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Molly Penny is a local radio personality and MNSU alum. It was her love of pop culture that got her interested in doing a radio show for KOWZ 100.9. She is now Brand Manager and Music/Program Director at KOWZ & KRUE Radio in Owatonna. She resides in Mankato with her movie buff husband and YouTube obsessed children. Catch her on Twitter at @mollyhoodUSA.
Ithought it fitting to stay in the theme of this issue and talk about drinks, but in honor of my 10 years of sobriety, I am focusing on non-alcoholic drinks that you just can’t find anymore.
I am not a huge fan of drinking my calories, but as a kid, there were novelty drinks that I couldn’t live without. Many bubbled up in the 90’s. Some of these still exist, some exist but are hard to find, some are totally obsolete. Let’s see how many you remember.
PepsiCo. Initially released a clear cola soft drink called Crystal Pepsi in 1992. The unique flavor combined the taste of lemon with regular Pepsi which was mind blowing considering it was entirely see-through.
It was intended to give consumers the feeling that they were drinking something “pure” and “refreshing.” It was in fact marketed as a less sweet, “healthier” alternative to regular sodas, but people quickly tired of it and started to find
Fruitopia was yet another Coca-Cola flop, but that’s a bit shocking to me considering how wildly popular it was among my middle school peers back in the mid 90s.
Fruitopia was born out of a desire to compete with another popular fruit drink that is still in production today, Snapple. As sales plummeted there was a time where you could almost only find it at some McDonald’s soda fountains and while it was officially discontinued in 2003, popular flavors, like Raspberry Lemonade, for example, were made available through Minute Maid products.
Not quite the same, but we will settle if we must.
I am a huge fan of orange Hi-C and personally am soooo happy my local McDonalds recently brought it back, but the real MVP was Hi-C Ecto Cooler, based off the 1980’s Ghostbusters franchise.
It had a unique blend of tangerine and orange, but the liquid itself was fluorescent green, like the “ecto-plasm” featured in the film franchise.
The drink was very popular among kids, who are now in their 30s and 40s, so every time the Coca-Cola Company, who own Hi-C, roll it back out for a limited time, these grown-up kids flock to the stores, or in some cases, to social media where it is available through various contests, to sip on some sweet nostalgia.
Who thought chunks inside your beverage would be appealing? Do you remember the short-lived novelty drink out of Canada that dissolved after only one year on the market?
The non-carbonated drink was launched by the same company that brought us Clearly Canadian, which, if you can afford it, still exists today. Orbitz came in 5 extremely weak flavors and included floating edible balls that resembled lava lamp lava.
The fact it was non-carbonated always bummed me out, but I kept peddling my bike to the hardware store to get it because it reminded me of astronaut juice. RIP, Orbitz.
This soda and energy drink hybrid predated Red Bull and Monster and was put out by the Coca-Cola company and despite its popularity as a citrus drink with a kick, it was discontinued in 2003 after rumors circulating that Surge caused adverse health effects (ahem, it’s a highly caffeinated corn syrup-based soda) creating a decrease in sales.
This energizing drink was a favorite of Millennials, skaters and gamers who flocked to stores to pick it up when the tall boy cans made a brief resurgence in 2015.
it bland so it was pulled from shelves after only two years in production.
Crystal Pepsi, too, has had a couple limited time runs: in 2015 and again in 2022 for its 30th anniversary. It was worse than I remembered.
There was just something so hip about the marketing of OK Soda, but it still turned out to be another flop for the Coca-Cola Company
It courted the American Gen X demographic with unusual advertising like a neo-noir design, chain letters and negative publicity (they likened it to ‘carbonated tree sap’ for example.)
It was a fruity flavored soft drink, but no one remembers what it tasted like, only that the cans featured cool Shepard Fairey-esque streetart. Coca-Cola tried to market the soda for its “feeling” rather than the taste, but the public wasn’t “feeling” it and the line was discontinued in in 1995 after only 2 years… and that’s OK.
Just like the name implies, Jolt soda gave you a ‘jolt’ of energy. Actually, in my experience, Jolt seemed to cause tremors, temporary blindness/and or hallucinations and extreme sweats followed by an urgent trip to the bathroom. Launched in 1985, Jolt Cola contained 190 mg of caffeine.
Pepsi’s Mountain Dew is hailed as the King of Caffeinated soft drinks and that touts 54 mg, to put it into perspective. The slogan read: “All the sugar, Twice the caffeine.” While it is discontinued in the U.S. after a brief stint in 2017 where you could only buy them at Dollar General, there are still some producers worldwide who are licensed to make it.
European standards are much stricter than America so I would imagine the bottles are labeled with extensive warnings (I hope. Drink at your own risk.) But if you find yourself jetlagged in the U.K., Australia, Sweden or the Netherlands, reach for some Jolt, it may just be the kick you need.
TaB (pronounced “tab”) was a diet cola soft drink dating back to 1963 and only recently, in 2020, discontinued. The drink saw the height of its popularity in the 60s and 70s and will surely stir nostalgic thoughts for some readers.
Studies in the early 70s linked the main artificial sweetener in TaB, saccharin, with bladder cancer in rats, and the U.S. Congress mandated that the soft drink include warning labels. If you are a die-hard TaB fan and want your cancer-causing soda back, there is a group called the Save Tab Soda Committee that formed the year following its dissolution. I am giving you no further details on the matter.
Reminiscing about these bygone nonalcoholic beverages and the fleeting nature of trends and novelties really has me craving a drink with floating edible balls, so I think I will find a sippy cup one of my nieces or nephews has backwashed into and let the nostalgia take me away… Kidding.
Hope you enjoyed this energizing trip down memory lane with these relics of past drink marketing. Cheers to the bevvies that once quenched our thirst and continue to stir memories of a simpler yet angstier time.
After a slight downturn during the COVID crisis, the craft distilling industry has seen robust growth recently, with almost 2,700 craft distilleries in the United States as of August 2022.
This marked an annual increase of over 17% from the year’s previous total of 2,290 craft distilleries. The interest and growth of cocktail rooms and craft distilleries has not been overlooked by the southern Minnesota area as several local businesses have grown into favorite destinations for those looking to enjoy creative and locally produced cocktails and spirits.
The list includes Northfield’s Loon Liquors, Faribault’s 10,000 Drops Craft Distillers and Kasota’s Chankaska Creek Ranch Winery and Distillery. All three produce a wide range of liquors that are available at their on-site cocktail rooms and also for purchase at retail outlets around the state of Minnesota.
Here is a look at the area’s three craft distilleries including a bit of their background, products they offer, their cocktail room experience and new things on the horizon.
A longtime favorite for wine aficionados in
Minnesota, Chankaska Creek Ranch Winery added its spirits production component in 2016 with the arrival of its Carl still from Germany.
“We decided to expand into spirits production for a few reasons, such as it would allow us to use idle production equipment
year-round,” Chankaska Creek marketing director Kelsey Long said. “There has been an increasing interest in spirits and we created the
North Forest Kreme product line, which has brandy as a base spirit.”
In addition to the North Forest Kreme liqueurs, Chankaska has also created a line of Ranch Road products including whiskey, gin, rum and vodka. All of the grains in the products are sourced from a local farmer near Mapleton, Minn.
“Small-batch liquors have gained interest in popularity over the years, many in part due to the high-quality standards and hand-crafted nature of small-batch liquors. Our products stand out because they are made from local sources and we have provided our production team with the most advanced tools to produce only high-quality products,” Long said.
The Chankaska products are available throughout the state at liquors stores and you can purchase them at the winery, which also features a cocktail room to enjoy the drinks on site.
“We have seen an increase in the popularity of craft cocktail drinks in our distillery. We make each handcrafted cocktail using our own liquor and local, fresh, ingredients,” Long said. “There has been a focus on the quality of products used that has really elevated the craft cocktail scene. A local favorite on our cocktail menu is the Orchid You Not cocktail, featuring our Ranch Road Rum, or our Old Fashioned cocktail, featuring our Ranch Road Straight Bourbon Whiskey.”
The cocktail room menus has drinks featuring each of the Ranch Road products and a recent favorite are the Bloody Mary flights featuring different spirits in each flight.
Upcoming events to watch for at Chankaska include Breakfast Pizza and Bloody Mary Flights from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays through Sundays and free live music every Friday and Saturday night from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The unWined by the Creek Wine Circle Pickup Event is set for Saturday, July 15, Paint Your Paint is on July 20 and Drag Me with a Spoon presents 80s Night on Aug. 4.
For more details, check out the Chankaska Creek website at chankaskawines.com or call 507-931-0089.
Located just west of downtown Northfield, Loon Liquors was one of the original craft distillers in the area when they began operation 10 years ago behind the vision of co-founders and current owners Mark Schiller and Simeon Rossi. Since that time, Loon Liquors’ offerings include vodka, gin, whiskey, rum, liqueurs and aquavit
“When we started there were no distilleries in southern Minnesota and we started one of
the first legal distilleries in southern Minnesota in about 100 years,” Schiller said.
“We originally were potentially looking at Minneapolis but at the time you couldn’t have a cocktail room, so we were looking for an affordable industrial space and we decided to go back to our hometown where we graduated high school from.”
As Northfield natives, Schiller and Rossi found their current location in an industrial area near the Post/Malt-o-Meal factory to house the Loon Liquors stills and other production equipment. Thanks to a change in Minnesota and local laws allowing for on-site consumption the facility grew to include a cocktail room, which has been serving a tasty selection of cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages for eight years now.
After attending college at the University of Minnesota, Schiller was interested in possibly starting his own business and ended up connecting with Rossi at a social gathering back in their hometown of Northfield.
“I knew that I wanted to start up some kind of business. Simeon was making this amazing coffee liqueur in college and had a White Russian party in Northfield…I was at said White Russian party and I told him ‘this coffee liqueur is amazing, I would love to sell this for you and would allow me to look into it’…I went to the state of Minnesota and they said it is the same permit to distill as it is to just mix vodka.”
He added, “So, I told that to Simeon and he said, “Well, if it is the same permit to distill it as it is to mix it, we can distill it, we can make vodka, we can make gin, we can make whiskey. I told him you make it and I will sell it, and that’s pretty much where we are at after 12 years of having that conversation originally.”
Loon Liquors has since grown into a favorite destination for both locals and tourists looking to experience a variety of outstanding craft cocktails. A Twin Cities distributor, and most
The
recently College City Beverage out of Dundas, have been instrumental in getting Loon Liquors products in over stores around the state.
“We are in about over 400 locations in the state of Minnesota, so they’ve seen our brand and they’ve seen us in liquors stores,” Schiller said. “People want to come out to the cocktail room and they see that we are making it from scratch, which I think is a huge component to what Simeon has built out over time.”
Rossi and Schiller are both excited about the new partnership with College City Beverage.
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“This will help us get into some of those southeastern Minnesota towns and cities. Our other distributor has that large view of the state but this (the new partnership with College City) will be more focused our our backyard,” Rossi said.
Over the years since Loon Liquors opened, Rossi has been instrumental in creating products that are truly sourced locally thanks to wheat and barley grown nearby.
“Now we get to make the claim that over 90 percent of our ingredients, by weight, come from within 10 miles of the distillery. Almost entirely due to a relationship we have with two amazing farmers Bryan and Tammy Lips near Nerstrand,” Schiller said. “We have a great working relationship with them and we’ve expanded that over time. We started working with them directly about 7-8 years ago.”
