Aberdeen Magazine November/December 2017

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LOCAL VETERANS + BROWN COUNTY COURTHOUSE + WINTER FASHION + MICKIE HANSEN

FREE ISSUE

THE SAGA OF

Waneta A glimpse into the life of a local Sioux Chief who worked to protect his people and territory in the early 1800s

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

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Directions Boil macaroni in salted water, stirring occasionally. Drain. Remove meat from chicken and cut into bite size pieces. Melt butter in large Dutch oven over medium heat; gradually whisk in flour until a thick paste forms. Cook until golden (about 1 minute). Add milk, whisking constantly, until thickened and bubbly; continue cooking until sauce is smooth. Reduce heat and add black pepper.

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Contents VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 6 • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

REGULARS 04 FROM THE EDITOR 06 THE HUB 12 CALENDAR 14 SCENE

Wein Gallery reopening at Presentation College 24 GALLERY

Artist Mickie Hansen paints South Dakota's landscapes

FEATURES 16

CARING CONNECTIONS Aberdeen Hearing & Tinnitus Center

18

VEGGIES' TALES A satirical look at understanding vegetarians.

24

20 WANETA: THE VERY IMPORTANT SIOUX The story of the legendary Sioux chief

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26 THE SWEET LIFE Meet the family operating Wandry's Apiary 28 CELEBRATING HOLIDAYS NEAR AND FAR Learn about traditional Mexican holidays celebrated here in Aberdeen

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30 A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS Marshall and Shelley Lovrien

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34 FASHION FORECAST Mainstream Boutique's tips for staying stylish and warm this winter 36 SALUTING THEIR SERVICE Local veterans share their stories 40 THE LOST ART OF THE BROWN COUNTY COURTHOUSE Can you help rediscover the missing Courthouse paintings?

42 SEEN IN THE 'DEEN The Hub City movie experience

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ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

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• Estate Planning • Tax Planning • Portfolio Design and Management • Business Succession

Is There Something

MISSING?

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A U D I O L O G Y, I N C.

Dr. Elizabeth Falk Schwab AU D I O LO G I ST

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 ABERDEEN MAGAZINE

3

FROM THE

VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 6 • NOV/DEC 2017

ISSN 2378-3060 MANAGING EDITOR Jenny Roth

PUBLISHER Troy McQuillen

DESIGN

Eliot Lucas

PROOFREADER Carly Brousek

AD SALES

Abby McQuillen abby@mcquillencreative.com

PUBLICATION OFFICE McQuillen Creative Group 423 S. Main St., Suite 1 Aberdeen SD, 57401 (605) 226-3481

PRINTING

Western Corporate Image

SUBMISSIONS

Aberdeen Magazine welcomes your input.

Message us your story ideas, drop off historic photos, or stop in for a chat. Email us at: troy@mcquillencreative.com

WEBSITE

www.aberdeenmag.com

PRIVACY STATEMENT Any personal information, email addresses, or contact submitted to the editorial office or online via our Facebook page will not be sold or distributed. Aberdeen Magazine does wish to publish public comments and attitudes regarding Aberdeen, therefore written submissions and comments on our Facebook page implies permission to utilize said information in editorial content.

Aberdeen Magazine is produced exclusively in Aberdeen, South Dakota. All content is copyright with all rights reserved. No content may be shared, copied, scanned, or posted online without permission. Please just ask us first. We’re pretty flexible.

Editor M

y youngest daughter was born on a warm and sunny April afternoon. A few days later when we got home from the hospital, an unexpected spring blizzard dumped 13 inches of snow in our yard. South Dakota is full of surprises isn’t it?

Every day is different, and that’s part of the reason why I love living here. But while the changing weather conditions may keep things interesting, to me the best surprises in our corner of the state come in the form of people.

this town a great place to live. In this issue, you can read about some of them, like artist Mickie Hansen, who developed her own painting style, and Dr. Rebecca Rich, who is helping children and adults across the state with her exceptional Auditory Connections Program. We are also grateful to have had the chance to talk with veterans Freddie Robinson and Erling Podoll, who were kind enough to share their service experiences with us in honor of the upcoming Veterans Day.

I grew up in the Aberdeen area, and am raising my own family here now. My grandparents, parents, and husband operate a local farming business, and I am so proud of them. Having lived in the community most of my life, I always assumed that I knew everything there was to know about Aberdeen. Picking up my first copy of Aberdeen Magazine a couple years ago quickly, and thankfully, proved me wrong. I remember standing in line at the Palm Garden and flipping through the pages thinking things like: I didn’t know that place was open, I’ll have to check it out!

Oh, that’s how that business got started? I had no idea. Wow, I’ve been to that person’s store a hundred times and didn’t realize what a cool talent they had to share.

Besides stories, Aberdeen also boasts a rich history. Read more about it in “Waneta: The Very Important Sioux,” which gives us a glimpse into the life of a Native American chief who worked to protect his people and territory in the early 1800s. You can also reminisce about your favorite movies, and the places around town at which you may have watched them, in “Seen in the ’Deen: The Hub City Movie Experience.”

As always, we want this magazine to be for you.

So if there are ideas or information, recipes or tips, histories or stories, or anything else you want to see on these pages, don’t forget to let us know! Send us a message on our Facebook page or email us.

If we look closer, it’s easy to see Aberdeen is full of wonderful people, each with their own unique story and contribution to what makes

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ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

Managing Editor

THIS ISSUE'S CONTRIBUTORS PATRICK GALLAGHER

MIKE MCCAFFERTY

Pat is a regular contributor commenting on Aberdeen’s personality, food options, and history.

Mike has worked with numerous tribes in the Great Plains Region in the areas of education, human services, housing, and economic development for the past 33 years.

He is an avid historian, accomplished writer, professional fisherman, and trainer. His passion is Great Plains history, and he currently serves as a member of the Brown County Museum Board. Mike has had over 200 articles printed in outdoor magazines throughout the Midwest and Canada.

ON THE COVER Just a few miles north of what became Aberdeen, this famous chief of the Yanktonai Sioux Indians was born. This painting of Waneta was done by Charles Bird King between 1825-1834. It is actually an oil painting copy of a painting done by James Otto Lewis around 1825 of Waneta in the same pose at the signing of the Treaty du Chien on the Mississippi. King was hired by the U.S. War Department to paint Indian delegates visiting Washington D.C.

www.mcquillencreative.com

JENNY ROTH

www.hubcityradio.com

hub

THE

YOU R SO U RCE FO R WHAT’S HA PPENI NG I N ABERDE EN

 A holiday inspired cranberry topped cake created by Kountry Kakes.

Photo by Carly Pochop

CRACKING INTO THE FUTURE

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A NEW BRAND OF LOCALLY PRODUCED eggs has been hitting the shelves in grocery stores around town. Cory and Carly Pochop raise cage free chickens for their egg business, Dakota Prairie Farms, located just south of Aberdeen. In the past four years they have grown from keeping about 30 chickens and collecting enough eggs for themselves and to sell here and there, to owning 800 chickens and selling their eggs in Kessler’s, Ken’s, and The Junction. Cory says they plan on continuing to expand. “In the next year or two our goal is to hopefully have around 2,200 birds.”

 Dakota Prairie Farms owner Cory Pochop spends a few hours each day grading and packaging his cage free eggs.

Their growth has involved making parts of the operation more automated. The Pochops converted an old hog barn into a space where the chickens can reach nesting boxes that are connected to a central conveyor belt, creating a system where all the eggs end up in the same location. Even with this in place, there’s still plenty of hands-on work to do. They manually put each egg into the egg washer and drying table, candle them for quality, and grade, package, and deliver them.

Outside of this remodeled barn, which gives the chickens an option to go indoors, they are putting up a 5,000 square foot pen so their birds can roam outdoors and still be safe from predators. “It took a lot of cleaning and redoing to get everything just right,” Cory explains. “It’s been a learning process and it’s still a work in progress.” // — JENNY ROTH

IN 2013, KYRA KERN DECIDED TO take a chance by opening a location for her bakery Kountry Kakes & More LLC. Before this, she says she was using her own home kitchen to complete wedding cake orders for family, but quickly realized she needed a more efficient space to work in. “Most weddings require about 350 cupcakes and if you think about it, a standard oven can only make 24-48 of them at a time!” Still wanting the flexibility of working close to home, she converted a two-stall garage on her property just north of Wylie Park into her bake shop.

Like most new small business owners, she says she did have some worries about getting started. “My husband, Darwin, told me you’ll never know if you’re going to make it in anything if you don’t give it a try. So I decided to go for it, and I’m glad that I did. It’s been going very well and keeping me very busy. My customers have been amazing.”

Kyra’s main area of expertise is wedding cakes and so far this year she has booked 18 of them. Along with other specialty cakes for events like birthdays, anniversaries, and baptisms, she also creates delicious cupcakes, kuchens, and cookies for all types of occasions. “I have quite the selection of cookie cutters,” she jokes. // — JENNY ROTH  TO CONTACT KOUNTRY KAKES & MORE

LLC, SEND THEM A PRIVATE MESSAGE ON FACEBOOK, OR CALL KYRA AT 605-380-7410.

ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

Photo by JACEEJ Photography

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BUZZ

FASHION TAKES AIM AT ARROW BOUTIQUE

MEG WHITE USES INSPIRATION gathered from the latest seasonal fashion trends when choosing items to fill the racks at her Arrow Boutique. The store features women’s apparel and accessories as well as lifestyle products and home décor. Hanging and potted plants, funky lamps, and a wall display of elegant jewelry give the shop a comfy meets stylish appeal. Customers on the boutique’s Facebook page have left 5-star reviews and rave that they always find something they can’t leave without when shopping there. Meg explains, “We have a little bit of everything. We try to cater to all women, from high school and college ages all the way through ages 40 to 50.”

Meg worked at a boutique while attending college and majoring in marketing. “I’ve always kind of been

into social media and retail, and fashion has always been an interest of mine, too.” After college she started selling some pieces online as a fun side job.

