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Waste Not Trash turns to treasure in the hands of a local fashion designer

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CONTENTS 8 Baking It Better Creative workshops help girls navigate challenges and discover their strengths.

10 The Barn Where Everyone Belongs Halloween fun meets inclusion at We Can Ride’s Trick or Trot.

12 Waste Not Trash turns to treasure in the hands of a local fashion designer.

20 International Influence Artist Seran Otterson weds the past with the present through her murals.

28 Culinary Confluence Samarkand Restaurant brings the flavors of Uzbekistan to Minnesota.

4 6 35 38 40

Editor’s Letter Noteworthy On the Town Gallery Last Glance

International Influence, page 20

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Along the banks of the wild and scenic St. Croix River sits a historic town waiting to deliver your next Wisconsin weekend. Whatever your scene, discover it in Hudson.

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F R O M T H E E D I TO R

Madeline Ko p ie c k i madeline@localmedia.co

Photo: Chris Emeott

Last October, I joined a group of roughly 20 Plymouth residents on a walking tour of Parkers Lake Cemetery. The city-owned cemetery, overlooking the lake, isn’t widely known. “A lot of people that came on the tour mentioned that they didn’t even know it was there,” says historic site coordinator Ryan Barland. What stuck with me the most, as tour guide and historic site coordinator Allison Hesse led us among the tombstones, was people’s inquisitiveness. Many were already aware of the broad strokes of the families who were laid to rest there or else in the process of unearthing their family’s own ties to Plymouth. Learn more about this year’s tours on page 35. In this arts and culture issue, a recurring motif has been how family history has shaped the creative paths of local artists. In my conversation with muralist Seran Otterson, she identified her father as playing a major role in shaping her creative journey. “My father was a collector,” she says. Starting with paper memorabilia and expanding over the years to everything from World War I mementos to Roman and Byzantine collectibles, he gained international acclaim and shared his collections in print and exhibitions. “I grew up in a house [where] … we were living in the middle of history,” Otterson says. “It was like a museum. I think it is no wonder that I was attracted to the traditional arts of my culture.” Learn more about Otterson on page 20. As the days start to shorten this fall, I plan to spend my free time taking stock of the memorabilia at my family’s cabin on the St. Croix River. Generations’ worth of ephemera has accumulated in the attic, each telling a part of a story that would otherwise be forgotten with time. Have you made any interesting discoveries about your local family ties? Let me know at madeline@localmedia.co. Until next time,

C E L E B R A T I N G T H E P LY M O U T H A R E A S I N C E 2 0 0 4 .

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Waste Not, page 12

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VOL. 22 NO. 2 October/November 2026

PUBLISHER Susan Isay EDITOR Madeline Kopiecki MANAGING CREATIVE DIRECTOR Renée Stewart-Hester MANAGING EDITOR Hailey Almsted DIGITAL EDITOR Madeline Kopiecki COPY EDITORS Kellie Doherty and Sherri Hildebrandt STAFF WRITERS Kassondra Burtis, Stacy Dahl, Findlay Drabant, Emily Gedde, Maura Keller and Alexandra Tostrud CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ryan Barland, Emily Maxson, Ashley Meyers and Amy Sundet DIGITAL INTERN Kate Overend EDITORIAL INTERNS Catherine Chapman, Isabella Kunc, Abigail Larson and Kate Thompson EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Kelley Giancola, Interfaith Outreach; Meghan Milovich, blogger and fundraiser for Children’s Hospitals; Zach Nelson, Wayzata School District; Mark Poppendeck, Beez ‘N Treez Foundation; Brian Rosemeyer, City of Plymouth; and LuAnn Svendsen, Plymouth Reads chair and community volunteer SENIOR MANAGING ART DIRECTOR Sarah Dovolos ART DIRECTOR Allison Nolden ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Jamie Klang GRAPHIC DESIGNER Yaz Lo LEAD STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Chris Emeott PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Brittni Dye PRODUCTION MANAGER Lisa Stone PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Mimi Coz SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Lauren Bjorgo, Cynthia Hamre, Wendy Hendricks and Sara Johnson ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Rochita Chatterjee, Alyssa Grages and Gina Neumann

PRESIDENT Pete Burgeson To subscribe to Plymouth Magazine, please visit localmedia.co. For customer service inquiries, please contact hello@localmedia.co, or call 612.208.6248. ©Local LLC 2026. All rights reserved.