Even the barley grown in Nerstrand is taken up to a malting facility in Detroit Lakes to be processed before it returns home to Northfield for use in the Loon Liquors products. The process is full circle as the grain by-product left over after the distilling process goes back to the farm for livestock feed.
“People are attracted from a local component that we use so much local agriculture and that we support so many local farmers. We have great relationships with Little Hill Berry Farm,
Fireside Orchard, Lorence’s (Berry Farm), Open Hands Farms, etc. Simeon has created all these great relationships and that really attracts people,” Schiller said.
The local aspect helped during COVID as those incoming supplies remained stable since they were sourced locally. Glass bottles on the other hand were a different story.
“Where we did see a big hiccup in the supply chain was glass. That was painful but it seems to have caught up with itself,” Schiller said. He added that due to the growth of distilleries, the supply of wood barrels are becoming an issue but there are two cooperages in Minnesota that use oak to make barrels.
In addition to the attraction of locally created product, Loon Liquors has built a reputation of creating unique and flavorful cocktails and nonalcoholic beverages. The quality of service and the cocktail room atmosphere are also features that bring in customers.
“Within the cocktail room, we are really service focused. Our staff really enjoys building relationships with folks who are coming in. It is something that we put a lot of focus on,” Rossi said. “It is a place where people feel comfortable to spend several hours with family and friends.
Over the years, we’ve continued to build within our cocktail room a space that is both visually stimulating and comfortable on top of always putting the focus on quality for all of our spirits and cocktails….our drinks are meant to be
contemplated not gulped.”
Schiller said the concept at Loon Liquors was to build a family friendly and welcoming environment and for that reason non-alcoholic drink options have been a staple on the Loon Liquors menu for the past eight years. A unique favorite are the craft soda flights available on the menu.
“Simeon has put a lot of time into our nonalcoholic menu and one of the main reasons is that we wanted to show that everyone is welcome here - whether you drink or not drink,” Schiller said.
A recent addition in the cocktail room has been the introduction of Heggie’s Pizza from Milaca, Minn. as a food option.
“They are a dive bar staple, but when you do the research, Heggie’s is one of the best tasting frozen pizzas gin the state,” Schiller said.
On the topic of food, Scotty’s Whole Hog Barbecue also offers food truck events on selected days and entertainment options under the direction of cocktail room lead Ashlyn
May at Loon Liquors include Thursday Trivia Nights, live music on the first Friday of each month and an open microphone night on the third Thursday of each month. Happy hour dates featuring special prices on cocktails are another highlight on the Loon Liquor calendar.
Northfield’s collection of three craft breweries (Imminent, Tanzenwald and Chapel) along with Keepsake Cider and Loon Liquors also makes for an attractive destination for those looking to sample a variety of beverages. The area beverage creators have also helped create the new Third Thursday events in downtown Northfield this summer.
“Once they are here they start exploring the others, which is really fun. It’s great that we have this partnership with these other drink makers in the area, our ‘Fermentation Friends’ as we like to call our little
group,” Rossi said.
In the recent weeks, Loon Liquors has been most excited about the release of its bottled Old Fashioned. They started selling it about four weeks ago with a “silent launch” but from early reports sales have been brisk for this upper midwest supper club standard.
“This is probably our best product launch yet of any spirit that we’ve put out in the market,” Schiller said. “t has also been our top selling drink in the cocktail room for the past eight years because it is absolutely delicious. It is super well balanced…the whiskey balances with the simple syrup, which balances with the aromatic bitters.”
The Loon Liquors Old Fashioned could very well be the world’s first certified organic bottled Old Fashioned in the world according to Schiller.
“The bitters are from scratch, the whiskey is from scratch and the simple syrup is completely from scratch,” Schiller said. “We are really, really excited about this and it’s going really well.”
Growth has been a positive for Loon Liquors and it has also created a situation where Schiller and Rossi are looking to possibly move into a large facility that would help increase production and provide more square footage for the cocktail room area.
“We are busting at the gills right now with not much space to expand at our current location,” Schiller said. “We are looking at potential expansion and looking at another location in Northfield and hopefully we will know in a next few months about that. Our primary focus is to increase production capacity and our second focus would be tourism and visibility…to help bring people into town who are passionate about delicious spirits.”
For more details, check out the Loon Liquors website at loonliquors.com or call 507-5817527.
The 10,000 Drops Craft Distillers opened up shop in downtown Faribault five years ago in the historic four-story Peterson Art Furniture building. Childhood friends Jake Hvistendahl, Pat Jacobs and Rob Kruchoski spent three years renovating location and started producing spirits and operating the 10,000 Drops cocktail room in 2018.
“My dad bought this building complex back in the 1990s,” Hvistendahl said. Having this building available to do the built out and knowing it super well, it made sense to be down here. The city of Faribault has been very easy to work with in terms of helping us get open and making sure we got all the laws changed that needed to because craft distilleries were new. We wanted to create a place that is very comfortable and I think it has been received that way.”
The welcoming cocktail room offer a unique and comfortable vibe that incorporates an industrial feel thanks to the use of repurposed materials from the building’s past. Old windows were used to make a two-story wall and floor joists helped build the room’s bar. In the warmer months, a patio connects with the popular Corks and Pints Wine Bar and Tap House.
Live music is on the schedule on Fridays and Saturdays on the patio during the summer
months and during the winter, the music moves inside to Corks and Pints. Food trucks are another 10,000 Drops staple and are typically available most days.
The drink menu at 10,000 Drops features a variety of unique cocktails and non-alcoholic options for customers. The drink menu changes on a regular basis and this includes two slushy type of drinks that rotate every other week to help beat the summer heat.
“There are at least two cocktails on the menu for every spirit we have that we rotate through, and we can also do NA variations of those too,” Hvistendahl said. “We also can pretty much do any type of cocktail but we have to be make all of the liquor or anything alcoholic that is behind the bar…so we can’t do something like a Manhattan because we don’t make vermouth.”
The variety and creativity offered by 10,000 Drops is one of the attractions for customers to the craft distillery experience.
“The big national brands are not bringing anything new to the market,” Hvistendahl said. “So people that are into cocktails and spirits know that we have to be creative and keep our menu changing. People come here because they want new stuff and want to try something new, or maybe they are into a certain spirit category and they want to try something out.”
The size of the operation at 10,000 Drops allows for this type of production flexibility and creativity, as opposed to larger companies that may be hampered by the size of their production line.
“We can basically switch up what we are making every week. We can do a lot of different
things with our batch system,” Hvistendahl said.
10,000 Drops offers a full line of liquors created at their location in Faribault, which includes their Local Vodka, gin, rum and whiskey. At the recent American Distilling Institute spirts competitors in 2023, 10,000 Drops won a gold medal for its single barrel bourbon along with bronze medals for its barrel aged Navy gin and its barrel aged rum.
Aged for four years in barrels stored on the fourth floor of the Peterson Art Furniture building, the award winner bourbon was recently released by 10,000 Drops last fall.
“In October, we started releasing our bourbon and our aged rum after four years in a barrel. We have single barrel bourbon and that is probably our most sought after product right now,” Hvistendahl said. “We chose to wait a full four years before releasing. Every single release of it will be a different barrel and most likely will be a different proof, and there will be different flavors that will pop just based on it being a single barrel product.”
He added, “Bourbon itself is the most in demand category for high-end spirits in the market. It is something that people know well and can easily connect with.”
coming online after the four-year aging process. With the exception of cane sugar used to make the rum, 10,000 Drops strives to use locally sourced ingredients in its products.
“Crosswinds (farm) is just about five miles away from here and they grow our corn and wheat that we use in the bourbon,” Hvistendahl said. “They also take back all of our spent grain and rum wash to use for fertilizer. We work closely with them.”
Aside from having a drink at the cocktail room in Faribault, 10,000 Drops created products are available at liquors stores across the state. 10,000 Drops has recently added College City Beverage out of Dundas as one of its distributors, which will help place the product in stores in southern Minnesota.
With the continued interest in craft distillery products and the comfortable cocktail room experience, Hvistendahl sees a positive future for 10,000 Drops in downtown Faribault.
Other distillery options near the area include Harmony Spirits in Harmony, Minn. and RockFilter Distillery in Spring Grove, Minn. There are over 20 distilleries in the Twin Cities metro area including Flying Dutchman Spirits in Eden Prairie and J. Carver Distillery in Waconia.
10,000 Drops is one of the few distilleries that offers a four year bottled and bond aged rum, and that is another product that is now just
“Since we opened five years ago, we made it through a pandemic, so I think we will be around for awhile. It just figuring out how to scale smartly and keep expanding the business and distribution,” Hvistendahl said. For more details, check out the 10,000 Drops website at 10000drops.com or call 507838-0383.
Tom Nelson is a freelance writer. Reach the editor at editor@ apgsomn.com.
Pour a cold one and pull up a chair; it’s a hoppy time to recall the brewing traditions that put Minnesota beer on the map more than 150 years ago.
While at least one of the area’s oldest beermaking traditions is still in play and has found new life in recent decades (namely Schell’s Brewery of New Ulm), others are preserved primarily in old timers’ memories or in the quiet galleries of local historical societies.
The good news for southern Minnesota beer drinkers? A host of contemporary brewing companies currently dot the landscape, from Montgomery to Mankato to Northfield to Owatonna and points in between. Any wagers on which of those hot spots will still be thriving in 2173?
The way Faribault history buff Brian Schmidt sees it, Fleck’s Beer is as significant a part of Faribault’s legacy as the Tilt-aWhirl and Treasure Cave Blue Cheese. “There are multiple things that Faribault is famous for, and Fleck’s Beer is something this area will continually appreciate and honor,” asserted Schmidt. “It’s a name that’s as good as Hamm’s or Grain Belt.”
A fan and follower of Fleckenstein Brewing’s history since moving to Faribault as a young boy in 1971, Schmidt, 60, was a key coordinator of Fleck’sTravaganza Weekend in August
the Fleckenstein family and the brewery was a thrill.”
Fleckenstein Brewing has been a gift that’s kept on giving for Schmidt, Fleckenstein descendant Al Fleckenstein (a Portland, Ore., resident) and local banker John Carlander, among Fleck’s Beer aficionados.
Consider: a Fleckenstein Brewing delivery truck — a 1946 GMC two-ton model — was found “rotting in the woods” until the owner was convinced to donate it to the Rice County Historical Society. The restored truck is now situated at Fleckenstein Bluff Park. And though Schmidt believes Fleck’s Beer can never be replicated, Minnesota’s own Spring Grove Soda Pop, Inc., produced 70 cases of pop in commemorative Fleck’s bottles, which were sold for $5 a pop at Fleck’sTravaganza, with proceeds benefiting the Rice County Historical Society.
“State Bank of Faribault donated the money for the pop, and [bank president] John Carlander has an awesome display of the largest Fleck’s collection in the state at the bank,” said Schmidt.
The Fleck’s exhibit has everything from bottle caps to shirts to a Fleck’s parade wagon yoked to a taxidermied goat. There’s even a short video of footage from the Fleckenstein Brewery’s earlier days available for viewing.
Fleckenstein Brewing traces its origins to 1854, when brothers Ernst, Gottfried, Paul and Joseph emigrated to the United States from Bavaria. Initially, they started a 15-barrel brewery in St. Paul, but Ernst and Gottfried relocated to Faribault in 1857. In 1872, Ernst established his own brewing business just a few hundred yards down the east side of the Straight River from his older brother’s operation.
It was the Fleckenstein brothers who had the caves dug to allow for a chillier beer fermentation process; those same caves later served the Treasure Cave Blue Cheese company in crafting its products.
