO has seen its share of both thick and thin.

Like every other arts organization, it has dealt with the pandemic. MSO leaders also took a year to hire a new conductor (who is now in place, by the way) and are still searching for a permanent home.

Luckily, Executive Director Bethel Balge is at the helm.

Balge, an accomplished musician, has steered the MSO ship gracefully and from a musician’s perspective.

Mankato Magazine: You’re currently in charge of the Mankato Symphony Orchestra. Tell us what it was like ushering the MSO through the pandemic.

Bethel Balge: Like everyone else, we faced unprecedented challenges. But there were silver linings: We discovered an outreach tool in virtual concerts, sending our programs out to an even wider audience on social media, including the homebound and residents of assisted living facilities.

We continued to send out appeals to individuals and corporations for their fiscal support. And we even had time to clean out our attic.

MM: Tell us about some of the challenges MSO faces during both pandemic and “normal” times.

BB: Our perennial challenge —pandemic or not — is the lack of a permanent home. Though the MSO is over 70 years old, every year we need to work hard to find venues for both rehearsals and performances. Every season we try to book time and space in the busy schedules of area schools. Also, our office, our library and our instruments are scattered around in different locations around the city.

We hope someday soon to find a permanent home for all of MSO’s needs.

Another challenge is continuing to grow our audience. As COVID waned, we were blessed with record attendances.

We would like to build on those numbers as we also work to reach people from all socioeconomic backgrounds, making concerts available to everyone. The MSO free ticket program presently offers vouchers to various underserved groups in the Greater Mankato area through organizations like the YWCA and MYSpace.

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MM: No form of music is for everyone, but classical music does struggle at times getting the attention of the masses. Is that something MSO worries about? Do you have any plans to offer the kind of programming we saw a few years ago with “The Music of Queen”?

BB: Classical music is definitely alive and doing very well — we’re not worried yet! Just this past season, we nearly sold out two of our four symphony concerts and had very full attendance at the other two. Our Symphony on the Prairie concert in North Mankato’s Benson Park played to a huge crowd last Sept 11. Those in attendance included young families with children.

Developing a taste for the fine arts at a young age is a key to our future. With this in mind, we hope to bring back MSO visits into schools and to offer a competition to young people with the incentive of an opportunity to perform in concert with the MSO. Plans are in the works to offer just such a competition in the spring of 2023.

The MSO is definitely open to programming collaborative concerts with alternative rock groups and are exploring possibilities for next summer.

MM: Give us your elevator speech about why people should come to an MSO concert.

BB: Seventy years young, the MSO is a dynamic, energetic organization that showcases the musical talent of our community and state. Our audiences are not bound by demographics. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Anyone who has NOT ever seen a full orchestra in concert should have this experience at least once in their life!

MM: You’ve hired a new conductor to replace Ken Freed. What impact will this have on the MSO? BB: We have waited a long time to secure a replacement for Ken Freed. Freed finished his tenure at the end of the 2019 season. So in the spring of 2020, when I came on board as executive director, MSO did not have a conductor/artistic director to make personnel and programming decisions.

Now after two years, I am feeling the positive effects of having that vital position covered. Ernesto Estigarribia was a very popular choice and I feel he will inspire greatness amongst our musicians and interest from our community.

MM: You’re an accomplished musician in your own right. Tell us a bit about your musical history and accomplishments.

BB: My focus has always been performing classical piano.

I have done degree programs in piano performance with outstanding teachers at Michigan State University, University of Wisconsin, University of Frankfurt, Germany, and finally a doctorate at the University of Minnesota, where I studied with Lydia Artymiw.

I’ve performed in various American venues as well as in Germany, Portugal and Russia. American Public Media’s Performance Today and Minnesota Public Radio have broadcast things I’ve done in solo and chamber performance. In 2016 I founded a chamber music series called ProMusica Minnesota and in 2019 co-founded the ProMusica Festival with violinist Peter McGuire. All along, I’ve done some teaching as well.

MM: What piece of music is, for you, the most difficult to play?

BB: I can’t narrow it down to one. Every classical piece I perform presents some sort of challenge, be it technical, emotional or stylistic. Sometimes what sounds difficult to an audience isn’t actually so difficult, and what is actually

Bethel Balge is the executive director of the Mankato Symphony Orchestra and has performed with orchestras and ensembles all over the world extremely difficult for a musician doesn’t necessarily seem so to the listener.

MM: What piece of music is the most haunting?

BB: Recently I played a piano trio (D’un soir Triste) by the French composer Lili Boulanger. She composed it soon before she tragically died at age 25. It is one of the most haunting pieces I’ve played in terms of its harmonic language and the blending of piano, violin and cello sounds.

MM: What piece of music do you hope you never have to play again?

BB: A singer once wanted me to accompany him on piano as he sang “Phantom of the Opera” on his senior recital.

Yeah … don’t care to do that again. That piece definitely needs organ backup, not piano.

MM: Tell us something about you that would surprise people.

BB: I was on stage with Bill Murray in 2018 when he appeared at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis with a classical piano trio.

My “performance” consisted of turning pages for the pianist, accepting a rose from Murray and taking a bow at the end. It was great fun to meet Murray, observe his backstage routine, and be a part of his onstage improvised antics.

MM: What kind of music do you listen to when you’re not listening to classical? Grunge? Crunk?

Country music radio? Salsa?

BB: I enjoy jazz piano — especially the music of Nicolai Kapustin. And when I go out for a run, I’ll listen to Billy Joel or other ‘80s light rock groups.

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rom f s g n i t e e Gr DAY TRIP DESTINATIONS

New Ulm is a German lover’s paradise, with everything from restaurants and gift shops to taverns and breweries tapping into that Deutsche flair.

A taste of Germany

With its beer, food, music and festivals, this quaint town has your Deutsche fix covered

By Renee Berg | All photos courtesy New Ulm Area Chamber of Commerce

I

f there’s one thing you need to know about New Ulm and you don’t already, it’s this: It’s a German town.

There’s German beer at the breweries, German food at the restaurants, German music playing on the streets, German cuckoo clocks for sale in the shops and German festivals to check out. There are also attractions to visit such as the Hermann the German monument.

New Ulm was founded in 1854 “by Germans for Germans,” said Sarah Warmka, president and CEO of the New Ulm Area Chamber of Commerce. “Groups of Germans came to create a utopian German community on the prairie. This is evident by our food, music,

architecture, festivals and other customs still prevalent in our community.”

There are scores of draws for visitors still to this day to this quaint city.

For lodging, consider the Best Western Plus, which features a family-friendly, renovated hotel with swimming pool, arcade and a Green Mill Restaurant & Bar attached. If you seek something a bit more romantic, try Bingham Hall Bed & Breakfast.

A popular time to visit New Ulm is for its upcoming 40th annual Oktoberfest on Oct. 7-8 and Oct. 14-15, with the traditional festival modeled after one of the world’s largest celebrations, held each year for several centuries in Munich, Germany. New Ulm’s

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version draws thousands of visitors and includes festivities happening all over town. The main locations for Oktoberfest in 2022 are historic downtown, Best Western Plus, Morgan Creek Vineyards and Schell’s Brewery.

If you have time to shop, there are ample boutiques and specialty shops, including Bailey Creek Boutique, Gallery 512 Boutique, Inspired and New Ulm’s Own. Domeier’s German Store is historic, located on Minnesota Street, where the shop’s owners travel to Germany and bring back items to sell.

At A to Zinnia Florals & Gifts, you’ll find gift items, home decor and plants. There are also three quilt shops in town called Sewing Seeds Quilt Co., Spinning Spool Quilt Shop and the Thimble Box. “We are a quilting destination,” Warmka said. “We get bus loads of quilters who come here, and for a town as cute and quaint as New Ulm, that’s great.”

Once it’s time to eat, there are plentiful options for food here. Kaiserhoff is one of New Ulm’s most popular eateries, Warmka said, and features traditional German food. Turner Hall dates back to 1856, and here you will want to cast your eyes on the murals in the basement restaurant area that depict German landscapes. The murals were painted over during World War II and covered for 80 years, but have been restored.

There are two Mexican restaurants worthy of note, Warmka said, which are called Plaza Garibaldi and Orale Mexican Restaurant. The Lamplighter Family Sports Bar downtown is a popular family sports bar and grill, and the Cottonwood Grill at the country club has recently featured “insanely creative” offerings, Warmka said, including “flight nights,” where they’ve served mimosa flights, ice cream drinks, mules and margaritas.

At Lola, everything is homemade down to the salad dressings. Lola is known for its chicken pot pie but Warmka said she also recommends the salads, coffee and baked goods.