N OT E WO RT H Y

Gone But Not Forgotten Family historians can discover valuable details about their ancestors through Find a Grave, a crowdsourced website that includes records from hundreds of thousands of cemeteries, including nine in Plymouth. The website, findagrave.com, allows users to search millions of memorial pages that often include birth and death dates, family links, photographs of headstones and biographical notes, all contributed by volunteers. Many entries include GPS plot information and cemetery maps. Researchers can also explore connected family members through linked memo-

Ryan Barland is the historic site coordinator for the City of Plymouth. Discover more at history.plymouthmn.gov.

A Bunch of Crunch I love serving my Kale and Cashew Salad at holiday gatherings. The kale and cabbage hold up really well, so the salad can sit at a buffet longer without getting soggy.

Kale and Cashew Salad With Maple Tahini Dressing » » » » » » » »

3 cups kale, chopped 3 cups cabbage, chopped ¼ cup fresh mint, chopped ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped 4 green onions, chopped 1 Tbsp. minced serrano, seeds removed 1 cup dry roasted cashews, chopped Maple Tahini Dressing

Place the kale, cabbage, mint, cilantro, green onions and serrano in a large salad bowl. Toss well, ensuring the minced serrano is distributed evenly to spread out the heat. Add the chopped cashews, and toss again. Add the Maple Tahini Dressing to taste, and toss well. Find the dressing recipe at plymouthmag.com

Emily Maxson is a Medina recipe developer and author of Emily’s Fresh Kitchen Cookbook and Real Food. Every Day. For more recipes, visit emilysfreshkitchen.com or follow her on Instagram @emilysfreshkitchen.

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Photo: Belén Fleming of Belu Photography

rials, creating a clearer picture of family lines. Aside from the website being a great place to start a family history project, it can also be fun to help document a local cemetery. Many local cemeteries and grave markers still need to be documented. A smartphone, a Find a Grave account and a trip to your local cemetery are all that is needed to pitch in. (Learn more about Plymouth’s Parkers Lake Cemetery through historic tours this October. Details are on page 35.)

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Baking It Better Creative workshops help girls navigate challenges and discover their strengths.

Some of life’s most meaningful moments come from giving others the support you once needed. For Altreisha Foster, that belief became the inspiration for the Cake Therapy Foundation, an organization that helps girls face adversity through the creative process of baking. Based in Plymouth, the nonprofit began in 2019—one year after Foster opened her Sugarspoon Desserts bakery—as a therapeutic modality for girls from underserved communities. The inspiration behind the organization is deeply personal to her. While pregnant with her daughter, she reflected on her own difficult upbringing. Foster wanted to provide an opportunity for young girls that she could have benefitted from when she was their age. Although she now owns a bakery, Foster didn’t start baking until she was pregnant with her second child. (Her background is in vaccine science and public health.) Foster still leads her public health consulting firm, but she believes the work she does through the Cake Therapy Foundation is her purpose. “Not just the baking, though, but the art of it and how it supports your mental health and your well-being,” Foster says. “I was successful in my work, and I was doing great things,

Top: Altreisha Foster likens the process of baking to that of healing: you can’t skip a step; it takes patience. Bottom: Altreisha Foster’s Cake Therapy Foundation creates a safe place for participants to be themselves and express their creativity.

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Photos: Cake Therapy Foundation

By Kassondra Burtis

BEST OF

but then I baked and realized that the success of baking opened me up to the world.” The foundation doesn’t just teach girls how to bake; life lessons and self-confidence are woven throughout the programming, likened to the steps of baking. “The kitchen ultimately becomes a mirror of sorts,” Foster says. “I’m teaching patience and process. You can’t rush a cake, just like your own personal healing growth takes time. I focus on not skipping a step [and] that your project doesn’t have to look like someone else’s. Because if you skip a step, in all of this, the outcome actually changes.” Foster brings Cake Therapy directly to the girls it serves. By renting a studio space, partnering with other nonprofits or going into schools, Foster welcomes girls into a space that’s safe to be themselves—and to talk. “The thing about Cake Therapy is it’s very unassuming,” Foster says. “You’re just baking, but then I’m facilitating this conversation, and they are just so relaxed in this space that they start talking.” The program isn’t just a one-time experience for all of its participants. Although Foster has welcomed around 300 students throughout the history of the foundation, she sees around 60 in long-term programs that meet weekly. The impact is evident through her direct interaction with the girls and with the surveys she conducts after each program. Foster has found that over 70 percent of the girls think their communication skills with their mothers and friends have improved. “That’s why I keep doing it,” she says. “There are girls who I see [who] will tell me that this is the best part of their day. They are waiting on this.” This fall, Cake Therapy Foundation is publishing its inaugural scientific journal, The Cake Therapy Journal of Therapeutic Kitchens & Youth Well-Being. Submissions were open to community leaders, clinicians, educators and students for papers and notes to the editor on topics including community healing, mental health, therapeutic kitchens, youth well-being and wellness for women and girls.

