Thursday, February 28, 2008

Open Thread #67

I think a fresh open thread is in order!

60 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am relatively 'new' to GFK (~6 months) and have yet to experience the summertime here. Since everyone seems to be stuck in a winter mindset what can people tell me about summertime events in GFK? Things I'm thinking of are concerts, county fair, fireman's carnivals/parades, festivals (4th of July etc...). I was fortunate enough to experience my first 'fry feed' this fall which was fun and was wondering what possibilities the summer holds. Maybe there is a website with some of this info on it? Or maybe a resident can provide information on yearly events. Thanks!

Barbara said...

CulturePulse is a great local site that showcases things to do. There is a farmer's market every Saturday downtown, Catfish Days in the late summer. An art fair, county fair, a Scandinavian festival in Fargo, there are fairs throughout the area particularly in early fall. Old Mill State Park fires up the mill to grind flour every fall. There are lots of threshing bee's throughout the surrounding areas (Strathcona & Rollog come to mind). We aren't too far from Itasca. Mountain, ND has an Icelandic celebration every year around August 2nd. If you are new to ND, there is also Hostfest within a few hour drive, Frost Fire theatre in Walhalla, and Medora is close enough for a weekend trip. Lots to do and there are always plenty of lakes nearby for a picnic and a swim.

Anonymous said...

Grand Forks Herald continues to protect us from knowing the dangers of Grand Forks... any updates on the police brutality case? The assault and robbery of the Deek's driver? The sexual assault a month or so ago? Nope, the Herald just wants to tell us how great it is to eat at KFC. Business as usual.

Anonymous said...

Hey guys, serious question. Does anyone know when they are opening the Olive Garden out west by the Dakota Bookstore?

Anonymous said...

Well, four posts in and someone already mentions Olive Garden. That is a rumor. I would think IF Olive Garden even filed paperwork it would be all over the media.

Anonymous said...

Seb, why don't you go down and find out the information for yourself? It's public record. Don't rely on others for your laziness. Besides, you would have never known about the police brutality case had it not been for the paper's reporting. It seems your finding out about all these big bad crime stories just fine despite your supposed faults with the media. Perhaps, the paper is waiting for the investigative process to churn up something newsworthy to report instead of rehashing the same old background information. Perhaps it's refreshing, for a change, for the media to stay out of the police's way and let them do their work. Then, they can report when there is something to report. Perhaps, there is a story coming out this weekend on crime in GF. You never know...

The blogosphere brings out all kinds and you're welcome to your opinion, but maybe you might want to develop a more informed rant before you spew it.

Anonymous said...

I don't see anything wrong with seb's comment. Time and time again the Herald has neglected to follow up on these kinds of stories. It's not seb's job to follow up, it's the Herald's. Not only is it part of their mission, it also pays their salaries. Perhaps instead of expecting the police to churn up a story for the journalists, the journalists should be churning up a story themselves. I trust the Herald to do a better job of reporting on crime than I do the police department.

Anonymous said...

"Besides, you would have never known about the police brutality case had it not been for the paper's reporting. It seems your finding out about all these big bad crime stories just fine despite your supposed faults with the media." Posted by anonymous 7:04 a.m.

True that! Bravo.

Anonymous said...

wtf?! why does my olive garden comment get deleted, but this one can stay

Still Fighting It said...

There are plenty of concerts, theatre events, and art/craft shows every summer.

The Farmer's Market is every Saturday morning and is one of the coolest things I've had the privilege to watch develop in this town: good food, good music, upbeat atmosphere.

The Musuem of Art has been developing an outdoor summer concert series.

The Sertoma club puts on a big 4th of July celebration in the park.
Other than that, there aren't too many citywide celebrations, but the local radio stations team up with the usual night-spots and put on various shows and what not.

Crimson Creek, Firehall Theatre, North Dakota Ballet, and SPA put on great plays and musicals.

Basically, there is plenty going on and if you're into sports, there is even more for you.

However, much to the chagrin of folks who like chain-made "Italian" food, there is no Olive Garden.

Oh.

Noes.

Anonymous said...