For outdoor recreation, you are in the right spot.

Funding for the New Ulm Parks Department is more per capita than any other city in Minnesota, Warmka said.

“We definitely pride ourselves on our parks and recreational facilities,” she said. The New Ulm Recreation Center has a new aquatic center, ninja obstacle course through the water, a rock wall, waterslides and a giant whirlpool. Or check out one of the many parks or the 13-mile paved trail that goes all the way around the city, allowing you to see landmarks and the Minnesota River.

Don’t miss Flandrau State Park, which is one of the top 10 most visited state parks in Minnesota and features a chlorinated, sand-bottom swimming pond.

Also check out the weekly Farmers Market, which has moved downtown on German Street 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays. The market vendors are a draw, but there’s more offered here, including face painting, bean bags and sidewalk chalk.

A trip to New Ulm isn’t complete without a brewery stop. Schell’s Brewery is the oldest brewery in Minnesota and the second oldest family-owned brewery in the country.

“New Ulm has something for everyone,” Warmka said. “We attract senior citizens with our history and culture; families love New Ulm because they can be active and explore and maybe expose their kiddos to

something different along the way; and the breweries, wineries, dining scene attract younger folks and foodies. Come and see!”

Renee is a reporter for a weekly newspaper in Kasson.

She also contributes freelance work for area newspapers and magazines. A graduate of Minnesota State University, Renee is mom to two teenagers and has two cats, Frankie and Hazel, whom she can’t tell apart so she calls them both Frazel.

The mansion at the August Schell Brewery is a top tourist attraction in New Ulm.

Lola-An American Bistro serves homemade meals with culinary expertise.

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Jeff Lang patrols his man-cave-like garage where he keeps four different outdoor grills.

Fire it up!

Backyard grilling, for some, is about more than just burgers and brats

“A

By Robb Murray | Photos by Pat Christman

ddict” is such a loaded word, one that conjures images of street corner drug deals and family interventions.

But if you pressed Jeff Lang hard enough, he may admit that, well … we’ll let him say it.

“Yeah,” he says, acknowledging he’s living with what is perhaps a mild obsession that may occasionally cross over to addiction. “I do have a problem.”

To illustrate his point, he pulls over a tool chest that rolls on wheels, the kind that would look right at home in any mechanic’s garage. Only Lang’s tool chest has nary a hammer or drill. It’s got tools, all right. But not the kind for changing the oil on his pickup.

Pulling each drawer out one by one, Lang — perhaps better known by his stage name “Stunt Monkey” — rattles off the tools that aid him in his obsession.

“We got some utensils along with the seasonings I’m using a lot of lately. Gloves, a little foil, spatulas, tongs, thermometers,” he says, closing and opening drawers to reveal a grill master’s paradise of equipment. “We got cutting boards, some sharp knives. Breakfast stuff for the Blackstone [a flat-top grill], parchment paper,

tins, plates, forks, towels, cleaning supplies.”

So pretty much everything?

“I’m ready to go,” he says with the same confidence he has when hawking beers up and down the stands at Mankato MoonDogs baseball games. “I’ve got a problem.”

He’s obviously joking. There’s no addiction here. And unless you’re opposed to a perfectly prepared rack of ribs, there’s no problem here either.

Lang is one of the millions of Americans who take backyard grilling very seriously. In fact, grilling in general has become more prevalent. But while most people choose the simple route — burgers or steaks over a gas or charcoal grill — a growing number of backyard gourmets are taking things to the next level.

The heat & the meat: a history

Before getting into why people buy expensive smokers and spend hours of their day tending to briskets and baby backs, it might help to understand a little bit about how and why the human mind has taken to ravenously to meat. We’ll keep this brief.

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According to The History Channel, the earth warmed up quite a bit about 2 1/2 million years ago (sort of an early case of global warming). This transformed the African landscape and turned much of the land into “grassland.”

When you’ve got lots of grass, you get lots of animals that graze on that grass.

Being poor hunters, humans generally had to wait for a grassgrazing animal to die at the hands of a better, more skilled hunter, such as a saber-toothed tiger. Once the tiger had all it needed, humans came in and gave the grass feeder a taste. As it turns out, humans liked it. With their ever-growing brains needing more energy to keep running smoothly, meat, with all its caloric efficiency, turned out to be great brain food. So, by about 2 million years ago, scientists surmise, meat became a regular part of the average human’s diet.

It wasn’t until about 800,000 years ago (they think) that people began experimenting with the wonders of cooking. Cooked meat was easier to eat and easier to digest. And while the human body never needed meat, humans never stopped eating it. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Getting into modern times, a lot of people grill in their backyards.

The image of an outdoor gathering with grilled hot dogs or burgers is an indelible part of modern Americana. Using smokers, however — which cook meats at low temperatures while exposing it to smoke — is next level.

Man or monkey?

Lang says his obsession began about six years ago. He was intrigued by the idea of smoking meats, so he dipped his toe into that world with the purchase of a small water bullet-style smoker.

Once he knew it wasn’t a phase, he upped his game a bit with an electric smoker. He’s since added a second electric smoker, a pelletfueled smoker and that Blackstone, which uses a flat surface instead of a grate and can be used to cook just about anything.

He says it was “something to do” at first. Lang is the kind of guy who likes futzing around in the garage doing, you know, guy stuff. He also likes one other thing: “I like eating.”

Pre-COVID, his new obsession was like an airplane taking off for

Jeff Lang, AKA Stunt Monkey, spends a lot of time using his smoker grills for ribs, briskets or even his own blend of Chex Mix (top).

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Memphis. Once COVID took hold and rooted us all in our homes until further notice, Lang says he took that opportunity to get to know this hobby a lot better.

And like anything else, the only way to get better is through repetition. Aiding in that pursuit was a passel of willing friends.

“I enjoy being outside and being in the garage anyway. And having a reason to cook is great,” he says.

“And then when COVID happened, that’s when I really fell in love with it more. Because we had a closeknit group of friends who were getting together all through COVID, we all hung out on Sunday and had ribs, burgers, whatever the night was gonna be. I love cooking and just having people enjoy that part.”

Lang says he’s learned a lot along the way. And being the friendly sort, he’s been happily sharing his love of cooking with a radio audience. He and fellow radio personality Jake Palmer do a weekly segment on KTOE radio where they talk about their obsession, offer tips, share success stories and try to get listeners excited about trying something on their own.

“Our saying that we always talk about is: Just experiment and have some fun,’” he says.

For novices, starting out small is a good idea. Burgers, hot dogs — the simple stuff. Next level, Lang says, might be ribs. Especially if you’re getting into using smokers.

And if you’re financially ready to dive into a brisket — price tags are

steep, upward of $60-$70 — you’d better know what you’re doing.

By the way — and this has zero to do with barbecue or grilling — here’s the Cliffs Notes version of how Lang became known as Stunt Monkey: In Lang’e early days in Mankato radio, he was part of a raucous morning show team that got laughs out of making him do, in his words, stupid stunts.

“And then one of the listeners called in and said, ‘We should call him ‘Stunt Monkey.’ And it stuck.

And that’s what they called me,” he says.

So was he … insulted by it? Kind of.

“The morning show hosts were making fun of me all the time, and I was like, ‘Honestly, it seems kind of demeaning,’” he recalls.

“But it’s funny. If it’s Stunt Monkey, that’s great. Kids call me that, everybody calls me that. What you call me doesn’t really matter. It is what it is.”

The resourceful chef

Instead of dropping three grand on a fancy smoker, Cliff Eccles simply got to work building his own.

“We built a smoker out of a 300pound LP tank,” he says. “The LP tank cost me 75 bucks. I had a buddy of mine roll me some steel and we welded up the firebox — it’s an indirect smoker, which means you put the wood in one side and smoke goes all the way through the smoker and comes out the other side. I bought a trailer from my

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The state of our grilling union is strong.

According to a data and research organization called Statista, grilling is on the rise. Here’s some tasty stats regarding Americans’ fixation with cooking meat outdoors: n In 2021, the American barbecue grill market was valued at about $ 2.75 billion, up from $2.19 billion in 2015. n The gas grill is the most frequently owned type of grill in the U.S., followed by the classic charcoal grill. n Sales of all grills in 2022 is expected to hit nearly $3 billion. n Steak was the favorite grilled food of roughly one-third of Americans in 2020. Hamburgers and chicken take the second and third spots. n 68% of Americans say they don’t need a special occasion to fire up their barbecue and will do so whenever they feel like it, though it certainly helps if the weather is good. n In 2019, the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association released the results of a survey that found seven out of 10 American adults own a grill.

neighbor for 75 bucks. I think we’ve got about $250 into it. And we can smoke roughly 200 pounds of meat at one time.”