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The Barn Where Everyone Belongs Halloween fun meets inclusion at We Can Ride’s Trick or Trot.

“Disability can be very isolating,” says Laura Schmieg, engagement and communications manager at the equine therapy nonprofit in Medina, We Can Ride. “Families sometimes are reluctant to go out and participate in community events because they’re afraid of judgment or expectation.” This year marks We Can Ride’s fourth annual Trick or Trot, an event designed to be accessible to individuals of all ages and 10

abilities. From 2–5 p.m. October 17, the barn will host a Halloween-themed open house. Participants are encouraged to come in costume for trick-or-treating, moving from stall to stall to visit horses who will also be dressed up. The event also includes carnival games, food and hayrides. “Maybe you have a family member that you feel like could benefit from our programming. Maybe you’re looking for a place

to volunteer,” Schmieg says. “We would love for people to come out and meet us and learn a little bit about what we do.” We Can Ride is the largest and oldest therapeutic riding nonprofit in Minnesota, serving clients of all ages with disabilities through occupational, physical and speech therapies while also teaching adaptive riding skills. The movement of a horse closely mirrors the walking gait of a person, making plymouthmag.com

Photos: Laura Schmieg; Lissa Ingaldson

By Findlay Drabant

L&B Wild Rice Soup Horses at the equine therapy nonprofit We Can Ride get in on the Halloween fun during Trick or Trot with themed stalls and costumes.

it a valuable therapeutic tool. Many clients at We Can Ride are diagnosed with autism, and time spent around horses offers opportunities for social interaction in a low-stress environment. “We’ve had clients take their first steps. We’ve had clients say their first words,” Schmieg says. Beyond the physical benefits, the program also gives clients a chance to be active and spend time outdoors. Each rider is supported by a team of staff and volunteers long before they get in the saddle. Certified therapeutic riding instructors work alongside physical, occupational and speech therapists, as well as “sidewalkers” who walk beside riders during sessions. Schmieg says We Can Ride is a tight-knit community, with many riders working with the same staff and volunteers for years and forming relationships that last well beyond the barn. For one teenage rider, Trick or Trot has become a highlight of the year. Confident in the barn environment and proud of the skills she’s developed as a rider, she now invites a group of her friends to attend the event each fall. “She’s proud of being part of the community, and she knows that she’s welcome here,” Schmieg says. For this teen and others like her, Trick or Trot offers an opportunity to socialize in an accessible environment, free from the barriers they might face elsewhere. “We feel so passionately about inclusion, but so much of inclusion is about trying to change a person with a disability,” Schmieg says. “We’re working to change the world for people with disabilities.” We Can Ride wecanride.org We Can Ride, Inc.

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Waste Not 12

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WRITTEN BY MADELINE KOPIECKI — PHOTOS BY CHRIS EMEOTT

Trash turns into treasure in the

hands of a local fashion designer.

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There are times during the creative flurry of designing a new fashion collection when one would be forgiven for thinking designer Catrielle Barnett’s Plymouth studio is a bit … unorthodox. There’s recycled denim, reclaimed fabric and tulle, sure, but at times there are also deconstructed egg cartons, used cigarette butts, discarded straws and a wide array of single-use plastics. “I would say, specifically as an artist and designer, I am material-led and researchdriven,” Barnett says. What usually qualifies as landfill refuse is reenvisioned as wearable art in the eyes of this beholder. “My current work and practice is rooted in sustainability and what that means in our current environment. I’m currently working on creating pieces that are zero waste and hopefully will have a zero-waste model in my studio by the end of 2027.” The 22-year-old’s mom—an artist in her own right—taught Barnett how to sew at the age of 8. “[My mom] always gave me access to material and always facilitated this level of creating and freeness in my upbringing,” she says. “That truly influenced me to have this passion and pull towards art.” By 10, Barnett had her first sewing machine; by 11, she was teaching classes and selling at local art fairs; and by 13, she was pattern drafting and constructing her own clothes. “I kept making my own clothes, and now a little over 60 percent of my wardrobe is my own designs,” she says. Left: Catrielle Barnett Right: Catrielle Barnett reimagines recycled and reclaimed materials into looks that have been shown nationally and internationally.