Although Ernst died in October 1901, his Ernst Fleckenstein Brewing Companies lived on until 1964, having survived Prohibition with the introduction of several sodas (All Star Kola, Grapefruit Drink, Lithiated Lemon, Root Beer and Ginger Ale all lasted until the brewery closed for good in 1964).
A long-time Fleck’s employee who has since passed shared recollections of the brewery at one point with Schmidt. The employee even produced a well-worn pocket notebook containing the pop recipes his brewmaster brother had used and held onto for decades. A priceless find, needless to say.
But even 60 years after its demise, Fleck’s Beer has staying power due to its distinctive redcircle logo (“Once you see it, you’ll never forget it,” said Schmidt), the many other promotional items Fleck’s had made over time and, perhaps most importantly, the community goodwill the brewery served up as freely as its beer.
Fleckenstein Brewing was known as a goto for sports team sponsorships and local charitable causes. And the founder’s descendant Al Fleckenstein continues that tradition with his presentation of an annual scholarship to a Faribault High School senior.
“They gave back to the community over all those years,” said Schmidt. “It was a community brewery and they were community people, so Fleck’s is still a vibrant name.”
For more information or to view exhibits featuring Fleckenstein Brewing, visit the Rice County Historical Society/museum at 1814 2nd Ave. NW, Faribault (rchistory.org) or State Bank of Faribault, 428 Central Ave. N, Faribault (tsbf. com).
Ja, German beer-lovers had viele to do with establishing southern Minnesota’s beer-making. As in Faribault, Mankato’s brewing tradition
began with two German brothers — in this case, William and Jacob Bierbauer — whose Mankato brewery is believed to be the first built west of St. Paul. They, too, dug caves into river bluffs (along what is now North Rock Street in Mankato) to allow for lagering storage. The Bierbauer brothers were among Mankato’s founding residents, and they wasted little time to begin quenching the thirst of their neighbors.
According to the Blue Earth County Historical Society, Bierbauer Brewing Company bought the Standard Brewing Company in 1908, which had previously merged the Haas & Schmidt Brewery with the George Lieferman Brewery.
The Prohibition Amendment of 1919 essentially spelled the end of Bierbauer Brewing, as the business opted to shut down instead of making a mostly unappealing, unpopular nearbeer
When Prohibition ended in 1933, Bierbauer was sold to Minneapolis millionaire G.R. Martin and renamed Kato Brewery. Later known as the
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Bierbauer Brewing Company started in 1908 and was forced to stop by 1919, because of Prohibition.
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Mankato Brewing Company (not associated with the 2012- founded Mankato Brewery located on North Mankato’s Center Street), the ill- fated brewery met its ultimate end in 1967 due to financial difficulties. The brewery site was sold at public auction for $7,300 in December 1970, and part of the deal was that its buildings must be razed.
All that remains to note the Bierbauers’ onceproud spot are two stone pillars that mark the original entrance at 628 Rock St. It was a sad ending to a 100-plus-year brewing history, but, fortunately, contemporary Mankatoans have stepped in over the past decade to revive the Key City’s brewing legacy.
A 2019 informational document produced by Blue Earth County Historical Society staff is the primary source for these details. For more information about Mankato’s brewing history, visit blueearthcountyhistory.com.
More commonly known as Schell’s Brewery, the August Schell Brewing Company got its start (with German immigrant August Schell) in 1860 and is stronger than ever today.
Consider: with its on-site Bierhalle, Museum of Brewing, gift shop and tour option, Schell’s hosts over 30,000 annual visitors, produces in excess of 30,000 barrels of beer each year, logs more than 450,000 ratings on Untapped and has tens of thousands of followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
In short, Schell’s is very much a going concern in the 2020s — yet, as the second oldest family-owned brewery in the U.S., its roots are exceedingly deep.
To accommodate the understandable interest in its historical past, Schell’s Brewery has placed an accessible decade-by-decade narrative on its website ( schellsbrewery.com/our-story ).
August Schell arrived in New Ulm with his bride Theresa in 1856, and in his first year of operation (along with Jacob Bernhardt, a former Mankato brewmaster) on the banks of the Cottonwood River, they made 200 barrels of beer.
The 1862 Dakota Conflict imperiled Schell’s, but according to the Schell’s history narrative, the brewery may have been spared in part because of Theresa’s previous kindness and generous food distribution to the area’s Dakota people.
By 1878, arthritis was affecting August Schell’s ability to work (he died at age 63 in 1891), so in 1883 the Schells’ oldest son, Adolph, stepped in to run the brewery; Otto, the youngest Schell son, served as bookkeeper.
The famous Schell mansion, constructed in 1885 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is surrounded by formal gardens and a deer park.
Following Adolph Schell’s move to California, Otto took the company reins. Under Otto’s direction, Schell’s produced 9,000 barrels of beer annually by 1892. Otto’s sister Emma Marti and her husband George joined the business in 1898, and Marti descendants have been involved with Schell’s operations ever since. Schell’s is currently on its sixth generation, with Jace Marti having become a brewmaster in 2010.
Notably, Schell’s bought its former Minnesota rival, Grain Belt Beer, in 2002—an acquisition that made Schell’s Minnesota’s largest brewery in terms of production.
Between Prohibition and the subsequent slump of the 1960s and ‘70s that sunk other area breweries (see above), Schell’s has not escaped adversity. But by building on its family and brewing traditions and innovating when necessary, it’s found a recipe for brewing success that seems to have Schell’s well on its path to a bicentennial anniversary in 2060.
“Our Story” at schellsbrewery.com was the primary source for these details. For more information, visit schellsbrewery.com. Freelance writer/collaborative pianist Jane Turpin Moore grew up in the Mankato area and is now based in Northfield. She blogs at timeformoore566445504. wordpress.com and fields emails at jturpinmoore@gmail. com.
With the arrival of July, we find ourselves in the midst of a scorching summer season.
As women who appreciate both comfort and fashion, let’s conquer the heatwave with our own unique style. Get ready to discover practical and chic solutions that will keep you feeling cool, confident, and fabulous throughout the hot summer days.
Lightweight Fabrics: When it comes to battling the heat, lightweight fabrics are your secret weapon. Think breathable wonders like linen, cotton, and chiffon. These fabrics allow for proper ventilation, keeping you comfortable and stylish. Opt for a flowy linen sundress or a cotton skirt that lets your skin breathe. And
don’t forget the elegance of trendy chiffon, with its sheer beauty and airy feel. Stay cool and stylish all summer long!
Flowy Silhouettes: Tight and restrictive clothes have no place in a heatwave. Embrace the beauty of flowy silhouettes that allow for air circulation and freedom of movement. Picture yourself in billowing maxi skirts, wide-leg pants, or loose-fitting dresses that keep you feeling comfortable and looking effortlessly glamorous. Let the warm breeze brush your skin as you strut your stuff!
Sun Protection: Looking stylish while protecting yourself from the sun is a must. Shield yourself from harmful rays with fashionable accessories. Opt for a wide-brimmed hat to protect your face and add a touch of glamour to your look. Try a pair of oversized sunglasses that not only block UV rays but also make a bold fashion statement. And don’t forget to accessorize with a lightweight scarf to protect your neck and shoulders while adding a pop of
style. Stay sun-safe and fabulous!
Minimalism: When the temperatures rise, simplicity is key. Embrace minimalistic fashion choices that shine elegance and effortlessness. Clean lines, neutral colors, and lightweight accessories are the way to go. Think of a crisp white linen shirt paired with flowy beige capris or a simple, lightweight dress in a soft hue. Keep your accessories subtle yet impactful, like delicate gold jewelry or a straw bag. Let your natural beauty shine and be the epitome of understated chic.
Layering Techniques: Layering can still be a part of your summer style arsenal, even in a heatwave. The key is to do it strategically with lightweight and breathable fabrics. Layering adds dimension and interest to your outfits without causing discomfort. Opt for a sheer kimono over a camisole or tie a lightweight cardigan around your waist for a casual yet stylish touch. Master the art of layering and create a look that is both fashionable and functional.
Smart Color Choices: Color can play a clever role in beating the heat. Opt for lighter hues like pastels and whites that reflect sunlight instead of absorbing it. These colors will help keep you feeling cooler and more refreshed. Embrace the lightness of a mint green sundress or the crispness of a white linen top. Stand out from the crowd and radiate summer vibes with your smart color choices.
As we conclude, remember to embrace lightweight fabrics, flowy silhouettes, and smart sun protection accessories to create looks that keep you cool, comfortable, and effortlessly chic. From minimalistic fashion choices to creative layering techniques, let your personal style shine through and make a statement. Summer is the perfect time to showcase your impeccable taste and embrace your unique beauty. So go out there, enjoy the sunshine, and rock your summer wardrobe with grace and flair.
Stay fabulous, ladies.
hen you think of wine, California, France or Italy normally come to mind. But right here in Southern Minnesota, grapes have been planted, stomped and bottled for some of the finest wines in the country.
One of the most popular wineries across the region is Chankaska Creek Ranch, Winery and Distillery, located right outside of Kasota between Mankato and St. Peter.
Chankaska officially opened to the public in 2012. Since then, it’s grown into an awardwinning brand, which has become very popular in this cold-climate region.
Kelsey Long is the Marketing Manager for Chankaska.
“We have about 15 acres of vines that we source our grapes from, we also buy grapes from local growers around the area, allowing us to produce more. We also import a small percentage of grapes from California and Washington State for the varietals that we can’t grow here,” Long added. “All the wine we make is made on the property! If we import grapes, we will import the grape or the juice, and do all the processing in our cellar on the production floor. “
Long said there’s been a collaborative plan to help Minnesota wineries thrive.
“The University of Minnesota has done a
Wfantastic job with its cold-climate program. With the release of the Marquette grape in 2006 which has been easy to work with and grow in this climate, Minnesota wineries have really become a force to be reckoned with. We can still use grapes like Cabernet and Merlot, and blend them with cold-climate grapes like Marquette and Frontenac, to make amazing wines,” Long said.
When it comes to Chankaska wines, Long said there are several things that make them stand out from the crowd.
“We set our quality standards very high from the initial planting of the vines to the winemaking and bottling process. Our products are made from local sources and we have provided our production team with the most advanced tools to produce a high-quality product,” Long said.
But Long said it is the ground and scenery of the Ranch that is the real show-stopper for many patrons.
“We have over 25 acres of vines, walking trails, sculpture strolls, and native flowers and plants. With multiple sites for ceremonies and receptions, live music every Friday and Saturday night, along with complimentary s’mores around the bonfire, you are going to keep wanting to come back.”
Chankaska has also seen significant growth through the last decade.
“We started as a winery making wines and quickly ventured into becoming a small-batch distillery and distilling spirits and making Kreme’s, one of our most popular products. We have released a new food menu this summer that pairs perfectly with our wine offerings. While specializing in wood-fired pizzas, we have come to offer new items such as Seoul Tacos, Granola, specialized desserts, and more,” Long said.
They also host many entertainment events, concerts and parties throughout the year. This summer, Long said, they are excited to focus on weddings and helping to create special memories with couples and their family and friends.
“Chankaska is a beautiful place to bring
friends and family, spend an afternoon or evening walking around the grounds and listen to live music. We now offer a brunch menu available from 11-3 pm Friday-Sunday, and a special Bloody Mary Flight, featuring all different spirits, from 11-2 pm Friday – Sunday. Make sure to stop out and visit us this summer,
and grab a glass of wine or signature cocktail from the spirits bar as you stroll our grounds and see everything we have to offer,” Long said.
