Day16-July 21, 2017-Fargo, Wine and we’re on the scoreboard at baseball
Hot and humid 97. In the winter it gets down to 25 below.
Fargo was named for William Fargo of Wells Fargo fame and is in the Red River valley on the riverbed of a prehistoric lake which gives it such fertile soil. The people here like to say they’re “North of Normal” but we found most of them about as normal as we are. They share a lot with their sister city, Moorhead, MN, across the Red River and most of the area considers itself Fargo-Moorhead. It’s the most populous city in North Dakota and one of the fastest growing cities in the country. It’s 48 square miles with a population of over 121,000. I was amazed at all the stores, colleges and businesses here. I expected a small prairie town and got a large urban city. It’s clean, well-laid out and easy to navigate. A big theater and arts and medical community too. Considering the long, hard, cold winters there are a lot of outdoor activities, golf courses and sports venues. And all the homes, whether small or large, have beautiful flower gardens and lush green lawns. Our first stop was the visitor’s center where we got some info and found out more about the city. They have a lot of memorabilia from the movie “Fargo” including the original wood chipper. Learned that although the movie was supposed to be filmed here there was no snow so they moved the filming to Bmiji. There are numerous bison (pronounced bizon with a z, not an s, and definitely not buffalo) around town and one was in the parking lot along with the “Fargo Walk of Fame”. We then drove about 20 miles west to Casselton to 4e Winery and spent almost two hours talking to Lisa, the owner, and three people from the soil conservation department who were there trying to bring back some of the winery property to native prairie. Very interesting how they plant native plants and then have to cultivate them to get rid of weeds and invasive plants that have taken over. Stopped a t a Wal-Mart for some groceries on the way back to the RV then read for a while before the game. The Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks are the home team. We saw them beat the you-know-what out of the Sioux Falls Canaries a couple of days ago. Tonight they’re playing the Cleburne (Texas) Railroaders. It’s at Newman Outdoor Field, part of North Dakota State University, only 4 miles from the campground. Big, well-kept stadium and it filled up quickly with fans. One of the biggest turn outs for a minor league team we’ve seen in a while. But one man, called “Super Fan” was the biggest fan of all. The Redhawks mascot is Hawkeye, the redhawk, but Super Fan did more to rouse the crowd than Hawkeye did. He is Jamie Zuel and his day job is counselor at Fargo High School but his night job keeps him dancing on the dugout and in the crowd in his shorts and sweat band, doing a push-up for every run scored, yelling at the umpires and players and keeping the fans entertained. We spoke with him for a while during one of his breaks. The next thing I know I see “HARRY AND JUDY” up on the scoreboard in big letters. And then I hear the announcer saying how the Redhawks are welcoming Harry and Judy who are here from Florida touring and visiting minor league games. Thanks to Super Fan for the recognition. At the end of the 5th inning it poured for about 20 minutes. The umbrellas came out, the ponchos went on but not many people left. These are devoted fans. At the end of the game we were treated to some wonderful fireworks. The temp was down to 73 when we left the game. Oh, and did I mention the Redhawks won 6-2?