Main Street
Travel Wisconsin Dells; Tom Isern; Gion and Farmers Markets; Studio 47
Capital Shakespeare of Bismarck presents Hamlet, July 17th through the 21st of the Prairie Amphitheater located on the lawn, just south of the main entrance to the North Dakota Heritage Center. Follow the grieving Hamlet as he seeks to avenge his father's death and plummets the kingdom and the madness. Performance is starred at 6.30 p.m. and are free and open to the public with free will donations accepted. Limited concessions available, lawn chairs or blankets are encouraged. Capital Shakespeare's Hamlet, July 17th through the 21st in Bismarck. [Music] Welcome to this Wednesday edition of Main Street. I'm Craig Bloomichine. Lots in our show today. Tom Ezern stops by with a Plains Folk Essay. This one's titled Bunches of Lunches. Lots of nostalgia and messages for today. Rick Jahn also stops by with another edition of Prairie Plates. Farmers markets are on Rick's mind and a little poetry from Robert Burns. But we open the show today with travel writer Alicia Underline Nelson. In fact, she lets us in on her family vacation in Wisconsin Dells and she says there is something for everyone. Alicia, thank you for joining us today again on Main Street. Thank you so much for having me and expect to be here. What initially attracted you to want to go to Wisconsin Dells here this summer? Well, to be totally honest, it's probably the reason that 90% of the people come to this area in the first place. And the clue is I'm already here doing this interview in my bathing suit because we have big, big water park plans. And if you are a fan of water parks, even casually, this is the place to go. I mean, there are so many record-breaking water slides here. It just blows my mind. America's tallest water slide just opened at Mount Olympus this summer. So that's a new in 2024 attraction. America's largest outdoor water park is Noah's Ark open Memorial Day to Labor Day. America's largest indoor outdoor water park is here. That's Wilderness Hotel. The largest floating water park opened last year. Wisconsin's largest indoor water park. If you want to come in the winter, that's Calahari. I mean, it just goes on and on and on. You can read America's longest water coaster. You can ride America's tallest cobra slide. I mean, it's just endless and it's not just for kids. I have to be honest. Last year, my husband really wanted to come because he hadn't been here since he was younger. And he wanted to bring nephews in our niece, come with my parents, come do a really multi-generational vacation. And I have to admit, I was not sold because the idea of a water park sounded to me kind of like the fair, but even more expensive. And I don't, I mean, anything against fairs. But in the summer, it's hot. There's a lot of concrete. It just did not seem like a draw to me. And I was proud to report that I was completely wrong. We had a really good time and we honestly only went to one water park this year. So we're trying to remedy that and try a new one, this vacation. What about cost for Wisconsin Dills? We were there, my wife and I, for the first time last winter, just before Christmas time. And I had a good time. It was certainly in the winter season. And I thought to myself, boy, this sure looks like a tourist place, right? And because you just see it everywhere. Over time, is it getting expensive for families to attend? Or are they holding their own relative to prices? Well, the great thing is this is set up for families and it's also set up for budget conscious families. Now, I'll say that with a caveat. It's also a little bit like the fair or like the circus. Like anything that really does a good job of giving kids what they want is that I was walking down the street downtown and I heard a little boy call out, "Daddy, let's go in here." "Oh my gosh, Daddy, let's go in here." "We have to go in here." I mean, he was running up and down the sidewalk, just thrilled with everything, with the ice cream, with the fudge, with mini golf. Oh my gosh, there's mini golf over here and we can do go cars and he was just breathless. So you do need to do a little bit of planning and you maybe don't need to give into any impulse. Any impulse, any and every impulse because it will get expensive, like any trip if you do that. But the nice thing is, is that from the moment that you book your hotel or your resort, they're really thinking of you and they desire that you maybe want to save money, especially if you're coming with more than just a few people. So there are coupon books all over town. There are all kinds of specials. I would say the food prices are, I would say, refreshingly average. Folks, I would say like, "Yeah, and Fargo, Moorhead, Bismarck, Grand Forks, Florida, cities." We'll feel like, "Okay, this isn't awful." So you're not going to go into most restaurants and you're definitely not going to find a dress code. It's really approachable and you're not going to find that sort of ballpark cost. You know, like when you go in and you order a beer and you go, "Wow, goodness, that's a lot." Or you get two kids meals and you have to check your bank balance, which is great. So I would say when people are concerned about funds, which is normal, definitely start by booking a hotel that offers some incentive. Now you can do a stay and play resort and there are absolutely lots of those that have maybe a huge water park on the premises or a smaller water park that's really appropriate for toddlers. And then you have a lot of that built and entertainment right on the premises and maybe some of them have a cage or they have family-friendly restaurants or that kind of thing. So you can kind of be doing everything in one place. You don't have to spend money on gas or parking. You're doing a lot in that area. And a lot of the hotels, if they don't have a huge water park, they often offer free passes to the biggest water parks in town and/or they'll do arcades as well. So we stayed at Atlantis last year and we got tickets every day to knuckleheads. So we said, "What's this?" Okay, I mean, the touristy town and our cage, sure, probably a couple