Another beautiful winery is Indian Island, located just outside Janesville.
Founded in 2010, this winery is a family-run business, owned by Ray and Lisa Winter in partnership with son Tom, daughter Angie, and daughter-in-law Angela.
Their winery has a rich history that connects the past to the present.
“Our winery was built on a site once used by Native Americans as a summer hunting camp,” Ray Winter said. “Teeming with wildlife, the land was once nearly 100 percent surrounded by water. Throughout past years, many artifacts have been found, keeping us intrigued by the history of these grounds.”
The vineyard currently covers over 14 acres with over 6,000 vines. They have 17 different varieties and are adding more every year.
The grapes include cold hardy varieties such as Frontenac, La Crescent, Marquette, St. Croix, Brianna and many others.
“We offer wine, beer, wine slushies, wine cocktails, many food options and live music,” Winter said. “We have a large selection of very good wines. Our wines are made from all Minnesota grown wines, locally grown. We have large indoor and outdoor space, the best live music around and you can see beautiful sun ets from our large outdoor patios. We have about 30 employees and are always adding new events and special things to do . There is no better place to enjoy great wine, music and food in a totally relaxed venue. All are welcome,” Winter added.
Ashley Hanley is a wife and mom of three young kids in North Mankato. When she’s not handing out snacks or kissing boo-boos, you can find her cheering on her favorite Minnesota sports teams. She is a firm believer they will win a championship in her lifetime.
9 Mile Corner Vineyard, 61403 216th St, Eagle Lake
Aspelund Winery, 9204 425th St., Kenyon Cannon River Winery, 421 Mill St. W., Cannon Falls
Chankaska Creek Ranch, Winery and Distillery, 1179 E. Pearl St., Kasota
Indian Island Winery, 18018 631st Ave., Janesville
Javens Family Winery, 20011 589th Ave, Mankato
Montgomery Orchard, 15953 State Highway 99, Montgomery
Morgan Creek Vineyards and Winery, 3707 478th Ave, New Ulm
Mousse Sparkling Wine Company, 115 1st St. E, Jordan
Next Chapter Winery, 16945 320th St., New Prague
Salem Glen Winery, 5211 60th Ave. SW, Rochester
Three Oak Vineyards and Winery, 73505 225th St., Albert Lea
Vintage Escapes Winery, 8950 Dodd Rd., Kilkenny
Whitewater Wines, 10832 Fischer Hill Dr., Plainview
brought me and my guitar around and taught me how to ask for shows and instilled in me a confidence that I’ll forever carry with me. She was and continues to be an incredible example of self-advocacy and insufferably perusing your passions.
Who/what did you listen to early on that influenced who you are as an artist? So much Jewel. She was everything to me. I started as a kid with her guitar and that was largely in part because I wanted to be just like Jewel.
I’d like to say that a woman’s physical appearance has no bearing on her achievements and successes, but we all know that isn’t true. It’s hard enough to deal with objectification when you aren’t in the public eye. Not to mention, the entertainment industry is notoriously hard on women when it comes to their appearance. What are your thoughts/feelings on this?
I struggle endlessly with my physical appearance. I think every artist socialized as woman does. We have been indoctrinated wholly into the tenet that we are only worth as much as our physical appearance. We’ve been taught it’s our currency as a female-bodied person. And all we can do is call it out, recognize it, address it within ourselves every day to combat it. Because I am more than my size, my frizzy hair, my big feet. And it is not fair that my physical insecurities are often among the first thoughts of the day. But there is a lot of great work being done by courageous figureheads that will hopefully change that reality for future generations of woman-identifying artists. And when I feel bad for not fitting into my pre-baby jeans, I remind myself of how healthy I am, strong my muscles and bones are, how miraculous my body is for creating and housing a human, and how as an artist with a platform, I would never want another new mother looking at my photos, seeing me (miraculously) back to my pre-baby frame and being angry at themselves for not “snapping back” themselves. There are almost NO celebrity new moms who embrace their new body in its rightfully robust form. And I am no celebrity but I would like to represent that which I would like to see myself. And I would love to see an artist take the stage proudly in her postpartum form with no shame and no excuses.
The Minnesota music scene is flush with outstanding talent. I’m constantly blown away by the diversity and high quality of the music made here, and made by artists from here. It is truly one of the reasons I love living in this state.
And, of course, I have my favorites. And when I say “favorites”, I mean there are artists that I listen to over and over again until I know their catalog (or at least a most of it) as if it were a part of me. They are with me when I drive to work to get me motivated for the day They are with me on my drive home to help me come down from the stresses of the day. They are there when I need a dose of self-confidence, when I need a bit of a cry, or when I just need to yell it out.
One such artist is Your Smith (previously known as Caroline Smith, or Caroline Smith and the Goodnight Sleeps). As with most artists I follow, I first heard her music on The Current. The gateway song for me was “Magazine” from the 2013 album “Half About Being a Woman.” This was during the “Caroline Smith”
era.
I was so taken by the song, I had to go for a deeper dive. I bought the CD (yep, something most of us still did in 2013) and began my ritual incessant playing of it until it melded with my very being. A couple of EPs later (“Bad Habit” in 2018 and “Wild Wild Woman” in 2019), and I’m still hooked. Your Smith is one of my confidence-boosting go-tos. Her music reminds me to be strong, to be unapologetically myself, and that being a real woman is a good thing. The saying goes, “never meet (or in this case, email) your heroes”. But you know what? Sometimes they are just as gracious and smart and insightful as you hoped they would be. My objective for this interview was simply to ask one of my favorite musical artists in the whole world things that I wanted to know. So without further ado...
Did you grow up in Minnesota?
I moved to Detroit Lakes, MN with my mom when I was 9. Until then I lived in Columbus OH and still have family there.
How did making music start for you?
I grew up in a musical family, my dad taught me and my brother to play guitar when we
were kids and my brother forced me to play songs on the guitar that he was learning guitar solos to i.e. Wonderwall and Free Bird. That kinda blossomed into me writing my own songs as an angsty pre-teen in lieu of keeping a diary.
How did you know it was something you wanted to pursue?
My mom found out I was writing all these angsty songs about unrequited love and bratty friend fights and really coached me on how to advocate for my artistry and run a small business. She
I had read, that when you “went solo” it was mostly just a name change and your band stayed primarily the same. Is that accurate?
Just Arlen and Jesse. They were with me for years. When I changed my artist name to Your Smith, we finally parted ways. They went on to pursue other projects and passions, and I needed to discover my own voice outside of the complete comfort and generous support of their company and companionship. We all needed to grow and find our own paths. They are thriving and we all still keep in touch. They’ll always be family.
What does it mean/how important is it to have the same musicians around for the long haul?
I think you could argue both sides. When I look back at my modest career with no big hits and no huge breaks, I look back with such gratitude and warmth at all of the memories I have traveling the world with my best friends. I have zero regrets. Maybe I missed some opportunities for growth either artistically or career-wise, but those boys were fundamental in the most influential years as a young person. Their friendship and the massive amount of hours we spent laughing, talking, butting heads, and hugging it out undoubtedly shaped the woman I’ve become and I’m so grateful our paths got to cross in this little lifetime. Truly excellent humans who blessed me with truly irreplaceable memories.
It seemed like you had a pretty solid thing going on in Minneapolis and then you made the move to California. What made you decide to make the move?
I signed with a publishing company out in LA and it just felt like the perfect time to grow and learn and push myself outside of my comfort zone. I am SO GLAD I did. I’ll cherish my years in LA as some of the best in my life while also being hands down the hardest. I got to become a professional songwriter and grow as an artist way beyond what I ever thought I was capable of. But only after a complete existential crisis and spiritual reckoning that lasted about 18 months. It was terrifying going through it but I came out the other side with a firm sense of self, boundaries that have since become sacred, and confidence that led to the creation of Your Smith.
According to your IG page, it was the pandemic that moved you back to Minnesota to hunker down with family. I know the pandemic was really tough on the live music industry. How did the pandemic affect your career?
It was tough when everything ground to a halt and being violently untethered from the only career I’ve ever known. Instead of trying to hold on tight, churning out tik tok videos and concerts from my couch and pedaling innocuous charities, I decided to just throw my hands up and walk away. I’m (now) so very grateful for the time and space I got to leave music for 3 years. I had been doing music professionally since I was 17 years old and getting to meet the Caroline that exists outside of a musical persona or social media presence was the most refreshing and amazing things. What a gift. I got to pursue other passions and interests—I went back to school, I got married, I renovated a duplex, we had a baby, we bought a bar, we moved to Stillwater. It’s been hectic and beautiful and crazy and unbelievable.
I was so excited to see that you were headlining Midwest Music Fest in Winona this spring. How did it go? Positives? Negatives? Surprises?
It was so fun! I was really extending myself grace in preparation for that show. Allowing myself to get back into music slowly and with no expectations. But that show went wayyyy better than I expected. I got to play with a band again and they were so amazing. Being on stage truly felt like coming home. The mic felt weightless in my hand and I felt like a collision of my pre-baby self and mother-self finally took place. It was momentous.
Do you have any plans to do more shows in the near future?
Nothing solid to share but there are shows in the works. The most important thing right now when it comes to music is trying to find a new path forward that holds space for my new identity as a mom. My family is everything to me right now and these are precious years I want to hold delicately. So finding a way music can cradle that truth is what I’m working on at the moment.
wner Alexa Swindell operates Nolabelle Kitchen + Bar. The venue is named after her greatgrandmother, Nola Belle (Belle for short), who was a restaurant entrepreneur in downtown Detroit, Michigan in the 1940s and 50s.
After retiring and selling her three restaurants in the early 60s, she purchased a hotel, a cluster of lakefront rental cabins, and her fourth restaurant in Northern Michigan on the shores of Lake Huron.
“My father and uncle were raised working and playing in and around the restaurant and hotel, and while hospitality might literally run in my genes, I’ve always worked in restaurants, starting at the young age of 13. After moving to Mankato, in 2011, I started fantasizing about opening a restaurant to call my own. After several years of daydreaming, I used my busi-
Oness acumen to turn that dream into a business plan, and that business plan into reality, opening Nolabelle in July 2020,” said Swindell.
Some of the key people on Alexa’s team are: Mike Silva, executive chef; Nate Meyer, sous chef; Melyssa Donovan, service manager; Oscar De Leon, kitchen manager; and Lucas Murra, bar manager.
Nolabelle offers a full-service sit-down brunch every Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., with lunch and dinner served daily.
Some brunch features include Pain Perdu: New Orleans-inspired French Toast made with thick cut ciabatta bread soaked in Grand Marnier and vanilla custard; Avocado Toast, Wild Mushroom, Burrata Toast, Chicken and Waffles; Hand- breaded and buttermilk fried-to-order chicken: Served on top of a cheddar cheese stuffed Belgium waffle, topped with spicy honey; Yogurt Parfait (with a crème brûlée crust), house- made Biscuits with Gravy, Cheesy Grits, Eggs, and more.
Lunch features include soups, salads and sandwiches, such as the house favorite
Schnitzel Cubano, a rustic German take on a traditional Cuban sandwich with shredded ham, pretzel-breaded pork schnitzel, melted brie fondue, stone ground mustard, dill pickles served on grilled pressed ciabatta bread.
