2012 Fargo Marathon Recap

Another tremendous Fargo Marathon in the books.  We enjoyed visiting with runners from various states this past weekend.  Everyone of them mentioned how wonderful our area is.  I agree!  Our 10 and 7 year old each ran the mile marathon on Thursday night.  My wife and 10 year old each ran the 5k on Friday.  None of us ran the 10k, half or full marathon, but wow, the respect for those that train and run over 26 miles that we have.  I was fortunate to be in the Fargodome when the male and female marathon winners arrived.  The electricity was unbelievable.  Congrats to everyone who competed.  You are all winners!

Now as we get ready for Memorial Day, the official kickoff to our summer, the hours turn hectic!  Besides having wonderful visitors drop by from all over the world, fruit continues to come in.  This weekend we will have lilacs fermenting so you might have to stop by and check that out.  Lilac harvest should wrap up this week, but rhubarb harvest will continue to grow.  We might even have a tank or two of rhubarb fermenting.  This weekend we will be open Friday, Saturday and Monday 9am to 5pm.  Sunday, by appointment, but we should be there noon to 5pm.  Give a jingle to 701-347-5900 and lets see what North Dakota fruit tastes like in award winning wines here in historic downtown Casselton, North Dakota.

Maple River Winery Expands

Maple River Distillery launched from historic downtown Casselton, North Dakota this holiday season by selling out of almost all of its production!! The Rhubarb Vodka, Rhubarb Cordial, and the Wild Plum Cordial have been the best sellers. I like mixing the Rhubarb Vodka with Lemonade. It goes great with the sunshine. My wife enjoys the Rhubarb Cordial chilled or poured over strawberries. Yum. I think the best would be chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream with Rhubarb Cordial or Wild Plum Cordial drizzled over it.

The Maple River Distillery has become another tourist destination in historic downtown Casselton, North Dakota. Casselton is 15 minutes west of Fargo on I-94. Tasting room hours for the Maple River Winery and the Maple River Distillery continue to be year around Monday-Saturday from 10am to 5pm. Drop by and say hi!!

Fire Truck Parade Time

Growing up, I always enjoyed watching fire trucks in parades. So many different designs, colors, and purposes as well as from so many different communities. In Casselton, we would always see our local communities like Arthur, Leonard, Buffalo to mention a few. In 2004, for our 125th anniversary, fire departments came from Wahpeton, Hillsboro, and Valley City. This year, we have a committee dedicated to putting on the largest fire truck parade in the world. The current record is held in Switzerland with 159 fire trucks that paraded through there. It has been a learning experience finding out all of the different criteria needed to ensure compliance for the world record attempt. On August 15, 2009, we'll attempt to make history in our little community nestled along I-94 just a little west of Fargo. Maybe you'll drop by and visit that day too!!

Friday the 13th, 2009

Friday the 13th seems to always scare people. Today is no exception. However, my wife and I are looking at this date today in 2009 and thinking we didn't plan too good 10 years ago. Today is our 10th anniversary. It seems like just yesterday that we were married. So many memories of that day/night and especially the trip to Nebraska to get married. Who would have thought it would take over 3 days to travel 10 hours? We tried to leave early enough on Wednesday morning to make it to our rehearsal on Friday night, but we didn't make it on time. Must have been the high volume traffic in southwest Nebraska or something. Anyways, it is hard to believe 10 years have went by so fast!!! We have a nice house on a quiet street in Casselton, North Dakota, which is a suburb of Fargo, North Dakota. We have 3 wonderful daughters, Katie (7), Sarah (4), and Melody ( 2 1/2 months). We also own Maple River Winery in historic downtown Casselton. If that isn't enough, my wife, Susan, is a Library Media Specialist at Kennedy Elementary School in Fargo. Needless to say, on Friday evenings when the girls go to bed, we crash. Tonight will be no exception.

The Can Pile is saved

Despite many, many roadblocks, the committee that set a goal of saving the world famous Casselton Can Pile from a May 29th, 2008 demolition date succeeded yesterday. As the metal plate was slid underneath the can pile being held by a very large crane and beams inserted in the can pile for support, the onlookers gazed in amazement. As the final push from the payloader pushed on the metal plate, smoke erupted throughout the can pile very similar to a house or building collapsing. A wicked noise of settling cans and erupting smoke rattled all of the teary eyed onlookers. After a few oil cans settled, the can pile was completely on the metal plate. From there, the can pile was lifted up by the crane onto the awaiting flat bed semi-truck for the move along the evacuation route to safety. While this is a temporary location, a non-profit corporation has been set up to start raising funds for the restoration and preservation of the world famous Casselton Can Pile as well as finding a permanent home for it to be the Midwest's most unique tourist attraction. Please consider making a donation to help the project along at http:www.casseltoncanpile.com.

Save the Casselton Can Pile

We have been working with a tremendous committee throughout rural Cass County in an effort to save North Dakota's most unique tourist attraction, the Can Pile. Some people say it is being evicted on May 29th, some people say it is being torn down. We have been receiving phone calls day and night from all over the United States asking how they can help save the Can Pile. We have another meeting set for May 15th to establish the how-to's to saving a can pile. It has never been attempted before....anywhere in the world. We are making history. After last Thursday night's meeting, I think we might even have someone that is going to write a book about it.

For those of you in Internet land....you can learn more about our struggles and the history of the Casselton Can Pile at www.casseltoncanpile.com. Maybe even leave a donation.

Casselton Regional Tourism Committee

Yesterday we had our first official meeting of the Casselton Regional Tourism Committee. I was nominated for and accepted the position of chairperson of this committee. We have many positive thinking members. I think we will have a great time promoting the Casselton area. We have many ideas and will share some here in the future. Does your community have a tourism committee? We are a small, growing community in eastern ND of around 2,000 people. More information is available at www.casselton.com. Watch for tourist related activities. I think we will have a busy winter planning activities.....even with Chokecherries.