Then in August 2016, she opened her first physical location in a space she shared with Rustic Roots at the Briscoe Building. In May of this year, she moved her store to its current spot at 518 S. Main Street.

“I really like being on Main Street and the feel of downtown and being around the other businesses here.” // — JENNY ROTH  ARROW BOUTIQUE IS OPEN MONDAY THROUGH

FRIDAY FROM 10:00 AM TO 6:00 PM AND SATURDAYS FROM 10:00 AM TO 4:00 PM. YOU CAN ALSO SEARCH SHOPARROWBOUTIQUE ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM, OR SHOP WITH THEM ONLINE AT WWW.SHOPARROWBOUTIQUE.COM.

 Shoppers of all ages are finding something to love at Arrow Boutique on Main Street.

The Look: A soft velvet top paired with ankle boots and moto style jeans.

AMERICAN LEGION STATE EMPLOYMENT CHAIRMAN, Gary Warne, presents an award of appreciation to Mi and Dale Bain, owners of Pantorium Cleaners, 16 N. Main Street. This award acknowledges companies of various sizes who make it a practice to hire veterans. Presently, veterans comprise about 40% of Pantorium’s total staff. The American Legion seeks nominations each year for small, medium, and large companies who employ veterans. Awards are giving locally, regionally, and nationally. Ken’s SuperFair Foods has received a national award in the past. // — TROY MCQUILLEN

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Photos by Troy McQuillen

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BUZZ

SAME TASTE. NEW LOOK.

 Updates to the recently remodeled Qdoba restaurant include new flooring and light fixtures, freshly tiled kitchen walls, and a renovated serving line.

update things and keep up with the new designs of the Qdoba brand.” While the dining room may have changed in appearance, luckily their delicious burrito, taco, and nacho

10 YEARS OF BIG IDEAS

entrées remain the same. // — JENNY ROTH  QDOBA, LOCATED AT 3828 6TH AVENUE SE, IS OPEN MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY FROM 10:30 AM TO 9:00 PM, FRIDAY AND SATURDAY FROM 10:30 AM TO 10:00 PM AND SUNDAY FROM 10:30 AM TO 9:00 PM.

BUILDING YOUR NEXT HOME

THE BIG (BUSINESS IS GREAT) Idea Competition encourages South Dakota high school students to get creative while learning about small business development. Participating students enter their Big Idea online for E the first round of judging. Chosen finalists will NIV N A present their ideas in person to a panel of judges on December 7. Winners will receive up to $1,000 in prize money plus scholarships to Northern State University and Presentation College.

Each year the number of 9th-12th grade participants in BIG Idea continues to grow. In 2016, there were 303 entries from 40 schools. Students have to think about things like a marketing plan and how managing their operation would look when discussing their businesses. Often times their ideas focus on filling specific needs or solving problems in their own communities.

Aberdeen individuals and organizations that wanted to host an event focused on entrepreneurial spirit, as well as our area’s youth, founded the contest. The competition is celebrating their 10 year anniversary with a networking event and special guest speaker, Michael Grabham, on December 6 from 5:15 to 7:00 PM at Dacotah Bank on Main Street. // — JENNY ROTH

RSA

RY

th

 FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.BIGIDEASD.COM, OR CONTACT KELLY WEAVER AT 605-626-2565.

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ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

CUSTOM HOMES REMODELING ADDITIONS GARAGES SHOPS AND MORE

6 05.380.44 73 | wo ehlc o nstru c t i o n . c o m

Photo by Troy McQuillen

IF YOU’VE BEEN INSIDE QDOBA LATELY, you’ve probably noticed more than a few changes.

That’s because in September the Mexican-chain restaurant celebrated their 10th year in business by getting a whole new look. General Manager, Duane Suddmeier, says that they remodeled the entire dining room as well as a few small parts of the kitchen. “We replaced the carpet with wood-looking flooring, moved the drink station to the middle of the dining room, and added another fountain machine and community table with built-in USB ports and plug-ins.”

Other updates include new light fixtures, a rebuilt service line, and tiles on the kitchen walls.

Duane says the entire project only took one week and that they closed their doors during that time to complete it. “We’re going on our 10th year and wanted to

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 ABERDEEN MAGAZINE

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CALENDAR

NOVEMBER

NOVEMBER & DECEMBER NOVEMBER

2 NOVEMBER

4

PHEASANT SANDWICH SHOOTOUT AND DEPOT EVENT WHEN: 3:00 - 7:00 PM WHERE: Historic Milwaukee Depot COST: Free Take a step back in time to when Aberdeen served pheasant sandwiches to service men and women who passed through town during WWII. Pheasant sandwiches, donuts, coffee, and lemonade will be served in a 40s era atmosphere. At 6:00 PM judging starts for the “Pheasant Sandwich Shootout,” Aberdeen’s first-ever contest for the best pheasant sandwich.

25 NOVEMBER

27 DECEMBER

ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY/CIVIC SYMPHONY SEASON OPENING CONCERT WHEN: 7:30 PM WHERE: Johnson Fine Arts Center COST: Adults $18, Students Free Featuring Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B Minor with Dr. Wesley Baldwin. This will be his second appearance with the AUCS.

1 DECEMBER

NOVEMBER

5 NOVEMBER

17 NOVEMBER

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BRIDAL SHOWCASE WHEN: 12:00 - 3:00 PM WHERE: Dakota Events Center COST: Free Area brides-to-be can get inspiration for their big day at this live bridal fashion show that models gowns, hair, and makeup. A variety of vendors will also be on hand to answer all your wedding planning questions.

PAVLO-MEDITERRANEAN GUITARIST AND BAND WHEN: 7:30 PM WHERE: Johnson Fine Arts Center COST: Adults $30, Students $8 Sit back and relax as you listen to a performance by award winning and international guitar sensation Pavlo. The concert features a blend of Greek, Flamenco, Latin, and Balken music styles.

WINTERFEST WHEN: November 18, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM and November 19, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM WHERE: Aberdeen Civic Arena COST: Free This annual holiday event features nearly 50 talented artisan booths with unique, handcrafted items for sale. After finding those perfect gifts for everyone on your shopping list, stay for lunch and take in the live fine and folk art entertainment.

ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

2 DECEMBER

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CHRISTMAS AT THE DEPOT WITH JAMES VALLEY MODEL RAILROAD WHEN: Saturdays, November 25-December 23, 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM WHERE: Old Milwaukee Railroad Depot COST: Free, donations welcome Stop at the depot to see seven model railroads running in a Christmas setting. Featured trains include: Thomas the Train, long “HO” scale trains with up to 100 cars, and an American Flyer Train traveling through a Christmas town.

MOSCOW BALLET PRESENTS GREAT RUSSIAN NUTCRACKER WHEN: 7:00 PM WHERE: Johnson Fine Arts Center COST: Tickets start at $28 The magic of Christmas is brought to life at this family event and ballet performance with almost 40 dancers, hand-crafted costumes, and special effects.

THE REASON: A FAMILY CHRISTMAS EXPERIENCE WHEN: 7:00 - 9:00 PM WHERE: Aberdeen Civic Theatre COST: $15 per person or $12 for four or more Come check out this energetic musical and storytelling performance for all ages focusing on the story of the first Christmas night.

ABERDEEN LIVING CHRISTMAS TREE WHEN: December 2, 7:00 PM and December 3, 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM WHERE: Aberdeen Civic Theatre COST: Free will donation An Aberdeen tradition since 1988, the Living Christmas Tree brings orchestra, children’s and adult choir, and narration to the stage the first weekend in December to kick off the Christmas season.

BIG IDEA 10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION AND NETWORKING EVENT WHEN: 5:15 - 7:00 PM WHERE: Dakota Bank lobby, Main Street location COST: Free Learn from speaker Michael Grabham, an entrepreneur and former NSU student who has started five companies over the past 20 years, and also find out more about the BIG Idea area youth competition.

DECEMBER

MUSEUM HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE WHEN: 1:00 - 4:00 PM WHERE: Dacotah Prairie Museum COST: Free Head to the museum for a celebration of live music, treats, family activities, and of course, Santa.

DECEMBER

HOLIDAY YOUTH CELEBRATION WHEN: 6:30 - 8:30 PM WHERE: Aberdeen Civic Arena COST: $1.00 per person All ages are welcome to attend this holiday party featuring songs, games, crafts, and other surprises.

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Dr. Carol McFarlandKutter 397-8204

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 ABERDEEN MAGAZINE

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SCENE

WEIN GALLERY REOPENS AT PRESENTATION COLLEGE THREE AREA ARTISTS PROUDLY HAVE their work on display in the newly redesigned Wein Gallery at Presentation College. The gallery, named for the late Sister Anna Marie Weinreis, was previously in a hallway area in the main campus building. Through the efforts of Erin Giovannini, special assistant for project development, and the administration at PC, the Wein Gallery was redesigned and built into an existing display case area in the Southeast Building. Erin serves as the gallery’s coordinator and already has the space booked into mid-2018 with a variety of artists. Joe and Linda Van De Rostyne helped design, engineered, and built the exhibit space. On October 3, two well-attended open houses were held to christen the gallery and meet the artists.

Exhibiting their work in the new gallery through November 30 are James Pollock of Pierre, Anna Myrmoe of Aberdeen, and Debra Kroger of Dell Rapids. This exhibit is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The inaugural exhibit will also be open on Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Admission is free. For more information and a complete exhibit schedule, contact Erin at 605-229-8349.