Eccles says his homemade smoker, which he uses for competitions with fellow barbecue aficionado Todd Dauer, is 4 feet tall and 40 inches in diameter. As it turns out, smokers are remarkably simple contraptions. You just need a heat source that produces smoke and someplace to put the meat.

“Yep,” he says, “that’s pretty much it. There’s all kinds of smokers out there. Some people use 55-gallon drums and they just put the poles and the wood in the bottom. … Anybody can make them. If you can’t figure it out, go to YouTube.”

Eccles says he uses the homemade smoker a lot. In fact, he and Dauer have competed in a handful of barbecue competitions.

At a competition in Alden, he recalled the locals being hooked by the scent of freshly cooked meats.

“We started smoking about 9 o’clock and by 11 o’clock people

were coming out of the woodwork because they could smell it from blocks away and they’re wanting something to eat,” he says. “You gotta like the smell, too. Not everybody likes smoke. But by the time you season it and you use a certain type of wood, I mean … it smells good.”

Eccles’ meat prowess has attracted the attention of friends.

Last spring a friend put him to work cooking food for their kid’s graduation party. He didn’t hold back.

“We served 14 racks of ribs and 24 armadillo eggs [seasoned cream cheese inside a jalapeno pepper, wrapped in pork sausage, then wrapped in bacon]. We smoked some chicken legs. We did what’s called a ‘fatty’ where we take pork sausage and hamburger, mix it up, flatten it out and then we put Swiss cheese and pineapple in the middle and roll it up and wrap it and bacon and smoke it; then you cut it it’s like a giant meatloaf. Which people really like.”

MM

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TOP 10 moments in (mostly)

Minnesota River history Through the best of times and the worst of times, our river runs through it

By Robb Murray

I

n the holiday classic film “A Year Without a Santa Claus,” there’s a line in the song “I Believe in Santa Claus” that goes: “Just like love I know he’s there Waiting to be missed.”

The Minnesota River is a little like that. No, it’s not a mythical figure who sneaks into houses delivering toys. But sometimes it is … taken for granted. It’s always there, in workmanlike fashion, flowing through the community like a lifeblood, never asking for credit, praise or attention. It’s there when we need it.

And when we don’t, it waits patiently.

And sometimes not so patiently, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

For now, without further adieu, we give you a not-at-all-definitive list of the Top 10 moments in mostly Minnesota River history. MM

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1

Floods

Prince and Apollonia

By now everyone knows Prince filmed some of his legendary film “Purple Rain” near Henderson. What you might not know is that the scene filmed near Henderson was perhaps the film’s most iconic one. Prince, whose character’s name is “The Kid” in the film, takes Apollonia Kotero for a ride in the country on his motorcycle and they stop near a body of water to chat. She asks him for help getting a start in the music business.

Apollonia: Will you help me?

The Kid: No. Apollonia: Pardon me?

The Kid: Nope ... Wanna know why?

Apollonia: Nope.

The Kid: Because you wouldn’t pass the initiation.

Apollonia: What initiation?

The Kid: Well, for starters, you have to purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.

Apollonia: What?

The Kid: You have to purify yourself in Lake Minnetonka.

The Kid: Hey! Wait a minute! That’s…

And then the lovely Apollonia jumps into the Minnesota River near Henderson.

The Kid: Uh, hold it...

Apollonia: What?

The Kid: That ain’t Lake Minnetonka.

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When it comes to flooding, nothing in recent memory beats the hydro calamity of 1993. Rivers from Minnesota to Mississippi saw landscape-changing flood waters.

Volunteers came from all over the country to fill sandbags or help folks get their valuables to higher, drier ground.

According to reporting in The Free Press, “The summer flood of 1993 was unique in that it affected the Missouri, Minnesota and Mississippi rivers for several months with different areas getting pummeled from April to October — and many places being hit repeatedly. At Mankato, the Minnesota River reached its highest crest ever at 30.1 feet at the end of June.”

The floods came with a ginormous price tag, too, with some estimates putting total losses at about $15 billion, which would make it the costliest flood in U.S. history.

That wasn’t the only year our dear river swelled up in more recent history. Other big floods occurred in 1997, 2001 and 2010, each one causing damage to roads, homes and farm land.

2

Traverse des Sioux

In a negotiation environment that can only be described as hostile and unfair, Dakota leaders made a deal with white settlers.

Under duress due to threats of military force and worsening living conditions, the Dakota ceded nearly all their land in the treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota. Dakota leaders asked for more time so more of their people could be part of the negotiations, but U.S. government officials refused. The Dakota people hoped the agreement would bolster their efforts to feed their people, but it ultimately failed. They were forced to live on small tracts of land, and endured unkept promises and deceit by the U.S. government.

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4

5 7

Le Sueur peas

For many in this region, no Thanksgiving is complete without a can of Le Sueur peas. But it’s been quite a while since any peas were actually canned there. The canning plant was demolished in 2016, but even then, it had been decades since it had canned its last pea.

The plant gave hundreds of people in Le Sueur good-paying jobs, and there was pride in the fact that its product came from the land of the Jolly Green Giant. The Le Sueur-Henderson High School mascot is the Giants. The city’s annual summer festival is called Giant Celebration. So we’re in agreement that the Green Giant has left a hefty footprint on the city and region. And all because of the fertile soil of the Minnesota River Valley.

Pollution

Let’s face it: The Minnesota River ain’t the cleanest river in the world.

In fact, in 1992, Gov. Arne Carlson chimed in.

He said he wanted the river to be fishable and swimmable within 10 years. Did we get there?

Well … A lot of people fish there. Not many swim there (Apollonia Kotero notwithstanding).

It has gotten better. Prior to Carlson’s pronouncement, there were algal blooms and sediment issues. And there remains friction between farmers and environmentalists because of agricultural chemical use and the fact that some of those chemicals sometimes end up in the river.

We’re in a better place now, but there’s a long way to go. And we wouldn’t advise drinking it.

6

Eric Sevareid

Few journalists have done as much to shine a light on the Minnesota River as Eric Sevareid. The Minneapolis native grabbed a buddy, Walter Port, and paddled the entire length of the Minnesota River and beyond, making it all the way to Hudson Bay in Canada.

His book, “Canoeing with the Cree,” documented his journey and was a national phenomenon. The book’s title came from the fact that he encountered — and, in fact, canoed with — members of the Cree Indian nation when he arrived in Hudson Bay. A handful of people have tried to re-create Sevareid’s trip. A few years ago a pair of soon-to-be college students from Chaska, Sean Bloomfield and Colton Witte, made it all the way.

“We both silently stopped paddling and just stared for 30 seconds or a minute,” Witte told The Free Press.

Bloomfield added, “It was a feeling of shock. It was hard to believe we actually made it. I mean, this was the ocean ... There were so many emotions going through. Happiness, selfaccomplishment, relief.”

Rapidan Dam construction

These days, when someone mentions the Rapidan Dam, it’s likely to conjure images of some of the most delectable pies in Minnesota; the dam, which is important, gave birth to the Dam Store, which makes the pies, and is arguably equally as important, perhaps even more so, depending on how much you care about dams and pies.

The dam, admittedly, doesn’t sit on the Minnesota River. But because of its importance in local lore (you know, the pie thing), and because the river it does sit on flows into the Minnesota River, we’re including it on this list.

The Rapidan Dam is what is known as a “gravity dam.” Located on the Blue Earth River in Rapidan Township, it was constructed between 1908 and 1910. The dam has been in the news lately as Blue Earth County, which owns it, is pondering what to do with it: repair or eliminate.

Public feedback, much of it based on nostalgia, has trended toward keeping it at all costs.

Because, if it goes away, what will become of the pie?

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8 Copper Clay

Things that happened in 1683: n Expelled Polish & Lotharings reach Wienerwald. n Rye house plot against English King Charles II uncovered. n French explorer Pierre Charles Le Sueur was the earliest known white man to have come to southern Minnesota.

I think we all know which of these was most important.

Le Sueur arrived at the confluence of the Minnesota and Blue Earth rivers in 1683 and found a blue-green clay along the river banks. He thought it contained copper, so he took a sample back to France where a chemist incorrectly confirmed the presence of copper. So Le Sueur, this time with a gang of helpers, went back for more. They sent about 4,000 pounds of the stuff back. But somewhere along the way, someone figured out that the copperless clay was worth about as much as sacks it was stuffed into.

Le Sueur found blue-green clay in the banks of Blue Earth River, and believing it to contain copper, took a sample back to France.