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Her passion persisted. For her senior year of high school, Barnett transferred to Perpich Arts High School in Golden Valley. She used exclusively reclaimed materials and explored how fire impacts them for her senior collection at Perpich in 2023. “Each of the elements were unconventional,” she says. “I used egg cartons with acrylic paint and burned the edges.” She experimented with how fire manipulates materials ranging from fabric to stir sticks. “I was burning everything,” she says. One of the pieces in the collection—Silent Killer—was inspired by common trash. “I had walked around the city and collected up cigarette butts and plastic straws,” Barnett says, noting that these two materials are the primary pollutants among microplastics in the environment. “I incorporated those into a garment and was able to have a great conversation about what those actually mean when they enter our ecosystems and they’re not properly broken down … I was able to put together a compilation of different stories within the collection, which was really wonderful.” Aptly named Playing with Fire, the collection also opened new doors for Barnett, which she describes as a formative experience. “My senior year of high school, my portfolio got selected [by] YoungArts, which is this amazing opportunity in Miami,” she says. Barnett flew out for the week to present to fine arts professors and industry professionals. “That was a great push before going to college to understand, ‘Oh, this is what [the] industry is going to look like in a fashion sense, and this is what they’re looking for,’” she says. During the summer heading into her senior year at Perpich, Barnett completed a precollege program at Georgia’s Savannah College of Art and Design and went on to complete her freshman year at the school before continuing her undergraduate degree in fashion design at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University, which she will be graduating from in spring 2027. While attending university, Barnett has steadily increased her production to the point where she’s now producing roughly a garment a week. 14

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“A lot of my current practice is trying to get people to question, basically, trash. I just want people to look at

their trash in such a different way.”

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Catrielle Barnett

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For Barnett, the creative process starts with gathering material and completing a quick sketch. Next, the designer has to determine how the material will lay on a 3D form. “Usually, I’ll go to my mannequin and start playing around with how it interacts with the body,” she says. “From there, I’ll produce a final sketch, which is most [often] the exact replica of the outcome, which I’m very happy to see now because it wasn’t always the case.” Next, Barnett turns to her industrial-grade JUKI sewing machine, which has been able to withstand the most unruly reclaimed materials thus far, even when the sewing needle doesn’t. Currently, Barnett is working on her senior collection on the heels of completing her junior collection—Reclaiming Identity— which uses discarded quilts and explores how value is assigned in our society. “A lot of my current practice is trying to get people to question, basically, trash,” Barnett says. “I just want people to look at their trash in such a different way, because I feel like if we consume less, that’s honestly going to lead to more production and being able to have better growth. And this creative mindset of nothing is waste is just a lovely sentiment to me.” Catrielle Creates catriellecreates.com @catrielle_creates

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International Inf luence Artist Seran Otterson weds the past with the present through her murals.

The entryway of a local business contains international ties. In May and October 2025, muralist Seran Otterson painted a mural that blended ALL, Inc.’s brand colors with an Iznik pattern that harkens back to Otterson’s Turkish roots. From 2016 to 2024, Otterson predominantly employed her design and fine arts knowledge on color and interior design consultations. After turning 47, the artist weighed her options. “I don’t know how many more years I have to climb on ladders and scaffolding, which is my passion,” she says. Her decision was straightforward: “I’m only going to paint murals from now on.” In 2024, she rebranded to Rumi Wall Design and dedicated herself fully to wall murals and decorative painting. As Rumi, Otterson has taken on residential and commercial projects in the Plymouth area and beyond. Thanks to her design background, Otterson was already familiar with the luxury kitchen appliance company ALL, Inc. When she attended a Real Estate Staging Association meeting at ALL, Inc.’s St. Paul showroom, her attention was drawn to the beige walls. “I reached out to them,” Otterson says. “I said, ‘I’m a mural artist, and I have this vision for you. Can I show you my vision?’” The team was immediately receptive, and president Ryan Rutzick invited Otterson to the new