Sister Weinreis was an Aberdeen arts advocate, poet, writer, and teacher. At Presentation College she taught French and was the academic dean for many years. She started the Mini Gallery at PC in 1972, and continued to invite and attract artists from all over the region until her passing in 1997 at the age of 90. She was a Presentation Sister for 70 years. //

 Presentation College President Dr. Margaret Huber

 Anna Myrmoe’s art

 Erin Giovannini

 The artists, Anna Myrmoe, Debra Kroger, and James Pollock

 Linda Van De Rostyne admires James Pollock’s work

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ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

 Debra Kroger’s art

Photos by Troy McQuillen

 New signage at the gallery

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 ABERDEEN MAGAZINE

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 Dr. Rebecca Rich and her team at Aberdeen Hearing and Tinnitus Center use their Auditory Connections Program, an auditory therapy that utilizes different frequencies of music, to help both children and adults.

UP CLOSE

After receiving her doctorate, Dr. Rich opened the Aberdeen Hearing & Tinnitus Center, located at 2220 6th Avenue SE. The clinic provides a wide variety of services for everyone from young children to adults, including diagnostic hearing tests, tinnitus evaluation and management, auditory processing disorder evaluations, hearing aid selection, dispensing, fitting and repair, and more.

One thing that makes her practice stand out is its new Auditory Connections Program, which has been up and running for a little over a year. Dr. Rich says the program is a therapy for the auditory system that is designed to stimulate the brain through different frequencies of music. “The goal is to open pathways and relieve emotional barriers in the brain that create blockages and affect how we think and process information.”

The program has the ability to help people improve in so many different areas like reading, language, motor skills, emotional regulation, attention, concentration, and sensory and auditory processing. “It really is for everybody. The general person can get so many benefits in their day-to-day functions from it. Everyone on staff here has tried it and we’ve felt more organized, had more energy, and noticed a better memory. We’ve seen it help people with things like attention deficit disorder, autism, depression, anxiety, and the early stages of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s,” Dr. Rich says.

Sessions take place for one hour, five days a week, and depending on individual needs, can be completed in entirety in as little as one month.

Auditory Connections is unique in the way it can work for so many, and also because there isn’t a therapy program like it anywhere else in South Dakota. Dr. Rich has patients who travel from the Mobridge, Milbank, and Sioux Falls areas to Aberdeen just for Auditory Connections.

Recognizing another need she could help with, this June she established an outreach location in Watertown that will be open a couple days a week for her patients from other parts of the state.

Starting both Auditory Connections and her Watertown clinic has made this a busy year for Dr. Rich and her team. “It’s so nice to have people come in here and to be able to help them with so many different issues and challenges, and to help them have success in their lives and see their results. It’s been a fun adventure” //

CARING CONNECTIONS

Aberdeen Hearing & Tinnitus Center

by JENNY ROTH

D

R. REBECCA RICH BECAME an audiologist to help fill a need in the Aberdeen community. “I had my masters in speech therapy and was working at Avera primarily with children ages three and younger, and we were in

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ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

need of an audiologist in the area. I really liked the audiology classes I had taken while studying speech therapy, and so it was always kind of in the back of my mind that if I ever went back to school it would be for that. When I saw the need for an audiologist here, I decided to pursue the challenge.”

 ABERDEEN HEARING & TINNITUS CENTER IS OPEN

MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY FROM 8:30 AM TO 4:00 PM, AND FRIDAYS FROM 8:00 AM TO NOON. YOU CAN REACH THEM BY PHONE AT 605-725-4327, OR VISIT WWW.ABERDEENHEARING.COM.

Photo courtesy of Aberdeen Hearing & Tinnitus Center

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 ABERDEEN MAGAZINE

17

by PATRICK GALLAGHER ven at the bitter end of the season, I love to grill. I love the preparation. The sizzle of the meat on the grate. Fat dripping. Fire flaring up. The browning, charred lines on the meat. And the aroma. It smells like victory.

And the taste! Even when I cook, the taste is terrific!

But, inexplicably, unexplainably, some choose otherwise. The ones who don’t eat meat. Vegetarians.

(I really thought that was prohibited in South Dakota state law, through a constitutional initiative or something—but maybe that was overturned in the Legislature.)

How can they not eat meat? Don’t they know how good it is? After all, we have all the varieties here— white meat, dark meat, brown meat, the other white meat, fish meat (the third white meat?).

To better understand this, I spoke with two vegetarians. I won't name names, however, because there might be some who aren’t as enlightened as I. (For the reader’s benefit, I have annotated our conversations below.)

PATRICK GALLAGHER: WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO YOURSELF? Vegetarian 1: I had always been a little grossed out by meat, with the blood and the veins and the tendons. One day in college I dissected a pig in biology class and then went to the cafeteria for lunch where they were serving ham. Mine had a big old vein running right through it, [PG: Hey, I have to eat today!] and that was the beginning of my non-meat eating.

Vegetarian 2: I was never a meat eater, even as a kid. I grew up on a farm so I know the life cycle of animals. I know what they are here for. Having said that, I also have a deep love for animals. When I was growing up, I was probably the only one sobbing in the sale ring at the Brown County Fair, clinging to my cattle and sheep as they were being sold. I loved them. They were my pets. [PG: Sad! No, I really mean it. It’s not just some cheap gag. That’s kind of a sad story.] And I knew where they were going. I can’t deny that I’m sad that this is their future, but it isn’t why I don’t eat meat. I don’t like meat. I studied abroad in 1992, and while I was there I bought meat because it was something I felt I had to eat, but then never ate it because I really didn’t like it. [PG: Ah! I see the problem.

It wasn’t American meat. Another poor American led astray by foreign meat. Was it Russian? Not good.]

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ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

PG: WHAT ABOUT EATING IN RESTAURANTS? DO THEY UNDERSTAND YOU? ARE THEY AS ENLIGHTENED AS I AM? Vegetarian 2: Finding meatless food in Aberdeen isn’t necessarily hard.

I can always order a salad and French fries. Finding protein options are another story. [PG: What is this “protein” of which you speak?] Most restaurants don’t carry tofu or beans. [PG: “Tofu.” Is that one of those words the kids use these days?]

Vegetarian 1: You can usually find something to eat. Years ago it was a lot of baked potatoes and salad, as those were the only side dishes offered.

Now there is a lot of risotto, better vegetables, and different types of potatoes. Many times I have some sort of pasta without the meat included (i.e.: “I will have the chicken fettuccine without the chicken, please” or “I would like the Cajun beef stir-fry without the beef.”) [PG: Sounds like baseball without the ball, or food without the food.] I hardly ever get the blank stare that I used to get when I ordered things. [PG: ]

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Vegetarian 2: I will say that Max and Erma’s has a black bean burger! I can get tofu at the Imperial Buffet. McDonald’s actually has a button that says “no meat,” so when I order a hamburger with no meat they don’t even question me anymore. I do love their hamburgers, without the meat of course. [PG: I’m so confused.]

Vegetarian 1: Minervas. Mavericks. Palm Garden. Moccasin Creek.

Wakeside has a delicious stacked kale salad that is like a meal. [PG: Like a meal—“kale” must be herbivorian for fillet.]

PG: ARE YOU ABLE TO SOCIALIZE WITH REGULAR PEOPLE? [I’ll hang out with you. I’m terrifically tolerant. No one is more tolerant than I am!]

Vegetarian 1: Sometimes when I am eating with a cattle producer, they will give me a hard time for not supporting their industry. But then I point out I eat a lot of sunflower seeds and wheat/corn products, so I support the South Dakota economy that way. I also wear shoes made of cowhide leather, and I have a LOT of shoes, so that should make up for it somehow! Usually I just hear a remark like “I could never live without meat.”

[PG: I’m with you, cowboy!]

Vegetarian 2: When I tell people I’m a vegetarian, they always ask if I eat chicken or fish. No, I just told you I’m a vegetarian. And they’re always amazed. But if someone doesn’t like broccoli, they just don’t eat it. That’s how I am with meat. I did like my mom’s meatloaf and barbeques. But like I said, I know why these animals are here. Eggs do totally disgust me, but only if I think about it and can see the egg. I don’t fry eggs or scramble eggs, but I’m not going to turn down a cookie because it has an egg in it. I do eat dairy products. I don’t cook with chicken or beef broth, but know that other people do, so even if they used it in a meatless dish, I still eat it. I never ask people what their food is made of. And I don’t expect people to cook separately or differently for me. [PG: Don’t mess with our precious bodily fluids!]

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Despite my pleas on behalf of meat, they remain committed. (I would say they ought to be committed, but there’s not an anti-vegetarian bone in my body.) Now back to the grill for a good South Dakota meal. Wait a minute! Who put that corn on there? There’s no fat! No fire flaring up! //

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 ABERDEEN MAGAZINE

19

FEATURE

Before any settlers arrived and before Aberdeen was a city, all of the United States was Indian territory.

Many stories remain untold about Native American leadership in our area and early interactions between Native American bands and non-Indian immigrants in the Aberdeen and Brown County regions. This story, and a follow up story in the next issue, reveal this history of Indians who, at times, resisted settlement to preserve their way of life, but also tried to figure out treaty negotiations and alliances with settlers and encroaching nations to protect their people and way of life in the James and Elm River Valleys.

I

The Very Important Sioux

n 1795, Waneta, a member of the Cut Head band of Yanktonai Dakota Sioux, was born in a village along the banks of the Elm River between the cities of Columbia and Frederick in what is now Brown County, South Dakota. His father, Red Thunder, was a war chief of this band. As a young man, he watched his father welcome both British and French trappers, traders, and explorers into his territory, which extended from the James River Basin near Redfield north through Pembina, North Dakota.

At this time, British trappers were utilizing gifts and presents to win the loyalty of tribal members throughout the region as a strategy to secure their allegiance to Britain’s cause against American settlement. One particular trader, Robert Dickson, was said to be the only such trader dispatched with virtually unlimited funds for this purpose. He also was able to successfully assert great influence by advancing claims that the Great Spirit had sent the British to help tribes eradicate encroaching American settlement. This combination of factors strengthened the relationship between Waneta’s people and the British.

