Rugby, North Dakota:
The Geographical Center of North America
News 2013
Friends of the Museum will be serving up tasty roast beef, music, gifts, and tasty holiday baking Friday, Nov. 22, at the Rugby Eagles Club.
Old-Fashioned Holiday Dinner just around corner
Lots of fun plannned at the Rugby Eagles Nov. 22
November 2013
Prairie Village Museum’s 3nd annual Old-Fashioned Holiday Dinner, Bake Sale, and Gift Basket Bidding will be held 5 to 7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 22, at the Rugby Eagles Club.
Dinner tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for kids (6 to 12); no charge for preschoolers. Tickets may be purchased from Geographical Center Historical Society board members and at the door.
Santa Claus will be there to meet and greet kids from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Attendees may purchase homemade holiday baking and chances on an array of gift baskets ready for Christmas giving. And Linda Lynse will be serving up roast beef and all the trimmings.
Holiday music will be provided by The Borgen Family – Eldon Borgen, Arlene Johnson and Carol Braaten, and pianists Glenda Mack, Pam Anderson, and Jan Repnow.
“The holiday dinner has become the museum’s biggest and most important fundraisers,” said executive director Cathy Jelsing. “It’s a fun way for families to show their appreciation and support for museum. It’s also a perfect time to purchase historical society memberships for 2014 and to make much needed tax deductible contributions to help the museum finish the year in the black.”
Event sponsors include Merchants Bank of Rugby, TBEI – Rugby Manufacturing, Gooseneck Implement of Rugby, and the Rugby Convention & Visitors’ Bureau. All proceeds support the Geographical Center Historical Society and Prairie Village Museum.
Selective Memory will bring some hot licks and good old rock 'n' roll to Village Fair.
Roughriders mandolin player Chris Bieri plays for the love of all kinds of music.
TIP: For a good seat audience members may want to bring their own lawn chairs. No chaise lounges.
28th annual Village Fair
Rock, bluegrass, folk will fill air at Village Fair
August 2013
Prairie Village Museum will offer audiences a memorable mix of entertainment at the 28th annual Village Fair on Sunday, Aug. 11, in Rugby. From classic rock ‘n’ roll to edgy bluegrass to Scandinavian folk tales and songs, the lineup offers something for everyone.
Known as the day the museum comes alive, the Village Fair kicks off at 9 a.m. with a pancake breakfast and an all-faiths service at 9:15 a.m. in the museum’s historic Zion Lutheran Church. The festivities continue until 6 p.m., with pioneer demonstrations like blacksmithing and baking in the cook car, children’s activities, and an art show. Featured acts take the stage twice, beginning at 11:45 a.m. with Stina and Catrine.
Stina Fagertun and Catrine Pedersen, special guest artists from Norway, will present an “Arctic surprise,” facts, fairytales, and music by the three folk groups of the Arctic: Arctic Norsemen, Coastal Sami and the Kven. Catrine and Stina, an award-winning storyteller, have appeared several times at Minot’s Norsk Hostfest. Joining them on stage will be young participants in the 2013 Museum Camp, “The Great Viking Adventure.”
Selective Memory, a Rugby reunion band with a deep fan base, will bring The Beatles, Roy Orbison, Jimmie Hendrix and more to the Village Fair stage. Selective Memory was founded by Terry Brenno and Stan Hagen of Rugby (former members of The Wonders of Confusion circa 1966-1970). The band also includes Rugby natives Kurt Eylands, Grand Forks, Colleen Jelsing and brothers Carl and Brian Weimer, all Minneapolis. Featured on lead guitar will be Garrison, N.D., native Jan Stroup. Stroup is lead guitarist with Twin Cities-based band The Sevilles, named “Best Live Band” in the state by readers of Minnesota Bride Magazine.
The Roughriders looks like a bluegrass band, but the group of mostly of Minot natives enjoys dipping their toes into nearly every musical genre, from traditional tunes to punk. Members Chris Bieri, Joe Andrus, Jeremiah Sanderson and Micah Scott play multiple instruments, including harmonica, banjo, mandolin, guitar and upright bass. Their love of making music shows in every performance.
In addition to pancakes, hungry fairgoers will have a variety of food choices from burgers to philly cheesesteak sandwiches, ethnic treats like German potato salad and Norwegian rommegrot and lefse, and plenty of sweets, including homemade pie and root beer floats.
Admission is $7 for adults; $6 for seniors (65+) and college students; $3 for kids 7-17; free for kids 6. Geographical Center Historical Society members also attend for free. For more information and the complete schedule go to www.prairievillagemuseum.com, find Prairie Village Museum on Facebook, or call 701-776-6414.
Stina Fagertun of Tromso, Norway, will lead museum campers on "The Great Viking Adventure."
