Commentary; Posted: 8/7/02

Communities, festivals build communities

Community leaders are on a mission to build identity, spirit and pride in their towns.

Most successful communities have a series of events and festivals that keep them busy, knit the community, entertain residents and make people proud of where they live.

These festivals with their parades, pancake breakfasts, races, games and the like require leadership and persistence. They involve many community organizations and sponsorships by businesses.

One example is last weekís Pie Day in Braham. It bills itself as the Homemade Pie Capital of Minnesota. It has a pie baking contest, a pie eating contest, pie race, an art show artisans and homemade pie.

Pies are auctioned with some of the money going to a Pie Day Scholarship. At night there is the ìSweety Pieî dance, even a pie instead of the chicken dance.

The whole community of Braham is involved.

Anoka always seems to have some event going with River Days, an Art Show, the county fair and a Halloween celebration.

Princetonís Chamber of Commerce recently had an appreciation pork chop dinner that attracted 2600 people.

Leprechaun Days in Rosemount recently attracted thousands of people.

Forest Lake has its Fourth of July celebration. Hugo celebrates Good Neighbor Days and Scandia, a Swedish based community, turns tradition on its head with Taco Daze on the first Saturday after Labor Day every year.

In an age when people tend to be in hiding behind their fences enjoying life on their decks, it is particularly important to bring them together to celebrate the community in which they live.

For the same reason, community leaders are trying to strengthen, and in some cases, invent downtowns.

They are planning and building community centers where residents can enjoy recreation, meet and celebrate.

They are planning centers for the arts, such as seen in Hopkins, Minnetonka and soon in Bloomington. The Elk River Arts Alliance soon will launch a major fund drive for an art center.

Communities are expanding libraries, an important resource in any successful and growing community. Wyoming and Milaca are in the midst of planning libraries.

They are building school systems overnight where communities of young people can meet, study and enjoy themselves in stressful times.

They continue to sponsor queen contests, ambassadors, as some are called, who bring identity to the community by appearing in parades and in community events and give inspirational talks.

They are establishing park systems, with large and small neighborhood parks and a trail system that connects people.

They are supporting their high school marching band that makes public appearances in the name of the community. Lately, high schools have been dropping the marching band, another symptom of a sick community.

So hats off to all of those chairs and committees who keep the pies baking, who have places for the arts, have bigger libraries for the patrons, put on the county fairs and judge all of those entries, who act, direct and put on theatre and who contribute money to make it all happen.

May this leadership never give up. ó Don Heinzman

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