Because of their strong relationship with the British, Waneta, who was merely 17-years -old, went with his father and a number of warriors to support the British in the war of 1812. A M’dewakanton Dakota and Dickson’s official interpreter, Joseph Renville, aided in recruiting warriors for this purpose. They rode close to 1,000 miles to fight at the siege of Fort Meigs in 1813 at Sandusky, Ohio. It was at Sandusky that Waneta established his legacy for greatness. The British charged the American position with Waneta leading the way.

Waneta received nine serious injuries, six of which were caused by musket balls, including one that entered his chest, glanced off his breastbone, and exited his back. Despite these wounds, he pressed forward and killed seven men in hand-to-hand combat. It was because of this impressive display

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ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

that Waneta received his name (variously spelled as Wan-ee-ton, Wa-na-ta, Wahnatan, Wahnaataa, Wanota, Wanotan, or Wahnahton in various texts), which has been translated as “Charger,” “Rushing Man,” or “He Who Charges His Enemies.”

When the war ended in 1814, Waneta’s loyalty and bravery was rewarded with a captain’s commission, with pay, in the British Army.

Shortly thereafter, Waneta went to England and was introduced to King George III, who presented Waneta with various medals and accolades for his bravery. Waneta spent some time in the king’s court, traveling throughout the country and finally returning to America sometime around mid-1816. Upon returning, Waneta discovered his father had been killed by Chippewas. Waneta then assumed the title of chief, and traveled all the way north to Pembina to avenge his father’s death and destroyed the Chippewa band there.

By 1819, more and more non-Indians were encroaching into what is now known as Minnesota and the Dakotas, so the United States Government sent Colonel Snelling to the area to maintain the peace. Colonel Snelling established Fort Snelling near modern day Minneapolis-St. Paul. During

It was because of this impressive display that Waneta received his name, which has been translated as “Charger,” “Rushing Man,” or “He Who Charges His Enemies.”

by MIKE MCCAFFERTY

the summer of this same year, Waneta celebrated the annual sun dance. During preparation for the dance, he gave away all of his belongings. Whatever vision he received from the Creator had changed him forever.

In the spring of 1820, one of Waneta’s tribesmen was murdered by a non-Indian, so Waneta took a small group of warriors from his own Yanktonai band, picked up some Sisseton band warriors on the way, and rode to visit Colonel Snelling at Fort Snelling to discuss the incident. On the trip he wore his full British uniform with his medals and flew the Union Jack. Upon arriving at Fort Snelling, Waneta burned the flag outside the entrance. However, the guards, seeing Waneta’s uniform, still believed he was there to attack the fort and arrested the entire group. They were taken in front of Colonel Snelling and the British and medal badges found in Waneta’s possession were destroyed right in front of him.

Waneta and his men were beaten and otherwise learned the magnitude of the American presence in Sioux territory. Thereafter, Waneta switched his allegiance to Americans and visited Fort Snelling on other occasions. Several renderings of Waneta show him wearing a bear claw necklace created after he killed the bear. An Italian refugee at Fort Snelling attempted to secure the necklace via trade. Colonel Snelling’s wife actually attempted the trade herself, but Waneta would only accept a new necklace, made of a braid of all of Colonel Snelling’s wife’s hair, so the trade was never effectuated.

In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase established the James River Valley as part of the United States.

From that time up until the 1820s, fur companies were moving into the region in full force and establishing trading posts throughout the area.

The majority of the big companies focused on the Missouri River Basin and Montana, but some did move into the James River Basin in 1822 to trade with Waneta’s group. William Dickson’s trading post, Columbia Fur Company, was established in 1822 near Redfield. British Colonel Robert

ďƒ™ Wa-Na-Ta, the Charger, Grand Chief of the Sioux. This colored lithograph was done as part of a collection of lithographs and biographies of important Native Americans in 1836. The volume, Indian Tribes of North America, was published by Thomas McKenney and James Hall of Philadelphia. The artist is credited as Charles Bird King, however, the lithographers obviously interpreted Waneta themselves as there are not many similarities to the cover image.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 ABERDEEN MAGAZINE

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Dickson, who had fought with Waneta and Red Thunder at Sandusky in 1813, ended up marrying Waneta’s father’s sister and Waneta’s aunt, “Ista Totowin” (Blue Eyes Woman). Colin Campbell, who also fought with Waneta at Sandusky, established his trading post, Hudson Bay Co., near what would become Frederick, close to Waneta’s village.

On June 1, 1823, a group of fur traders moving up the Missouri River got into a fight with an Arikara village located north of Mobridge that left twelve traders dead. The fur companies cried for justice to the government. About a month and a half later, the U.S. Army sent Colonel Henry Leavenworth and 230 soldiers out to take vengeance. His orders were to destroy the village and leave no survivors. Fifty trappers joined the force as well. Waneta led a group of 750 Sioux in opposition. On August 9, 1823, Colonel Leavenworth’s band attacked the village and killed 50 Arikara. The vast majority surrendered. Waneta then negotiated for the lives of the remaining captives. He convinced Leavenworth to let him take all the Arikara’s food and belongings for his own people. The Arikara were set free with little to nothing and Leavenworth’s troops and trappers burned the village. Waneta’s skills during this campaign further reinforced his standing with his people. Today, there is a monument on this former village and battle site.

In 1823, a visitor to the Colin Campbell Fur Post gave a vivid description of Waneta, outlining a mix of all the splendor of traditional dress combined with his British influences, noting moccasins, scarlet-colored leggings, a blue breechcloth, a fine printed muslin shirt, a frock coat with scarlet facings, an ornate belt, and a round hat with a braided silver band and rosette ribbon.

Waneta’s eight-year-old son was also present and adorned in a similar fashion. Several texts and renditions of Waneta describe him as handsome and his manner as graceful, dignified, and reserved.

As more and more non-Indians encroached on Sioux lands, tribal leaders sought to preserve land holdings through treaty-making. On July 25, 1825, Waneta’s standing as a renowned chief is evidenced by his signature on a trade treaty with the Americans signed in Fort Pierre, South Dakota.

On August 17, 1825, Waneta also signed the first Treaty of Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin. This treaty

allowed the Sioux to retain all of their lands west of Lake Winnebago, including those lands in Central Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. After signing these treaties, Waneta was taken to Washington, D.C. in 1826 to visit with President John Quincy Adams. While there, his portrait was painted by Charles Bird King, and may be the version on the previous page.

By 1828, the fur trade business was virtually gone. William Dickson closed his post in 1827 and

 Waneta was said to be born between Frederick and Columbia, SD. If you head up to Frederick and travel four miles west on County 5, then four miles south on County 6, you enter a beautiful valley near the confluence of the Dry Branch River and the Elm River. Here you will find a stone monument for Waneta and a trading post. The Yanktonai Sioux had a village in this area and later, in 1822, a Canadian company built a trading post called Colin Campbell Fur Post to facilitate trading with the Indians. The post was abandoned when Waneta moved his people closer to the Missouri River in what became North Dakota.

left the area (now Brown County). Colin Campbell closed his post in 1828 and went back to Scotland.

In 1828 Andrew Jackson, “Old Hickory,” the hero of the Battle of New Orleans during the war of 1812, was elected President of the United States.

Several texts and renditions of Waneta present him or describe him as handsome and his manner as graceful, dignified, and reserved.

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ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

Andrew Jackson was hostile to continued Indian ownership of land, and on May 28, 1830, he signed into law his Indian Removal Act, which authorized him to negotiate with Indians in the south to remove them from their homelands to federal territory west of the Mississippi. There was significant opposition to such legislation, but it eventually passed. Prominent individuals opposing this act were missionary organizer Jeremiah Evarts, a young Illinois lawyer named Abraham Lincoln, New Jersey Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen, Congressman Davy Crockett of Tennessee, and Sam Houston of Florida.

Jackson never intended negotiation and instead forced tribes to move. Directly affected tribes included the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole, however, the threat of removal eventually caused some tribes to capitulate to land loss in order to avert removal, including Sioux tribes in the late 1800s.

Waneta became aware of these actions and had grave concerns for his people.

In 1832, Waneta visited Fort Pierre, a newly established trading post that replaced nearby Fort Tecumseh, which had been previously established in 1822. The newly established Fort Pierre was named after Pierre Chouteau, an industrial fur trader from St. Louis. Chouteau was associated with John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company.

Waneta hoped to re-establish trading posts in his beloved James River Valley. While visiting Fort Pierre at this time, Waneta’s portrait was painted

by George Catlin, showing him wearing his iconic bear claw necklace, buffalo robe, and a resplendent feathered headdress. This portrait labels him as a Sisseton Indian instead of a Yanktonai. It was about this time that Waneta’s eyesight started to fail, so he obtained a pair of thick rimmed glasses which earned him the nickname “Iron Eyes.” Waneta’s leadership and sense of fashion continued to make an impression on those who encountered him.

In 1837, a trader, Edward Denig, described an encounter where members of Waneta's band had stolen horses from a trader and Waneta took an equivalent number of buffalo robes randomly from his band members to compensate for the theft.

Denig describes Waneta as looking wildly different than his “half-clad followers,” with Waneta wearing the clothing of an officer: boots, green spectacles, and pistols and swords. Another observer visiting Joseph Renville’s post in Minnesota in 1838 described Waneta as handsome in the feathers of a warrior, a buffalo skin coat, embroidered tunic, rich leggings, and green glasses all while holding a pipe and club.

 This monument is located southwest of Frederick on or near the site of Waneta’s birth and the Colin Campbell Fur Post (the plaque’s spelling is inconsistent with all other references of Mr. Campbell). It was placed here on June 20, 1926, by the Alpha Circle women of Frederick, who sponsored the memorial. It is open to the public.

THE VERY IMPORTANT SIOUX Waneta is memorialized in other ways in modern times. He is the only Indian chief in history to have two navy ships named after him. The first was the USS Wahneta, commissioned in the fall of 1938. It was reclassified as a medium harbor tug in 1944, and operated until it was decommissioned in 1946.

