Jay Ray’ s Frostival Winner
When all is said and done, Moorhead’s greatest asset is its people. Whether old or young, whether household names or still unsung, the Extra has featured dozens of fascinating neighbors and their achievements. Here, we look back at just a few of those who shared the spotlight in 2022.
Champion Snow Sculptors: Perennial snow sculpture champions Jay Ray and Team SnoKraft — Mike Nelson, Josh Zeis and David Swenson — again snared top honors in Frostival’s annual contest. Jay Ray took first prize in the Moorhead Business Association’s annual competition with his “Oriental Dragon,” with Team SnoKraft garnering second place with “Say When,” based on the Norse myth of beer-brewing giant Aegir. Only days later, Ray, Nelson and Zeis teamed up as the area’s first team to take on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin’s National Snow Sculpture Contest. The newcomers nabbed third place in the nationals.
Mark Peihl: The Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County’s senior archivist Mark Peihl is the acknowledged expert on Moorhead and the county’s past. After 35 years peering into the past, he has amassed an unrivaled collection of photographs and documents dating all the way back to the beginning of settlement 150 years ago. His encyclopedic documentation of facts and fanciful tales includes triumphant highs and murky lows, cataloged and explained to deepen the foundation of the region’s future.
Scott Puffe: Jeweler Scott Puffe has spent his entire career in the Moorhead jewelry store purchased by his parents, Harry and Helen Puffe, in 1975. Scott joined the family business in 1988, the same year Puffe’s Fine Jewelry relocated from the Holiday Mall to the Center Mall. Of his inventory, he says, “There’s not a single thing here that you need — no food, no clothing, no shelter. It’s all about love, love and romance. This is all about the heart.”
Mark J. Lindquist: After carving out a career as a well-known motivational speaker and vocalist, Moorhead’s Mark Lindquist took an abrupt turn into activism. Prompted by news stories of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Air Force veteran stepped forward, and then some, to bring relief to Ukrainian civilians and their defenders. He flew to the embattled nation, allying with other American volunteers to collect and deliver medical supplies, clothing and other essentials — a mission he continues today with a two-week sleep-out back in Moorhead and Fargo to collect winter clothing to send overseas.
James Hand and Lisa Borgen: Mayor Shelly Carlson’s proposal for a new, combined community center and regional library became the talk of the town in 2022, thanks to a citizens task force chaired by Park Board chair James Hand and American Crystal vice president Lisa Borgen. They worked with other volunteers to gather residents’ ideas in a true grassroots campaign, getting out word of the dire need to replace the decrepit library building and create a “community living room.” Citizens agreed: On Nov. 8, they approved a sales tax to fund the facility by nearly two to one, with 64.37% voting “yes.”
Brian Cole: Horizon Middle School orchestra teacher Brian Cole has made it his mission to collect Spud history in preparation for Moorhead High School’s 150th anniversary. The goal: a 350-page history book to be published by the Moorhead Legacy Foundation in 2023 tentatively entitled “One a Spud, Always a Spud.” The collection includes everything from Spud newspapers and yearbooks to band uniforms, a closetful of sports garb and trophies, and countless other bits of memorabilia. Publishing is underwritten by Eventide Senior Living, whose population is amply seasoned with Spuds.
Barbara Crawford Glasrud: Eminent art historian Barbara Glasrud touched the lives and opened the eyes of generations of Concordia College students during her 31 years of teaching, half of them as chair of the art department. In addition to her always-popular classes in art history and appreciation, she led virtually all of the department’s May Seminars to Europe, starting in 1967. The Rourke Art Galley + Museum created an endowed lectureship in her honor this year. Says one former student, “She was an elegant, graceful and inspiring educator.”
Aaron Suomala Folkerds: The Moorhead Police Department became one of the first in the nation to focus on officers’ wellness and resiliency when Aaron Folkerd came aboard as their embedded counselor and wellness coordinator in 2020. Already a veteran of four years as the department’s volunteer chaplain, he divides his time between working with officers and teaching in MSUM’s master’s program in counseling. “It’s not normal for anybody to run toward danger when all of your instincts are telling you to run away. Yet that’s what officers do — putting the safety of others before their own,” he says. “We want them to think about themselves as instruments for helping others — instruments that need preparation and support.”
Barb Schramm: When Moorhead native Barb Schramm completed her 22 years as an opera singer in Europe, she brought home a love of continental style. Back home, she began sharing that taste for fashion with her neighbors through the Three Bees — Barb’s Basement Boutique, just one room downstairs that grew to fill her entire lower level and garage. After a successful spot in a vendor show in 2021, she expanded into the only women’s fashion shop in the Center Mall. She imports clothing, shoes and accessories from European fashion houses. “Europeans shop differently,” she explains. “There’s more emphasis on individualism and quality.”
Calliope Hoalcraft: Fourth-grader Calliope Hoalcraft loves rainbows. But when she wanted to emblazon the sidewalk in front of her northside home with her colorful art, using paint instead of easily erased chalk, she a neighbor complained. She’d run afoul of a city regulation that classified her artwork as “blight” under the heading of “improper upkeep of city property.” With the help of her mother, Alicia Strnad Hoalcraft, she applied to the city to classify it “public art.” It was unanimously approved by the City Council. She still wonders, “Why would anyone want to get rid of a beautiful rainbow? Do they hate love and pretty stuff?”
Angie Schulz: Gifted soprano Angie Schulz has found an unexpected calling that few lay people ever explore: She celebrates loved ones’ lives at their funerals. As a celebrant at Wright Funeral Home and Cremation Service, she offers an alternative to families who, for whatever reason, seek highly individualized ceremonies to honor, mourn and celebrate the loved one who has died. She works closely with families to personalize her funeral messages to their desires and those of the deceased.
Shannon Mohn: M State auto technology instructor Shannon Mohn is designing a brand-new curriculum in the care and repair of electric vehicles that will someday be shared with colleges and high schools all over the country. With the growing number of EVs on the road, the college will begin training technicians to care for their very different systems. The National Science Foundation awarded the project a $350,000 grant, citing the burgeoning need for knowledgeable service techs.
Marie Swanson and Violet Deilke: Men and women incarcerated in Clay County face an uphill battle after their release. The Heart of Clay Correctional Ministry, founded seven years ago by Marie Swanson and Violet Deilke, extends a helping hand, both during their jail time and in the transition afterwards. The nonprofit’s corps of volunteers offer a Christ-centered program of education, prayer, mentoring and practical assistance. Its three “accountability houses,” operated under the banner of Crossing Home Moorhead, offer supportive living as they reenter the outside world.
