"Parade of Lights" versus the weather

How did the Parade of Lights go Thursday night? Yours truly wasn't there because I'm getting "chicken" in the face of cold or unpleasant weather. Simply walking across town in the afternoon was bad enough - a real biting wind. It could be hard to breathe.
Remember cartoonist Dick Guindon of the Star Tribune? He did a number of cartoons considered "classic" today. One of them showed a group of kids all bundled up and walking to school, but "backwards." They would have been walking into the wind.
I had to stop at Bremer Bank on the "west side" Thursday which meant I'd have to press the button to get a walk signal. Isn't that aggravating? How many people after a considerable wait, and with no traffic coming, simply decide to cross anyway? You aren't fond of having a robotic voice speak to you, are you? Would the police pounce on someone not following this system perfectly? People may look around for a cop car first.
I suppose I should hope that the Parade of Lights was a resounding success Thursday. That would be the proper attitude. But how can one square this sentiment with how our Prairie Pioneer Days has now been sent on its heels? What kind of community are we, to allow a public relations debacle like this? And it has now gotten worse. As if the retreat from summer wasn't bad enough, it is now announced that the thing will be one day, not two. I'm tempted to laugh at this.
Couldn't we make a "token" effort to keep the thing two days? And it's now at the fairgrounds of course. Isn't it true that when PPD was in its heyday, it actually spilled over to three days? Didn't some of the stuff start Friday night? And now in 2019 we hear it will be one day. This trend makes me wonder if Morris will even bother acknowledging its Sesquicentennial in 2021. The Centennial back in 1971 was a huge deal. I personally played in the little "German band" that made its rounds during the festivities.
Dick Bluth was in charge of the Centennial. Not long ago I asked Dick if he might want to reprise his role for the Sesquicentennial. "No," he said agreeably but with no equivocation. Once in one's lifetime is probably enough for that. I remember the Reverend Lowell Larson addressing the crowd at the fair grandstand. I was once admonished when I neglected to put the word "the" before "Reverend," but I still don't see why this is a rule. It was one of many things I got admonished for.
When PPD moved to the fairgrounds, we saw the Killoran building at East Side Park become neglected so much more. Already it had negligible use. Part of the retreat of this community has to do with the talent shows. This had a pretty good "run." It had its climax each year for PPD. I remember so well the sense of excitement. I covered it for the Morris newspaper. I enjoyed the Elvis impersonator one year. I think that went over so well, it led to a special appearance at the Legion club. Attendees enjoyed "southern baked ham."
The Morris community does not seem to find as much happiness in public events anymore. Our overall society or culture may be drifting. Who could have ever foreseen the Shopko building totally idled? Vacant buildings can be equated with blight. I'm told the Morris Shopko store was actually doing well. Is it a consequence of "corporate capitalism" that we see the strings pulled this way? To see a reasonably successful store just close, dealing a blow to the community and its image, and there's nothing the local citizens can do about it?
I laugh as I remember how the newspaper dispatched a photographer to cover the opening of the new Thrifty White. The coverage had the usual "happy" tone of recognizing something new. So there's a bunch of smiling, happy people. Photo is on the front page! But what did this represent? Thrifty White previously had two quite diversified operations on main street. You could buy all sorts of things, bird food etc. So the corporate offices located who knows where, as with Shopko, exercise judgment that would appear to contribute nothing to the affected communities. We end up with a tiny pharmaceutical shop on the town's outskirts.
It is within the company's rights in our current system to do this. They might argue that our economy is fluid enough so the gaps might get filled in. So we now have two "dollar stores" instead of one. We're happy for anything new to be created. But in the case of the newspaper, we might want to indict the system. As I have written before, people "in the know" have affirmed - I cannot document this with absolute facts - that the Morris newspaper was going to close. Its corporate offices were in Fargo. So an area-based interest came to the rescue, as it were, so there is still a weekly print media. The paper's status should not have been teetering.
I worked for the media when it was twice a week. We put out a Christmas greeting edition that had lots of room for "extra" photos I had taken of the Parade of Lights. One big clue that "something was up" with the Morris paper, was the absence of a staff photo in the greeting edition. I looked and looked and couldn't find this anywhere, curious since there was a time when the greeting issue had a full page presented by the paper itself. One year I personally handed $20 to the great artist Del Holdgrafer to draw caricatures of newspaper staff members for the greeting.
Holdgrafer was an old-fashioned fellow who always appreciated a mere $20. He was apoplectic about how medical care costs were going up. He did a cartoon as a parody on the Morris medical clinic. It got us in some trouble. He had Dr. Wernsing as "Dr. Worsening" and Dr. Eide as "Doctor Died." Remember Dr. Wohlrabe? Del had this gentleman named "Dr. Will Robya." They don't make 'em like Del Holdgrafer anymore.
I handed the $20 bill to Delmar at Sax's Cafe on Donnelly's main street. He was always receptive to my cartoon suggestions. He even followed up on a news story which wasn't all that big a deal at the time: the "coffee videos" at the White House when Clinton was president. Del had President Clinton walking into Sax's Cafe for a visit. He noted that no one there gave Clinton any money. A little boy was in the background playing "Pac Man."
I imagine the City of Morris must maintain the Killoran building at East Side Park even if the building has no real use. The City cannot allow the building to fall into disrepair. The building would not exist were it not for a private donor. The same was true for the notorious "cemetery chimes." I feel sorry for the people who had to live close to that. It was like pulling teeth to ever get the chimes removed, but they were eventually taken out. At the start they were offered to UMM but UMM declined. So they got put in at the cemetery.
What a needless ordeal for this community to be put through. Can you imagine all the complaints that would now be coming from the big new apartment units on the old school property?
So, I don't know if the 2019 Parade of Lights was a resounding success, but I'm sure it will be portrayed that way in the newspaper. It's something the newspaper just has to do.
If our community really can "pull off" a successful Parade of Lights, I see no reason why PPD couldn't have been maintained just the way it was. A common theory is that this community has a layer of "leaders" many of whom have lake places for the weekend, and they didn't want to be bothered with the obligations of PPD. Hmmm. Well, that's not a factor for the Parade of Lights.
Me, I would just as soon not want to freeze my fanny off. I did go to Willie's where treats were served at various stations. Nothing like a nice spicy meatball!
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com