Chemist Le Huillier declared, quite inaccurately, that the clay did indeed contain copper. Le Sueur returned to the Blue earth area in 1700 with a band of some 20 Frenchmen and built Fort Le Huillier as a base of operations. Le Sueur shipped about 4,000 pounds of clay downriver, but it is doubtful the shipment reached France and the mining project was never pursued.

If you’re curious, there’s a marker for where we think Le Sueur’s base of operations was. It’s at the base of a large mound on Highway 66 just south of town.

9

River Warren

Long before the Minnesota River was the perfect home for quaint towns and farmland runoff, it was something much more … gigantic.

Have you ever wondered why the Minnesota River Valley looks the way that it does? The answer is found in something called the Glacial River Warren. The current Minnesota River is but a trickle of what the mighty River Warren was.

About 12,000 years ago, Lake Agassiz — which was larger than all the current Great Lakes combined — formed from glacial meltwater pooling up. A few millennia later, it began to drain in a southeasterly direction beginning at Big Stone Lake near the Minnesota-South Dakota border.

From there it headed toward Mankato, reaching up to 5 miles wide at some points.

10 The founding of Mankato

No list about the Minnesota River’s top moments would be complete without the mention of the river’s shiningest city: Mankato.

A LOT has happened here, and not all of it good. This city has seen floods, horrific displays of inhumanity, mediocre professional football team training camps. But, at the end of the day, this city is an amazing place full of resilient people. This is a place where education is important, where music flourishes, where your commute to work is usually around 10 minutes.

Through all the trying times — when political winds turn everyone ornery and we wrestle with climate change, social unrest and the fact that we can’t get a Trader Joe’s in this town — the river is always there, a calming presence, a smooth-flowing salve for our troubles. And it will always be there. As long as there’s a Mankato, there will be a Minnesota River.

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REFLECTIONS

By Pat Christman

O

ur love affair with water in Minnesota lasts all year long but is more prevalent in the summer. Warm, humid days have us seeing the lake, river or pool to cool off, swim or just float. Just being in the water often makes us feel more at ease, relaxed, comfortable.

Boat not required. MM

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Y A S

ES

A river reminiscence

Tim Krohn and John Cross took two memorable canoe trips down the Minnesota River; a lot has changed since then

Fog creates a magical view one morning at Upper Sioux Agency State Park south of Granite Falls.

Du

By Tim Krohn | File photos by John Cross

W

e live in or near a major river valley, but beyond glancing at the Minnesota River while driving over a bridge, spending time in a riverside park, doing some grilling or camping or fishing, we don’t know as much as we should about what’s upstream or downstream.

The water just flows by. Quietly, steadily, constantly.

Sometimes a lazy river, other times a raging flood that makes you grab your young child’s or grandchild’s hand tightly as you get near to gawk at the power, understanding it’s a natural force that can devastate and kill.

More than 25 years ago, an idea began to form to find out just what was on the rest of the 335-mile-long Minnesota River that flows from the South Dakota border at Big Stone Lake, down to our famous Bend in the River at Mankato and then northeast to Minneapolis and the Mississippi.

I’d started as a reporter at The Free Press 15 years earlier and written many stories about the environmental concerns and recreation and flooding along the Minnesota. I thought if I wondered what the rest of this river looked like, maybe our readers did, too.

Photographer John Cross, a veteran at the paper longer than I and one of the most talented photojournalists in the state, was all in on the idea of the two of us taking a canoe trip from start to finish on the Minnesota River, sending back daily

accounts and photos to run in the paper.

Besides one of the best eyes for photographs, John is an avid angler, hunter and outdoorsman who was invaluable on what turned out to be a much more grueling 12-day journey than either of us had imagined.

Many river lovers have made the trip down the length of the Minnesota, and fewer have made the trip upstream.

We couldn’t simply paddle all day and then set up camp for night. We had work to do each night after a long day of paddling. We carried a lot of gear and aimed to make about 30 miles a day, while leaving enough time in the evenings to write stories on then-primitive laptops. John’s film rolls were handed to a colleague who met us each evening and brought the film back to the office to be processed for the next day’s paper.

We spent time in 1996 driving up and down the length of the river, making contacts with people living along it, for the trip we planned for spring of 1997.

The river had different plans and the trip had to be delayed. Historic flooding hit in 1997 after blizzards dumped mountains of snow across the Dakotas and western Minnesota that winter. In March the weather turned unusually warm and the ice on the Minnesota River began to break up in massive chunks. The force of the water racing downstream was as savage as it was awesome.

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Dusk settles and the river stretches out straight and long on a section near the end of the Minnesota River.

Despite their residents’ Herculean preparations, Big Stone City at the start of the Minnesota River, then Montevideo and Granite Falls were overwhelmed by the record-high water levels with power outages and roads that washed out or were covered with frozen raw sewage.

The massive flooding turned out to be an indicator of what coming decades would bring as the Minnesota and other area rivers more frequently flooded and routinely ran fast and high. That new normal continues, dramatically eroding stream banks and reshaping the landscape of our river valley.

The ongoing high flows also bring a variety of environmental problems, washing tons of sediment laden with contaminants and nutrients into the rivers. The impacts flow far beyond the Minnesota River — into the Mississippi and adding to the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.

drainage ditches we see here flow through large culverts and wind through the woods and marshes of Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge near Ortonville.

The first 45 miles of the river are a series of reservoirs that create massive shallow marshes, including Marsh Lake and then into the 20-mile-long Lac qui Parle Lake.

The start of the river is a wildlife mecca filled with songbirds, deer, turtles, beaver, otters and muskrats.

If you want to try out a two- or three-day paddle on the Minnesota River, you can’t do better than going from Granite Falls to Redwood Falls and on to Morton. The granite outcroppings, bluffs, woodlands and sparse development give that stretch of river a much different look than in the Mankato area.

Anyone wanting to set out on a trip down a segment of the river or down its full length should look at the Department of Natural Resources Minnesota Water Trails map for the Minnesota River. The maps mark each river mile as well as include boat landings and other information (dnr.state.mn.us/

“There are long stretches of the

upper river that are as remote as

anything in the

Boundary Waters.”

Setting off

In June 2008 we set off at the South Dakota border. The start of the river is anything but mighty. Waterways not much bigger than the farm

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Tim Krohn and John Cross start out at Big Stone Lake on the South Dakota border as they begin a 335-mile canoe voyage down the Minnesota River.

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watertrails/minnesotariver/ index.html).

There are long stretches of the upper river that are as remote as anything in the Boundary Waters, before more development becomes evident below Morton.

Camping was often done on sandbars along the way and sometimes in a city park. There are a few DNR rustic campsites along the river, but they have largely been left unmaintained and many have been eroded away by high waters.

The pitch of the land falls more quickly in the upper stretches of the river, producing a quicker current than the rest of the Minnesota. Canoeists can make decent time just floating the current. In other places, such as Patterson’s Rapids midway between Granite Falls and Morton, the current couples with boulders to create impressive whitewater. Still, the rapids are relatively mild — only Class 1 rapids — that can be handled with relative ease.

As you move down the river, water clarity falls off steadily.

On our trip we used a secchi disk to measure clarity. It’s a simple but effective device — a long plastic tube with a black and white marking on the bottom. You lower the tube into the water until you can no longer see the disc. At the upper stretch of the Minnesota, water clarity was 40 centimeters deep,

by New Ulm it was down to 10 centimeters, and as we neared the Mississippi, water clarity was down to about 7 centimeters.

As the river flows from Morton down to New Ulm, the wildlife gives way to livestock as more cattle graze along the river.

By the time you hit Mankato and the Bend in the River that changes the course of the river from southeast to northeast, you are more than two-thirds of the way down the 335-mile river.

The stretches from St. Peter, past Le Sueur, Belle Plaine, Shakopee and Savage are dominated by a slower current, wider channel and long straight stretches of river that lack much of the quaint river feel of the first two-thirds of the Minnesota.

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After 12 days the voyage ends at Harriet Island on the Mississippi River.

The river from Savage to the Mississippi is industrial and filled with barges heading up and down the Mississippi River.

Twelve days after we set off, we arrived at Kelly’s Landing on Harriet Island on the Mississippi, thoroughly worn out but satisfied we made the trip.

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River redux

One day in 2007 John and I brought up the idea of taking a second voyage down the river on the 10-year anniversary of our first trip. We both had a better understanding of the difficulty of the trip compared to our clueless bliss prior to the first paddle.

Still, we knew how much interest was generated during the first voyage and wanted to do some comparisons of the river a decade later. We set out in June 2018, aided by much better cellphone and computer technology, as well as digital cameras that allowed John’s photos to be transmitted via

phone. We also had a better knowledge of what to expect, making the journey easier than the first.