The second USS Waneta was commissioned in late 1943 and was a large harbor tug allocated to the United States Pacific Fleet’s service force. It operated actively until initially decommissioned in 1946. The USS Waneta was also refit and recommissioned as a medium harbor tug in October 1953, and finally permanently decommissioned in early 1974. In addition, in 1959, South Dakota State University named one of its residence halls Waneta Hall in honor of the Sioux chief’s bravery.

Photos by Troy McQuillen

 While in Frederick if you happen to visit Simmons Park, you’ll find this modern stone pillar commemorating the heritage of the community. Waneta is featured on the pillar, etched in granite. Also within the park are some masonry items made from rocks honed for club heads.

Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act opened the flood gates in the minds of non-Indians that land was available for the taking. The treaty Waneta signed in 1825 was disrespected and ignored as an ever-increasing wave of settlers attained Indian lands. The Minnesota Territory was being overrun and, by 1838, some were even creeping into his homelands in the James River Basin. Andrew Jackson was no longer president, so Waneta traveled to Washington, D.C., hoping to discuss these issues with then President Martin Van Buren.

During Waneta’s stay in the Capitol, he realized the encroachment would continue. Upon returning home to his village on the Elm River, he decided to abandon his beloved James River Basin and moved his people to present day Emmons County in North Dakota along Beaver Creek.

In 1839, Waneta was affected by snow blindness and his vision deteriorated very quickly. By early 1840, he totally lost his eyesight. One source indicates that a rival for the position of chief saw this physical weakness as an opportunity and betrayed Waneta, murdering him in 1840. Other accounts indicate that Waneta did not die until 1848, including a stone marker near present day Frederick. It is reported that Waneta is buried near Fort Rice, North Dakota, on the east bank of the Missouri River.

Regardless of the loss of his sight and possible betrayal, it is clear Waneta made an impression on many who encountered him. His sense of style certainly caused him to stand out, and his leadership and heroics in battle resulted in descriptions that he was without rival, his word was law, and that he was without comparison. In recognition of his preeminence, the stone marker by his birthplace near Frederick, South Dakota describes Waneta fittingly as “The Very Important Sioux.” //

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The research for this story became very difficult as Waneta’s name was spelled so many different ways throughout history. Special thanks to Dani Daugherty for additional research and editing on this story. Some of the information uncovered was inconsistent, which is expected for such a long history. A substantial amount of facts came from Doane Robinson, who, in 1904, wrote extensively about South Dakota’s early history. Mr. Robinson was the Secretary of the Department of History for the State of South Dakota.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 ABERDEEN MAGAZINE

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GALLERY

See South Dakota Through the Eyes of Artist Mickie Hansen

by JENNY ROTH

A

RTIST MICKIE HANSEN SHARES her heart for rural South Dakota through her colorful and brilliant artwork. Her paintings and drawings bring to life landscapes, structures, and people by combining intricate details with a sense of nostalgia. An exhibit of her work titled View from my South Dakota Home is currently on display at the Dacotah Prairie Museum through November 14.

Mickie grew up in the Cresbard and Faulkton area after moving to South Dakota from Texas at age eight. She says she has been drawing for as long as she can remember and that both her mother and grandmother did artwork as well. But it wasn’t until adulthood that she picked up a brush and started to focus on painting. Other than one class she took at Northern State University years ago, she is a completely self-taught artist. “When I was 37 and my second son, who’s also an artist, was 17, I went to Northern and took a summer class, and that’s all I’ve ever done. My son then went to college there as an art major.”

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ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

 Mickie Hansen’s stunning artwork featuring area landscapes and people is on display at the Dacotah Prairie Museum now through November 14.

When she started out, her family didn’t have a lot of extra money for art supplies. “If I could find a brown paper sack or a piece of old school paper, that was the best I could do,” she says. Just this past summer, she was able to transform a garden shed on her property into her very first studio. Before that, she says she worked in a storage room in the basement of her home, completing about three to four paintings a year.

But with her new space, she has been able to do a lot more. “I can spread out and have all of my art stuff out there now.”

Many of her paintings show real scenes of old houses and churches surrounded by foliage that scatter the South Dakota countryside. While she has painted outdoors on site, she says she mostly has to take photographs of the places she is painting and finish the projects at home. “In this country the weather is never perfect,” she laughs. In addition to scenery, she also paints and draws real people.

In recent years she has used a new technique in her paintings by incorporating textured, undulating lines. This painting style is no coincidence, as she

explains that she has developed an inherited condition that causes her hands to shake uncontrollably. “I’ve figured out techniques where you use the shaking hands to make wavy lines. If you want to make art, you’ll find a way to do it.”

One of her favorite paintings in her mostly oil work collection is Bierman House. “It’s a depiction of the house, chicken house, and old pick-up located on the farm my grandfather homesteaded between Chelsea and Mansfield.” She adds that the farm is still owned by members of her family today.

Mickie and her husband Verne raised three sons in Faulkton, where they continue to make their home. Along with painting and drawing, she has also designed ornamental gardens, created sweatshirt and appliqué designs, and completed drawings for a well-known phonics program. She says that most inspiration for her artwork comes naturally.

“You have to have some natural composition elements when looking for things to paint, and that’s something you just see.” //

“IF YOU WANT TO MAKE ART, YOU’LL FIND A WAY TO DO IT.”

Photo by Troy McQuillen

A BEAUTIFUL VIEW

LOCAL GALLERIES WEIN GALLERY Presentation College 1500 North Main Street 605-229-8350 Mon-Fri 8 AM-5 PM PRESIDENT’S GALLERY, JFAC GALLERY AND STUDENT CENTER GALLERY Northern State University 1200 South Jay Street 605-626-7766 President’s Gallery: Mon-Fri 8 AM-10 PM, JFAC Gallery: Mon-Fri 8 AM-4:30 PM, Student Center: Mon-Fri 7 AM-11 PM and weekends 1-9 PM LAMONT GALLERY Dacotah Prairie Museum 21 South Main Street 605-626-7117 Tues-Fri 9 AM-5 PM, Sat and Sun 1-4 PM ARTWORKS CO-OP GALLERY Lakewood Mall 3315 6th Ave SE Suite #48 605-725-0913 Thurs-Sun 12-6 PM or by appointment JANE WEST GALLERY Capitol Theatre 415 South Main Street 605-225-2228 Open during events, call ahead for additional hours of operation ARCC GALLERY Aberdeen Recreation and Cultural Center 225 3rd Ave SE 605-626-7081 Mon-Thurs 9 AM-8 PM, Fri 9 AM-5 PM and Sat 10 AM-12 PM

 Some of Mickie’s favorite pieces are Bierman House (top left) and Garden Picture, a portrait of a botanical garden in Chicago (bottom left).

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 ABERDEEN MAGAZINE

25

UP CLOSE

THE SWEET LIFE

W

ANDRY’S APIARY, RUN by father and son Gerald and Greg Wandry, has been filling the shelves of Aberdeen stores with locally produced honey for about a decade. You’ve probably seen their familiar bear-shaped containers in places like Natural Abundance, Ken’s, Runnings, and Kessler’s, but they don’t stop at Aberdeen when it comes to supplying honey. They also ship their product to other Runnings locations in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana, all the Ken’s stores statewide, and the Economy Meat Market in Bath, South Dakota. In addition to honey that comes in three different sized containers, they also sell raw honey and beeswax. If all of that sounds like a big operation, you’d be surprised to learn that Gerald, Greg, and Betty, Gerald’s wife, do every part of the business from start to finish by themselves. “We do everything from stage one to store on our own,” says Betty.  Wandry’s Apiary produces honey, raw honey, and beeswax that is sold in stores in Aberdeen and throughout the Midwest.

26

 Greg Wandry (pictured) and his father Gerald Wandry have operated Wandry’s Apiary for the past 10 years. All of their bee hives are located in the Aberdeen area. Photo by Betty Wandry

The process starts in the spring, when they buy bees to add to the ones they kept through the winter. “We either order the bees through the mail or we travel to pick them up. That can be quite a trip, with all the special licenses you need to take bees across state lines and things like that,” Betty says. They also feed the bees during this time of year, until their nectar-flow starts. In the summer, things really get busy when they have to add honey boxes as the bees fill them with honey, pull those boxes and take them to the extracting building, uncap frames and spin honey out in the extractor, run the honey through a strainer cloth, and then pour it into either five gallon pails or 55 gallon barrels. In the fall and winter, they feed the hives again and also do other things like winterizing and medicating.

Along with all the beekeeping, the Wandrys also do their own packaging, labeling, and delivering of the final product. Betty

explains, “Our hives are in different pastures that are all within about 20 miles from Aberdeen. Then we have a building just for storage, equipment, and extracting. In our house we have a separate room that serves as our area for bottling honey, boxing orders, and keeping our inventory. All of our equipment is food grade. We’re inspected by the state and always keep everything top notch.”

Betty also says that their honey’s popularity is due in part to the kinds of flowers their bees use to make it. “The kind of flower determines the color and flavor of the honey. Our bees use mostly alfalfa and clover flowers, which give it a milder taste and lighter color.”

The Wandrys got into the business of keeping bees in 2007 with the encouragement of Gerald’s uncle, longtime beekeeper and Aberdeen resident, Walter Schott. Walter had talked to them about the opportunity several years before they decided to start, but at first they didn’t have much interest in it since they all were busy working at other jobs. Then Gerald and Greg decided to get a few hives, learn what they could, and see how it would go. Walter had gotten them into selling honey at Natural Abundance already, but then they were approached

by Runnings and asked if they were interested in selling their honey there, too. Betty says, “We thought more about it for about a year and then decided to give it a try, and it took off from there.”

Keeping things in the family, Gerald and Betty make time to share what they’ve learned about beekeeping with their daughter and grandchildren, who also live in Aberdeen. “Sometimes we have them come out and we’ll let them wear the extra bee suit. We’re trying to teach them a little bit about what we do and to not be afraid of the bees,” Betty says. //

“WE DO EVERYTHING FROM STAGE ONE TO STORE ON OUR OWN.”