Dinner features include Butter Baked Walleye, Spaghetti a La Carbonara, Steak and Frites, Braised Beef Short Ribs, Cajun Shrimp and Grits, Blackened Salmon, to name just a few.
Of course, it doesn’t stop at supper time.
“Most importantly, don’t forget our Butter Cake for dessert: an individual 4-inch cake made with butter cake batter and a dollop of cheesecake in the center, crunchy turbinado sugar crust, house-made whipped cream and sweetened strawberries.” Alexa explained.
Nolabelle highlights seasonal, local ingredients in all of its dishes and specialty craft cocktails, which allows them to update and change the menu a few times throughout the year.
The dogfriendly patio stretches along Front Street, inviting guests to enjoy the spring and summer months in the fresh outdoor air (and be entertained by the pedestrians and passersby frolicking along Front Street). Exceptional Guest Service is one of Nolabelle’s three essen-
tial pillars of excellence.
They strive to provide the greatest service possible, from the host greeting each guest at the front door, to the bar and waitstaff, and even the culinary team making guest visits on the floor. Located in the agricultural epicenter of the nation, Nolabelle Kitchen + Bar aspires to deliver traditional American cuisine with a rustic twist, using local ingredients from partners throughout the Midwest and Plains States, including Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Alexa and staff feature innovative menu dishes and specialty craft cocktails, without being intimidating.
“In July 2023, Nolabelle celebrates its third anniversary. It still amazes me every day that our exceptional staff continues to love their work and our community so greatly supports us and what we do.
Opening this restaurant was the biggest and most nerve-racking, life-changing risk that I ever considered taking, but after these three amazing years, I would most assuredly do it all over again”— Alexa Swindell.
Ihave a unique blend of friends, and there seems to be an unusually large percentage of them that are disaster magnets.
You know, the kind of people you meet for coffee and wake up having to ask the locals, “Where exactly am I?” I don’t know why I attract these high drama folks (because I’m not like that at all), but rest assured, I know to be prepared when we’re going to rendezvous.
For example, if my pal Edgar is coming to town, I know to sleep a few extra hours a night for about a month in an attempt to boost my immune system. I update my passport, get a few quick immunizations, and send a note to family reminding them about my preferences for organ donation. I know once I pack a snake venom kit and add the names of a few facial plastic surgeons, as well as a 24-hour mechanic, into my contacts, I’m good to go.
I remember the time we ended up swimming in a public fountain after too many Blue Hawaiians and someone called the police. They didn’t see as much humor in it as we did. Another event involved Edgar breaking his toe while we
were skinny dipping. Not to be confused with the night where I got the wind knocked out of me after I fell over a hostess stand at a restaurant. All events were totally his fault.
Edgar’s sordid history is a plethora of car repairs and hospital visits. He has had to replace engines on cars he borrowed, install new toilet tanks he fell into and broke, and once locked himself in the plane’s overhead compartment. I believe that particular event is now part of a certain airline’s employee training manual.
Jean is also a close friend/disaster magnet. She’s the most exquisitely groomed person you would ever want to meet. Of course, the fact that she went to an amusement park dressed in a linen suit made perfect sense to me. She was excited to take her niece on the giant floating tire ride — basically bumper cars on water.
As Jean was getting helped out of the ride in her everyday couture, she fell in. The water was a mix of effluent (for those of you who don’t know, that means gray water) and decades of spilled motor oil. Standing 4-feet deep in black sludge, she started laughing so hard that neither the park attendants nor her husband
could hoist her out of the drink. She had on a full body girdle and was basically mummified. Her niece left the park immediately to avoid the inevitable social banishment that was sure to come after word got around.
And who didn’t love the time Jean was picking up a catering order for a dinner party she was throwing. The caterer’s shop was closed but for some reason, they had left the door unlocked. She went in to get her platter of curried chicken salad and set off the silent alarm. Law enforcement was close behind, while I was at her home entertaining her guests and mixing drinks for the hungry crowd.
Then there was the holiday party where she hired a local Santa. He ended up stealing from her and passing out on the front lawn after over-egg-nogging. Another thing I love about Jean was if we were out having a cocktail, and I left to use the restroom, she would send a drink to a guy and tell them I was interested in them. Thanks to her, I spent an entire evening with a guy wearing black, fringed gloves and answering to the name, Gemini.
What started as dinner with my pal Larry
resulted in an evening spent in the ER. A night with Gina meant days of recovery after dancing and singing so hard at a concert that I had bruises and lar-yngitis. Brad helped wrap my tail when I dressed up as a mermaid and was helpful chatting with the police when they arrived. Anyone starting to see a pattern here?
I know that I will never achieve any great success in politics or pass the FBI entry exam and my name may pop up on a No-Fly list because of these same folks. These are my friends. These are the people I surround myself with so I look more normal. One could almost call me “a positive influence” when these folks are around. They have photos and dirt on me that they would sell in the blink of an eye. I guess that’s why I call them friends. I’m afraid what would happen if I didn’t.
y introduction to beer stretches back decades. To my dad and uncles, who swigged bottles of Schell’s Deer Brand beer while playing cards at extended family gatherings or after a hot summer afternoon of baling hay. This was long before craft beer became a thing.
Back then the men were simply loyal to a regional beer business, family-owned August Schell Brewing Company in nearby New Ulm. That 163-year-old brewery became the first to develop craft beers in Minnesota beginning in the 1980s. Beer has come a long ways in Minnesota with craft breweries popping up everywhere.
Schell’s has a second one, Starkeller, specializing in sour beers served in a dark German hall style taproom on the west side of New Ulm. The sours are aged in on-site 1936 cypress wood lagering tanks. I stopped once during my travels to the southwestern part of the state and enjoyed both the sours and the unique atmosphere.
Setting, for me, is part of the draw to a craft brewery. With so many breweries competing for customers, these brewers need to create not only great beer, but also a distinguishable experience. Brau Brothers Brewing Company in Marshall (originally located in Lucan, population 220, six miles from my childhood farm), for example, centers its taproom around a 1956 vintage fire truck. Beer flows from taps on the truck. Grab a meal, grab a beer and relax in this brewery which honors its rural roots with beer names like Thresher, Cultivate, Sheephead (the Brau family’s favorite card game), Ring Neck
MBraun Ale and more. My favorite early on, when I was introduced to craft beer, was Brau Brothers Strawberry Wheat, an American pale wheat. I’ve advanced to hoppier beers, favoring IPAs now.
Some 60 miles east of Marshall is another memorable small town brewery, this one housed in the former historic PIX Theater. Sleepy Eye Brewing Company, along US Highway 14 routing through the heart of this Brown County community, serves beer flights in movie reels. Not only is that a visual delight, but so is the taproom with exposed brick walls and partial original tile and wood floors. The whole place feels welcoming and more upscale than you might think possible in the middle of farm country. The brewery shares the space with Sleepy Eye Coffee Company, serving specialty coffee, pastries, sandwiches and salads.
In the more densely-populated southeastern region of Minnesota where I live,
there are a whole lot of craft breweries I’ve visited at least once: Mankato Brewery; Mineral Springs Brewery in Owatonna; Chapel Brewing in Dundas; Imminent Brewing in Northfield (where I once read an original beer-themed poem); Tanzenwald Brewing Company in Northfield; Montgomery Brewing; Giesenbrau Bier Company in New Prague; Reads Landing Brewing Company; and Lake Monster in St. Paul.
When I’m up in the Brainerd lakes area, my go-to brewery is 14 Lakes Craft Brewing Company in Crosslake, where a regular holding up one end of the bar advises other beer drinkers to “just call me Norm.” As in Norm on the hit TV sitcom “Cheers.” That’s part of the craft experience, too. Chatting it up with locals or other patrons while sipping and sampling good Minnesota-made craft beers. Cheers.
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Calendar events compiled by Philip Weyhe.
THURSDAY, JUN 29
Ace in the Whole - New Ulm-- 7-9 p.m., Grand Center for Arts & Culture, 210 N Minnesota St, New Ulm. Ace in the Whole plays American music and original tunes that range from bluegrass, blues, jazz, folk and western. Members include Tim Waters on guitar/banjo/ pedal steel, Mike Pengra on percussion, Dave Pengra on bass, and Kit Kildahl on guitar/harmonica.
Ginger Bones - Dundas-- 4-7 p.m., Keepsake Cidery, 135th St. East, Dundas. Ginger Bones is the talented trio of musicians hailing from both the North Shore and the Twin Cities.
SUNDAY, JUL 02
Homegrown Variety Show - Faribault-4-8 p.m., American Legion, 112 NE Fifth St., Faribault. A night of comedy, music, and fun as RCHS presents the “Homegrown Variety Show”. Community members, volunteers, and staff on stage all to help raise funds for the Historical Society.
Paradise Community Theatre’s 35thFaribault-- 7:30 p.m., Paradise Center for the Arts, 321 Central Ave N, Faribault. Come celebrate 35 years of wonderful theater including over 30 musical numbers by talented PCT actors. Shows 7:30 p.m. June 30 and July 1, plus 2 p.m. July 2. Tickets $14-$20.
SATURDAY, JUL 01
Ben Scruggs - Waseca-- 5 p.m., Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm, 41142 160th St, Waseca. Good acoustic vibes with your pizza.
FRIDAY, JUN 30
The Zillionaires - Northfield-- 6 p.m., Imminent Brewing, 519 Division Street South Unit 2. One of Imminent’s favorite hometown “house bands” is back at Imminent for a rousing good time, performing Wendy’s original music along with blues, country, roots, rock, and R&B.
July 4th Celebration - Elysian-- 12 a.m., The events runs over multiple days, starting with a pageant on June 29, medallion hunts on June 30, and a kids fishing content and Chamber street dance on Saturday. There are plenty more events Sunday, including a car show, flea market, live music and night-time fireworks. Monday features the fireman’s street dance with Smokescreen. And Tuesday includes a boat parade, kids activities and the grand parade.
Tyler Herwig - Owatonna-- 1-3 p.m., Foremost Brewing Cooperative, 131 W. Broadway St, Owatonna. One voice and six strings in the back of his truck is all it took to launch Tyler Herwig into one of the MidWest’s favorite acoustic artists.
A Sip of Whiskey - Kasota-- 6 p.m., The Blue Moon Bar & Grill, 300 S. Webster St., Kasota. Enjoy some acoustic rock.
Gary West - Kilkenny-- 2-5 p.m., Toy Box Saloon, 216 Kilkenny Rd., Kilkenny. Gary West is an American singer/songwriter who produces his own original music. He is an accomplished musician who was the drummer for multiple legendary country music icons.
TUESDAY, JUL 04
July celebrations in the region, it includes a parade at 10 a.m. with entertainment in the park throughout the afternoon, including, food and drinks, a beet tent, and of course reworks at dusk.
Owatonna Patriots Skies Fireworks Display-- 12 a.m., Free reworks day to celebrate Independence Day.
Lakefest - Waseca-- 12 a.m., Music all day and into the evening, a freedom run for humans and dogs, a bean bag tournament, food vendors, drinks, a boat parade, kids activities, and of course, reworks.
Wanamingo 4th of July-- 12 a.m., Don’t miss the Fire Department dance Monday night with The Dads Band, but the majority of the activity is Tuesday, including bounce houses, yard games, face painting, good vendors, drinks, a horseshoe tournament, music, the grand parade, a water ght, bean bags and keg throws, and the reworks at dusk.
Let us know! We may still be able to get an important event on one of our weekly pages that run in the newspapers.
Faribault Fireworks-- 10 p.m., Rice County Fairgrounds, 1814 Second Ave., Faribault. Free reworks display to celebrate Independence Day.