On our second trip we noticed changes on the river, the biggest being the higher water flows, serious bank erosion and more large trees that were tipping into the river as the powerful high flows ate away at their roots.

Those high flows have only gotten worse since. A combination of more precipitation and increased ag land drainage that sends more water quickly to the rivers has intensified streambank erosions.

That stream bank erosion carries tons of sediment into the river along with contaminants such as phosphorus, nitrates, mercury and bacteria.

The Minnesota faces many challenges yet today, led by the too-high, too-fast river flows.

But there has also been impressive progress. In 1992 Gov. Arne Carlson announced he wanted to make the

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Carlson helped kick off a massive state and federal effort that brought hundreds of millions of dollars in to buy and permanently retire erodible farmland along the river as well as create other pollutionreduction programs.

Today a variety of groups and state and local agencies continue to push programs to improve the Minnesota and its tributaries, with much of the focus on restoring wetlands and building catch basins to hold more water on the landscape.

It shows that many people continue to love and care about the river, with the hope of leaving it better for future generations.

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D

b p as re C fo fa in re o 1 si h en

p d w at fo 6 d tu

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The pros and cons of early retirement

etirement is a milestone that is often the byproduct of decades of hard work. Though a growing number of working professionals have no intention of ever retiring, the vast majority of adults look forward to the day when they can call it a career.

The prospect of early retirement is enticing to millions of people. Though retiring early may seem like a no brainer for individuals in position to do so, a careful consideration of the pros and cons of early retirement can ensure people make the best decision.

Benefits of early retirement

For many people, early retirement is less about finding a beach to relax on and more about pivoting to a second career.

In fact, a recent report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute indicated that 74 percent of workers plan to get a new job after they retire. In such instances, early retirement is often about turning a long-time passion into a second career. That can help adults achieve a lifelong dream, making it one of the better reasons to retire early.

Another advantage to retiring early is the chance to spend more quality time with family. One study from the American Psychological Association found that more than half of working professionals now check work emails after work hours, including on weekends. Forty-four percent even check their email while on vacation. Early retirement enables individuals to escape that round-the-clock career commitment, affording retirees a chance to spend more unfiltered quality time with the people they love most.

Retiring early also provides an opportunity to escape a daily grind that many people have indicated has become increasingly burdensome in recent years. The 2021 Work and WellBeing Survey from the American Psychological Association found that 79 percent of the roughly 1,500 adults surveyed had experienced work-related stress in the month prior to participating. Work is a leading cause of stress for many people, and stress has been linked to a host of health problems.

Individuals who can retire early can benefit from less stress in their lives.

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an re m in w in th o

an co fo

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Disadvantages to retiring early

Retiring early can seem like a dream, but it could turn into a nightmare for people whose finances aren’t as robust as they need to be to support a lengthy retirement. One report from the Boston College Center for Retirement Research found that around 50 percent of working families face a significant decline in their standard of living during retirement. Life expectancy has been on the rise in developed countries since 1900, so retiring too early carries some significant financial risk for people who have saved but not necessarily saved enough.

Retiring early also could make people more vulnerable to cognitive decline than they would be if they keep working. One study from researchers at Scotland’s University of St. Andrews found that people who wait until age 67 to retire experience less cognitive decline than people who retire prior to turning 67.

Out-of-pocket medical costs are another significant disadvantage to retiring early. Employer-sponsored medical insurance tends to cost individuals less than private plans, which is a significant consideration for individuals at a point in their lives when they may need to visit doctors more often.

Early retirement has its advantages and disadvantages. Individuals must consider both to make the best decision for them.

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How to make new friends after 55

he early years of midlife are a hectic time for many people. Around the time many people reach their late 30s and early 40s, they’re balancing the responsibilities of a career and a family. But as people enter their 50s, some of those responsibilities tend to be less significant, leaving more time for recreational pursuits.

Hobbies and other pursuits outside of work are often more fun when enjoyed with friends. People over 55 undoubtedly recognize that it’s not always so easy to make new friends, even though it’s undeniably beneficial to have supportive

n

relationships into your golden years. A 2017 study from researchers at Michigan State University found that valuing friendships was a stronger predictor of health and happiness among older adults than valuing family. Those results align with an earlier Australian study that found Australians age 70 or older tended to live significantly longer if they had more strong friendships.

Making friends after 55 might not be as simple as it was during your school days, but these strategies can help men and women in midlife build new friendships.

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n Identify your interests.

Fiftysomethings who have spent the last couple of decades building a career and raising a family can give some serious thought to their interests outside of work or passions they hope to pursue now that they have more time to commit to such pursuits. The more interested you are in a given activity, the more likely you are to stick with it. And the longer you stick with something, the more likely you are to meet like-minded individuals (i.e., future friends) willing to make similar commitments. n Utilize social media. In years past, men and women over 50 may not have had any readily available tools to reach out and connect with new people. Social media has made it much easier to build such connections. Even the most obscure passions likely have a social media group of locals devoted to them, and these groups can be great ways to meet new people. A local runner’s club may have its own social media accounts, and local governments and community groups often share information about sports leagues and other groups via social media. n Sign up for group outings.

Communities often sponsor group outings to museums, the theater, sporting events, and other day trips.

Signing up for a bus trip to a local museum presents a great opportunity to meet people who share your interests, providing the potential to build lasting friendships built on a foundation of shared interests. n Broaden your horizons. Just because you’re in your 50s doesn’t mean your friends have to be. Don’t hesitate to invite younger or older acquaintances and colleagues over for dinner or on weekend excursions.

Friends come in all shapes, sizes and ages, so you could be missing out if you’re not willing to extend a hand in friendship to people of different ages and backgrounds.

Making friends after 55 can be challenging. However, various strategies can help men and women over 55 connect with new people.

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What to do about wellness after 55

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n Get a pet. Many people 55 and older qualify as “empty nesters,” a term applied to adults whose children have grown up and moved out of their homes. Some empty nesters experience a phenomenon known as “empty nest syndrome,” which the Mayo Clinic notes can be marked by feelings of sadness or loss. Pets can help people over 55 with no children at home overcome feelings linked to empty nest syndrome. In 2018, the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging found that 86 percent of pet owners felt their pets make them feel loved while 73 percent said their

eaching one’s fiftieth birthday in optimal health is an accomplishment to be proud of. The hard work required to be healthy in midlife includes adhering to a nutritious diet and exercising regularly. Once individuals cross the threshold and enter their 50s, they can look to some additional strategies to maintain their physical and mental well-being for decades to come.

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pets provided a sense of purpose.

Pets also can ensure individuals over 55 stay physically active and provide opportunities to connect with other people. n Prioritize learning. Whether it’s taking music lessons, going back to school or mastering a new hobby, learning has a profound effect on aging brains. For example, a 2013 study published in the journal Psychological Science found that memory function is improved by engagement in demanding everyday tasks. That study reported that people who learned new skills experienced greater memory improvement than people who only socialized or participated in activities that were not as cognitively engaging. n Make an effort to improve balance. Various factors contribute to a decline in balance as adults age.

For example, a decline in muscle mass that begins when people are in their 30s is a normal part of aging. Over time, that natural decline affects strength and agility.

Balance exercises can be a valuable component of a fitness regimen that help individuals reduce their risk for falling as they advance through their 50s and into their 60s and 70s. That’s a significant benefit, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that one out of every three adults age 65 and older experiences a fall each year, and as many as 30 percent of those falls lead to serious injury. n Embrace your inner socialite.

Socialization is important for people of all ages, including individuals 55 and over. A 2017 study from researchers at Michigan State found that valuing friendships was a strong predictor of health and happiness among older adults. Opportunities to socialize with friends may increase as people navigate their 50s and children move out or become more independent. Individuals can take advantage of opportunities to socialize whenever possible.

Various strategies can help people maintain mental and physical wellness as they make their way through their 50s and beyond.

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Food & Beer

LET'S EAT!

By Dana Melius

southern mn style

Boat House Grill & Bar A Waseca destination

F

or 16 years, Del and Amber Olivas have strived to transform a historic Waseca gathering spot into “a destination and not just a place to eat.”

That’s the way Ann Fitch, executive director of the Waseca Area Chamber of Commerce, best describes the Waseca restaurant and bar, located on the banks of Clear Lake. The building site, established for the community’s boating and lake community in 1908, remains a Waseca tradition.

“The Boat House has a rich history in Waseca and it has always been a place for families and friends to gather for good food and even better service,” says Fitch. “The current owners, Amber and Del, have brightened up and transformed the restaurant into a destination and not just a place to eat.”

Those are words Del Olivas loves to hear. He and

wife Amber have tried to establish just that type of rapport with the local community. And the community has, in turn, responded to them.