Photo by Troy McQuillen

Local Family Busy with Bees

by JENNY ROTH

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27

UP CLOSE

Elizabeth Kiesz Shares Traditional Mexican Holidays With Her Family and Friends in Aberdeen

by JENNY ROTH

E

VERY FAMILY HAS THEIR OWN unique way of celebrating the holidays together. In fact, many area families come from different parts of the world and carry on traditions from their home countries while living here, creating diversity and a chance for us to learn about the vibrant cultures and people in our community.

Elizabeth Kiesz grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico, and moved to Aberdeen, her husband’s hometown, about eight years ago. While the Kieszs live thousands of miles away from Elizabeth’s extended family in Mexico, they continue to share as much as they can of traditional Mexican holidays with their three daughters.

One of these holidays, Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, takes place on November 2. Elizabeth describes it as being similar to Memorial Day, in that it is a day to honor and remember loved ones that have passed away. “It’s not that we adore the dead or anything like that. It’s about having just one day to welcome their spirits back and to feel close to them.”

In Mexico, Day of the Dead is a very big deal.

People take a lot of time and care to prepare special altars for their late relatives. Altars include things the deceased enjoyed while alive, like their favorite foods and drinks, as well as pictures of them, candles, and marigold flowers. “The scent of the marigolds is to remind the spirits to come back and visit,” Elizabeth explains. Families also gather at gravesites to tell stories and talk about their loved ones late into the evening, and cemeteries are filled with people and candlelight. Elizabeth says, “It’s difficult for me to travel back to Mexico and go to the cemetery, but I have a small altar here that I set up for my father. I put out his favorite food and tequila, his favorite drink, and pray and remember when he was alive.”  Elizabeth shows an example of an altar set up for the Day of the Dead, a holiday that is widely celebrated every November in Mexico as a way to remember loved ones who have passed away.

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ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

“IT’S ALL ABOUT FAMILY, AND FOOD.”

The holiday is not meant to be sad or scary, but rather a celebration of the continuity of life. People make special foods for the day like pan de muerto (bread of the dead), a type of sweet bread, and colorful candy treats shaped like skeletons called sugar skulls. In Mexico, some cities host big parades where participants paint their faces and dress up to look like skeletons wearing bright and beautiful clothing. “We aren’t supposed to be scared of the dead, instead, we celebrate,” Elizabeth says.

In December, a favorite holiday tradition in Mexico is Las Posadas. The word posada in Spanish means “inn” or “shelter.” Every evening on the nine nights leading up to Christmas Day, from December 16 through the 24, neighborhoods

Photo by Troy McQuillen

CELEBRATING HOLIDAYS NEAR AND FAR

gather together, sing Christmas carols, and sometimes dress up and play the parts of Mary and Joseph when they went searching door to door in Bethlehem looking for a place to stay on the night Jesus was born. Each night a different home or place in the community acts as the host. The group travels through the neighborhood knocking on doors to reenact the nativity story, until they arrive at the host’s doorstep and everyone is finally welcomed to come in, share a meal together, break the piñata, and pray.

On Christmas Eve, Elizabeth says families get together and have a big feast very late, often times at midnight, while they wait for Christmas Day. “Even the children, if they can, stay up until then so they can open their presents.

We don’t have a Santa Claus, so the gifts come from family.” On January 6 they celebrate Three Kings Day, which Elizabeth explains is similar to the idea of a Santa Claus. “When I was little I would put out my shoe, and the next morning there would be presents in it from the three kings.”

Elizabeth adds that it is sometimes a challenge to keep up with all the traditions she grew up with while living so far away from most of her family.

“I tell my daughters stories about what I did when I was a child, and we do what we can.” She says that the most important thing about all the holiday celebrations in Mexico is spending time together, and of course the delicious meals that go along with it. “It’s all about family, and food,” she laughs. //

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29

OPEN HOUSE

A HOME for the HOLIDAYS

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// The Lovrien family’s Christmas décor captures the magic of the season

BY JENNY ROTH PHOTOS BY TROY MCQUILLEN

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ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

 The Lovrien family, Marshall, Shelley, and daughters Leah (4), Isabelle (2), and Madeline (7).

M

ARSHALL AND SHELLEY LOVRIEN’S HISTORICAL HOME COMBINES CLASSIC FEATURES WITH AN OPEN FLOOR PLAN TO CREATE A TRULY BEAUTIFUL AND INVITING ATMOSPHERE THAT IS PERFECT FOR ENTERTAINING.

The couple, who lives in Aberdeen with their daughters, Madeline, Leah, and Isabelle, bought their house three years ago and did extensive remodeling to make it their own. “We gutted basically the entire first floor, but still kept those original details that you can’t find anymore like the oak woodwork and leaded glass windows,” Marshall explains.

The house is over one hundred years old and has been in Marshall’s family since his childhood. A big part of the remodel was designed around their favorite family traditions of decorating and hosting guests for the holidays. They added two fireplaces to the home and chose the mantel heights carefully to make sure they would be tall enough to accommodate their Christmas stockings. Each stocking has a member of the family’s name sewn on it and hangs from the mantel until they are filled with treats by Santa on Christmas morning. They also strategically placed outlets around the home in locations they knew would be perfect for plugging in their lighted garland strands and wreath.

The ceilings on the main floor are just over 9 feet tall, perfect for fitting in their two 9 foot Christmas trees.

When it comes to decorating the house, the Lovriens work together.

Marshall says he usually is the one to have a vision for an idea, but Shelley is the one who comes up with a plan to execute it. Each year it takes the family about two full days to put up all of their Christmas decorations, which is part of the reason why they get them up as early as November 1. Marshall says, “The tradition of decorating early I think started when we moved back to Aberdeen in 2008 and began hosting Thanksgiving at our place. We wanted the decorations to be up in time for that, but also we decorate early so we can just enjoy it all. The Christmas season is so short and goes by so fast with all the different parties and events. If we get the decorations up early, we can go to all those things without worrying about it and instead spend our time making memories doing other things with family.”

Shelley adds that they keep their Christmas lights on longer than most because they add warmth and brightness to the otherwise cold and dark winter weather outside. Their daughters are also responsible for keeping the tradition of early Christmas decorating going. Marshall says, “All three of our girls were born at the end of November, so the tradition of putting up the decorations before Thanksgiving has stuck because we’ve always wanted to have that done before we came home from the hospital with a new baby.” //

“WE DECORATE EARLY SO WE CAN JUST ENJOY IT ALL.”

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 ABERDEEN MAGAZINE

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33

THE LOOK

FASHION FORECAST Mainstream Boutique’s Tips for Staying Stylish and Warm This Winter

by JENNY ROTH photography by TROY MCQUILLEN

 Embroidery goes with everything.

This season you’ll find it on jackets, sweaters, denim, and even plaid.

Wear it with fray-bottom jeans and booties for a soft, feminine look.

B

UNDLING UP DOESN’T HAVE TO MEAN GIVING UP ON STYLE. This season’s cold weather trends are effortless looks that combine comfort with elegant details. Think a hint of suede added to the neckline or sleeves, embroidery stitched on everything in floral and Aztec patterns, and slightly frayed jean bottoms paired with short, chic boots.

Mainstream Boutique store manager Nikki Reigle and model Leah Vilhauer shared everything you need to know about the latest fashion must-haves found right here in Aberdeen. //

 Moto style leggings with texture across the knees are on point, as are asymmetrical tops with zipper or lace-up details.

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ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

 It’s all about the sleeves.

Sweaters with ruffled statement sleeves paired with long necklaces can dress up any work wardrobe.

 One word: suede. Expect full on suede and velvet tops as well as blouses with just a touch of it on the neckline or at the elbows.

 Cozy ‘popcorn’ sweaters come in a variety of colors and go perfect with jeans and a blanket scarf.

 Floral is a popular summer trend that is continuing into the winter months. Find it in deep shades like plum, navy, blush, and olive.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 ABERDEEN MAGAZINE

35

FEATURE

SALUTING

THEIR SERVICE Local Veterans Freddie Robinson and Erling Podoll Share Their Service Stories in Honor of Veterans Day

by JENNY ROTH

A LIFETIME OF HELPING OTHERS AT HOME AND ABROAD Freddie Robinson first joined the Army for a six year commitment in 1963. He was 17 and had just graduated from Warner High School. “I really didn’t know what I wanted to do then, and I’d always had an interest in the military, so that’s the way I went.”

After being stationed in Germany for two years, he applied for a transfer to Vietnam. When that

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ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

went through, he had a 30 day delay stateside, during which he got engaged to his wife, Sandra.

The year he returned from Vietnam was filled with more memorable life events. “I got home from Vietnam in July of 1966, got married, and then on January 1, 1967, I started working for the Aberdeen Police Department.”

While working night shifts at the police department, Freddie served for two years with the South Dakota National Guard in the early 1970s. Later on he heard that the Aberdeen Army Reserve 452nd Ordnance Company was going to Germany for their two week training. “I thought well, I spent two years in Germany, if I join these guys for a year I can go back to Germany and travel and see all the places I used to go to. So I joined the Army Reserve, but they didn’t go to Germany for the training, they instead went to Hunstville, Alabama!” he laughs. “But they said for sure they would be going to Germany the next year, so I extended for three years  Former Aberdeen Police Chief Freddie Robinson points to the regions of Vietnam that he visited during the Vietnam War. Freddie retired from the military as a chief warrant officer 4 after 32 years of service in the Army and Army Reserve.

and they did go to Germany, and so did I. That extending went on and ended up being a 24 year career in the Army Reserve.”

During his time with the Army Reserve, Freddie traveled overseas for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He remembers one of the most challenging parts of being in Desert Shield was the homesickness. “We didn’t have a lot of communication with home. Our unit moved around a lot and was split up into different groups several times. There were instances when we were almost a hundred miles away from the nearest telephone that we could use to call home.”

