Welcome to the Fair! I haven’t been to many festivals this summer; timing just hasn’t worked in my favor. Lucky for me, though, I get to make up for it all by going to the granddaddy of festivals: the Minnesota State Fair, the place that made food-on-a-stick famous. This is my first
On a Saturday night in June, the parlor of the restored Grand Rapids (Minnesota) house where little Judy Garland (nee Frances Ethel Gumm) spent the first four years of her life is draped with nostalgia. The parlor, decorated with period furniture, an upright piano, and a small gaggle of old queens and divas, is an
One of the country's best festivals. There's nothing like a watching a parade in the dead of winter to lift one's spirits.
I finally had a chance to get in some festival time last week. Not one to do things half-ass, I ran around to four festivals in two weekends. First up: Winona Steamboat Days where I watched the 63rd annual Grand Parade. Honestly, I had low expectations. Small town parades can be dull, especially if you’re an
Wabasha, Minnesota was the fictional setting of the Grumpy Old Men movies, so the city celebrates its fame with a festival in February that includes ice fishing, minnow races, and hot dish.
Winter can be a great time to visit Minnesota’s Mississippi River valley, if you aren’t already sick of cold weather. Snow softens the rough edges of rocky bluffs. The floodplain is decorated like cake frosting with piles of snow sculpted into graceful formations by unforgiving winds. The inviting waters of the Mississippi River and its sloughs are transformed into vast