“Last year, it was our best year ever,” Del says. “And this year’s even better so far. We’ve quadrupled our business over the last 10 years.”

Del’s in-laws, Larry and Michelle Kroeger of Waseca, first purchased the Boat House from Jim Blake in 2004.

After a three-month renovation, in which “the whole place was basically gutted,” according to Del, he and Amber managed the restaurant and bar for almost five years before eventually purchasing it outright.

But there were growing pains, admits Del, for “we had no experience in the restaurant business.” He and Amber had been in customer service but in the Denver auto industry before taking up the Kroegers’ offer to

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run the Boat House.

The pandemic brought different challenges.

“We had to shut down (at times) due to the pandemic,” he recalled. “And we had to let some staff go. But people want to work. Now, we’re fully staffed, with a lot of younger kids.”

So the Boat House team regrouped and established a takeout and delivery side to the business. And “that was a game changer for us,” according to Del. “We’ve always had deliveries,” he said.

“But our delivery business almost quadrupled. And it hasn’t let up. It worked out real well.”

Del credits wife Amber with her dive into the kitchen and menu preparation, as “basically all the recipes are Amber’s.”

“I’ve got a lot of favorites,” Amber said. “But making lasagna might be my favorite. The customers love it.”

Amber says she typically has “five to six kids” helping in the kitchen and “they’ve been great.”

Del adds that customer service is something he, Amber and Boat House staff strive for, with some employees having been with them much of those 16 years.

Del and Amber took it a step further June 26 in offering entertainment as “The Pub & Grub Comedy Tour,” featuring comedians Jim Norder and Cody Tiano, performed at the Boat House.

It hasn’t always been easy or simple, Del says. Running a restaurant through a pandemic and facing the same labor shortages many businesses struggle with over the past couple years can be a challenge.

And the Boat House location on Clear Lake’s southern shore and surrounded by a Waseca residential area cramps the restaurant’s parking.

But none of it has cramped the Boat House ownership and staff’s commitment to service.

And while the Boat House name and proximity to the lake tend to make one think the restaurant

might feature a deep menu of fish options, the Olivas label it more as a spot for “comfort food” and specialty refreshments.

Sure, there’s walleye, shrimp, fish and chips, as well as catfish bites, there’s also a traditional Sunday breakfast menu from 10 a.m. to noon. And the Boat House’s specialty drinks are complemented by 14 different beers and a full bar.

Having celebrated 16 years on July 4, Del and Amber Olivas also credit the Waseca community for their growth and ongoing success.

“They supported us a ton,” Del said. “And we do a lot for the community.”

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ON TAP

By James Figy

Joe Falkowski of August Schell Brewing Co. has been a Certified Cicerone since 2009.

I

What the heck is a cicerone?

t’s a word I’ve known for a while, but didn’t quite understand what it meant.

“Cicerone?” I would say. “That’s like a sommelier, just for beer instead of wine.”

On a basic level, that’s correct. But this definition misses a lot of key details that make the Cicerone Certification Program unique and useful.

So … what is a cicerone?

The Cicerone Certification Program was launched in 2008 by Ray Daniels, a Chicago-based brewer, author and beer educator. The organization’s website, cicerone. org, states: “The word Cicerone (sis-uh-rohn) designates hospitality professionals with proven experience in selecting, acquiring and serving today's wide range of beers.”

The goal is to train folks to provide the best service

and beer selections for consumers. But not just any beer buff can claim this moniker. In fact, there are four distinct titles for each level of the program: n Certified Beer Server n Certified Cicerone n Advanced Cicerone n Master Cicerone Each one requires a pretty rigorous test over five core areas: n Keeping and serving beer n Beer styles n Beer flavor and evaluation n Beer ingredients and brewing processes n Pairing beer with food And it also requires a price tag that can get, well, pretty spendy. The first level is just $69 and all online, with an optional study guide. But the Master Cicerone

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test costs $995 on the first try, $795 per redo, and takes place in-person in Chicago just a few times each year.

Who wants to be a cicerone?

With the time and cost associated, what type of person should pursue certification? Basically anyone who brews, serves or otherwise sells beer is a good candidate.

And a cursory look at the Cicerone website’s directory shows a number of folks from Mankato-area liquor stores and distributors in addition to the bartenders, brewers and others you might expect.

Joe Falkowski, market manager at August Schell Brewing Co., became a certified cicerone in 2009 with two main goals: “I wanted to learn more about beer, and honestly, I thought it would give me a competitive advantage in the market.”

The exam involves a written and tasting portion, which occurs in person. Falkowski remembered spending a lot of time reading and even more tasting, usually with others.

“I would read about specific styles of beer and read along with judging criteria and guidelines while tasting known examples of that specific style,” he said. “I would say the entire studying process took me close to two years before I felt ready.”

In his day-to-day role at Schell’s, Falkowski has seen several benefits, particularly being better equipped to guide customers through the brewery’s offerings.

“I like to walk through beer tastings starting with the first appearance of the beer all the way through the last sip. There are a few steps along the way, and I think understanding what you’re

tasting and how to properly taste can enhance even the lightest of lagers,” he said. “It is also very helpful to help explain the history of certain beer styles and the different processes in making all the different beers.”

Why become a cicerone?

The organization’s website lays out the “how” pretty clearly. The requirements are listed for each level of certification. But the “why” is a little bit more elusive.

Most people working in beer have a working knowledge of many of the five core areas listed above.

Getting certified really helps with a more holistic understanding of everything from the raw ingredients to what each brew’s flavor profile will taste good with.

It’s not beneficial for everyone.

If you have the luxury to Google information about a beer and not have to know it off the top of your head, then maybe it’s not the best fit for you. If you just want to show off how much stuff you know about beer to whoever is sitting at the next barstool, then it’s definitely not for you.

The job of a cicerone — and thus the reason for becoming one — is

really in the title.

“Cicerone is an English word referring to ‘one who conducts visitors and sightseers to museums and explains matters of archaeological, antiquarian, historic or artistic interest,’” the organization’s website states. “A Certified, Advanced or Master Cicerone possesses the knowledge and skills to guide those interested in beer culture, including its historic and artistic aspects.”

For Falkowski, guiding beer drinkers to an optimal experience is a big responsibility but also what makes being a cicerone exciting.

“You have to remember that when you achieve your certification,” he said. “Sometimes people lose sight of what the program is meant to be used for and use it to be ‘smarter’ than other people. It’s more about education and educating drinkers rather than flexing.”

James Figy is a writer and beer enthusiast based in St. Paul.

In Mankato, he earned an MFA in creative writing from Minnesota State University and a World Beer Cruise captain’s jacket from Pub 500.

The Cicerone Certification Program launched in 2008 to train professionals who brew, serve or sell beer how to be better guides for consumers in several core areas.

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WINE

By Leigh Pomeroy

The good, the bad and the sometimes ugly A

s most readers of this wine column realize, I rarely write about the commonly available choices. Rather, I prefer to explore lesser known wine production areas, varietals and blends — especially those indigenous to a given wine region — and small, often hardly-known, mostly family-owned producers from the U.S. and Europe.

Fortunately, in Mankato there is a relatively new wine purveyor that seeks out the odd, wonderful and sometimes strange from the wine world: Cork & Key Wine and Bottle Shop. If you haven’t visited there yet, you ought to. Not only do they offer unique choices, they hold Friday afternoon tastings and often have sales featuring wines at up to 50% off — think overstock.

Yet not all bottles they offer are to everyone’s liking, including mine. Recently, I was struggling to find something nice to say about one of their “strange” wines: a dry Oregon Pinot Gris that was on the closeout shelf.

In the 1970s, when Oregon was first being recognized as a serious wine region, the four primary white wines the state’s vintners were growing were Riesling, Pinot Gris (aka Pinot Grigio), Pinot Blanc and, to a lesser extent, Gewürztraminer. Some growers tried Chardonnay, but it failed miserably.

The reason these varietals were selected is because the Willamette Valley in northwestern Oregon, where most of the best vineyards are located, is decidedly cooler than the wine-growing regions in most of California and eastern Washington. And these four whites are cool climate varietals.

Chardonnay failed at first because growers planted the so-called Wente clone of that grape, which was well adapted to the warmer Livermore Valley in California, just east of the San Francisco Bay Area. It simply did not do well in the cooler, wetter climate of Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Since that time, Willamette Valley growers have sourced Chardonnay clones coming directly from Burgundy, France, where that grape reaches its zenith and where the climate is more like that of northwestern Oregon. And because of this, some Oregon Chardonnays compete with the best in the world.