In 1979 his unit went to Bosnia, and Freddie says he was proud to go there with his son, William ‘Skip’ Robinson, who was also a member of the 452nd at

Photos by Troy McQuillen

V

eterans Day, which was first named Armistice Day, has been celebrated on November 11 in the U.S. since the end of World War I. Every year on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, people all over the country observe two minutes of silence to honor all the men and women who have served in the military during times of both war and peace.

In 2015, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that there were about 18 million U.S. veterans.

While this number is huge, each individual story is important and has made a difference in shaping the world. Two of our very own Aberdeen veterans, Freddie Robinson and Erling Podoll, generously sat down with us and shared some firsthand experiences from their years of service.

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THEY SAVED THE WORLD ONE BEACH AT A TIME When Erling Podoll decided to enlist in the Navy in 1942 to help pay for college, he said he literally walked off his family’s farm near Westport. “I was 17 and I walked off during threshing time. I don’t know how I had the guts to do it. I had a superintendent my senior year of high school who told me that I should go on with my schooling, and I had never really thought of that. Apparently that gave me the audacity to walk off the job, as you might say.”

After completing first the V-12 Navy College Officer Training Program in North Dakota, and then Midshipmen’s School in Illinois, he received his commission in November of 1944 and was assigned as the officer in charge of Landing Craft Tank (LCT) 354, Group 39. His LCT was stationed in Tinian, one of the Northern Mariana Islands. During this time in World War II, Tinian housed the biggest

 Erling Podoll served as an officer in the Navy and was stationed in the Northern Mariana Islands during World War II.

B-29 bomber plane base in the world and was the location where the main bombing of Japan came from. LCT vessels like his were about 120 feet long by about 32 feet wide and used for transporting all the goods that moved between the big cargo ships and Tinian. According to Erling, “Most of the bombs and equipment on the island had been hauled ship-to-shore by Group 39 LCTs.” Erling and his crew of 12 men did everything in the stern compartment of the LCT. “We ate, slept, and did everything in an area that was about 20 by 30 feet. On one side we had a counter with a half dozen stools so a few people could eat at a time, a stove, and fridge. And on the other side were all the bunks.” He says he never once got seasick while traveling across or living on the ocean.

In July of 1945, heavy cruiser U.S.S. Indianapolis anchored near Tinian. Another boat, LCT 991, got the call to go haul cargo from the Indianapolis to shore. Erling said he went along with LCT 991 because his good friend and former roommate from V-12 officers training, Telford Morgan of Warner, was onboard the Indianapolis and he wanted to visit with him. LCT 991 made two trips from the Indianapolis to Tinian, one hauling a container of Uranium 235, and the other a crate with atomic bomb components. Four days later, Telford lost his life when the Indianapolis was sunk near the Philippines. After the war ended, Erling’s LCT 354 was assigned the job of hauling three truckloads of unused atomic bomb casings out to be disposed of in the sea.

Erling was separated from active duty in July of 1946 and remained in the inactive reserves until his final honorable discharge in 1959. He went on to attend South Dakota State University and work as a wildlife biologist for over 30 years, as well as raise a family with his wife, Connie. He says when the Indianapolis sank, its log was lost and the logs from the LCTs were also not found. The Nuclear Defense Agency and Navy did not have any official record of how the atomic bomb supplies reached the shores of Tinian. In 1993 Erling started the process of gathering accounts from other LCT members he knew, as well as writing his own account of what happened. In 2009, after 16 years, the Navy finally accepted their statements and officially recognized the role those LCTs played in that part of history.

At his home in Aberdeen, Erling has a sewn patch with the quote, ‘They saved the world, one beach at a time.’ “That is what we’re most proud of,” he says. //

ABERDEEN VETERAN MEMORIALS, TEMPORARY EXHIBITS, AND EVENTS 1. Anderson Park Vietnam Memorial located on 6th Avenue SE and Harrison St. 2. “The Vietnam War Experience” exhibit, with historical accounts, photos, and uniforms, on display at the Dacotah Prairie Museum, 21 S. Main Street, through November 12.

3. Veterans Day Banquet to benefit American Heroes Outdoors, November 11 at 5:00 PM, Aberdeen Elks Lodge, 705 Circle Drive. Food, raffles, games, and live music with Union Cattle Band. www.americanheroesoutdoors.com.

38

Photo by Troy McQuillen

the time. While they were away, Sandra was back in Aberdeen working to assist local military families.

“My wife was the family support group leader for Aberdeen and also on the national board for family support.”

Freddie retired from the military as a chief warrant officer 4 and from the Aberdeen Police Department as a captain. He served for about 32 years in both fields. Afterwards, he worked as the county emergency manager for six years, and nowadays you can find him volunteering throughout the community. One of the things he enjoyed the most about his time in the service was the ability it gave him to travel and see different parts of the world. He emphasized the significant duties that members of the Army Reserve and National Guard, or the “guys and gals in green” as he says, fulfill when they are activated and jump in to help people during all kinds of situations from national crises to natural disasters.

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Y E S T E R DAY S

 Power of the Law displayed in the courtroom on the third floor of the Brown County Courthouse. It was painted by LaCrosse, WI artist, Alex Edward Soderberg. It depicts the trial of Susanna from the book of Daniel in the Bible.

Soderberg painted variations of this scene in courthouses across the Midwest including the inset from Lake County, MN’s courthouse (above).

The Lost Art of the Brown County Courthouse

I

n 1904 the citizens of Aberdeen and Brown County celebrated the dedication of their new courthouse. The day was Tuesday, March 15, and the Brown County Courthouse was now officially open for business. After successfully bullying the county seat away from Columbia in 1890, Brown County commissioners set out to design and build a stately structure that would be situated near the original plattings of Aberdeen. It was built for a cost of $121,097 (including the jail), and paid for in part with bonds in the amount of $65,000.

40

Today, we still have the courthouse to remind us of our county center, the law, and property tax. Of course it has changed a lot with the annexes built both to the east and west that sandwich the historic building between modern structures. While the annexes may have taken away from the majestic setting of the building that was surrounded by grass, an iron fence, and trees, we still have the granite columns, stained glass, dome, and lady justice on top.

One thing we don’t have is the grand sandstone steps that every band, service club, and military

ABERDEEN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

regiment used as a backdrop for group photos in earlier days. Due in part to ADA compliance, the stairs were removed to provide an “on grade” entry. The odd thing about this is, instead of ascending to a glorious rotunda from the steps to the first floor, you merely enter into the basement or ground floor, which is divided up into small hallways and offices. You can take the stairs to the first floor, but you start to wonder: Where is the rotunda? In fact, Where are lots of things that used to be here?

The 1904 dedication booklet gives a thorough account of the building’s

details, including the types of marble, granite, terrazzo, paint, moldings, and of course, artwork. After all, a government building wouldn’t be complete without allegorical murals to help convey the concepts of justice and the American way.

Unfortunately, most of this art is lost. When major remodeling took place in 1968 and 1974, an elevator was added smack dab in the center of the rotunda, with offices built around the shaft. In the remodeling of the courtroom and rotunda, we lost all the signs of the zodiac that were painted in the dome, two ceiling murals, and

Photos by Troy McQuillen

Can You Help Rediscover the Missing Paintings? by TROY MCQUILLEN

 This painting was one of two on walls just below the dome.

Accessing it is very difficult, as was photographing it! It closely resembles the scene depicted in the artists sketch from the courthouse dedication book.

 This image is from the “Why We Celebrate” 1904 Brown County Courthouse dedication book. It shows the large mural, featured here, in the courtroom.

two wall friezes at the base of the rotunda tower. What does remain is a large mural in the third-floor courtroom (left).

The dedication booklet says the original interior design was handled by a firm from LaCrosse, Wisconsin by the name of Odin J. Oyen Decorations. Mr. Oyen had recently hired an immigrant from Sweden by the name of Alex Edward Soderberg as his main artist.

Unfortunately the booklet names him as R. E. Soderman, which is incorrect. Mr. Soderberg would travel the Midwest painting murals for churches, theaters, and government buildings. He traveled with his wife, who provided the likenesses for most of the females in his paintings.

Sometimes the paintings were done in the studio in Wisconsin and then simply applied like wallpaper. Judy Dosch, Courthouse Building and Grounds Supervisor, says she believes the two ceiling murals were carefully removed and stored. She thinks, however, that afterwards they may have been damaged and discarded.

The scene in the courtroom that we still have today was repeated in other

courthouses across the country. This was a favorite scene for Soderberg, as it features Susanna from the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. Susanna was accused by two men who spied on and lusted after her. When she refused sex with them, they told her they would say she was with a man in an attempt to shame her and have her put to death. This painting is of the trial she faced, and won. The large angel overseeing the trial is Justice.

This painting is done on canvas and applied to the wall within a raised plaster boarder. Soderberg’s signature is clearly visible in the lower right, and a small ad for his firm is directly below the title in the nameplate.

Two paintings, done directly on a wall below the rotunda dome, are completely covered up by a new ceiling, but can still be seen through an opening in a wall in the attic space of the courthouse. They’re not easy to get to, and one must maneuver over an exposed plaster ceiling underfoot, almost jumping to an I-beam worthy of supporting a viewer. Of course it’s completely dark in the newly created void, so the painting isn’t too faded.

Unfortunately blown-in insulation

 Wisdom of the Law (left) and Justice of the Law (right) also from the dedication book, were once on the ceiling – in the courtroom, but were removed (and lost) when the courthouse was remodeled. Both are presumed to have been painted by Alex Edward Soderberg.

conceals about half of it (top right).

There is another painting on the opposite side of this space, but it is very faint and no records exist indicating what it looks like. The only thing visible on it is a row of faded tree trunks.