Cole Diamond - North eld-- 5:30-8 p.m., The Gardens of Castle Rock, 26601 Chippendale Ave., North eld. Mixing up an unlikely concoction of vintage rock & roll and outlaw country, Cole Diamond is, depending on when you ask, either the stage name for singer/songwriter Ryan Otte or the collective handle for Otte and his Band. $5 entrance fee.
Branded - West Concord-- 6:30 p.m., Berne Wood-Fired Pizza, 23148 County Hwy. 24, West Concord. Great pizza, country music, friends, and sunshine. Pizzas can be purchased upon arrival or in advance on Eventbrite.
North eld Fireworks Display-- 10 p.m., Free reworks display to celebrated Independence Day.
Mark Joseph - North eld-- 6-7 p.m., Way Park, 720 1st St. West, North eld. A Minnesotabased guitarist who performs solo and with numerous groups. The blues is front and center, and Joseph explores both his expansive songwriting skills, and his explosive ability to make the guitar sing, cry, or challenge fans to question what is possible with a pick and some strings.
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Send details to editor@ southernminnscene.com.
SoMinn Scene Farmers Markets-- 12 a.m., Southern Minn Scene Region. The Cannon Valley Farmers Market in Faribault runs 4-7 p.m. Thursdays in Central Park; the Faribault Farmers Market runs 7 a.m. to noon Saturdays in Central Park.The Owatonna Farmers Market runs 7 a.m. to noon Saturdays in Central Park. Riverwalk Market Fair in North eld takes place 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays in Bridge Square; North eld Farmers Market takes place 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays, plus 9-11 a.m. Saturdays, at Riverside Park.The Waseca County Farmers Market runs 8 a.m. to noon at the Waseca County Fairgrounds.The Le Sueur Farmers Market runs 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays on N. Second Street.The St. Peter Farmers Market runs 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays in the Co-op parking lot.
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Artistic Elements - Northfield-- 12-5 p.m., Arts Center of Saint Peter, 315 S. Minnesota Ave., St. Peter. A collaborative invitational featuring the work of Jennie Autonoe, Patsy Dew, Gail Gates, Lucy Lemay and Becky Jokela. On view through July 8.
58 Belvedere + The Nunnery - Northfield-6:30 p.m., Northfield Train Depot, 204 Third St. W. 58 Belvedere features guitarist Dean Granros, hailed by the New York Times as “a visionary oddball,” along with musical chameleons Dave Power on drums and Pat Keen on bass. Sarah Elstran makes music under the name The Nunnery that bridges the gap between bright-eyed pop composition and hands-on atmospheric live layering of voice.
Kenyon Farmers Market-- 4-7 p.m., First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 309 Forest St., Kenyon. Homegrown, homemade and handcrafted items shared by vendors around the church parking lot. Occurs the first and third Thursdays June-September.
Pride in the Park - Owatonna-- 12-5 p.m., Morehouse Park, 350 School Street, Owatonna. A number of activities celebrate and honor pride in the local community.
Bruce Springsteen Tribute - Waseca-- 6-8 p.m., Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm, 41142 160th St, Waseca. Covering all your favorite Springsteen songs. You won’t want to miss out on this fun evening full of high energy. $10 suggested donation.
SUNDAY, JUL 09
Extravaganza - Owatonna-- 12-4 p.m., Village of Yesteryear, 1431 Austin Rd, Owatonna. The Steele County Historical Society Extravaganza is an annual event that celebrates the heritage and history of Steele County’s past. Started in 1987, the Extravaganza features a wide variety crafts, demonstrations, performances, games, delicious food and so much more.
Yoga on the Prairie - Faribault-- 5:30-6:30 p.m., River Bend Nature Center, 1000 Rustad Road, Faribault. Enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of yoga and nature with Yoga Reset outside at River Bend Nature Center. Sign up for one class, or register for all three for a discount. In the event of rain, class will be held inside.
Siama’s Congo Roots - Faribault-- 10-11 a.m., Central Park, 430 2nd Ave NW, Faribault. For this very special morning concert, Siama Matuzungidi will be joined by his full band - singer Dallas Johnson, bassist Jim Anton, drummer Greg Schutte and keyboardist Thomas West.
Pioneer Games and Chores - Faribault-12-1 p.m., Rice County Historical Society, 1814 NW 2nd Ave., Faribault. Games the way pioneers played them. This program is geared toward children 6 and up. They will have a chance to play old games and try out chores and equipment from Yesteryear.
Shasta Kings - Owatonna-- 6:30-8:30 p.m., Mineral Springs Brewery, 111 N Walnut Ave, Owatonna. The Shasta Kings are Scott Rogness (guitar/lead vocals) and Bruce Watts (guitars/vocals) playing a wide variety of songs from classic rock to new country.
Bill McGrath & The Singers - Dundas-- 4-7 p.m., Keepsake Cidery, 135th St. East, Dundas. Some banjo and acoustic tunes at the cidery.
Rain Kings - Janesville-- 5:30-8:30 p.m., Indian Island Winery, 18010 631st Ave, Janesville. Enjoy live music with your wine.
Wade Snake - Owatonna-- 7-9 p.m., Foremost Brewing Cooperative, 131 W. Broadway St, Owatonna. Acoustic rock, country, alternative and original music.
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The Frothy Band - Northfield-- 6 p.m., Imminent Brewing, 519 Division Street South Unit 2. Imminent is thrilled to invite back its favorite local Irish musicians - Frothy Band - playing lively, unscripted Irish tunes.
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Chris Holm - Faribault-- 7-10 p.m., 10,000 Drops, 28 4th St NE, Faribault. Chris Holm is a country blues musician based in Minneapolis. A fingerstyle guitar picker and harmonica player, Chris channels the high-spirited liveliness of Charley Patton, thumping on his suitcase drum, attacking his guitar strings with abandon, and shouting along in a gravelly howl, later to channel the lonesome sounds of a weeping slide guitar and a blue yodel.
Bruce
-
-- 2-5 p.m., Vintage Escapes Winery & Vineyard, 8950 Dodd Rd., Kilkenny. Bruce’s shows feature a huge list of classic hits where everyone attending knows every song. Many styles of music are included, and by trading off on guitar and piano, he is able to offer a very diverse evening of entertainment.
MONDAY, JUL 10
Farm to Table - Kasota-- 6 p.m., Chankaska Creek Ranch, Winery and Distillery, 1179 E. Pearl St., Kasota. Chankaska proudly source ingredients from local farms into our kitchen to create unique, in-season menu items. The Chankaska executive chef has curated a menu for this event to showcase Cedar Crate Farms.
Classic Car Roll In - Henderson-- 5-8 p.m., Fire up that classic car and roll in to Henderson for one of the biggest shows in the region in a beautiful downtown. Takes place weekly on Tuesdays through September.
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WEDNESDAY, JUL 12
Joshua Schmidt - Northfield-- 3:30-8 p.m., The Gardens of Castle Rock, 26601 Chippendale Ave., Northfield. Joshua Schmidt hails from the small town of Lutsen, where he had plenty of time to teach himself how to play the guitar at a young age. Since the beginning, Joshua has worked hard to fulfill his dreams as a nationally acclaimed singer/songwriter earning over 12 million streams as the frontman of his bands Step Rockets and Cryote. $5 entrance fee.
Fred the Bear - Owatonna-- 6-8 p.m., Mineral Springs Brewery, 111 N Walnut Ave, Owatonna. Fred the Bear is a classic rock/alternative band known for their rich harmonies, emotive dynamics and original songs. FTB’s music reflects on life’s promises and disappointments through personal crafted lyrics and driving rhythms. Mixed within their originals is a blend of music from other Midwest artists, currently touring groups and classic bands.
Collective Unconscious - West Concord--
6:30 p.m., Berne Wood-Fired Pizza, 23148 County Hwy. 24, West Concord. Formed in the year 2000, Collective Unconscious has become one of Minnesota’s premiere groups. Singer/ songwriters Jeff Engholm, Nathan “Nature” Nesje, and Muggsy Lauer make up the core of the group with their vocal harmonies and are joined by composer/keyboardist George Maurer and drummer Scott Chabot.
Waseca County Free Fair-- Waseca County Fairgrounds. All the usual fixings of a county fair, including food and drinks, live music, a carnival, animals, kids activities, races, car shows, and much more. Runs through the weekend.
Dueling Pianos - New Prague-- 6-9 p.m., Next Chapter Winery, 16945 320th St., New Prague. High energy mix of comedy, music and extensive audience participation makes this a show unlike any other. Clap along, laugh along and sing along with Dave & Ted, Deuces Wild. Proceeds benefit LS-H Little Giants Preschool.
Tim Goodwin - Faribault-- 7-10 p.m., 10,000 Drops, 28 4th St NE, Faribault. Tim Goodwin is a singer/songwriter from Northfield. He plays original songs and some signature covers. His musical roots are in folk and Americana.
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Mixed Nuts - Faribault-- 10-11 a.m., Central Park, 430 2nd Ave NW, Faribault. Mixed Nuts (aka Mark & Lori) have tickled funny bones throughout the region with their special blend of hilarious hijinks, guaranteed to produce side-splitting laughter in ages 4-94. This performance will be ASL interpreted.
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The Lone Canary - New Ulm-- 7-9 p.m., Grand Center for Arts & Culture, 210 N Minnesota St, New Ulm. The Lone Canary is a Folk/Americana duo comprised of Rockford, IL musicians Jesse Fox and Heather Camacho. They have an acoustic, rootsy sound echoing the styles of legendary folk artists.
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WEDNESDAY,
Hot Jazz for Decent People - St. Peter-- 7-8:30 p.m., Minnesota Square Park, 1000 S. Minnesota Ave., St. Peter. A series of performances in the park starts with the Masa Ishikawa Trio. Ishikawa is a visiting professor of music at Gustavus and is an expert on the keys.
Louis and Dan & the Invisible Band - Dundas-- 4-7 p.m., Keepsake Cidery, 135th St. East, Dundas. The duo makes clever, cathy music for kids and their families. College students also seem to like them.
Secret Garden Tour - Owatonna-- 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Owatonna Art Center, 435 Garden View Ln, Owatonna. Gardners have ordered their seeds and are off to the nurseries to put the finishing touches on the 2023 garden. This could be the year that you want to show off your garden or know of a garden. Floral gardens, vegetable gardens, pollinator gardens, etc. are all to be included.
Trevor & Mary with Dan LowingerNorthfield-- 3:30-8 p.m., The Gardens of Castle Rock, 26601 Chippendale Ave., Northfield. From parking lots to patios, breweries to barrooms, the duo lay down a mighty groove, embraced by music lovers across Minnesota who can’t help but love this potent combo of roots rock and country crooning.
Walker Hayes - Mankato-- 7 p.m., Vetter Stone Amphitheater, 309 W. Rock St., Mankato. A major country act brings his show to Southern Minnesota. Tickets from $33-$73. Purchase online.
unWINED - Kasota-- 4-8 p.m., Chankaska Creek Ranch, Winery and Distillery, 1179 E. Pearl St., Kasota. Music by Tyler Herwig in the creekside tent. Food available to purchase from S&B BBQ and On Every Corner Dessert. Bar also available at tent.
Midwest Farewell and Fred the BearWaseca-- 1:30-7 p.m., Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm, 41142 160th St, Waseca. A couple of great bands to enjoy with your pizza.