As for Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Gewürztraminer … Well, their success has been a mixed bag. Riesling and Pinot Gris have been the most successful, while the latter two have mostly fallen by the wayside. Both Riesling and Pinot Gris

range from bone dry to decidedly sweet, depending u p o n t h e w i n e m a k e r ’s style and the ripeness at which the grapes were harvested. Unfortunately, the sweetness of the wine isn’t always indicated on the label, especially for Pinot Gris.

So what is the difference between the two?

Riesling is more flowery, and offers hints of citrus, apple and sometimes fusel oil, a byproduct of the alcoholic fermentation. (Lest this sound unappetizing, it’s actually attractive in small quantities.) Pinot Gris offers more minerality and austerity, yet shows qualities of lemon, almond, honeysuckle and muted spices. If you taste them side by side, you’ll notice the marked differences.

Getting back to the “strange” Pinot Gris I was sampling. It was made by a small vintner — indeed, only 94 cases (1,128 bottles or 223 gallons) of it were produced. Often small lots of wine, particularly white wine, are more difficult to make because they more easily oxidize during production. When a wine oxidizes, it loses its freshness and fruit, and can become quite austere and unpleasant. When it oxidizes too much, it becomes vinegar.

I suspect this small vintner, who mostly specializes in Riesling, subscribes to a growing trend in winemaking described by adherents as “natural” — which means that they use organically grown grapes and produce the wine without adding sulfur. Organic grapes are fine. In fact, more and more growers, both large and small, in this country and elsewhere, are finding that organic farming methods are not only better for the environment but produce higher quality fruit.

However, making wine without using some sulfur additions at the right time — sulfur has been used for centuries as a wine preservative — is asking for trouble. That’s because sulfur inhibits oxidation and thus keeps the wine fresher.

That said, due to modern winemaking techniques like cold fermentation and the use of stainless steel tanks, sulfur is added to today’s wines only in minute quantities, so don’t fear that you’re drinking poison.

But some is necessary, which is why I’ve had trouble embracing so-called “natural” wines because, well, too many just don’t taste good.

Anyway, wine is always an ongoing adventure: mostly good, sometimes bad and, well, occasionally even ugly.

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

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LIT DU NORD: MINNESOTA BOOKS AND AUTHORS

By Nick Healy

Getting in on the Gatsby game S

ince the copyright expired on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most acclaimed and beloved novel last year, things have gotten complicated for “The Great Gatsby” completists.

Bookshelves might sag under the weight of new editions after a rush of 2021 releases from various publishers, including five handsomely packaged versions from five imprints owned by Penguin Random House. The new editions come with introductions and commentaries from authors and critics including John Grisham, Min Jin Lee and Wesley Morris, and several feature arresting covers.

The appeal of the new covers can make buying decisions especially difficult for fans. As much as readers love the famous blue cover featuring Francis Cugat’s painting “Celestial Eyes,” it can be hard to resist something fresh and beautiful.

The new images likely won’t last in the way of Cugat’s painting, which appeared on the 1925 first edition and, after a long absence, returned on a 1979 paperback edition. In the last 40-some years, Scribner sold millions of copies of Gatsby with that familiar cover.

But the expiration of the copyright is more than a green light to publishers who want to grab a share of Gatsby sales without the nuisance of paying for rights or royalties. Writers and artists of all stripes are at liberty now to do what they want with Fitzgerald’s story and his characters.

Since Jan. 1, 2001, when “The Great Gatsby” officially entered the public domain, numerous versions of the work have surfaced: illustrated editions,

Nick by Michael Farris Smith graphic novels of the story, a Gatsby-related vampire tale (“The Great Gatsby Undead” by Kristen Briggs), and a novel that imagines the life of Nick Carraway before he moved into the cottage next door to the Gatsby mansion.

That last idea belonged to Michael Farris Smith, who began writing his novel “Nick” several years before the copyright on Gatsby expired, working under the notion that Fitzgerald’s story was already in the public domain.

He was incorrect about that, but his error gave him a marketing advantage. Smith’s novel was ready for release the moment Nick Carraway no longer belonged solely to his original creator.

Smith deserves credit for having a good idea and having the nerve (gall?) to pursue it. Nick Carraway is, of course, the narrator of “The Great Gatsby,” and as has been discussed in literature classes far and wide, he is an observer of the

drama involving Jay Gatsby and the careless couple Tom and Daisy Buchanan. He’s a bystander, but he’s an awfully smart and cleareyed one.

“Nick” begins with Carraway as a soldier in World War I, fighting in France several years before the time of events depicted in “The Great Gatsby.”

He fights in trenches and tunnels, and Smith writes about the war in a gritty style that makes its misery feel full and real. Smith deserves credit for the skill of his war writing, even when it’s hard to read.

In Paris on leave, Carraway falls for a woman named Ella, who lives as a squatter in an attic where theater costumes are stored while fighting goes on and theaters are closed.

Ella urges him not to return to the front. She says they can go off together and begin a new life.

She tells him the nameless dead

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and missing are uncountable and no one will ever come looking for him.

When Carraway must decide between the dream Ella describes and the burden of his real-life duty, Smith seems to have had in mind some events Carraway would later encounter in Gatsby.

Unfortunately for Carraway and for readers, Ella disappears from the story too soon.

Back in the States after the war, Carraway ends up in New Orleans, and Smith’s story veers into dark territory. He creates a scarred version of Nick that doesn’t align with the character readers know from Gatsby.

If Smith’s book were named Mick Holloway, little in it would remind readers of “The Great Gatsby” at all. Take away moments like when Carraway’s father says, “And you need to remember, Nick, not everybody has the same advantages that you have,” and you’re left with cause to shrug and wonder why.

One of the bright spots of the public-domain boom for “The Great Gatsby” is a graphic novel created by Minnesota native K. Woodman-Maynard.

Published by Candlewick Press and intended for a young-adult audience, Woodman-Maynard’s book is fun and full of small delights. She distills the story effectively. It works like a graphic novel should and not like an abridgement of Fitzgerald’s prose crammed into story panels.

She uses her art to expand and enliven the experience, and she’s clever about incorporating memorable passages from the original.

When, for example, Nick arrives at the Buchanans’ place early in the story, purple clouds above the sprawling mansion bear the words, “Why they came east, I don’t know. They drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.”

Woodman-Maynard’s graphic novel makes a pleasing choice if you want to add a new Gatsby experience to your life and to your bookshelf.

Nick Healy is an author and freelance writer in Mankato.

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ANN’S FASHION FORTUNES

By Ann Rosenquist Fee

Here’s how to tie a T-shirt without looking like you have an umbilical hernia.

Topography of T-shirts, bangs, tags

DEAR ANN: I’m interested in the big boxy T-shirt look that’s enjoying a moment of popularity, but I don’t think I can go fully shapeless with the whole hanging-downto-mid-thigh approach. Is there a compromise?

DEAR READER: Yes, and the compromise is a knot, but not the kind that makes you look like you have an umbilical hernia.

I recently stumbled upon this alternative to the single-strand knot in a quest for ways to cut a T-shirt to give it a softer silhouette, and I don’t know why it never before occurred to me to grab not one but two pieces of the bottom edge of a shirt and tie them up like this, but it just never did.

This discovery pretty much knocked me out with simultaneous humility and elation, that special combo that happens when you

learn a new thing that’s so obvious it makes you wonder if you’ve ever known anything at all. Enjoy your new T-shirt look with a side of existential bliss.

DEAR ANN: Recently I found myself watching Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” video and was entranced by, among other things, her hairdo. It looks like every strand of hair is fiercely determined to shoot out from a single origin point. This is not something I want to see among the 1980s hair and fashion trends resurging nowadays.

Is there something I can do to prevent it?

DEAR READER: We can only take responsibility for our own choices, so with that in mind, I suggest you let go of the notion that you can prevent this or any trend in general and simply focus on your own directional hair habits.

Questions to ask yourself: Am I in the habit of forcing my hair to part somewhere other than where a part or a cowlick naturally occurs? Do I find myself backcombing “just a little” so my hair is “not so flat?”

Do I use a curling iron on a regular basis, and not one of those modern sticks without a springloaded handle, but a legit handled curling iron capable of creating mall bangs? Are hot rollers something I’ve used not ironically within the past decade?

If you can answer “yes” to even one of these questions — or, let’s face it, if you answer “no” but in a too quick defensive way that probably means you’re in an emotional affair with backcombing — you’re definitely part of the problem.

As much as it pains you, please try just washing and air-drying

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without forcing any area of your hair to stand at attention, which is the beginning of the slippery slope toward “Total Eclipse of the Heart” hair. Be the lack of pouf you wish to see in the world.

