Fall History Series
Arn Kind presented Minnesota's Firsts! Arn Kind, a retired teacher and historical reenactor, dressed and acted the part of famous and not so famous Minnesotans who were key players in national and world history. From the first to make a solo, non-stop flight across the Atlantic to the first to foil the Jesse James-Younger Brothers gang from robbing our banks to a variety of Minnesotan inventors, Kind brought to life the very interesting and startling details behind all of these astounding feats.
Beatrice Ojakangas told fascinating stories from her memoir Homemade: Finnish Rye, Feed Sack Fashion, and Other Simple Ingredients from My Life in Food. From her grandfather who sent for a Finnish mail-order bride, and got one who'd trained as a chef to inventing pizza rolls for Chun King. She also talked about appearing on TV with Julia Child and Martha Stewart and how her book The Great Scandinavian Baking Book was inducted in the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame. Barnes and Noble sold books at the event.
Michael Schumacher spoke about his book Mighty Fitz: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald as well as other shipwrecks. In 1975, the largest ship on North America's Great Lakes sank in a ferocious North Wind storm on Lake Superior. This shipwreck is one of the most well-known disasters in the history of Great Lakes shipping. Its sinking led to changes in shipping regulations, increased
inspections, and inspired Gordon Lightfoot's hit song The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. To kick off the event, we had local musician Peter Klug perform the song on his acoustic guitar. We did have to postpone the event as the author confused the date on which he was supposed to perform, delaying our performance until March 30, 2017, and not on the anniversary of the shipwreck of November 10th.
59 participated
Participants will enjoy learning about Minnesota history, learn something new about Minnesota history, enjoy direct access to talented historians, want to learn more about Minnesota history after attending the events.
1.Did you enjoy the presentation tonight? If yes, what was your favorite part?
YES: 18 + 13 +17 = 48
NO: 0 + 0 + 0
The quality of the presenters
His clear passion for his work.
All of it
The author's enthusiasm for facts!
Anecdotes
Author talked about each of his shipwreck books and characterizes themmystery, town story, etc.
Just listening to him. So sincere.
Description of the sinking of the boat and the way it broke up and the reasons it happened the way it did.
It is hard to pick a simple incident, but the mystery of what actually happened is fascinating!
+
Meeting Beatrice Ojakangas. We have enjoyed her cookbooks and TV programs
Special recipe hints and learning how to write down family stories
The stories, humor, etc.
Meeting Beatrice Ojakangas
Speaker was very genuine
Beatrice has a warm, interesting way of speaking
The stories she told.
Beatrice Ojakangas was very interesting and a wonderful woman!
+
MN firsts, description of Northfield bank robbery
Interaction with guns and poster layout
Northfield bank raid
Inventions
All of it
I liked to learn all the fun facts about Minnesota. I didn't know many of them previously. Good facts on Jesse James! Very interesting.
Where they were robbing the bank and learning new facts about it
Learning new things about the robbery and seeing the different visuals
Getting us active about MN
Beginning inventions from MN
The Jessi
The details in the robbery
When the bankers tricked them when they said the vault was on a timer
2.Did you learn anything new about Minnesota history?
YES: 18 + 11 +15 = 44
NO: 0 + 2 = 2
About Finnish people/culture
Geno's Pizza
About Duluth and Pillsbury Foods
Not much
3.Are you interested in learning more about Minnesota history after attending this event?
YES: 17 +11 + 15 = 43
NO: 0 + 1 + 1 = 2
I've always found our own Minnesota interesting.
oPeter Klug volunteered to perform The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald at our event.
oDaily Grind, Hy-Vee, Family Video, El Molino, University of Minnesota Press, City of Waseca, City of Montgomery, Tri-City United School District, and other local businesses helped promote the events
oSome Tri-City United School District teachers gave extra credit for attendance of the Arn Kind event
oBarnes and Noble sold books at the Beatrice Ojakangas event