As it stands now, the courtroom mural is the only art piece visible today. Yes, the additional art would contribute to a complete work; architecture complimented by art and vice versa. However, the building’s stained glass, marble, granite, and metal railings are still a wonder to behold. But unless you’ve committed a crime, or are a part of the legal system, you can’t simply stroll in and look at the remaining Soderberg mural. That’s why we’re showing it here. It measures about ten by eight feet and the colors appear

to be a little muted. The dedication booklet also describes a room on the ground level featuring murals with agricultural themes. We have no idea what happened to those, other than assuming a loss to the proverbial paintbrush, or layer of drywall.

Our appeal to you is this: if you have any photos of anyone taken at the courthouse before 1968, can you please check to see if there is any artwork or murals in the background? There were hundreds of marriages performed there, so it stands to reason that there would be wedding day photos including the missing art. // WE WOULD LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE AND THANK JUDY DOSCH FOR PROVIDING ACCESS, HELPING WITH OUR PHOTOGRAPHY, AND PROVIDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE COURTHOUSE.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 ABERDEEN MAGAZINE

41

FEATURE

THE HUB CITY MOVIE EXPERIENCE

by PATRICK GALLAGHER 42

remember leaving the Orpheum Theater in Aberdeen with my nineyear-old sister and my grandmother 45 years ago after watching Live and Let Die, the first James Bond movie starring Roger Moore. As we returned to Grandma’s apartment, we passed some kids playing, loud but oblivious to us. Still, my 12-year-old cool was alerted, and I silently warned the kids, “Better not mess with a guy who just saw a James Bond movie.”

I’ve never admitted such a story in public before, but it gets at the magic effect of the movies, the experience. In the previous two hours, I had been transported around the world as a super spy with incomparable skills, cunning, and confidence. No wonder I was ready to do battle. I’ve also been beamed to a zillion other places, like a major league baseball park, a war zone, 1930s Chicago, a long time ago and a place far away, and even under the sheets. (Oh boy! Remember Michael Meyers in that sheet in Halloween? What did you think I meant?) A big part of my love of movies comes from the ones I saw as a kid and where I saw them, the theaters in Aberdeen.

Growing up in Redfield, I didn’t have many options. We had the Pheasant City Drive-In with nightly summer shows. Usually this meant one or another teen sex movie, like Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Porky’s (or lesser fare)— although 20 years later, I took my kids there to see Titanic. A downtown indoor theater opened when I was young, meaning movies year-round, including for me Manhattan and Three Days of the Condor. Mondays were Rebate Night—$1 movies—and several high school guys would attend to be obnoxious, making sure to keep an empty seat between us— you know, so no one would get the wrong idea about us. My cool hadn’t developed very much.

If we wanted to watch a new movie, we had to follow my mom’s 1948 high school yearbook motto: “Let’s Go to Aberdeen.”

In Mom’s youth, there had been four downtown movie theaters in Aberdeen (back then, in

Redfield’s earlier movie theater—before it became a bowling alley—Mom worked as an usherette).

Going back further, the Hub City has had theaters since at least 1906, including about 20 different downtown theater businesses operating at different times out of 10 different locations—with as many as five open at the same time in the decade or so before World War II. By 1960, the Bijou, Strand, Ritz, Pix, Idle Hour, Rialto, and others had hit the cutting room floor.

DO YOU REMEMBER THESE ABERDEEN MOVIE THEATERS?

“BETTER NOT MESS WITH A GUY WHO JUST SAW A JAMES BOND MOVIE.” By the time I came around, Aberdeen’s theaters were the aforementioned Orpheum (built 1913), on Lincoln Street, in what is now the parking lot east of the Sherman Apartments, and the Capitol (built 1926). In their early days, both occasionally hosted live theater as well as movies—silents then talkies. My memories of the Capitol are more vivid than of the Orpheum. Most impressive to a kid were the great orange drinks at the concession stand in bottles shaped, textured, and colored like the fruit, complete with a straw coming out of green, leafy plastic on the top—and you got to keep the bottle—so cool! The Capitol has always had wonderful architecture and finishings—just check the Aberdeen newspaper stories when it opened (you’ll think they were written by the theater owners). Still, it might have deserved one paper’s claim that it was the “finest and most complete house of its kind in the whole Northwest” (meaning Northwest United States).

Most definitely a place built before TV changed how we thought about how we watched movies, the space was part of the experience.

I remember seeing movies at the Capitol ranging from Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (in the original go-round of that series) to The In-Laws (the original) to the 1976 remake of King Kong (I’m sensing a trend here). My most intense memory is actually of a preview—shown before The Bible, I think—for Night of the Living Dead, the seminal zombie movie. As an eight-year-old, that trailer freaked me out more than any movie I’ve ever watched (despite being a die-hard [there must be a pun in there] Walking Dead fan now, I couldn’t watch Night for at least 30 years after that preview—zombies are scarier in grainy black and white). continues on page 44

 Orpheum Theatre located on the corner of Lincoln and Third Avenue SE. Both the Orpheum and Radison buildings were demolished as part of a parking strategy (after the ramp).

 At least two movie theaters were located in the Jewett Brothers Wholesale Grocery building (later North Western Public Service) at 402 S. Main Street. First was The Idle Hour, then The Rialto.

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 The Capitol Theater was built in 1926 at 415 S. Main Street. It sustained substantial fire damage in its earlier years but was rebuilt and is still used today.

 The Lyric Theater was located in a building built just for the theater, much like the Capitol. It was located at 216 S. Main Street.

 The Bijou was located right beside the Dacotah Prairie Museum building at about 20 S. Main Street. There is a parking lot there now.

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Eventually, both downtown theaters closed.

The Orpheum lasted until 1984, closing after the owners tried booking, in the words of the American News’ inimitable Don Hall, “softcore X-rated films, hoping hot scenes on the screen would heat an auditorium that the building’s heating facilities apparently cannot do.” The Capitol first closed in 1990 before restorations led to reopening in 1995 for live theater (even as renovations continued— and still do today) and then for movies as the Capitol Cinema in 2007. The Starlite Drive-In, which opened in 1949 at Highways 12 and 212, closed in 1983.

Those grand downtown movie palaces of the early 20th century were supplanted by the Twin Theatres, Cinema 1 and its evil twin Cinema 2, which opened in 1975 on 6th Avenue in a building that still schizophrenically houses multiple operations: Gary’s Auto Body and Extreme Graphix. And while the grand opening ads for the new twin theaters called the place “beautiful”—twice—it was truly a sign of megathings to come. Like most movie theaters built since the 1960s, the Cinema Twin—including its multiplex mall descendant—was apparently designed for people with tunnel vision, who only want to watch a movie and get out quickly. The new theaters—simple rectangles compared to the lively isosceles trapezoidal Capitol—focused more on acoustics than aesthetics. I’m reminded of how Nick, the bartender in It’s a Wonderful Life, described his bar during George Bailey’s vision of what life would be like if he’d never been born: “We serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast.” No nuance. But I guess the theater didn’t need much ambiance when my friends and I came up to watch Animal House on my 18th birthday. Fortunately for Aberdeen, I had matured some since Live and Let Die, and the city was spared any “ramming speed!” incidents.

The mall theaters opened in mid-1990 a few months before the Cinema Twin closed in early 1991. The fruitful place started with five theaters and eventually multiplied mitotically into nine.

Since they opened while I lived out of state, most of my memories there are of going to movies after I returned to South Dakota with the family I sired (of course, we practiced with many videos at home until I thought the movie-going public would be safe if I took my kids to a theater). We saw Lord of the Rings and Lord of the Rings and Lord of the Rings (three years in a row, remember?), as well as Spy Kids and Harry Potter (ditto, ditto, etc.).

There were more bona fide—i.e., animated—kids’ movies too, like The Lion King, SpongeBob, and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie (during which I pulled out my cell phone—to play a game, not to pirate the movie). In later years, my 15-year-old convinced my 75-year-old mom to take him to Borat, and I went with another son to Neighbors (working at the concession stand, his classmate and former

Aberdeen Magazine editor was amused—that movie was a little too much like what I saw as a teenager at the Redfield drive-in). And, of course, the traditional family Christmas movie pilgrimage— to, for example, Django Unchained—it just isn’t Christmas without Quentin Tarantino.

Watching movies on big screens in big rooms still rules, and in Aberdeen, the biggest and best is still the Capitol—you could even watch Capitol Cinema movies from the balcony! (It was rarely open when I was a kid—maybe my Redfield Rebate Night reputation preceded me. Not.) Except that’s not where you watch movies in the Capitol anymore. A couple years ago, the digital theatre opened in the building, and Capitol Cinema’s movies moved there. I want to like it; I really do. The technology is impressive (although the floor vibrating from the subwoofer, or whatever, was distracting). It fits 90 seats into a footprint most theaters would use for about half as many, so it tends to feel a little like a really large big screen home theater (and my long-ish legs and wide body fit tightly into the otherwise comfortable seating). Importantly, the steep stadium style seating ensures no one should be looking at the back of someone’s head (unless someone in the back stands up and throws a shadow on the screen).

Ultimately, it’s a nice place to watch a film—and it feels good to be supporting the cause of much more interesting movies. But the digital theatre will never be its big brother upstairs. No matter what, with its history and my own memories, there is nothing better or cooler than watching a movie at the Capitol, period.

“THERE IS NOTHING BETTER OR COOLER THAN WATCHING A MOVIE AT THE CAPITOL, PERIOD.” Epilogue (the reason you sit through the closing credits): At the same time, age and the youth running around my feet mellowed my snooty theatrical snobbishness, and I discovered there’s also nothing better—maybe nothing more cool— than piling four little kids onto a bed with their parents and watching Sandlot or Robin Hood or Rudy or an evolving playlist where the content mattered less than the company. That’s an experience, too. // THANKS TO THOSE WHO HELPED WITH THE REAL HISTORY OF ABERDEEN'S THEATERS: ART BUNTIN, DACOTAH PRAIRIE MUSEUM, K.O. LEE ABERDEEN PUBLIC LIBRARY, ABERDEEN COMMUNITY THEATRE, AND THE LATE DON ARTZ.

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