showroom in Plymouth. “[Rutzick] was drawn by those Mediterranean patterns right away, and we worked on some mockups and some revisions on the design of it,” Otterson says. Her canvas: the white-walled entryway. Her vision: a traditional pattern with an organic motif that replicates both her time as a tile designer in Italy and Spain, but also the Scandinavian folk art influences that ALL, Inc. favors. It’s not as big a reach as it might sound. “Even though geographically [these cultures are] really far away from each other, there is that influence, especially when you study traditional arts patterns,” she says. Otterson has been preoccupied with walls since she was young. Painting helped focus her relentlessly busy mind. “I remember that I was a kid [who] was having a hard time focusing on things,” she says. “My mind was spinning with ideas … The only time that I remember that I could just pause time was when I was painting.” By the age of 8, Otterson began to consider what her paintings would look like on the walls around her. Growing up in Istanbul, she was immersed in a culture where walls were overrun with traditional tiles and wall coverings. At the same time, “My father was a collector,” she says. Starting with paper memorabilia and expanding over the years to everything from World War I mementos

Photo: Chris Emeott

Seran Otterson

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Photos: Chris Emeott; Rumi Wall Design

to Roman and Byzantine collectibles, Sertac Kayserilioglu gained international acclaim and shared his collections in print and exhibitions. “I grew up in a house [where] … we were living in the middle of history,” she says. “It was like a museum. I think it is no wonder that I was attracted to the traditional arts of my culture.” Otterson began studying with professional artists at 12 years old to hone her craft and prepare for the highly competitive Marmara University’s Faculty of Fine Arts program in Istanbul, which she attended from 1996–2000. Every summer, she would travel to Italy where she focused on fresco and mosaic restoration and designing commercial tiles. After graduation, Otterson moved to the Sassuolo district of Modena, Italy, which is the tile production capital of Europe. “I started to learn how to design tiles from [those tile companies],” she says. Her guiding light during this period—and her subsequent stays in tile meccas throughout Italy and Spain—was using her cultural heritage to bridge the past with the present. Soon, her designs began gaining international recognition, and images of her tiles were published plymouthmag.com

in Spanish design magazines. “Then it was kind of like my dream came true. Now, I was this Turkish tile designer [who] was recognized in the tile field around the world,” she says. But while tiles were a longtime fascination for Otterson, murals have always been something that fed her soul. After meeting her Minnesotan husband, closing her ceramic studio in Istanbul and moving to Minnesota in 2012, Otterson still expected to be involved in tile design. But a difficult pregnancy in 2014 caused her to change course. “When I was pregnant, I painted a mural for my son’s nursery room,” she says. “And then I realized how much I missed painting murals.” Ceramics can be a difficult medium, and Otterson realized she wanted to devote her patience to raising her son. “I needed something to fill my tank of patience, which was painting murals … [it] was so soothing and calming, and I love it.” As Rumi Wall Design, Otterson now brings that same sense of calm to walls throughout the Metro.

Left: Seran Otterson transformed ALL, Inc.’s entryway and front desk with complementary Iznik pattern murals. Top Right: Seran Otterson’s hand-painted tiles were influenced by designs from the 16th and 17th centuries. “These three tile designs represent the golden age of Ottoman Iznik ceramics, a historical milestone that revolutionized global pottery engineering and heavily influenced European Renaissance decorative arts through its masterfully stylized floral, geometric and maritime motifs,” she says. Bottom Right: Seran Otterson restoring an Italian ceiling fresco in 2002.

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CULINARY CONFLUENCE Samarkand Restaurant brings the flavors of Uzbekistan to Minnesota.