Chuck = on his way out
Tom Bunning = gone
Greg Weisenstein = looking to leave
Phil Harmeson = looking to leave
Don Kojich = on his way out

And so it begins...the upheaval of the UND administration. Who's next?

Anonymous said...

New to GF:

A couple more suggestions: The Convention & Visitors Bureau has a calendar of events and their web site is easily navigable...visitgrandforks.com

Winnipeg is the closest "city" with just under a million people. I understand it's a bit more inconvenient to travel there since border restrictions went into place, but it's only about 3 hours and you'll find all kinds of ethnic celebrations and dining. It's also the future home of the Canadian Civil Rights Museum, which will be awesome when it's finished.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, it's not the Civil Rights Museum coming to Winnipeg, it's Human Rights.

http://www.canadianmuseumforhumanrights.com

Anonymous said...

My favorite annual summer event in GF is the Grand Cities Arts Fest. Usually the 1st weekend in June... the downtown blocks of GF & EGF are filled with arts & crafts vendors, food, music, etc.

Also, the GF Relay for Life is May 30-31 in University Park. Come enjoy the Relay Carnival, admire the luminaries, and give money to a good cause.

Anonymous said...

What is a threshing bee?

Anonymous said...

Art Fest is always the 2nd weekend in June. This year, that brings us to June 14th and 15th.

The Farmer's Market will start the weekend after Art Fest - Staurday, June 21st.

Anonymous said...

anon@7:04 ... I am just dumbfounded by your post. So you're saying the Herald should just break the stories and let everyone else follow up on them on their own? It's the public's responsibility to follow up on the various violent crimes that have transpired recently? Yeah, the Herald definitely shouldn't go further into the story than just publishing it in a small box in the corner of page 2A. We should all continue believing that crime is not on the rise around here, and that none of us are vulnerable to being victims of it. I guess the Herald's taking your advice, since these stories have simply disappeared over time.

Anonymous said...

Good news gang! Just checked Olive Garden's website and they have Grand Forks, ND listed as one of their future locations! Where do you think it will go? I speculate that it will be near the Alerus Center. What a Joyous day for All!!

Anonymous said...

Get in touch with reality, Seb. The Herald has crime stories all the time. And just because they're not alway on the front page doesn't mean that the newspaper beleives they're not serious. Think about it, if all the stories you want to read are on the front, what would spur you to read further and to potentially put your eyes balls on more ads inside the paper. The ads are what drive profits and the ads are inside the paper. That is why everything is not on the front. People will get to the crime stories eventually, just like they do the editorial page and the sports section.

Your conspiracy theories are just a little too much and display an awful lot of ignorance. Oh, and they assume way too much. I suggest you call someone at the Herald and listen first hand to how decisions are made and are not made. I think you'd be surprised that there isn't an agenda to make GF look better or worse.

I mean, really, with so many people interested in crime in town, how could a paper survive not reporting it?

And don't give me this crap about influential advertisers dictating content, because it just doesn't happen. The divid between the editorial department and the avertising department is like the Grand Canyon at most papers. I assume it's the same way here.

Granted TV news is more sensational and will alway go with the "if it bleeds it leads" mantra," but I like newspapers for being more tempered in their approach.

I think you will hear more about teh police brutality case when there is actually something new to report.

Anonymous said...

jcman:

http://www.olivegarden.com/company/contact_us/faq.asp#future_Olive_Garden


Where do you see Grand Forks, ND on the list? This list is only 2 months old so let me know if there is a newer list I should be checking out...

Anonymous said...

jcman:

sorry, here is a better link

http://www.olivegarden.com/company/contact_us/faq.asp#future_Olive_Garden

Anonymous said...

The high level administrators at UND are smart to be looking to get out - a new president often cleans house when his appointment begins.

Anonymous said...

GrandForks.com
"Your guide to everything Grand Forks", although their calendar isn't too thorough if you're looking a couple months ahead.

Anonymous said...

www.grandforks.com
www.grandforks.com
www.grandforks.com
www.grandforks.com
www.grandforks.com

Anonymous said...

