Heritage Renewal

For still photos of the World Art Show, go to this album at Webshots.

Just posted to the center's YouTube site - World Art Show in the Ellendale Opera House 2009, with Marilyn Burow telling the story.

In keeping with its mission for the cultivation of grassroots heritage tourism on the northern plains, the center has established a Facebook group called Heritage Trails for heritage travelers and heritage tourism providers. Check it out, and also check out the Prairie Roses Program linked at right of this page. This is an attempt to encourage the culture of hospitality for heritage tourism. Prairie Roses will operate online via Heritage Trails. In addition, the center is committing itself to answering research queries about the heritage resources of the northern plains, this also to be conducted through Heritage Trails.

Another cool event coming up at the Ellendale Opera House, sponsored by the Ellendale Area Arts Council and O.P.E.R.A., Inc.: the second annual World Art Show. The first such event, a year ago, was an amazing success illustrating the power of a good idea. That idea was to dig out all the strange and wonderful stuff collected by local citizens in their world travels and exhibit it! Check out this poster, and you'll see that they're at it again. Catch the World Art Show in Ellendale on Saturday & Sunday, 21-22 February.

At lower left of the CHR website is a link to "Research on the Missouri Coteau." This inconspicuous link leads to a large and growing trove of data and image abstracted and copied from the annual reports of extension agents in counties of the Missouri Coteau during the 1930s and 1940s. The aim of this research is to capture and document images that enlighten the relationship between people and the land in this distinctive grassland region. The makings of a future traveling exhibit, perhaps; right now we're just laying down a research base. Browse around. This is the real stuff of life at the grassroots in the Coteau.

Twice in the past year I've heard Catherine Wiley speak about the day tours and other studies done by her students in NDSU Landscape Architecture. There's nothing like a North Dakota landscape full of heritage resources to get students thinking! In my experience, both the homeys from ND and the city kids from points east thrive on the experience--and the work posted at http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndsu/cawiley/ is evidence of same.

Coming up at the Ellendale Opera House on 13 February: If These Walls Could Talk, a celebration of 100 years of great goings-on at the historic old opera house. $10 gets you into the sock hop, supper, and the opera house pageant. I know Jeanette Robb-Ruenz has been digging up the history to go into the pageant, and Grant Crabtree has been crafting the script, and the Ellendale Community Theater players will come through with another great performance.