machines. No, we were absolutely wrong. You could climb for the rafters on this climbing course. You balance and you're kind of in a harness and high above everyone else. You can ride go cars. We did mini-golf. They had some fair rides in town. They just installed a small roller coaster inside as well. And there's trampolines and bowling, I believe, just a ton of stuff that we didn't even get to. So sometimes, if you're on a budget and you book a hotel that's catering to families that are also on a budget, you'll get some really good surprises. And it can come down to be, I mean, your water park passes sometimes cost a little bit more if you buy them individually. But if you stay in a place that has a park on the premises, you'll save a little money there, too. Your restaurant and your evening entertainment might be the biggest expense that you have. Do you notice at this time of year there are just primarily families? And I ask that question because we arrived on a weekend in winter and then didn't leave until, I think, Tuesday. And we noticed Friday night Saturday, just families everywhere. And there were sports, I think, tournaments in town, et cetera, et cetera. But then the families cleared away and it was older folks who were enjoying the amenities of the water park. But I'm guessing now it's seven days a week family family family there as we speak today. I would say whenever school is out of session, you're definitely going to have more families than a typical destination because that's really who this destination targets. That's their bread and butter. They do a really great job of making it super fun and super easy for families just to go. And that's really what we did last year is we didn't make any plans at all. We just showed up and for me as a travel letter, it was kind of liberating to let the kids kind of take the wheel within reason. That's dangerous. It sounds to be like. Yeah, but there, you know, we make a plan where everybody can say, you know, the things that they're most interested in doing. And everybody gets to do at least some of those things, but we have to be in agreement. So if, I mean, there's nine people in our party this year. So if one person wants to go zip lining and no one else does, that's not going to be a win. But if the majority speaks, and yeah, that's something that we're all interested in. It's kind of a good exercise in working together and crafting an itinerary that everybody likes. But I tell people you will not have to work hard to travel with a family in Wisconsin delt at all. Not even remotely, but this is also really popular for bachelor and bachelor at parties. It's also really popular, as you mentioned for retired folks that are out. They'd be enjoying a little midweek fun when the parks are a little bit less crowded. And there's also really beautiful hiking trails here. There's state parks, including ones that you can reach. I mean, it's just like just over a mile from downtown, beautiful lakes. You can hike down into some of the slot canyons and see those Wisconsin delts. The rock formations that are made of sandstone are these beautiful, craggy bluffs that gave this place its name. And that was the thing that really attracted people to this region in the first place. So you can go down and visit these places. And that maybe isn't as crowded. That maybe is a more adult demographic. And then at the end of the day, there's also wonderful bars. Really great Wisconsin supper clubs, which is a classic Wisconsin experience. You can settle in, have a, you know, steak and potatoes meal, a really good old-fashioned. There's six wineries in this region. There's a couple great spots. So it's definitely not only a family-only place. And if you're just one of those people that maybe you're on vacation from the kids and you really want a child-free environment. This is your moment for adult conversation. There are a couple adults-only resorts as well. So I think that's a thing that doesn't get talked about as often, but it's important for people to know. So maybe if they're just stopping through and they're like, "Oh, do I want to?" And I'm driving across country or I'm planning a trip nearby, "Do I want to check out the delts? Is it a place for me?" Yeah. I was a water park skeptic and I'm a believer. And my sister and I are already talking about, "How can we do a trip where we go to the spot? How can we do a trip where we focus a little bit more on some of the boutiques that we've seen?" Without being rushed out to go to a t-shirt shop. So there's a little bit of something for everybody, whether you're 9 or 90. We are enjoying our conversation with Alicia Underley-Nelson. She's a travel writer and she periodically joins us here on Main Street to talk about travel. And she's on a family vacation right now in Wisconsin-Dells. Okay, I have never been to Wisconsin-Dells, let's say. And I'm coming for the first time. What is at the top of my must-see list to get the lay of the land? Well, I would say if you're only in town, maybe you're getting off Amtrak and you're going to pop out and spend an evening here, or you're just driving through, I would tell people to go to the downtown district. That's where you're going to find a lot of great shops, several restaurants. You're going to get a chance to go right on the Riverwalk and see the river that made this place famous, kind of enjoy the shade. There's some live entertainment, there's live music from 7 to 9 every day in the summer. So it's just a really fun, affordable, buzzy place. My niece just told my mom that she really liked the energy down there. So to impress a teenager is a really good thing, kind of something for everybody in that space. And then if you venture a little bit further out from the city center, it's a very small town. I think there's just over 3,000 people in Wisconsin-Dells, so it's very tourism-based. So that's where you're going to find those more old-fashioned hotels that have stood the test of time, family-owned with the wrought iron balconies and they're just small little walk-ups. And then you're going to branch out and you're going to find all those