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Roaming the Ye olde renaissance fest

A dragon holding a silver ball in its terrifying teeth was perched next to the gate. It was the first hint that we were in for a day of weirdness and wonder. My wife and I recently attended the Siouxland Renaissance Festival. While we waited in line to buy tickets a guy dressed as a medieval raggedy man sashayed through the crowd, hawking his “scented programs.” Whenever someone took him up on his offer, he’d say, “OK, I just have to add the scent.” He then rubbed the paper program on his armpit. “We’re all gonna smell like that by the end of the day!” the raggedy man ...

A musical for all seasons

NEW ULM - The New Ulm Film Society continues its musical film series with a movie that fits into every season. The film society will screen 1944’s “Meet Me in St. Louis,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 9 in the New Ulm Public Library. “Meet Me in St. Louis” was adapted from a series of short stories written by Sally Benson, written about the Smith family who live in St. Louis.  The Smith family includes Alonzo Smith (Leon Ames), his wife Anna (Mary Astor), son Lon Jr. (Henry H. Daniels Jr.) and daughters Rose (Lucille Bremer), Esther (Judy Garland), Agnes (Joan Carroll) and Tootie ...

Re-evaluate Center/Garden intersection project

In the City of New Ulm and Brown County in 2029 or 2030,the City of New Ulm will undertake a significant road construction project to reconfigure the intersection of Center Street and Garden street. Although, safety is the identified reason for this project, convenience and congestion are the genuine motivating factors at play. For 30 minutes before school starts and thirty minutes at the end of the school day, the intersection in question, is called a nightmare by those transporting about 35% of students. This challenge exists for about nine months a year. This writer and many other ...

Addressing the Sons of Norway

I was recently asked to speak at a meeting of a secret society. I was surprised when they invited me as it’s widely known that I can’t keep a secret. My wife and I went to an innocuous building located in the midst of a sleepy college town. We descended a set of concrete stairs that led ...

New Ulm adds some diversity

Woohoo New Ulm! The monkey is off your back. You’re no longer the “least diverse” city in America. I remember hearing that New Ulm was the most “ethnically homogenous community of over ten thousand in America.” It was fun to share that with friends through the years, even though “ethnically homogenous” is hard to say without twisting my tongue. That came from analysis of the 1980 census that was reported in a National Geographic article. New Ulm led the way of places with “low diversity.” At the time, 99.2% of New Ulmers were classified as white, non-Hispanic. Not ...

The Mandalorian adventure

My first movie theater experience happened when my three older sisters let me tag along to see the flick Yours, Mine and Ours. Not the 2005 version starring Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo. I may have been a late bloomer, but I wasn’t that late. I mean the movie that featured silver screen legends Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball. That flick premiered in 1968, which means that I was 10 years old. My iPhone calculator tells me that this was 58 years ago. I can’t be that old! Besides, my wife is constantly saying that I act like a juvenile. Yours, Mine and Ours is the story of a widower ...