To the editor:

I want to wish the huge turn-out of passionate golfers at the Fort Ridgely Civic Center meeting and the DNR nothing but the best and hopefully a creative solution can be found to get the course financially stable.

I just want to add that as a local mom, I feel that golfing is just one element of Fort Ridgely fun. I feel the park needs more of us New Ulmers to reinvigorate what we know about the place and to make it a routine destination for summer fun for our families. I personally feel the historical site building has made major improvements within the last two years. Did you know the new site manager has been working hard at updating and switching around the museum displays?

I now love the gift shop and all of their hard-to-find local history books. On top of that, my kids and I love to walk down to the historic cemetery and respectfully admire the extremely old pioneer stones. We then stop at the amazing ampitheater and take turns telling jokes to a “sold out crowd”. (I wish there was a kids puppet show or some kind of performance there every night all summer long.) Then we hike further to the bridge and spend hours checking out the creek and take long walks through the forest and prairie trails.

If a person complains to me about the park being “boring” I often find out they hardly go beyond the small picnic shelter loop. I’m telling you, spending the day out there can be flat out magical. BUT you have to get out of the car, get a map at the ranger’s office and spend time exploring. Most families in New Ulm purchase a State Park sticker to get into Flandrau over the summer – so why not make the effort to take your kids out to Ridgely? So pour some sugar on Fort Ridgely, New Ulm, because that place needs the passionate loyalty of all of us who live here, whether you own golf clubs or not.

Kara Carlson

New Ulm