Russell Franek - Kilkenny-- 2-5 p.m., Toy Box Saloon, 216 Kilkenny Rd., Kilkenny. Acoustic and full band music.
Helen Forsythe & Alissa Jacobsen - Northfield-- 5:30-7:30 p.m., Imminent Brewing, 519 Division Street South Unit 2. Local bluegrass and folk artists Helen Forsythe and Alissa Jacobsen are back for their third-Wednesdays residency at Imminent. Join for a chill evening of beautiful tunes by this talented duo.
Super Duos - Faribault-- 7:30 p.m., Paradise Center for the Arts, 321 Central Ave N, Faribault. Super Duos stars two veteran musicians, Pat Balder and Glen Everhart, bring their one-ofa-kind vocal blend — along with superb guitars, their bandmates, a good dose of comedy, and over 1,000 shows together — to deliver the greatest songs by the greatest musical duos of all time. Tickets $15-$25.
Gus’ Station Car Show - Owatonna-- 8 a.m.-12 p.m., Village of Yesteryear, 1431 Austin Rd, Owatonna. Gus’ Station Car Show is an annual event that brings the automobile to center stage. Featuring classic cars of all ages, new and old, domestics and imports.
Member Show
Reception - St. Peter-- 3-5 p.m., Arts Center of Saint Peter, 315 S. Minnesota Ave., St. Peter. Most of the work is for sale, and your purchase supports the artist and the Arts Center. And as if that isn’t enough, there will be pie.
TUESDAY, JUL 18
The Jamboyz - Janesville-- 5:30-8:30 p.m., Indian Island Winery, 18010 631st Ave, Janesville. Live music by Jamboyz performing upbeat music acoustically.
Ocho & Friends - Owatonna-- 7-9 p.m., Foremost Brewing Cooperative, 131 W. Broadway St, Owatonna. A versatile music group sure to entertain.
Houston and Beulah RueNorth Mankato-8 p.m.-12 a.m., NaKato, 253 Belgrade Ave., North Mankato. From Minneapolis, Houston brings their huge rock sounds to the Mankato area. Opening act Beulah Rue are a shoegaze/dream pop outfit from Southern Minnesota. Come out for an evening of beautiful noise. No cover charge.
Comedian DonB - Montgomery-- 9:15 a.m., Tri-City United Montgomery PK-8, 101 Second St. NE, Montgomery. DonB mixes comedy with unicycles, juggling and the art of illusion. He is a two-time national unicycling champion who has worked with The Variety II Review, Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus as well as Disneyland Corporation.
Minnesota Original Music Fest KickoffSt. Peter-- 6 p.m., Patrick’s on Third, 125 S. Third St., St. Peter. Music on the patio from The Cousins, Soul Folk Union and Bee Balm Fields.
Patchouli & Terra Guitarra - Northfield-- 6-7 p.m., Northfield Public Library, 210 Washington St., Northfield. Patchouli & Terra Guitarra is master guitarist Bruce Hecksel and singer-songwriter, guitarist Julie Patchouli. With 22 albums recorded and appearances on TV, film and radio programs around the world, the duo’s sound is a soulful fusion of blazing Spanish and World guitar instrumentals, heartstring tugging lyrics, lush vocal harmonies, and epic folk-rock anthems.
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have helped to propel Incognito to “favorite band” status throughout Southern Minnesota and surrounding regions.
Third Thursdays Downtown - Northfield-- 5-8 p.m., Northfield. An all ages event downtown. Each month we will feature live music, specials from the downtown shops & restaurants, family fun activities, and the carefully curated mix of fine art, crafts, cottage foods, and farmers market that Riverwalk Market Fair is known for.
Outdoor Oasis Yoga - Henderson-- 7-8 p.m., Ney Nature Center, 28238 Nature Center Ln, Henderson. Experience the calming of the mind and body with the gentle practice of hatha yoga. We will specifically be practicing a joints and glands series aimed at giving mobility to all parts of our body and paying particular attention to the immune system.
Bavarian Blast - New Ulm-- Brown County Fairgrounds, New Ulm. Four days of music, four days of food and fun. New Ulm’s largest festival. Come see over 20 bands and performances in four days.For details on parking, lodging, camping on the grounds, parade, band information, visit bavarianblast.com. The events runs July 20-23. Tickets online.
Songwriters in the Round - Northfield-7-11 p.m., Grand Event Center, 316 Washington St., Northfield. Come enjoy a variety of local artists showcasing their original work, and sharing stories of how those songs came to be. Free | All Ages.
Dazzling Dave YoYo Master - Faribault-- 10 a.m.-12 p.m., Central Park, 430 2nd Ave NW, Faribault. Dazzling
The Dan Duffy Orchestra - New Ulm-- 7-9 p.m., Grand Center for Arts & Culture, 210 N Minnesota St, New Ulm. The Dan Duffy Orchestra is an exciting new group from Mankato, Minnesota performing swing and Hot Club music from the 20s on up to today. A large part of their repertoire consists of original tunes which blend in nicely with their style.
YuWish Presents
Bipolxr & Friends
- Kasota-- 8 p.m.12 a.m., The Blue Moon Bar & Grill, 300 S. Webster St., Kasota. The name “BIPOLXR” alludes to the variety of genres and sounds contained in his discography as he attempts to blend influences from R&B, House, Hyperpop and Alternative Rap into his own style of music.
Waseca Garden Club. Pick up the program at The Bailey Lewer House. Lemonade and cookies also available there. Free program, but donations are appreciated.
Rice County Fair - Faribault-- Rice County Fairgrounds, 1814 Second Ave., Faribault. All the usual fixings of a county fair, including food and drinks, live music, a carnival, animals, kids activities, races, car shows, and much more. Runs through the weekend.
Gem Days - Owatonna-- 7 a.m.-3 p.m., Owatonna. Join for a weekend full of music, food, shopping, entertainment, kids activities and more.
Dave Schulte is a professional yo-yo performer and highly acclaimed champion who has circled the globe since 1998, thrilling audiences everywhere with his tricks and tips, all designed to entertain, educate, and illuminate the beauty of the growing sport of professional yo-yo. This performance will be ASL interpreted.
Summer Craft Show - Waseca-- 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Starfire Event Center, 206 2nd Ave SW, Waseca. Come see all the handcrafted, homemade items.
Goat Yoga - Waseca-- 5-8 p.m., Farmamerica, 7367 360th Ave, Waseca. A yoga instructor will lead you through a 45-minute yoga practice accompanied by our friendly guest goat herd visiting from LR Acres. When you’re finished, enjoy a 15-minute goat meet-and-greet followed by an optional tour of Farmamerica’s historic sites. All levels welcome.
Kenyon Farmers Market-- 4-7 p.m., First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 309 Forest St., Kenyon. Homegrown, homemade and handcrafted items shared by vendors around the church parking lot. Occurs the first and third Thursdays June-September.
3 Wheels & Ab - Dundas-- 4-9 p.m., Keepsake Cidery, 135th St. East, Dundas. A group of musicians who have fun playing several types of mostly Americana music.
TJ Brown - New Prague-- 5-8 p.m., Next Chapter Winery, 16945 320th St., New Prague.
TJ Brown provides easy listening music with some country, classic rock, and some oldies.
Minnesota Original Music Fest - St. Peter-11 a.m.-11 p.m., Minnesota Square Park, 1000 S. Minnesota Ave., St. Peter. The second annual festival will bring performers from across the state to rock the pavilion stage. Music goes from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. Musicians include Saturday headliner Silver Summer (indie rock) and Sunday headliner Ian Hilmer’s Drivestation (folk/ rock). You can bring your own drinks and food or go to the vendors on site. See the full lineup at mnomf.org.
Garden WalkWaseca-1-5 p.m., Bailey Lewer House, 315 Second Ave. NE, Waseca. Come enjoy a relaxing afternoon strolling through the participating gardens in the 2023 Waseca Garden Walk sponsored by the
Generation Gap - Janesville-- 5:30-8:30 p.m., Indian Island Winery, 18010 631st Ave, Janesville. Some acoustic music to go with your wine and food.
Joe & Vicki Price - Northfield-- 6 p.m., Imminent Brewing, 519 Division Street South Unit 2. The legendary Joe & Vicki Price join us once again to share their particular brand of joyous, rhythmic delta blues.
Street Talk - West Concord-- 6-8 p.m., Berne Wood-Fired Pizza, 23148 County Hwy. 24, West Concord. Conceived with one goal in mind: to entertain. Street Talk is a six-piece 80s, 90s and 2000s.
Nathan GrinerFaribault-7-9:55 p.m., 10,000 Drops, 28 4th St NE, Faribault. Toe tapping, foot stomping, hand clapping, songwriter. You got to just see this to believe this.
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Prairie Potluck and Ron & Steve - Waseca-- 1:30 p.m., Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm, 41142 160th St, Waseca. A musical band and duo to enjoy with your pizza.
MONDAY, JUL 24
Louis and Dan and the Invisible BandMontgomery-- 10 a.m., Montgomery Public Library. With their one-or-a-kind Invisible Band backing them up. Louis & Dan’s style of humor, clever word play, and musical talents deliver songs you’ll be humming all summer.
WEDNESDAY, JUL 26
Karibuni
African Music - St. Peter-10:30 a.m., St. Peter Library. All Ages. African music consists of much more than just African drumming!
Karibuni performers demonstrate music, drumming, songs, dance, storytelling, and the unique Congolese guitar style developed for Soukous (dance) music. Free event.
Kash and Khary - Northfield-- 6-7 p.m., Northfield Public Library, 210 Washington St., Northfield. Kashimana is a mother, musician, vocalist, composer, producer and teaching artist with a rich soulful blues voice that soars through their original compositions. The name Kashimana means ‘that’s their heart,’ and you can hear Kashimana’s heart beating in the compelling sound of their music, which is an exploration of Soul, R&B, Folk, Afro-funk and more.
Miss Myra Trio - Northfield-- 3:30-8 p.m., The Gardens of Castle Rock, 26601 Chippendale Ave., Northfield. Miss Myra is a threat on every level. Her golden voice will bring you from rock bottom to ecstasy and back while her driving guitar rhythm holds the Moonshiners together. Her style of hard-hitting swing guitar is reminiscent of Django Reinhardt.
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by Jamie Loftus
c.2023, Forge $26.99 320 pages
Your buns gotta be firm.
There’s no substitute: round, firm, and just-right squeezable; wide, but not excessive; and cleaved neatly and equally in half. Among life’s little pleasures, nice buns are important. As in the new book “Raw Dog” by Jamie Loftus, where else would you put your freshly-grilled hot dog?
Wieners, sausages, frankfurters, you probably grew up on that staple of summer picnics, loaded with relish and mustard. You’ve eaten countless hot dogs in your lifetime, at home, stadium, gas station, camp, fair, or street-side. But where will you find the best hot dog in America?
In 2021, in the middle of a pandemic, Jamie Loftus set off from New Mexico with a dog, a cat, a boyfriend, and a tiny budget to find out.
We like to think of hot dogs as a quintessential American food, she says, but the “hot dog is not American at all.” A tube of “meaty scraps in meaty casing” is actually an ancient thing from several cultures. We’ve just made it our own, in many ways across the country and through the decades.
The first hot dogs on Loftus’s journey were a “Sonoran hot dog” topped with bacon and beans, and a dog with vegetables and pasta rings in Albuquerque. Then we learn how hot dogs are made, and maybe you really don’t want to know.
