So, Prairie Pioneer Days retreats from summer!

It is now more than a rumor: our Prairie Pioneer Days is moving to September. That's quite a shocker. We need some time to reflect and to digest a report like this. It was considered a step up for Morris when PPD was created to occupy its midsummer time slot. Previous to that we had the Fall Festival. Those were the days before we had the Killoran stage at Eastside Park.
Did it matter that the stage wasn't there? Now in the year 2018, I think we can proclaim that the Killoran stage was a boondoggle. It's a white elephant. It sits there useless for what seems 99.9 percent of the year. It's a big hulking waste. Did the Morris community band even perform there for our 2018 PPD? I think not. The structure was not planned well. A big liability is that big area of asphalt or cement that reflects heat on sunny days, making it highly impractical for an audience to assemble. I remember when some tuba players associated with UMM put on a performance there. The people who turned out listened from the perimeter of the park. They were a considerable distance from the stage. Did those people take a moment to realize how ridiculous that was? I give credit to those tuba players for being community-oriented enough to want to do this.
What happened to the Thursday night talent shows at the park in summer? I saw no trace of that this year. Will we hear the usual excuses about how there just "isn't enough interest?"
News of the PPD adjustment comes after I have made some discouraging comments on my blogs, comments to the effect that a listless air has seeped into our community. My point is made with a quote one often hears out and about in summer: "We're going to be gone." I joked that there ought to be a billboard on the community's outskirts: "Welcome to Morris - we're going to be gone."
Given the new report about PPD, it looks like my views are not mere hyperbole. I initially heard the rumor about the move from someone who suggested there is too much detachment on the part of Morris people in summer. If true, why is it worse now than in the past? The prime theory regarding this - wouldn't you agree? - is that our tech-oriented lifestyle has caused us to "cocoon" more than ever. We have become assimilated by cyber communities. We seem to take all this for granted.
There are advantages to our new lifestyle. We adopt the new trends because we see advantages for ourselves. But lost in this is a vibrant sense of community. It was that uplifting sense that filled our community's Centennial in 1971. That was a precursor to our later Prairie Pioneer Days. The boomer children of this community were reaching their peak in 1971. Mention that event and you'll put a smile on many people's faces. I remember Dick Bluth and Donna Christiansen having such important roles. I asked Dick a while back if he was ready to be in charge for our community's Sesquicentennial. "No," he replied.
Which raises the question: Is there enough true community spirit left to even care much about our Sesquicentennial? Is it possible there will be no celebration at all? Or, will everyone say "we're going to be gone." I played in the little "German band" that wandered out and about for our Centennial, even sneaking into the Met Lounge! The Reverend Lowell Larson spoke for the Centennial program at the fairgrounds. The later Fall Festival was nice but it was judged inadequate compared to what a summer celebration would be. My top memory is of Lee Temte "freelancing" some entertainment at the park - very nice.
 
The step up to a summer event
It was a big deal when the wheels got turning for PPD. If I remember correctly, Miss Morris was not affiliated with any outside organization, was not a "scholarship program," and was a nice little ceremony held at the park. Once the event got moved away from the park, it didn't seem like a part of PPD any more. I think it was unfortunate that the park went "dead" on Saturday evening, which I presume happened in order to accommodate Miss Morris.
Don't all female-only pageants seem to have a sexist quality now? Oh my, yes. We simply do not judge girls, at all, by the old Dean Martin criterion for being "attractive" or "babes." I must say our society has moved forward in this way.
PPD has lost some luster in recent years. I can list various facets or events that have simply disappeared from the slate. Didn't the FFA used to put up a little replica "alfalfa arch" over 7th Street?
The Superior company has moved in like the 800-pound gorilla. This year it seemed the Superior "ribfest" pushed aside the well-known First Lutheran foodstand. We all know about Superior's inroads with the county fair. Superior has literally reserved a chunk of the fair for its own entertainment purposes, right during the fair's official run. I have waged a losing argument against that. Money talks in our society of 2018.
We associate Superior with a particular church in the Morris area. That church gives the impression of voting 100 percent Republican, even if it means voting for Donald Trump, even if Trump doesn't seem wholly consistent with Republican ideology. Tariffs? My message to the church in question here: what is so terrible about the Democratic Party and Democratic Party (inclusive) ideology? Try not to make a face. People argue on behalf of Superior because it's just the private sector doing its thing. So many of us subscribe to that ethos, like we're all bowing at the altar of markets. Let the market model solve everything. I don't think it does. God will show us that.
Some of the "ribfest" patrons at the park during PPD sit in the area designated for Luther's Eatery. Maybe Superior is happy to hurt the interests of a local church that its leaders probably think is too liberal. People of the "conservative" ilk might refer to Lutherans of a certain synod as "ELC-Gay." Congratulations, you jerks. Enjoy Donald Trump and his porn star pals.
Is it wise for PPD to move to September? Should our community just admit defeat in the face of swelling Morris apathy and inactivity in the summer months? "We're going to be gone."
Del Sarlette has suggested we have an "apathy festival" in Morris. I have quoted this in a spirit of levity in the past. I'm not sure it's a laughing matter now. Knowing our community, people are not likely to laugh or cry over such a quote - they're just too detached or apathetic. There is a PPD event named for someone who didn't even choose to make his retirement home here.
The ELCA Lutheran churches have been struggling to establish a regular Wednesday night event for worship and reflection purposes. It's at the "side room" of the Met Lounge. I think only 6-7 people were present last week. It might just die. Why? "We're going to be gone." Yawn.
Didn't the PPD parade used to have a grand marshal? I remember when Ronald McDonald was chosen for this when the restaurant was new in town. We had an editor at the Sun Tribune who wanted to publish an editorial assailing the PPD planners on this decision. Jim Morrison refused to run the editorial. I read it and found it to be sharply worded. I laughed. As I recall, the wording was to the effect that this choice was "a slap in the face of the Morris community," and that the character was to be rejected as "a corporate advertising symbol." The editor had some connection to academia where such attitudes could often be heard then.
Turns out that Ronald McDonald was going to be driving a carriage in which were seated kids who had been in the Ronald McDonald House. The editor smoked cigarettes to the extent she might have taken five years off my life. She was installed as editor because she would be a toady for the then-very powerful Morris public school teachers union. I hated the Morris teachers union of the 1980s more than I have hated anything my whole life. Schools seem far more steady today with employees who are happy to be there. A friend who is a past member of the school board told me "if teachers want to go on strike today, they have to re-negotiate the whole contract." It sounded like a disincentive for striking and other annoying behavior.
Are we saying goodbye to PPD as we've known it? Obviously it's a step down for the Morris community. If anyone cares. "We're going to be gone."
A friend said to me "people don't do crafts much any more, unlike 20 years ago when the park was full of booths. So, I don't see that part improving." As for countering the lament of "we're going to be gone" - it's presumed to be a summer phenomenon - my friend wasn't so sure. He said "even though everybody is in town because of school (theoretically), many families seem to 'be gone' and head to 'the Cities' every weekend anyway. This just replaces 'going to the lake.' "
There's a depressing country music song in there somewhere.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com