great restaurants. Then you're going to go a little bit further along the main drag and see the big sprawling water parks kind of at every direction. And then you're going to find some of the larger mini-golf places and some of the really big family restaurants and bars. A lot of those are in combination, they're a place where mom and dad can maybe have margarita and relax while the kids play outside or get ice cream, that sort of thing. And I tell people, I definitely think everybody should get in the water in Wisconsin-Dells, but how you do that is up to you. So you can get out and explore the lakes. Yes, that's for lots of people, like they really want that natural experience. And if the natural experience is what you want, I would say to check out the America's largest floating water park in town. And that's in a naturally filtered lake, which is great. So you get a little bit of that Wisconsin nature energy without the more theme park sort of feeling of a larger water park. Or you can do one of the big ones, do model Memphis, do Noah's Ark. That's the largest water park in America. And take the day to do it. Oftentimes, Noah's Ark passes will be included with your stay, which is really fun. And you can go to the Wisconsin-Dells Visitor and Convention Bureau, and they have that listed right on their site. And if you get their vacation guide, which is sitting in front of you right now, they have a guide in the back that tells you which properties offer water park deals and what attractions the water parks offer, which is nice. So that you can really pick the right option for you, because if there's a mistake that I think people make in Wisconsin-Dells is that they try to do too much. They think, oh, this is restaurant or this water park is open. So I'm going to be there the entire time. And then I'm going to go downtown and then I'm going to check out all these restaurants on my list. And that can get really tiring. And that's what I tell people, not just in Wisconsin-Dells, but whenever you're traveling with a family is to do the things that you want to do. But to maybe make sure that you're picking the best option for you to start and to not wear yourself out. So if you if you ride everything that you want to ride, you're good. Take a little rest and then you can move on to the next thing. And if you've taken a little time to figure out the best water park fit for you early, you're not going to be walking around a park that's, say, too large with little kids. Or maybe a park with a lot of climbing that's kind of hard for a grandma and grandpa. You'll just do a little research ahead of time. And the nice thing is they're pros here at the Visitor and Convention Bureau. They answer all those questions. Their information is really good. Their website is super informative. So it's not one of those places where you're going to come in flying blind. You're going to have a lot of information. So as long as you get wet, see downtown, eat some good Wisconsin food, get some cheese curds if you can. It's Wisconsin. You've got to do it. And just enjoy yourself. And if you don't see everything this year because you won't, that's fine. Every vacation is like that, right? We're not here to cram a year's worth of vacation into a few days. You can always come back again. You mentioned traveling by Amtrak. That's how we went to Wisconsin. It's a very it's an easy trip. If you're if you're okay with far goes awful Amtrak. Boardings and arrivals leave about three thirty in the morning. And I think we were there about one o'clock. And then on the way home, I think it was about a six thirty ish, six forty ish departure. And we got back to Fargo at four thirteen a.m. Got a sleeper car on the way home, didn't on the way there. And I think that was probably the way to play it. It was enjoyable and it was inexpensive to travel there. And then it's just Uber all around town and they have Uber drivers everywhere. Oh yeah, it is absolutely quick for people no matter how you arrive. If you're driving your own car. If you need a ride, if you're stepping up the station steps, I mean, they they know how to handle it. And I am so glad that you brought up Amtrak that there are rumors. There are rumors that they're going to be adjusting the scheduling slightly to accommodate some of the larger population centers in the West, which might mean might slightly better arrival and departure times as Fargo, which I think we would love that food game changer. Yes, let's hope that that comes to fruition a little bit later. Well, train travel is one of the pleasures of life and I really think that people in Europe have an absolute edge. The train goes everywhere. You have multiple departure times. You can choose your level of comfort. They're super efficient. Whereas in the US, but I would say the Midwest and the West especially, we really have very few options. If you go out east, they're well familiar with how great and liberating train travel can be. But I have taken Amtrak many times. You rode the Empire Builder as did I have taken it all the way to Chicago. And yeah, just being able to step off and take what you need, what's nice on a train is that you can bring a lot more baggage than you can on a plane. So if you want to come with your coolers in your family and get picked up, that's okay. You can do that. If you want to step up with just a backpack and visit Wisconsin Dells on the way to Chicago or on your way all the way out, you know, to Seattle, if you want, you can do that too. I mean, there's so many options. So it's a good city. It's a small city. It's not overwhelming. It has big tourist energy, but you know what? It's proud of it. It's not ashamed of it. Wisconsin Dells, it's here for a good time and it's going to make it easy for you. Is there any other place in the country or maybe even elsewhere traveling internationally that compares to Wisconsin Dells that's top of your mind? Not that I've found. No. I mean, they have trademarks that they are the watermark, waterpark capital of the world, and they have absolutely arranged everything to support that claim. Even the smallest little mom