DEAR ANN: If I get my skin tags removed, does that count as cosmetic surgery?

DEAR READER: Listen, I’m just going to go with my first reaction versus contacting my insurance company or any other actual research, because I think that what you’re trying to feel out here is how other people would react if for some reason your dermatological concerns were to come up in conversation.

And my first reaction is: Probably no, but also who cares.

The “probably no” is because my casual understanding of cosmetic surgery is that it’s either to change a permanent feature you don’t like or to reverse some sign of aging, and I’m reasonably sure that most procedures in those categories don’t also involve biopsies to check for errant growth of cells, which I’m pretty sure is what happens to chopped-off skin tags.

It’s also my understanding that the very skin tags that start out tiny, perceptible only by touch when you obsessively run your fingers over the spots where they seem to be cropping up, are the very ones capable of growing into witchlooking balls of flesh that dangle from their connecting point like bulbous little ornaments celebrating some morbid joyless holiday.

In summary, skin tag removal strikes me as a preventive measure and therefore not cosmetic, despite that what you’re preventing includes the tags becoming obnoxiously visible.

When you call the dermatology office to schedule, ask if whatever gets cut off will be biopsied. If it’s up to you, request it. That should give you all the reassurance and/or justification and/or permission you need.

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GARDEN CHAT

By Jean Lundquist

Those pesky raccoons Plus, tales of onions and potatoes

A

ll summer long, a very adroit raccoon, or maybe two or three, made me very glad I didn’t grow sweet corn this summer.

He, she, or they have visited every single solitary day to come up onto the step by the side door and eat cat food, then retire to under the bird feeders where wayward sunflower seeds, discarded by mostly blue jays for unknown reasons, have been scattered.

I suppose in a large field, feeding raccoons a few dozen, or even a few hundred ears of corn is not a big deal. But half a dozen short rows of corn in my garden were always stripped of ears while I got little chance to enjoy them myself.

This year, I had a fleeting thought that, because I have a fence around my little plot, it might be fun to plant the whole thing in sweet corn. But when I saw that rotten raccoon scaling the pole to help itself to my oriole feeders, I knew that fence would have done nothing but make them laugh.

Nothing growing inside my 4-foot-high chain-link

fence has appealed to them, apparently. And the fence has done a good job of keeping out bunnies and deer, so all is well in the garden this year.

It truly amazes me how much better plants do growing in the ground than growing in a grow bag. Watering the bags twice a day in the August heat became quite the chore. I had to use well water rather than rainwater, and that also makes a remarkable difference. Plants seem to prefer rainwater for both foliage growth and fruit setting.

I admit I ran out of room in the garden and resorted to using a few grow bags for the leftovers that I didn’t give away. It’s been an eye-opener for me to watch the progress of the long red cayenne pepper in the bag compared to all the peppers growing in the garden. The cayenne pepper is so stunted by comparison.

I do like my grow bags for growing potatoes, though.

It is so much easier to harvest them when all that is needed is to tip the bag and reach in.

No more slicing through potatoes with a shovel. No

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more wondering how far out and how deep to dig.

Always on the prowl for something new to try in the garden, I did make a change with my potatoes this year. I happened across a YouTube video online of a gardener advocating not cutting potatoes apart to separate the eyes, but just planting them whole.

I wish I had counted the eyes in each potato and had kept a record of them. I’d then know how many pieces of cut potato I would have had, and how many potatoes I would have expected, compared to how many I will now end up with.

From the looks of the foliage, I assume none of the potatoes rotted, which is always a concern with cut potatoes. I’ll let you know how they turn out.

I also have an onion story. Last year, I planted copra onions, plus a few red onions called “blush.” The people I bought them from gave me the blush just to try a few.

None of the onions grew very big, as they were in bags, but they were reasonably sized. I brushed them all off, put them in a paper bag and saved them in our mudroom. I don’t know why I didn’t take them down to the root cellar. I just didn’t. They were so handy, being just in the next room, I guess.

I pulled out all the blush onions to use first, as we all know red onions aren’t good keeping onions. Then I moved onto the yellow onions, my copras.

By early May, some of the onions had started to sprout, but that’s not unusual, and I just used them first. The last onion I pulled out of the paper bag in early June had not sprouted. When I cut into it, it was red!

I was astonished. The center was green, and it likely was just days away from sprouting, but it lasted all winter and spring long in lessthan-ideal storage conditions.

At that point it was too late to get and plant blush onions. For one thing, my garden was full.

But next year, I’ll be planting blush onions, and I may even take them to the root cellar for storage.

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FROM THIS VALLEY

By Pete Steiner

(CONTINUED FROM THE JUNE ISSUE)

Long lost eateries I

t’s a warm late-summer evening.

Can’t think of anything that would taste better at this moment than a big mug of cold root beer, dripping condensed droplets of August humidity onto a tray that’s cantilevered on my open car window. Come to think of it, it could be even better if there were a scoop of ice cream added.

Trouble is, you’d have a heck of a time finding that particular taste treat these days without going into a mall somewhere. A few towns still have real root beer stands, some even still have carhops. But not Mankato, not anymore. nnnn Since the June issue came out, referencing the old Oasis, different folks have reminisced about different root beer stands where they’d hang out.

Jovaag’s was on Madison Avenue (near Long John Silver’s empty building.) North Mankato had a drive-in on Lookout Drive. There was Salfer’s Grove (near the nowdefunct Buster’s at Madison and Victory). All of them long gone, as is the old A&W (near C&S Supply on North Riverfront).

In the June issue, Dave Bell of the Oasis described “the cruise,” all along old Front Street, between his west-end place and the A&W. Dean Otto, whose family ran the north-end A&W for almost 25 years, elaborated for me recently. Before it was bisected by “urban renewal” and the Mankato Mall in 1977, Front Street was Mankato’s main drag.

“The cruise” would typically begin about 3:30 in the afternoon, after high school students got out, especially on weekends.

“It was continuous,” Dean says.

“Cars would be backed up for a block (at the A&W). Our parking lot would fill up.” If no spot opened, the cars would turn around and head back toward the Oasis near Sibley Park.

nnnn The Mankato A&W franchise was granted way back in 1949. For part of the 1950s, it was operated by the Anderson family, whose children attended Bethany College; the boys would sleep on bunk beds in the back room during the busy summer season.

Chuck Otto, Dean’s dad, bought the business late in 1961, when it was still seasonal. They reopened in the spring of 1962, and Chuck, with a degree from the University of Illinois, prepared to give up his accounting job.

With his wife, Ruth, they would eventually employ all four of their children. Dean began working that first summer at age 15. Chuck was in the kitchen, Ruth would cashier, cook or even carhop if necessary.

Chuck was referred to as “Papa Burger,” Ruth was “Mama Burger” and Dean was “Teen Burger.”

While Dean was away getting his degree and then teaching for a couple of years, the decision was made to make “the AW,” as it was called by many, a year-round operation. In the fall of 1972, Dean returned as a full-time partner, and the quaint old shack-like building was torn down to make way for a new and expanded restaurant. nnnn Unlike in “American Graffiti,” the Otto’s carhops never wore ro l l e r s k a t e s . B u t e v e n a f t e r expansion, they kept the carhops

until they sold the business.

“The cruise” took some big hits in the 1970s. Dean points out, it wasn’t just the building of the downtown mall that altered traffic patterns: Highway 22 closed for two summers in the mid-‘70s, so “lake traffic” started using the Airport Road east of Mankato, diverting customers from their North Front location.

Then too, there was the Arab oil embargo of 1973 that sent gas prices soaring and cut back on driving.

Dean notes, it might well have been that oil embargo that did in the Holiday House, that renowned old fine-dining spot in Kasota, so dependent on commuters. n n nn Sales were flat through the early 1980s, although Dean smiles recalling their most successful promotion, “Coney Day.” Coney dogs, an all-beef hot dog with choice of toppings, were sold for just 15 cents apiece; suddenly Tuesdays, their slowest day of the week, became their biggest, with sales immediately doubling, reaching $2,400 on a typical Tuesday.

By 1985, tiring of many 6 a.m. to midnight summer days, Chuck was ready to retire. Dean had earned his MBA through night classes at MSU, and would soon join the business faculty at Mankato Technical Institute, where he’d stay for 24 years. They transferred ownership of the A&W as of New Year’s 1986; the business would close for good in 1990. n n nn This all gives me a notion to procure a growler of 1919 root beer and take my Kirby Puckett Twins’ mug down to Sibley, stream “American Graffiti” in my EarPods, and repeat 100 times, “Nothing ever stays the same.”

Longtime radio guy Pete Steiner is now a free lance writer in Mankato.

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