Walhalla, ND

Arbor Day was held in Walhalla Thursday May 1st at noon with a history of Arbor day presented by Sharon Bartels and the 6th grade planting 3 new trees in Riverside park.  After the tree planting the 4th,5th, and 6th graders spent the afternoon learning to climb trees with Bob Underwood, learning about the animals in ND from Marty Egeland, how to read rings and key out trees from Helen Schill and forestry tools from Dave Nowatzki.  I even got to climb a tree with Morgan Mathisons help. Walhalla has been named a tree city for the past 13 years.

Wednesday morning came very early but off we went again, this time to Devils Lake to a grant writing class sponsored by North Dakota State University Center for Community Vitality.  Helen, Deirdre, Shirley and Liann all went to the class with hopes of helping to learn to write grants for various organizations.  Dr. Lynette Krenelka was a wonderful teacher with a great sense of humor. Lots of information was passed around among the people attending.  I got to see Alyce Heer from Anamoose who said that Joe was getting married in June, I just might have to go.  Do you think there might be shorter lady moose there for me?    It was fun seeing friends from the Horizons program and meeting newfriends. Here are some pictures from the class.    

North Dakota Tourism conference was held April 21 & 22 in Mandan and I got to go. I Went shopping for spring clothes don’t I look great.  I registered at the main desk so that I could attend the sessions.  The first day was the Governors Awards Banquet and the dinner was very good only I ate the Desert first.  Walhalla was really excited at the awards banquet because Kathy Stremick won the state award for 2008 Travel Industry Leader.  Congratulations Kathy!!  Kathy’s parents Kenny and Martina Stagl were on hand to see Kathy recieve her award.  I had my picture taken with Governor Hoeven and Kathy after everything was over WOW what an honor.  Congratulations to all the winners.  After all that excitement I was tired so I went to the room instead of singing Karaoke Monday night.  All in all it was a fun conference.  I can’t wait till next year in Grand Forks.  

We traveled to Grafton on Saturday April 19th for a taste of home show.  Kathy and Liann sure set up the nice display quickly.  The day went fast with a lot of people visiting our tourism booth to see what the Rendezvous Region has to offer.  I met a dog giving away dog biscuits, he was really tall compared to me.  I was really tired at the end of the day. 

The first beautification meeting of the year was held in March even though there was still snow on the ground its time to think about what to plant in the barrels.  I got to go to the meeting and the ladies even let me dig in a barrel.  Maybe next month it will be warm enough to think about plants.  The beautification group is also looking at banners for main street and events to do in the park this summer.If anyone wants to join the group they meet the first Tuesday on every month at 6:30 pm.   

Thursday, March 27th Liann, Deirdre and Helen headed to Cooperstown for a tourism conference but I was to tired to go with them.  They came back talking about everything they learned and how great the food was.  Liann kept talking about something called geocaching and maybe having free classes on using a GPS systems.   

Sunday was a very big day in Walhalla, beside the ambulance breakfast, the American Legion held their birthday party in the afternoon.  There were three men in suits and I found out that they were World War II veterans so I had to have my picture taken with them.   The food was great and I met lots of people, I finished my long day with my very own birthday cupcake.

Sunday when I was at the Ambulance breakfast there were some young ladies serving and cleaning up and when I enquired who they were, I was told they belong to a group called Quiet Storm.  I found out that they are a baton group that perform at sport and school functions and have their own recital every year.  They told me this year the group has been invited to perform at 4th of July, Rendezvous Art Festival and the Giant Pumpkin Festival.  I can hardly wait to see them in action.

I went to the Walhalla Ambulance Breakfast, when I got there the new Ambulance was sitting in front of the building and Tia showed it to me.   Wow was the ambulance big but then I went in and found one my size.  I went to the kitchen to check on the food and Shawn was just filling plates.  The crew told me that the breakfast was a money making project for the new ambulance, it was free will offering.  Don’t know how much money was made but I think everyone in Walhalla was there.

Dig In To Tourism  was a perfect time to meet tourism colleagues, share ideas and find new ways to build tourism in your area.  Five from Walhalla attended the all day workshop.   Lake Region State College, the Devils Lake Tourism Office and ND Tourism did a awesome job.  It was informal and informative.  Wally even attended and meet the ladies from Anamoose and Kim from the ND Tourism Office.