Fifteen years ago, when only a handful of homes in East Grand Forks, Minn., escaped flood damage, you never would have thought they’d have much to celebrate in 2012.
But fifteen years is a long time for resilient folk, which is why this year, the whole town is celebrating its 125th anniversary, and you’re invited.
The East Grand Forks 125th Anniversary Celebration (the city’s quasquicentennial for you geeks) will be held Aug. 7-12 in the city, and there will be something for everyone, including a wagon train, a scavenger hunt, a golf tournament, a swimming contest, a community picnic with music and a comedian, an art show, a clown contest, the Shriner’s parade, games for the kids, the City Parade, dinners, breakfasts, a car show, class reunions, a huge fireworks display, and a tribute to the military, veterans, policemen, and firemen.
But that’s not all! There will be music by Fall Creek Quartet, The Roosters, 4-Wheel Drive, Fuse, Bob & the Beach Combers, a Jimmy Buffet impressionist, Gary Emerson and Maury Finney, and The Shadows, including impressions of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper, and Patsy Cline, and the Shiner’s band will parade up and down Boardwalk Street.
“Everybody is getting involved,” said East Grand Forks Mayor Lynn Stauss, “so that everyone feels a part of it.”
On purpose, Stauss said, the event coincides with the Midwest Shrine Association’s annual convention across the river in Grand Forks, N.D. He said when planning for the 125th began three years ago, the dates were picked because the city knew the Shriners would be in town with their own events and parades. “The Shriners are going to be very much visible,” Stauss said, “and they’ll be from all over,” including from South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.
But East Grand Forks’ milestone won’t be celebrated in just one weekend. Long after the last folding chair has been put away, recognition will continue in the pages of a new book and on a new DVD.
Warren Strandell, who published and edited The Exponent newspaper in East Grand Forks from 1979 through 1993, has written a book titled Everybody Has a Story, Everybody Is the Story about the last 25 years in the city, and mostly about the 1997 flood and its impact on the city and its future. The book will be 368 pages long on letter-sized pages, and Strandell said he’s been working on the book for over five years now. The book includes a quarter century of highlights and happenings gleaned from the headlines of The Exponent and from city council minutes, and from the remembrances of over 50 individuals.
“Warren got into the personal stories of individuals in the community,” Stauss said, “and these stories have never been heard before. As years go by, that history is going to be very important.”
Strandell said a large portion of the book focuses on the 1997 flood event and recovery “because that changed everything in this town,” he said, “and everything that you can imagine.” He interviewed various people who had different roles during and after the flood, he said, including police officers, firefighters, city councilpersons, and maintenance crews. But the book is not only about their official responsibilities, he said, “it’s about how they dealt with their own personal situations. They had families and homes in danger.
“In writing these stories, I made an effort to get out of the way,” Strandell said, “and so I made extensive use of quotations. These are some fantastic individual stories that needed to be recorded for all time. My wife, Annie, who did the proof-reading, had big tears running down her cheeks with all of those memories that were coming back for her. For most of us, we knew what was going on in our little part of the world, but we didn’t know what was going on across town or even two blocks away. Hopefully, this will put it all into perspective. If I were to try to describe all that was going on in one long story instead of in individual stories, it would be unbelievable.
“For those of us who have gone through this whole process, there is a special bond between us,” Strandell said. “We all understand one another’s light, so to speak, and how we came through it.”
The makeup of the city’s population has changed a lot in the last 15 years, Strandell said, especially because East Grand Forks lost 1,200 residents soon after the flood, but then gained them back during the last decade. “We have a new stock of people, younger in many cases,” he said, “but they are a strong stock of people. The community is in much better shape from the standpoint of schools and buildings and infrastructure. We’re set for years and years in those areas.”
The book is one that you can pick up and read starting from any page, Strandell said. “You don’t have to read it from start to finish,” he said.
In addition to the book, WDAZ Television is producing a DVD that covers the entire 125-year history of East Grand Forks. Jill Hobbs, a writer and producer for the DVD, said there are a lot of hands involved in making the 30-minute film, and that a lot of resources for the video were gleaned from the East Grand Forks Campbell Library. The DVD will include interviews with citizens of East Grand Forks.
Hobbs said while making the DVD it was interesting to learn about the early history of settlement in the area. The city began as a post-Civil War trading post on the Red River ox cart trail between St. Paul and Winnipeg and was originally named Nashville after the fur trader and mail carrier W.C. Nash. With the establishment of the community’s first post office, the city became East Grand Forks, and soon afterward the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railroad reached the town.
Hobbs said she also enjoyed learning about the entertainment district in East Grand Forks, which, during North Dakota’s prohibition, was home to many nightclubs and restaurants, including the iconic, art deco, stainless-steel-constructed speakeasy Whitey’s, where North Dakotans would cross the border to purchase a “mickey” of pure bootleg alcohol, and where Clark Gable once shared a glass.
The video also goes into the history of flooding in the town, Hobbs said, as well as blizzards, and the film will include footage from this summer’s celebration.
Stauss said both the book and the DVD are important contributions to the city’s history. “Many people don’t know the history of this community unless they’ve read the history book that was published [25 years ago] for the centennial,” he said, “and so this is a big way for the community to keep its identity and to pass it on to younger generations so that they can take pride in their community. When you know the history, it sticks with you, and it’s a stepping stone.”