I love this website, and wish the miscreants would go away... we are some of the smartest and most creative writers in the region... that is why North Dakota has a 96% graduation from high school. I never see misspellings or grammatical errors... keep it up, and Grand Forks Guy, this is a great site.
regards,
Olivia Gardeno

Anonymous said...

what a misleading stat that "96% graduation rate" is. a monkey could graduate from most of these small town North Dakota schools.

Anonymous said...

Well, most kids have nothing to do, but go to school- plus the parents will know what's going on...
regards,
Olivia Gardena (I'm Italian and single- I live at 2221 2nd Ave North)

Anonymous said...

After living in North Dakota for over 3 years, for the first time I saw Amtrak arriving in Grand Forks a week ago during normal daylight hours instead of the dead night. Am I surprised, yes and no because trains are alwys late, haha.

Anonymous said...

seriously, what the hell is a threshing bee?

Anonymous said...

This is what a threshing bee is...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1V3A-GSvoc

Anonymous said...

A Threshing Bee is to the rural lifestyle what an antique car show is to the pavement pounders. Simply, it's a tip of the hat to the past generations - a way to look back and see how far we've come (although I'd love to have the torque some of those old steam tractors had!). By the way, if you watch videos of steam threshing, you'll see the tractor attached to the thresher by a long belt. Why was the belt so long? Those old tractors got HOT, and some caught fire - the belt kept the haystack and the tractor separated.

Anonymous said...

what a misleading stat that "96% graduation rate" is. a monkey could graduate from most of these small town North Dakota schools.

Wow, what an ignorant comment. Sure, there are a few bad schools out there, but I would put what I learned in my back-country school against your education any day.

Besides, the graduation rate is more of an indication of students sticking it out to the end, not whether they graduated on the honor roll. North Dakotans are rightly proud of such an awesome stat.

Anonymous said...

"a monkey could graduate from most of these small town North Dakota schools."

Fine, bring your monkeys out here to graduate, then. Because they sure aren't doing it in the urban school systems.

Anonymous said...

thank you, orator.

I have never heard of that in my life.

Anonymous said...

what is the best place for STEAK in town? I done tried Whiteys, Toasted Frog, Sanders, (Lord forgive me) Applebees and then I discovered The Bronze Boot tonight.

Holy #$%^&*!

Nicely priced wine list that encourages sampling... stellar steaks actually done Rare when ordered Rare... huge Appetizers... friendly, helpful service... soup AND salad served with entrees. Nice.

No I don't work there, and I don;t own stock, but I have been hunting for a rock solid rendition of a rare steak for quite a while in GF. I found it. At Bronze Boot.

What are your thoughts, and , if appropriate, what would you suggest as an alternative to a classic steak house with a decent wine list in GF? Was my experience a fluke? Have you tried The Boot? If so, what did you think?

GrandForksGuy said...

"Just checked Olive Garden's website and they have Grand Forks, ND listed as one of their future locations!"

Obviously this is a joke, people.

GrandForksGuy said...

It's sad, but I've never been to The Boot. And I call myself Grand Forks Guy! The nerve...

GrandForksGuy said...

This is probably kinda mean, but am I the only one who has been wondering why a particular reporter on WDAZ always looks at the camera while turning slightly to the right? This reporter NEVER looks straight at the camera. I notice things like this. I'm not naming names here...just wondering if anybody else has noticed this. A little odd!

Anonymous said...

I'm with you Grand Forks Guy. What is with that. If your going to talk into a camera you should face the camera. They should try it, it would help them read the Teleprompter better and cut down on the word stumbling.

Anonymous said...

Bronze Boot all the way! Good Service and the Steaks are always good. I think I might go soon!

Anonymous said...

Here is the most current Olive Garden list per their Website! Sorry no Grand Forks.


Future Locations:
Lawton, OK (January 2008)
Christiansburg, VA (January 2008)
Hagerstown, MD (January 2008)
Liberty, MO (January2008)
St. Joseph, MO (February 2008)
Stapleton, CO (February 2008)
Sherman TX (February 2008)
Murfreesboro, TN (February 2008)
Colonial Heights, VA (March 2008)
Elyria, OH (March 2008)
Sebring, FL (March 2008)
Cincinnati /Stone Creek, OH (April 2008)
Reynoldsburg, OH (April 2008)
Cape Coral, FL (April 2008)
Vero Beach, FL (April 2008)
Lufkin, TX (April 2008)
Prattville, AL (April 2008)
Meridian, MS (May 2008)
Springfield, PA (May 2008)
Lancaster, PA (May 2008)
Cookeville, TN (May 2008)
Warner Robins, GA (May 2008)
Oswego, IL (May 2008)
Riverside, CA (June 2008)

Anonymous said...