and pop hotels that have that, they look like a postcard from 1940. They're just adorable and well-maintained with little flowers out front. They have a little pool for the kids to splash in. I mean, families are ordering pizza, a cabin, a good time sitting outside and it's like water is central to absolutely everything, whether that's from getting up in the morning, you can go tell 10 o'clock at night and nobody does it like this. And it's not just one option. That's what's great. We look lots of places. There's maybe one or two big parks, Max. Maybe that's not enough for your family to come back year after year, but we are meeting people that have come here many years in a row. And for that reason, it kind of reminds me of Madora, you know, how folks come back for the musical every year because it's similar, but it's slightly different. There's always something new. There's always a new shop opening or they like to explore a new show. It's kind of the same thing, but on a much splashier scale with a whole lot more water. You mentioned earlier about planning with your family about different things that you'd like to do and try to accommodate everyone's wishes to as good of extent as possible. Boy, it seems to me that that would be maybe the number one tip that you can offer to really allow families, especially with young children to prepare for a trip like this. It's just overload once you arrive in Wisconsin-Dells. Absolutely. If you're not careful, you will be like the little boy on the sidewalk that I mentioned earlier. You'll be running around in every direction, completely overstimulating, overstimulating, wanting to try everything. And what I would recommend doing is if you've got real little ones, you honor that nap schedule. You know, you make sure that they get enough rest so you don't have a little pileers running around. That can put a kind of a dampening spirit on the party, right? But when you're back in the afternoon or you're doing the morning nap, that means that everybody else in the group can go do something else if they want. So if you can split up, great! Maybe grandma and grandpa take the teenagers in an Uber and maybe they go to the water park earlier, they play some mini-golf. Or maybe the whole family takes the rest. Maybe the introverts a new group also want to sit and scroll their phones and read a book or sit by the pool and just enjoy a little bit of peace and quiet and sunshine. I think the biggest thing that I would tell people is to block in moments of rest, and that's especially true in a multi-generational group. Because people are going to have different travel speeds. That toddler is going to need to rest. Grandma and grandpa are going to need to rest. Great aunts and great uncles might not have great knees or everybody might get a little overheated. We need to just break out some time. Sit with a cool beverage. Maybe we don't get up real early on this particular vacation. The water parks don't open until about 10. So you know what, maybe this is the trip that we try to sleep in as much as possible. Maybe the early risers are in one room. If the kids always wake up at six, you know, maybe grandpa who wakes up at six and one of the parents are in there and everybody else gets to sleep in. Maybe we don't do every meal out. Maybe we do. I'm sitting right here at the grandma key, staring at a lovely gazebo and there's grills and people are going to come out here and grill. They're going to order pizza. They're going to keep it easy so everybody gets to do what they want to do. If the kids desperately want pizza, maybe you don't go out to a restaurant, get all the kids in the gear in the car seats in. Maybe you order pizza in, you let them splash and you have a conversation with your aunt or your cousin or your best friend who's here with her kid. You know, you sit down, you have those moments and you don't stress about it. I think if you do a little pre-planning, you think where are we building in quiet today? Where are we building in rest today? You can absolutely schedule yourself from six in the morning until midnight. The shops downtown are open till 10, right? So this is a place that understands that families are going to have to arrange their schedule in different ways to really maximize their trip. But you don't have to do all of it. Pick the things that are the most important. Let the rest go, concentrate on being together. You can be together. I'm going to go up, sit tomorrow morning after we go out and have a really great time today. We're going to come down. We're going to sit in this gazebo. We're going to sit in our shared suite and we're going to eat granola bars for breakfast and talk about what we did at the water park today. Have fun. And that's part of the trip too. One point also I want you to amplify if you could, is if you don't pre-plan, you can find yourself in a place where you will walk and walk and walk to go from water park to lunch to room to back to water park. That is very true. And that is true of any place. One of the first things that I do and that I'm teaching my fun to do, who's 11, is to look at, to choose a hotel or an Airbnb or a rental. You can rent tree houses in this town, right? So like to choose a lodging option that not only meets your needs as a family. I mean, obviously you need enough beds. You want the pool that you want. You want the continental breakfast in some cases, but to also look at location. Because location does matter. If it's really hard to get everybody in the car, you're going to want to look at a place that you can just do this on Google Maps. It's not a travel writer tip. Go to Google Maps, enter in the name of all the properties that you're looking at. And then Google restaurants nearby. If there's two, three, four, or five or six, which is very likely in Wisconsin delts, perfect. That might be a winner. You don't have to go all over town. And that's honestly what we did the first time that we came here. We stayed out near Noah's Ark and we didn't venture much beyond that. And that was fine. We had plenty of shopping opportunities. We had several really great, cool, kid-friendly