FONDNESS FOR
BY NATE BOOTS
The parade. The carnival with its Ferris wheel and rides and food. The food. The bingo tent. The games. The excitement. The beer garden. The music. The friends and the laughs. The family and the reunions and the history. The fun. Make that Fun with a capital F. These are the things that North Mankatoans and the people that flock to the fair city of North Mankato think about when they think about Fun Days, the city’s annual summer celebration. Started in 1965 to celebrate the city’s survival of the infamous Flood of ‘65—made possible in part by local folks coming together to volunteer their assistance with sandbagging and other flood abatement machinations—Fun Days has become a staple event of North Mankato’s existence for more than 50 years. The Civic and Commerce Association helmed the event for years. In 2022, the North Mankato Activities and Business Association, supported by the city, will take the reins. There will be a new logo and “an updated and fresh feel” according to Anna Brown, the city’s public info officer. Brown says that Family Fun Shows is providing the carnival aspect once again, and that bingo with the Knights of Columbus, the tractor pull, and Mankato Baltics old-time baseball game will be back as well, along with other events. Also, says, Brown, “A great line-up of entertainment is scheduled for this year's beer garden, including Jeremy Poland, Coyote Wild, and Pop Rocks.” The hope here is that Fun Days will continue to provide North Mankatoans and its visitors the same sorts of great memories that it has inspired in the past. To that end, here are a few of the fond memories, at random, from Fun Days festers from the recent and not-so-recent past.
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NORTH KATO MAGAZINE SUMMER 2022
“My husband and I were there every year. We loved the church ladies’ meals. I always bought cotton candy!” —Diane Norland
“One of my earliest memories of Fun Days comes from when we used to live on Wheeler Avenue, when I was about five or six years old. Out of my bedroom window I could look over and see just the top of the Ferris wheel. So every night during Fun Days, before bed, I got to look out there and be like, ‘Oh, yeah, cool! Fun Days! I get to go tomorrow!’ It’s a cool memory I think about every year when Fun Days comes up.” —Harry Franke