^ Holy Schiznit!!

That upcoming Olive Garden lcation list looks like a malignant cancer spreading throughout America. I hope we can avoid being a target of it's metastasis. ;-)

I worked at OG for a while, and have eaten there probably many many hundreds of times. It's aaaaalllright. Nothing worthy of spamming every GF blog ever written though. Believe me... you ain't missing much by not being the next North Haverbrook.

Anonymous said...

Wannagrapple--it's obviously worth it! From what I've heard and experienced, people from UND and GFK flock there like Canadians at SuperTarget on the weekend.

Anonymous said...

For those of you that don't know, OG is simply an inside joke on this blog. Wanna raise a ruckus? Mention the OG ;)

Anonymous said...

In a city that has next to nothing in the line of sit down dining, the Bronze Boot is the place to go for a steak.

Anonymous said...

That is the most correct thing you have ever said in the blogosphere, ec99. Rock on! And long live the Boot!

Anonymous said...

The older Austrian waitress at the Bronze Boot is the best waitress in town!!

Anonymous said...

Aye. The aforementioned waitress is very good. The steaks are indeed juicy, and come as one orders them.

But the place needs some serious remodeling.

Anonymous said...

Agrteed about the waitress. I believe her name is Trudy. The chef really knows how to do a steak. In the old days, I could handle their 24 oz Porterhouse. No more.

Anonymous said...

Mmm...Tami Osbourne from DAZ...mmm blonde hair...mmm

Anonymous said...

Love the Boot. Love its dated decor and odd location. Love the big twinkling boot sign. Trudy rocks.

Anonymous said...

Warner Robins is getting an Olive Garden?!

That place is a hole in the ground!

I pass by there on I-75 twice a year, and it never changes.

I once had to spend the night in Perry, GA (about 10 miles south of the base) and it took over an hour of driving to find a decent place to eat.

Well, now I guess I can go to Olive Garden. Yuck.

OUWxGuesser said...

http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=69259§ion=homepage

Where's our conspiracy theorist at now???

Anonymous said...

Probably pulling their size 9 out of their size 10 mouth. Some people need to understand, for all its faults, the paper's not in bed with anyone... yes, it's lacking in journalistic judgement sometimes, but certainly not trying to paint a false picture of GF. Nobody's perfect.

Anonymous said...

So it looks like someone from the Herald is actually reading these comments. Glad they actually shed some light on the rising violent crime, hopefully this trend continues and it's not just a one time deal.

Anonymous said...

Tran and Schuster are the only ones at the Herald who read this blog...Tran has been out of the country (in Vietnam)for weeks and Schuster is a business reporter, who could care less about the crime beat, so I wouldn't give this blog too much credit, if any, at all for Sunday's story. By the looks of it, I would say it's something that has been in the works for a couple weeks at least and would have happened anyway.

And like I've always said, blogs are a good place for local journalists to get story ideas about what is going on in the community. The traditional media would be dumb not to monitor them incessantly.

It's just that on crime stories, no media needs much help from the blogosphere. They will report it anyway. Always have, always will. Maybe not on the front page all the time. Newspapers tend not to want to look like they're sensationalizing things like TV does. They take a more measured approach to crime stories so as to not hype up something that may not be a trend or out of the ordinary.

GrandForksGuy said...

"Tran and Schuster are the only ones at the Herald who read this blog"

HAHAHA...sure they're the only ones! Just like no one over at WDAZ ever checks out this blog. In fact, apparently 'DAZ once even had to block this blog on their computers because it was taking up too much time.

Anonymous said...

I never understood why anyone would want to eat at either the Olive Garden or the Cheesecake Factory. Do these people have no taste buds or not know what food is?

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