restaurants. We didn't need to go far. If it's hard to get everybody in the car, or if, like your family did, you're using Uber and you don't want to be paying for rides absolutely everywhere. Book a place that is centrally located or kind of plan out your day. Plan out, okay, this might be a long day. We're going to go to the water park in the morning and the afternoon. Then we're going to need to build in some quiet time. We don't want to go all the way back to the hotel. But where's the quiet space that we can find near the water park perhaps? Maybe you're going to look at the square where they do live music. Maybe you're going to look at a shady park where you can rest. Maybe you're going to make a reservation at a place that you can sit on the patio and have a cool drink and do not much of anything. Maybe that's the day that you come back and have a really early day in rest. Because you don't want to be spending all your time in the car. You don't want to be spending all your time hailing Ubers. You want to be concentrating on being together as a family. So location does matter. Alicia, we're going to be visiting with you periodically throughout the summer from different locations. Where else do you plan to go? It's kind of a Wisconsin year for me. So for whatever reason, I am going to be in Wisconsin a lot this summer. I'm going to be in Madison and in Door County. And those are extremely different vibes than Wisconsin does. So I will have a lot to report. Door County isn't very far away from where I sit right now. And it feels very much like a different world. Feels very east coast. I've had a lot of people tell me. It feels like Cape Cod, very cottage energy, really great foodie spot, great vibe. And then I've not been to Madison ever. And that I've heard is such a cool art and culture city, a really great city for outdoor lovers. In the same way that Minneapolis is where, I mean, yes, you can have that great urban experience. And then you can walk down and rent a kayak and get out of the water, which I think is excellent. It's going to be a big Wisconsin summer and then maybe doing some more international travel over the water. So it's going to be fun. We'll look forward to our continued visits. We visit periodically with travel writer Alicia Underley Nelson. And she joined us today from her family vacation in Wisconsin Dells. Alicia, thanks for joining us again on Main Street. Thanks so much for having me. Coming up on Main Street, farmers markets on prairie plates. That's after this. Support is provided by doctors Kirk Koyer and Phil Sondrel of Urgent Med. Providing personalized walk-in medical care for all ages seven days a week in South Fargo. Urgent Med, where urgent care doesn't feel like urgent care. I like bagels. It's about the queue. We'll sort of send some nice red beets. I like the applesauce, Rick, but I'm not sure about the red beets. I'm not sold on that. How are you today? I'm doing well. How are you Craig? Good. Rick Gion joins us as he does every week with another edition of Prairie Plates. We're going to talk farmers markets today. Rick, what's the first farmers market you ever went to? Wow, that's an interesting question. And I think it was down in Minneapolis at some point, maybe around 20 years ago. And I was like, wow, what is this? And yeah, I kind of fell in love ever since. It's just a really good thing. And now in Fargo, it's really developed into a thing. Yeah, and across the country, quite frankly, we had them in Riverton, Wyoming. And then my son went to graduate school to vet school in Davis, California at UC Davis. Ah. And we went to their farmers market every time we visited. Unbelievable. It was set to great experience. The town had designed a whole section of their park just for farmers markets. Every person that was there selling their wares or their food had their own covered space. Number one, there was a great pathway through the middle and the whole thing was just about farmers markets. They had three times a week there and boy, it's so good as you can imagine in that part of California. I bet in three times a week, that's quite a bit, but I can see that really working in California. But here we have so much produce during the summer and it's an agricultural state, as you know. And so it just makes sense to have farmers markets around the state. And particularly the one in downtown Fargo here at Broadway Square has been growing largely the last, I don't know, five or six years. And it's really become kind of a statewide sort of event. They had their opening day last Saturday. Usually they get about 10,000 people for their opening day. And it looked like about that too. It was really popular, but it was also really hot. So I don't know if people stuck around. And Rick, the hours are different this week for the Red River Market. It's generally just on Saturdays. It is generally just on Saturdays, but this week it's going to be on Sunday, which technically would probably be in next week. But the street fair is going on in downtown Fargo Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So it pushed that date one day off. So looking forward to seeing folks on Sunday. For people that have never been to a farmers market, Rick, what should they expect to see? What should they want to buy? Well, this time of year there's quite a bit of fresh produce, but not as much as in another month when you get into tomato season when it's really booming, when things are really growing. And you see the green, the red, the orange, all that good stuff. But right now you will see cucumbers, beans, peas, that sort of thing. It's a little late for a radder season. My big thing is to go there and look for food vendors. Obviously, last week it was Saigon cuisine with a rice noodle bowl. And then I had a couple of Thai teas. They're non-alcoholic, by the way. I don't want to get into that early in the morning or whatever, but it did cool me down. And so I really look for those food vendors. There's also in Fargo a farmers market, I guess, at West Acres. And I do go to that one sometimes. That's actually Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. So