It isn’t every day that you see traditional tandoor bread sharing a menu with Ukrainian borscht. It certainly isn’t common to have a venue that hosts live Russian music on the weekends also identified as a hotspot for Uyghur cuisine. Samarkand Restaurant in Plymouth reflects the cultural vibrancy of the city in Uzbekistan it’s named after, which served as a significant link and prosperous trading hub along the Silk Road for centuries. “It is a very hearty and meat-filled cuisine,” says Samarkand co-owner Aziz Radjabov. As a former republic of the Soviet Union, plymouthmag.com

“[Uzbek] cuisine was quite popular and still is quite popular throughout that region,” he says. Samarkand welcomes diaspora communities from Russia and Ukraine as well as neighboring countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. “They all come to our restaurant because we do share quite a bit of the items from each other’s cuisines,” Radjabov says. As the only Uzbek restaurant in Minnesota, Samarkand also attracts visitors from neighboring states and even Canada—diners looking for a familiar taste of home.

Named after the Uzbek city that served as a significant link on the Silk Road, Samarkand Restaurant reflects a vibrant melange of cultures and cuisines.

Radjabov and his uncle, Jafar Muminov, opened Samarkand in 2019, and it’s continued to be a family affair. “My other uncle [Erkin Akhmedov], he’s been a chef all of his life, so all of the recipes came from him, and they are true to what you would find in Samarkand, Uzbekistan,” he says. When the restaurant first opened, his mother and aunts worked in the kitchen; his brother and cousin continue to work the dining room to this day. Since 2024, the family has also acquired the neighboring Russian grocery store, which caters to Eastern European shoppers as Samarkand Market while also offering some specifically Uzbek ingredients. To help us understand the cultural melting pot that constitutes Uzbek cuisine, we asked Radjabov to build a menu glossary for some of Samarkand’s most popular items.

FIRST COURSE

Samarkand serves up two varieties of dumplings that are common among Silk Road cultures. Chuchvara are small, handmade beef and onion dumplings in a vegetable broth, similar to Russian Pelmeni dumplings. Mantu are larger, steamed dumplings also filled with beef and onion. The appetizer is a newer favorite, Radjabov says. Samsas, similar to their Indian counterpart samosas, are savory pastry buns filled with a mix of meat and vegetables. “I am very proud of our samsas,” Radjabov says, noting that they’re baked in the restaurant’s tandoor clay oven. He likens the dough, which is handmade from scratch, to that of a croissant—layered and flaky. The filling includes a ground beef and lamb mix accompanied by coriander, cumin and onion. Radjabov says it’s his favorite dish on the menu. “I can survive [soley] on it,” he says. 30

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Left: Samarkand Restaurant’s samsas feature a shell of flaky pastry dough filled with a savory mixture of ground beef and lamb, coriander, cumin and onion. Right: Since opening, Samarkand Restaurant has continued to be a family affair. Aziz Radjabov (above) co-owns the restaurant with his uncle, Jafar Muminov.

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Left: Mantu are large, steamed buns filled with beef and onions. Right: Plov is the national dish of Uzbekistan and consists of beef, carrots and a rice pilaf.

MAIN COURSE

Lagman is another popular dish in Uzbekistan, and it traces its origins back to the Uyghur region of China. Handpulled noodles join cabbage, daikon, peppers and an assortment of other vegetables and spices in a bone broth for this soup. “It is really nice and has a little bit of kick, and we serve it with ajika [chili paste], which makes it even more spicy,” Radjabov says, noting it’s a great cold weather pick. Its stir fried equivalent, Qovurma Lagman, is also popular among the local Chinese community due to its authenticity. Plov, the national dish of Uzbekistan, is a rice pilaf that includes beef and carrots cooked over the course of three to four hours. Rather than mixing the components together, Radjabov says there’s a particular way of incrementally frying, boiling and steaming the ingredients in the same pot. “It’s quite tricky, but that’s how it’s been done throughout the ages for us,” he says. “It’s very filling, and usually I would recommend for people to try it for lunchtime.”

FINAL COURSE

For dessert, Radjabov says that Uzbek cuisine doesn’t emphasize sweets, and Samarkand’s cakes come by way of Russia. He identifies Medovik as his favorite. The cake features honey-infused layers and custard cream, with Spartak being its chocolate variant. Pahlava, a traditional Uzbek dessert, sounds similar to Baklava but differs slightly in look and taste. Served warm, the treat consists of layers of pastry dough and walnuts. Samarkand Restaurant samarkand.restaurant @_samarkand_restaurant_

