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November 30, 2009

Holiday by the River brings smiles

By Brian Ojanpa

NORTH MANKATO — Last year, Bob Weerts took a borrowed brainstorm and turned it into a carnival-like holiday happening at his North Mankato sod and landscaping business.

The focal point was a solitary Christmas tree poised atop a large mound of black dirt.

If you berm it, they will come. And they did � �2,500 people, easily,� Weerts said.

On Friday, as the second annual Holiday by the River festival was well underway, Weerts was asked how many attendees he anticipated this year.

He held up four fingers, doing his best not to make it seem too prideful. But he could be excused if he felt that way.

This eclectic event might be described as Santa Claus meets the Fourth of July at a family free-for-all.

The event included face-painting, fireworks, horse-drawn carriage rides, a pay-what-you-want chili supper and a live nativity scene featuring a camel and three wise men minus two.

A couple of girls had to be pressed into service when the cast came up short on males.

But that just lent to the spectacle�s charm, and Jerry and Lavonne Kewatt were glad they decided to check it out.

The retired couple live a stone�s throw from the festival site at Blue Valley Sod and Landscaping. Last year they took a pass; this year they sat on a hay bale next to a fire barrel and basked in the spirit of the moment.

�I think it�s a good thing to meet your neighbors in a different atmosphere,� Jerry Kewatt said as he enjoyed the carolers and watched kids queue up to meet Santa.

�This gets the �bah, humbug� out of me.�

In a nearby party tent Barb Mueller of Mankato was eating chili with her young grandchildren Noah and Alexis Kepler. Moments earlier, Alexis had an epiphany of sorts.

�She thought Santa Claus had claws because of his name,� Noah said. But a visit to Santa�s hut quickly shed that notion.

Mankatoan Jim Gacke said last year�s inaugural Holiday by the River had some loose ends, but this year�s festival was far more organized.

�I asked some friends if they were coming here, and they said, �No, why?� I said, �Where else are you going to get fireworks at the end of November?��

Weerts said he got the idea for the festival from the owner of an Idaho landscaping company, who�s been staging a similar free holiday celebration for 17 years.

�He does it as a customer gesture and because he has a passion for kids, as I do.�

Weerts said his underwriting of the event�s costs pales beside the Americana holiday image it evokes.

�Like someone said, it�s like a Norman Rockwell painting out there.�







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