three times a week like we were talking about. And that's actually a good one. There's, I don't know, about a dozen vendors or more. They do a good job. It's in the West Acres parking lot. You can just pull right in and visit with those folks and pick up your produce. We're not as familiar with farmers markets in other parts of North Dakota. But what are you hearing about other places that have farmers markets? Well, it's definitely a growing thing. And if you use Google and just say farmers market North Dakota, you'll see a lot of things pop up, like dozens of events around the state. From beach to Grand Forks. From Williston to Wapadin, you'll find farmers markets. And you know, 20 years ago, Craig, we just didn't see these things. And it's really good to see, because like I said, it's an agricultural state. And these things need to be promoted. We grow a lot of good stuff in North Dakota. And we need to be eating healthy as well. Eating local, I think, is a big important thing. Yes. And for these vendors, it's work for them to come to the farmers market. It just really is. And it's nice that we can support them. Yes. And that's another thing too. Local, they work their buns off to get these. To get this produce grown every year. And it's kind of a volatile sort of industry because the weather, it's dependent on the weather, the hail, all of those things. If it doesn't rain, obviously, can't really grow good stuff. Yeah, it is good to support local. A lot of these folks are friends and neighbors as well. And getting out, saying hi. You know, and talking to people about what you're cooking at home with their produce is actually quite interesting, at least to me. Because I like to hear what people are making and the delicious things they can make at home. What's your sense of prices at farmers markets? In other words, is it cheaper to go to the store? But you get so much more if you're walking around with friends at a farmers market. What's your sense of price? I don't think so. I think it's fair. I think the prices are fair. You get a lot of produce. It's fresh. It's tasty. It's nutrient dense is a kind of a term that's been popular lately. All of those things, there's just more taste, more flavor. And so to me, there's more value. But the prices are actually about the same as they are at the grocery store, I think anyway. And I buy a lot of produce coming up here in a couple weeks. I'll be starting to buy a lot of produce there instead of at the grocery store. So the trade-off, I think, is fine. Even if it's a little bit more expensive, it's just a little more, well, it's a lot more tasty. And the nutrient dense part is really, I think, important these days. And like I said, I think it's really a great way for people to get to know local producers, local people. It's a sense of community. And it's just a great place to hang out. One thing I really enjoy about farmers markets too is that the music is really good. At least at this one in downtown Fargo. They really do a good job, especially having this ban shell. And it's pretty typical you'll see four or five bands in a morning, afternoon, span at the Red River Market here. Just a few blocks away. So even if you're not really into going around and checking out vendors, you should just come and check out the music. The kids dance around. It's really a fun time. Rick, when we were in Cheyenne, we always went to the farmers market. It was every Saturday this time of year. But we found, boy, get there early because some vendors will sell out of what they have. Is it similar here? Yeah, that's a really good question, Craig, because when it's tomato time and that August sort of span. It's coming soon. It is coming soon. Oh, summer's almost over. Oh, don't say that yet. But tomatoes will sell very, very quickly. So you really need to get there early. It's 10 a.m. here. You just West Acres. It's 9 a.m. But when they start getting tomatoes, boy, you really have to look out. What else are we going to talk about later on this summer, Rick? Well, we can talk about lake food. I think that's one of those things that everybody is interested in, whether it's grilling or, you know, fresh-cut fruit, all the salads that are really good. Some of those things, stuff on the smoker, that's really popular these days. And so is fried fish or roasted fish, or however you want to do it, the fish you catch in the lake. So we'll talk a little bit about that later on. I made my first brisket of the season, Rick, two weekends ago, got up at 5.30. We were eating about 7.7.30 in the evening. For people that don't know how to use a smoker, highly recommended, it's just so much fun. I think it's a good investment. Can we learn more about where to eat in the region, Rick? Well, you can check out Far No More Head Eats on Facebook. It's a big Facebook group. It's about 40,000 people these days. It's just a group. People post photos of what they're eating, and go check it out. We visit once a week with Rick Pion. Merry place. Rick, thanks for joining us again on Main Street. Good to be with you, Craig. ♪♪ Support for Prairie Public is provided by Trollwood Performing Arts School, presenting the Adams family, a musical comedy full of laughs, fun for the whole family, and all the antics the famous family is known for. Tickets available at trollwood.org or by calling 218-477-6502. Performances run July 16th through the 20th and July 23rd through the 27th at Bluestem Center for the Arts in More Head. Our longtime friend Tom Ezerne contributes another one of his Plains folk essays. This is titled "Bunches of Lunches." There's some nostalgia and present-day messages from Dr. Ezerne. The last time we pulled into the starlight in Fingal, we stumbled into a hotbed of community memory, as it was all school reunion day. The starlight still stands. Its rounded roof spans white stucco walls. Top front, above the entry, is the starlight garden sign, indescribably inviting. The building now opens for events and functions. The starlight was a legendary dance hall and pavilion. It has a ticket window and a coat closet in the foyer, hardwood floors