A Coney dog in Tulsa was served on a wet bun. In Georgia, Loftus ate a boiled dog with beans and a dog “with strings.” She had a red hot in Florida, a “secondbest... dog” in Virginia, she got to see her ailing father, she fought with her boyfriend, and she had a papaya dog in New York. She was at a hot dog-eating contest on Coney Island, ate a “garbage plate” in Rochester, a Chicago dog in the Windy City, had dairy with her dog in Wisconsin, and scarfed down hot dogs in three different stadiums. And the very best, tastiest hot dog is...?
Says Loftus, “Everybody knows that.”
So what’ll you have? Little of this, a lot of that, mustard and pickles, some profanity, couple of laughs, some learning, and a road trip inside “Raw Dog,” that’s what. Let’s go back to the profanity: author and comedian Jamie Loftus is quick to ladle plenty of that in her book, just so you know. But also know that it matches a series of bad hotel rooms and intestinal issues that arise, a dying relationship and worry about her father, about all of which Loftus is appealingly, honestly forthcoming. If you’ve ever taken a road trip on a dime, you’ll understand everything, including the desperation of wondering if this was really such a good idea after all.
Add in great descriptions of authentic hot dog counters, sprinkle on the history of hot dogs and America, spoon on second-thoughts, drag it through the garden, and “Raw Dog” is a funny story about a trip you’ll be glad someone else took. If you like your hot dogs loaded, it’s a book you’ll relish.
edited by Kami Ahrens
c.2023, The University of North Carolina Press $25.00 288 pages
You can’t imagine life without your devices. Your cell phone, your computer: how else would you stay in touch, take photos, end arguments, keep documents? You need those links to civilization, you panic when you don’t have them. So what would you do, absent all modern conveniences? In “The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women,” edited by Kami Ahrens, you’ll find out.
Nearly sixty years ago, a “group of rowdy high school students” in a small town in Georgia “decided to create a literary magazine” filled with stories, poetry, and instruction from their elders in rural Appalachia. Every year since 1966, a new batch of students has gone back to collect more stories of life as it used to be.
This book, says editor Kami Ahrens, springs from “the Foxfire archives... going back to the roots of the
organization.” Here, Ahrens lets women tell their stories alone.
Land – both ownership and stewardship – rings loud in these narratives, with frequent remarks about loss of property through hard times, and nothing to pass on to future generations. Issues of transportation arise, too: many of these women remembered walking everywhere. Margaret Burrell Norton said she was a teenager when she saw her first car.
Though an occasional tale of homemade toys or silly pranks surfaces, most women spoke about working hard, with very little playtime. Hard work had history, too: Beulah Perry’s grandfather was a slave before she was born; Carrie McDonnell Stewart’s father often repeated the story of his sale on a slave block.
After her father abandoned her when she was just 11 years old, Carolyn Jones Stradley was completely on her own. Maude Conley Shope said that until “we was great big young’uns,” she and her siblings believed in Santa Claus. Modern medicine was all but nonexistent. Marriages happened early, lasted long, and family sizes were generally in the double-digits. Poverty was a common theme in these stories, and times were tough but in a crisis, people never forgot their neighbors...
The internet is down, you have one bar on your phone, and there’s nothing on TV. Which is the perfect time to have “The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women” in your lap.
The first thing you’ll notice about the stories in this book is that, while there are a handful of modern profiles here, many of the interviewees are gone today – most having lived long lives before dying decades ago. Their presence in this book underscores a reason for what’s here: that the ways people lived in the early half of the last century – the social customs, poverty, make-do attitudes, religious beliefs, resourcefulness, matriarchal strengths, and family life – will be forever lost unless they’re captured now.
Readers, in fact, will be glad these were.
Unique to this book in the Foxfire series is that this is all about women, making it appealing to adult historians, homesteaders, back-to-the-land-ers, and feminists, as well as to high schoolers of the same age as the original story-gatherers. For you, skipping “The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Women” should be unimaginable.
c.2023, Putnam
$28.00 308 pagesEverybody will say nice things about you when you’re lying in a box in front of them.
They’ll say you were everyone’s friend, you were funny and wise, even when you weren’t. You were the greatest person ever, just the best – and don’t you wish they’d say those things now, while you’re alive to hear them? As in the new book
“The Celebrants” by Steven Rowley, those sentiments might completely surprise you.
Jordan Vargas felt like a time-traveler.
It had been almost three decades since he, Naomi, Alec, Marielle, Craig, and Jordy were thrown together by a student-transfer algorithm, which turned out to be a lucky accident. More than twenty-five years since they’d lived together in the same dorm. Over half a lifetime ago since Marielle found Alec on the dorm’s common-room floor, dead of an overdose that marked the lives of his best friends.
Time flies. So much had happened since then.
Just before graduation, Jordy and Jordan had realized their attraction to one another. After trying a long-distance relationship, they came out to their friends, moved in together, got married, and “The Jordans” were now business partners.
All her life, Naomi had struggled with her straight-laced, unaffectionate parents and their expectations. As the only heir to their business and a high-level national record executive, she never wanted for money. Love, well, that was another thing.
Never one to buck the rules or ignore instructions, nerdy Craig’s upright adherence to detail got him the nickname “Nana,” a lot of teasing, and a months-long stint in prison for fraud. And sweet Marielle was a caretaker-type who gave and gave of herself until there was nothing left and she needed her friends.
Sooner or later, they all did: years ago, stunned by Alec’s death, the Jordans, Marielle, Naomi, and Craig made a pact that each could ask for a “funeral” for themselves, just once, to reaffirm their lives. Naomi had hers. Marielle had hers. Craig had his.
And now it was Jordan’s turn, before it was too late...
It seems unfair, in a way, that your life isn’t celebrated until it’s over. What would people say about you when you’re gone – and why don’t we say those things now? “The Celebrants” tips that question on its side and leaves an answer hanging.
Though it sometimes lags a bit and though the plot can occasionally dip into silliness, this book is good: a little The Big Chill, a little St. Elmo’s Fire, the kind of buddy-book you want for the summer. The timeline is perfectly crafted, and author Steven Rowley packs a lot of characters inside it while still leaving the tale uncomplicated, which makes it one of those easy stopping-and-starting books you know you often need on a busy vacation. Still, bookmarks are optional; reading it all at once on a happy staycation isn’t inadvisable.
Try to predict the ending of this book and you’ll be somewhat wrong. Instead, just relax, let yourself imagine what-if-when, and enjoy “The Celebrants.” You’ll say nice things about it.
by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett c.2023, Basic Books $32.00 432 pages
The news last night made you kind of worried. Worried that your guy won’t get into office, and worried that he will. You’re concerned about America and its future, about another insurrection and more divide. Most of all, you fret about towns larger and smaller than yours and what those citizens will do in 2024. So read “The Overlooked Americans” by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, and take a deep breath...
A bunch of one-tooth wonders. Uneducated rubes. Flyover country. Coastal elites. Big snobs. You’ve heard those things said about your fellow Americans and, man, those insults have to be wrong, don’t they? Are we missing something, and assuming the wrong things?
Elizabeth Currid-Halkett thinks we are.
While much of the derision aimed at small-town America came from the last two elections, the way we talked about rural America – that it’s “a cultural backwater” – has been around for a long time. Same thing about big-city citizens, that they’re rich and uppity. Currid-Halkett found plenty to contradict all these beliefs.
Rural people, she found, can experience deep poverty, low employment, and intolerance... but so do people in cities. Country folks aren’t “necessarily more religious than urban Americans...” Instead, they’re mostly “focused on things other than politics: their families, upcoming holidays, paying their bills...” She discovered that in “flyover” areas, people are “less prejudiced, more diverse, and more apolitical than is commonly thought.”
So is there a massive divide between rural citizens and city dwellers? University of Chicago General Social Survey (GSS) data indicates that Americans all over the country, East coast, West coast, city and rural, are more alike than we think we are. There are small nuances – rural folks are more relaxed about education, and opioids in a small community can change things quite a bit – but we all largely want equality, tolerance, and to be left alone to live our lives without interference from the government. We all want good housing and good jobs. We want our kids to grow up safe.
And we don’t like being pulled into cultural battles that we don’t fully buy into.
One gigantic surprise. That’s what you’ll hold in your hands when you find “The Overlooked Americans.” But also – there are things that won’t surprise you in the least.
Gently following a handful of people from various areas
around America – including one polar-opposite woman she grew close to – author Elizabeth Currid-Halkett looks at the way we look at one another from a common-sense, down-to-Earth viewpoint that doesn’t overtalk. Readers should know that there’s a large amount of science in this, and enough data to make a statistician happy, but it’s the interviews that stand tall and stand up for another way of thinking.
Look at that which divides us. You may see that it’s not very much.
“The Overlooked Americans” educates, and it begs for tolerance, compassion, and patience. It’s for grown folks who can see that anger and heel-digging isn’t anything to brag about anymore. It’s a book for anyone who seeks understanding, and the chance to stop worrying.
by Susan Goldin-Meadow c.2023, Basic Books $30.00
It’s about thiiiiiiiiiis big.
272 pages
Admit it: you can barely read those four words without wanting to use your hands. Pointing, wringing, raising and lowering, you probably even use your hands to give directions over the phone. Most of the time, your gestures emphasize your words and most of the time, people understand you but what are you not saying aloud? In the new book “Thinking with Your Hands” by Susan GoldinMeadow, you’ll see.
Ask anyone to describe opening a jar of pickles and if you couldn’t hear them, you could still understand the gist of their actions. But that person described the process by speaking out loud– so why did they also gesture?
Overall, and not surprisingly, we use gestures for many things: to understand one another, to help us remember and maintain our train of thought, and to keep a listener’s attention. If you’re savvy, says Goldin-Meadow, you can also tell when someone’s misleading or lying, even if they aren’t consciously doing it. “Reading” someone’s hands can help to read their mind.
This, she says, is important information for parents.
As a researcher, Goldin-Meadow learned that deaf children who are either too young to learn ASL or are not taught it for other reasons use gestures to communicate. She discovered that using “homesigns” are intuitive, and that gestures are used around the world to communicate with others. Even blind people use gestures when they talk.
Kids should be encouraged to use gestures to figure out problems, tell stories, and communicate when they don’t have the words. If used properly, gestures can expand your child’s vocabulary and they can influence the meaning of words. Gestures can alert an attentive parent to language delays or other cognitive problems, and they can let parents know when children are struggling with a particular idea or subject. In these ways, Goldin-Meadow warns parents of one thing: be sure your gestures adhere closely to your thoughts. Your kids are watching...
The very first thing you’ll notice when you browse through “Thinking with Your Hands” is that it’s very science-y. Clinical, almost. This is a serious book.
The second thing you’ll notice is how quickly you’ll be drawn into it.
Author Susan Goldin-Meadow uses laboratory evidence to back up her research and drawings to make things easier to grasp. This helps to lessen the clinical aspects of her book, making it more accessible, which is a good thing: for supervisors, parents, and those who work with small children especially, there’s a lot of book to scale before getting to the immediately-usable parts and any help you can get will keep you from setting this book aside.
If you can refrain from that, you’ll find that this book can enhance the communication you share with other adults – strangers, acquaintances, friends or family – and it will boost what you talk about with your child, even if he or she is fully articulate. Just remember, “Thinking with Your Hands” is quite disciplined but if you need to say something important, this book is big.
A35thAnniversaryMusicalReview
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GalleryOpeningJune30th5pm-7pm. Exhibitiondates:June26-August5. JanellHammerandMichaelFinch, KarenPeters,TrevorGieseke
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