Ash and I ambled over to the Barnesville Potato Days fiesta this year and found all sorts of new vendors with wares we haven’t seen before. We love street fairs with everyone walking hither and yon, visiting with neighbors and old friends they may not have seen in a long while. There’s just something about street fairs that cannot be matched anywhere else. And there is absolutely nothing Ash loves more than a good Lutheran snack of Swedish Meatballs mixed with mashed potatoes for the bargain price of $3 to send him into a state of culinary heaven.
We found a few items we wanted for ourselves and one of them was a new photographic picture of Broadway capturing the building and marquee of the Fargo Theatre. The photographer is Roxanne Westman from Casselton, North Dakota. Roxanne had many incredible pieces of her photography on display and had we the funds, we would have certainly purchased more than one. Roxanne frames many of her photos as she did the one we bought, and yet hers were among the most reasonably priced we’ve seen in years of going to many street fairs. In fact, nearly everything artistic at the Fargo street fair this year was so outrageously priced we stopped looking after the third or fourth vendor. I’m sure each vendor selling whatever they have is expecting to make a profit on their talent, and that is surely understandable. However, a few gave me their cards and asked me to call them or stop by if I’m ever in their neck of the woods, because what they were selling at the street fair that day would not be as expensive.. Why would that be, I wondered? So, I asked what raised the price from the normal range, by nearly fifty percent, in some instances. I was told it was due to the expectation of making a bigger profit from the street fair in Fargo because of the higher numbers of consumers, but it was also due to the cost of space each vendor must rent in order to place their tent inside the boundaries of the street fair in Fargo. Meaning? Meaning it cost an arm and a leg to rent a space at the Fargo City Street Fair. After buying a gyro and a bottle of Pepsi for $10, I don’t doubt anything I was told.
Which makes me wonder if that isn’t just a tad unfair to not only the customers, but to the vendors as well. If a large chunk of a vendor’s income is being paid into the coffers of the Fargo Street Fair, who or what, exactly, is that lot rental money going for? Does it go into the Fargo general fund? Is there a special fund just for the street fair each year to pay for keeping the street clean and direct the throngs of people as they cross the street, or what?
I understand all the artistic and food vendors need and expect to make a profit, but if they need to up their prices so high that the average patron cannot afford to buy more than one or two items or nothing at all in today’s economy, how does that help them make money? Especially at a street fair as large as Fargo’s, where there are duplicates of the same type of items? As for the food vendors — we didn’t see too many new ones this year. In fact Ash and I thought there were fewer than ever before. Perhaps we are wrong about that. But I do know I’ll go hungry before buying a gyro and a bottle of Pepsi for $10 again.
WHAT HAS CORPORATE AMERICA DONE FOR YOU LATELY?
After months of having to flip open my cell phone just to be sure I haven’t missed any calls, I decided to check back with my local AT &T outlet to make sure I simply wasn’t able to figure out where the gizmo on my phone was that would alert me to missed calls. Nope. It was not me or my lack of technological expertise. The customer service personnel at AT&T couldn’t find anything either. Ok, so I either live with what I have or buy a new phone. Great. Ash and I have the same type of phone and frankly, neither of us like it very much. We looked around at Wal-Mart and a couple of other stores that sell cell phones. We didn’t find anything that would make our necessity to live with a cell phone any easier than what we already had.
Lauren came home for the weekend and suggested we go to Verizon at the West Acres Mall.
The Verizon store in the mall is also the corporate store for Verizon. And this became very apparent upon crossing the threshold of the store. I realized within the first ninety seconds and my second question that the customer service person was in no way remotely interested in helping me resolve my cell phone dilemma. He told me in a very matter of fact manner they had nothing I could expect to pay less than $100 per phone for, because even as a new contracted customer, Verizon no longer gives the first phone to their new customers, as was once the practice of nearly all cell phone companies. I wasn’t buying it. This guy had a minimum of a dozen other people waiting to purchase cell phones and he knew that one of them would sucker to whatever he was selling, so why bother dickering with a customer who was looking for a deal? This was a very typical corporate salesman who doesn’t need to concern himself with repeat customers. The attitude was “this is the way we do it, and if you don’t like what we offer, too bad.”
So we decided to try another Verizon store elsewhere. DING! DING! DING! We found a winner.
Not only did David and Samal treat me as though they valued my business, they actually gave me a deal on my phone, and get this! I even got a real instruction booklet with my phone. Not a disc that won’t work on my computer, not a “we’re sorry, but we cannot print out a booklet for you because it is 137 pages long” excuse. A real booklet, written in English. Hurrah!
So, if you are looking to switch to Verizon, my advice is go to the North Star Telcom store on South University in Fargo. It’s across from the Northstar coffee kiosk on the frontage road, just down from the Bowler. Both David and Samal are recent Concordia graduates with manners and a sense of humor, and they both have the patience of Job. They spent an hour with me, finding a simple phone, with a message alert buzzer but without all the gizmos and attachments that I will never use and did not want, for a very reasonable price, and they found one for Ash, too. Both phones cost us less than $100.
And that is the difference between “corporate” America’s attitude and those who are not.
HOMETOWN FOOTBALL LIVE AND LOCAL ON MOORHEAD ACCESS
In case you haven’t heard about it, Moorhead’s Community Access Television, channel 99, is the local provider for Moorhead and all affiliated communities (on channels 12 and 99) and will be broadcasting the Moorhead Spuds football home games. MCAM also broadcasts most of the city of Moorhead and Clay County public meetings as well. Whenever the Moorhead Spuds are having a home game, tune in to Channel 99 at 7 p.m. For future game times and scheduling, go to the following website: www.moorheadaccess.org. For any other questions, Tony Tilton is the manager for Moorhead Community Access Media and his number is 218-284-2700, or email him at tony@moorheadaccess.tv.
HELP CELEBRATE GREATER MOORHEAD DAYS 2011
PARADE DAY is September 9, 2011 starting at 6 p.m. in Moorhead. So get your chair and grab the kids and head for 20th Street South for the Greater Moorhead Days Parade. Then turn northward to the Moorhead High School for the Miss Moorhead Pageant at 6:30.
And what better way to spend time with friends and family than at the bonfire and concert played by the incredible Post Traumatic Funk Syndrome. Both the bonfire and concert will be held at MB Johnson Park, just north of town on 11th Street. The fun begins at 8 p.m.
On Sunday, September 11, the great BOCCE CHALLENGE will be between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. at Romkey Park; at 4 p.m. don the bikini and head over to the Moorhead High School Pool for the last of the year tropical pool party! On Monday, have your “hints” in hand as you begin searching for the elusive Moorhead Medallion! On Monday, Midwest Continent Communications will have a KIDS FEST at Gooseberry Park between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.
For questions or comments please email Soo Asheim at: asheimrote@aol.com