inside. The walls are hung with trophies of high school glory days and American Legion memorabilia. The dance pavilion on the west side with its outdoor stage could use some work. Born in the heyday of swing, the starlight made a successful transition into the era of rock and roll. I find a newspaper notice from 1948 advertising the place for sale. Opportunity is knocking North Dakota's most popular indoor and outdoor dance hall on and off sale. A wonderfully popular cover band, The Echo Man. What a great name for a cover band. The Echo Man served the musical tastes of a next generation, members of which I enjoyed questioning about the starlight when I met them in the bar across the street. That bar burned down the spring. The starlight still stands. We drove over again early this summer for an event called Bunches of Lunches. This was a Sunday dinner organized with a combined ELCA parish, comprising the Messiah of Fingal, St. Paul's of Catherine, Waldheim of rural Catherine and St. Petrie of Gnome. Its purpose was a public benefit to defray unpaid bills for school lunches served to community kids short on cash. I talked to the pastor and she says the bills amount to tens of thousands of dollars. We stuffed 20s into the jar that said free will offering to benefit student lunch debt at area school. We ate pulled pork, slaw, potato salad, beans and desserts, plural. We jogged with legislative candidates at the table. I made plain my sentiments that as a Lutheran and a farmer, I think the only defensible position is to feed everybody. How is it that we need a religious charitable event to feed public school students? It seems like there is a yawning gap between grassroots community and the state as currently constituted. Somebody has to maintain this building, the Starlight. The Fingal Wildlife Club has regular meetings here and so the club does the work and pays the bills. Since the bar across the street burned down, Jim Layfelt tells me the town council also meets here in the Starlight, from which I infer before that the council met in the par. Jim grew up one of eight kids in a German Norwegian Lutheran family. As he recalls, the German Hungarian Catholics, that's Trinity Parish, lived east of town, the Lutheran's west. Such divisions manifest and recognized are a part of community too. Let them belong to memory. Let the Starlight stand. All best wishes to the Fingal Wildlife Club and especially to Pastor Robinson and her parish. I see she has been preaching recently from Amos 3, where in the prophet upbraids Israel for oppressing the poor. The pastor is more gentle than the prophet, but maybe we should just feed everybody. The prophet says if we fail to do so, there will be consequences. That's our good friend Tom Ezern, a distinguished professor of history at North Dakota State University. Dakota Datebook is next. This is Poetry from Studio 47. Welcome. Today's poet is Robert Burns, known affectionately as Robbie Burns, and sometimes as the National Bard. He was born on January 25, 1759, in Allaway, Scotland. His father, William Burns, was a self-taught farm laborer and tried to educate his son as best he could. In need of work, the family moved to Mount Oliphant, the work on this farm was hard, and the money came even harder. It was during this time that Robbie Burns developed a permanent stoop from the quite literally backbreaking labor that he was doing as a child. At a local school, he eventually learned Latin, French, and mathematics. He also learned how to love words and how to read music. These two skills would change his life. In his early 20s, and trying to make a profession for himself, Burns wrote a volume of poetry called Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. It would become known as Kilmanark, and it made Burns wildly famous throughout all of Scotland. When he arrived in Edinburgh, for example, he was greeted with enthusiasm, respect, and awe. Here was a writer who embraced not only Scottish stories, but also the Scottish dialect. He gained some financial independence because of this and bought a farm just outside of Dumfries. He quickly gave up farming, though, to write full-time. He wrote many poems and essays over his lifetime, including a red-red rose, tam o' shanter, poems and songs, and Old Lang Zion, which I suspect is something you sing or attempt to sing every New Year's Eve when the clock strikes midnight. That song you see is in the Scottish dialect. Old Lang Zion means "old long sense" or "put another way" in times gone by. Because of his love of music, Burns also collected lyrics and folk songs that were in danger of being forgotten. He was known for his outspoken political beliefs, not least of which his support of the American Revolution. For the Scottish, he quickly became a national hero and icon. In failing health, he passed away on July 21, 1796 in Dumfries. He was 37 years old. Our poem for today is called Address to a Haggis. This particular poem is recited for something called Burns Night that takes place every January 25. This, of course, is the birthday of Robbie Burns. Holocaust, Scotland, and indeed all across the world, people gather for a large dinner where glasses of whiskey are raised and the work of this poet is recited with gusto. I have to admit, it's a lot of fun. This usually takes place in a large hall, a host welcomes everyone to the feast, grace is set in the Scottish dialect, and then a large haggis is marched in, usually with bagpipes blaring. After the haggis is presented, the host ceremoniously cuts it with a sword or dagger and then recites from memory, Robbie Burns' poem, Address to a Haggis. At this point in the show, I would normally read that poem for you. However, today, we have a very special guest who will be doing that for us. I'm delighted to introduce Mr. Brian Shaw, who will recite Address to a Haggis in the Scottish dialect. Brian, welcome to Poetry from Studio 47. I know you've been involved with Burns Night celebrations for many years. Could you tell us a bit more about Haggis, what it is and why it's important? Thanks for having me on the show, Patrick. Let's talk about Burns