The Great Viking Adventure
Third annual Museum Camp starts Aug. 5
July 2013
The third annual Prairie Village Museum Camp, “The Great Viking Adventure,” runs from Aug. 5 – 9, with a single joint session from 1 to 3 p.m. during the Village Fair on Aug. 11.
Two sessions (limit 15 children/session) will run from 9:30 a.m. to noon OR 1 to 3:30 p.m.
“The Great Viking Adventure” campers, ages 7 to 13, will learn Norwegian games, songs and storytelling. They will make their own Viking walking sticks and costumes (dressing in costume is part of every museum camp). They will learn Viking sword-fighting techniques. They’ll bake flat bread on a rock and cook stew over a campfire. They’ll also learn about Viking descendants who settled in Pierce County in the late 1800s.
Leading the camp will be storyteller/cultural ambassador/writer/actress Stina Fagertun of Tromso, Norway, and her assistant, educator/performer Catrine Pedersen, Oslo.
During the museum's Village Fair campers will take the stage with Stina and Catrine to share what they’ve learned. Stina and Catrine also will share an "Artic surprise," facts, fairytales and songs of native Artic people.
Registration fee is $30 for non-members; $25 for members. Registration fee must be paid in order to reserve a spot. Registration deadline is July 31.
Geographical Center Historical Society membership, which includes admission to the Village Fair, is $30 for a household (2 adults and all minor children) or $15 for an individual. Camperships are available for those with financial concerns. Call the museum for more information, 776-6414.
All ages enjoy playing marbles.
Marbles II
Museum hosts marble tournament
July 2013
Prairie Village Museum’s second annual marbles tourney and teaching event, “Marbles II,” will be held from 5:30 to 8 p.m., Tuesday, July 16, at the museum.
Fun for the whole family, no experience is required! Every participant receives a bag of marbles. Entry fee is $3 for historical society members; $6 for non-members. All children must be accompanied by an adult. Observers are welcome at no charge.
Hot dogs ($2) and pop ($1) will be served starting at 5:30 p.m. Marble playing starts at 6:15 p.m. Competition/teaching is by age group. Prizes will be awarded.
No ingredient says summer like rhubarb and it will be repeated over and over again in all sorts of tasty forms at the Friends of the Museum Rhubarb Festival on June 30 at Prairie Village Museum.
Calling all rhubarb lovers
Museum hosts Rhubarb Festival June 30
June 2013
Rhubarb lovers from far and wide will gather at Prairie Village Museum from noon to 3 p.m., Sunday, June 30, for the museum’s first ever Rhubarb Festival.
A $3 donation will purchase six tastes of more than 20 rhubarb dishes, with an emphasis on desserts, pies and cakes. Hamburgers, hotdogs and chips will be offered for sale from noon until gone. All proceeds will go toward Old Main Exhibition Hall repairs.
Special museum admission rate for the festival is $5 for adults, with no charge for minor children or Geographical Center Historical Society members.
Hosted by the Friends of the Museum, the festival will take place, rain or shine, in the museum’s Sandven Exhibition Hall. Rhubarb recipe books will be available for sale. All 29 of the museum’s buildings will be open for touring until 5 p.m. And there will be live music and activities for kids.
Steve Stark will give an Illustrated History presentation on "Abraham Lincoln's North Dakota Legacy," at 1 p.m. May 19 at the Rugby Eagles.
Klub/Kumla & Ham Dinner kicks off museum season
Steve Stark featured speaker May 19 at Eagles
March 2013
The Geographical Center Historical Society will kick off its 2013 season with a Klub/Kumla and Ham Dinner and a special program featuring Fargo cartoonist/historian Steve Stark on Sunday, May 19, at the Rugby Eagles.
The event is open to the public. The program is free and appropriate for all ages. Cost of dinner is a freewill donation. (Note: The dinner was originally scheduled for April 14, but was postponed due to weather.)
Dinner will be served 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Stark’s Illustrated History presentation, “Abraham Lincoln’s North Dakota Legacy,” will start at 1:30.
Norwegians call it “kumla,” Germans call it “klub,” but no matter what name you choose, fans love these potato dumplings centered with a piece of ham and cooked in ham broth. Served with melted butter, they are an ethnic treat. Chef Linda Lysne also plans to serve ham, baked potatoes and carrots. Friends of the Museum will supply bars.
Stark, an award-winning editorial cartoonist, dresses in historical clothing and tells history stories while drawing them out in charcoal on 20 to 30 foot paper rolls. School children know him as “Mr. History”; he’s earned a national reputation for his portrayals of Teddy Roosevelt; and he's the creative director, head writer and a performer on Prairie Public Radio's "Dakota Air: The Radio Show."
Stark also will be giving a presentation for fourth graders at Rugby’s Ely Elementary on May 20. His Rugby appearances are supported in part by a grant from the North Dakota Humanities Council.