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O N T H E TOW N

Living History

Photos: Alyse Midthun

Discover local history on the Parkers Lake Cemetery tours. This October offers three opportunities to learn about the families who played a role in building our community. The Parkers Lake Cemetery tours, offered through the Plymouth History Center, share some of the sagas that shaped the city’s early history. “Because [Parkers Lake Cemetery] is a cityowned cemetery, we have better documentation,” says historic site coordinator Ryan Barland. “We have a lot of primary sources that we can use to tell better stories and do a bit better research than you might be able to just do online.” Starting at 5 p.m. October 1, 15 and 29, curious residents and local history buffs are invited to visit the cemetery overlooking Parkers Lake for a 90-minute walking tour, detailing well-known families, including Howe, Kreatz, Schiebe and the eponymous Parker. “The tours are pretty popular; last year, we had between 50 and 60 people for all of them, so there is a bit of a crowd,” Barland says. He also notes that these aren’t ghost tours. “We really try to make sure that it’s an all-ages thing,” he says. It’s recommended that those interested in attending park at the Plymouth Public Works building and take the provided shuttle to the cemetery. Historic site coordinator Allison Hennes will lead groups through tombstones dating back to the 1800s, sharing stories and information about the founders of Plymouth. Register at history.plymouthmn.gov. —Madeline Kopiecki

Learn more about the families that shaped Plymouth’s early history on the Parker’s Lake Cemetery tours this October.

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O N T H E TOW N

10.01

Music in Plymouth Wine Tasting Join Music in Plymouth for its annual wine tasting event from 5–7 p.m. at the Hilde Performance Center. musicinplymouth.org 10.10

Plymouth on Parade Enjoy the annual parade starting at 10:30 a.m. running from Plymouth City Hall to Plymouth Ice Center with activities and food trucks. plymouthmn.gov 10.15

Latin Dance for Kids Commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month with this bilingual dance program featuring bachata, merengue and salsa dancing for children aged 2–6 from 10–10:45 a.m. at Plymouth Library. hclib.bibliocommons.com 10.30

Halloween at the Lake

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Celebrate Halloween with this free annual event featuring food trucks and seasonal family-friendly activities from 5–8 p.m. at Parkers Lake Playfield. plymouthmn.gov 11.05

Veterans Day Event Honor local veterans with free breakfast and a small gift for veterans from 9–11:30 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial. Advance registration is required and breakfast for nonveterans can be purchased. plymouthmn.gov

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11.06

Improv 101 Learn the basics of short-form improv and build confidence at this teen improv class through activities, collaboration and games from 2–3:15 p.m. at the Plymouth Library. hclib.bibliocommons.com

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11.11

Dance Workshop Join Soul Ballroom for a dance workshop on creating a stronger presence on the dance floor from 7–8 p.m. at its studio. Registration is required for this free lesson. soulballroom.com 11.14

Plymouth Artisan Market Shop and peruse local craftsmanship at this market featuring candles, fine art, handmade soap, jewelry, wall art and more from 9 a.m.–4 p.m. at the Plymouth Community Center. plymouthmn.gov

Compiled by Catherine Chapman and Isabella Kunc To have your event considered: email plymouthmag@localmedia.co by the 10th of the month three months prior to publication. Please note that some events may have changed since these pages went to print. Please visit affiliated websites for updates.

GALLERY

Spooky Shots As judges reviewed the submissions for the 2025 Picture Plymouth photo contest, a theme began taking shape. Spindly tree branches, dewy spiderwebs, a luminously full moon … local photographers had unknowingly curated a spectacularly atmospheric gallery for autumn. —Madeline Kopiecki

August Super Moon Jim Vogl

Medicine Lake Oak Tree Mark Wahl

Dreamcatcher Anita Sperry

Phoebe Katie Ottinger

But wait, there’s more! The winners and runners up of the 2026 Picture Plymouth photo contest will be revealed on October 1 at plymouthmag.com.

Spooky Trees, Mark Wahl

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LAST GLANCE

Color and Composition “Sandy is a very excitable dog, so it’s often difficult to keep her still when taking photos,” Kara Bolognino says. “I love the worm’s eye view with this photo because it allows the leaves to show while also capturing the beautiful trees in the background.” —Madeline Kopiecki

PICT URE P LY MOUTH Photographer: Kara Bolognino Title: Autumn Stroll Location: Wayzata Kimberly Lane Elementary School Equipment: Canon R50 Mirrorless Camera with an 18–55mm lens Category: Pets Award: First Place To view other Picture Plymouth photo contest winners, visit plymouthmag.com.

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