Night. Burns Night are celebrated around the world, not only by large groups and large halls, but sometimes in a small setting as someone's parlor or living room where there may be four to six people, the same have the traditional dinner, the traditional settings, and read poems, and maybe even sing a few songs depending on how many drums of whiskey they've had. Burns and Haggis go together because Burns elevated the Haggis to a higher level because he sometimes said, "When that's all you've got, it's really important." And if you can imagine long before refrigeration is when you slaughtered an animal, you kept and used every part. And Haggis is traditionally a sheep's stomach, stuff with whatever you may have on hand, oatmeal, beef suet, some of the parts that weren't all that pretty when you were butching an animal, and then you boiled it in the pouch for four or five hours, and it became quite odiferous in your in your boat. And that's why Burns took that and said, "It's not a meal. It's substance. It's all you've got, so enjoy it and treat it with respect." So what I'd like to do is take his famous poem, "A Dr. Haggis," and read that for you. In the best brogue, I can add to some of the embellishments, and if you can picture that you're at a formal dinner enjoying this, usually a cappella, and sit back. "Ferfei your honest son'sy face. Great chief to know the pudding race. Abound the eye, yet take your place. Pinch, tripe, or therme. Will, are you worthy of a grace, as long as my arm? The groaning trencher there you fill, your herdies like a distant hill, your pin would help the mandamill in time and need? Well, through your pores, the dew distills like amber bead. His knife, see rustic labor dick, and cut you up with ready slight trenching your gushing in trails bright like oniditch. And then, oh, what a glorious sight. Warm, reeken, rich. Then horn for horn, they stretch and strive, they take the hindmost underdrive, till all the wee small kelts alive are bent like drums. Then old giedman maced, like the rive, be think it hums. Is there that o'er a french ragu, or o'er o'er would start us out, or frick as he would make our spew with perfect sconer? Looks down with sneerful scornful view, on sicka dinner. Poor devil, see him o'er its trash, as feckless as a withered rash, his spindle shank, a gibwit rash, his navenit, through bloody flood or field the dash, oh how unfit. But mark the rustic haggis fed, the tremble in earth resounds his tread, clapping his wally navel, blade, he'll make it whistle, and legs, and arms, and heads will sned, like taps of a thistle. He powers who make mankind your care, and dish him out your bill affair. Old Scotland wants nay, skink, and wear that jumps and loggies. But if you wish her grateful prayer, give her a haggis. Poetry from Studio 47 is hosted and curated by Patrick Hicks. This episode was recorded at August at a university, and produced by Peter Paolo. Thank you for listening. This is Dakota Daybook for July 17th. In 1872, a North Dakota frontier town called Edwinton sprang up where the northern Pacific railway would cross the Missouri River. Edwinton was a ramshackle village with log cabins made from cottonwood trees and rudimentary businesses and canvas tents. The following year, Northern Pacific authorities renamed Edwinton, calling it Bismarck. On this date, in 1873, a New York Times special correspondent arrived in Bismarck by train. To his eyes, Bismarck was extremely rough-hewn, being made up of eating shanties, gamblers tents, and one-story wooden stores. Another eastern reporter, arriving at the depot a little later, was surprised to see 400 to 500 people loitering around the train station. Among the waiting faces, he saw blue uniform soldiers from nearby Fort Lincoln, along with lots of everyday normal people. He quickly perceived that Bismarck had some tough-looking inhabitants, gamblers, pickpockets, thieves, burglars, and murderers. He noticed that every belt had a revolver or two. He said these tough guys roamed Bismarck's dance halls, saloons, and gambling dens, like a pack of hungry wolves, looking for new victims. Another rider counted 28 saloons and 7 houses of ill fame. He said the town apparently had every kind of vice. An observer witnessed several violent disagreements, but concluded that if local ruffians got into quarrels, these were generally among themselves. Inevitably, several quarrels escalated, and men got killed. In 1873, a desporado named Spottie Whalen, an army private Thomas King, were vying for the same woman, and Whalen murdered King. King's fellow soldiers went after Whalen, but ended up killing Whalen's friend, the notorious Dave Mullen. In 1874, saloonkeeper Jack O'Neill got into a shooting match and died with his boots on, as they used to say. Some contemporaries wrote that Bismarck was a very tough town, but if every one of those exaggerated stories were believed, it would seem that not a day would go by without somebody dying with his boots on. While it was true that a few men were killed in early Bismarck, it was clear they were the aggressors and had gotten what they deserved. And Bismarck's upstanding citizens would soon bring forth and improve society as families settled there, with several churches established in 1873. Law and Order became a reality, thus bringing an end to those rough and tumble frontier days. Today's Dakota Datebook, written by Steve Hoffbeck, retired MSU Morehead History Professor. I'm Ann Alquist. Dakota Datebook is produced in cooperation with the State Historical Society of North Dakota, with funding by Humanities North Dakota. We'd like to thank the North Dakota Council on the Arts for supporting arts programming here on Prairie Public. And that's a wrap for today's Main Street. From all of us here at Prairie Public, we are grateful that you've spent time with us. Tomorrow on the show, we'll look into what's being done about recycling wind turbine blades. It's a real problem in this country, and researchers at the University of North Dakota are digging in to try to find a solution. That's coming tomorrow on Main Street, and we hope you'll join us. join us.