Mark Olson's blog

I have to give a big shout to my hometown of Thief River Falls today.

(To other TRF expatriates in the know: “I’m shouting so loud of it, because I’m so proud of it, Thief River, my home town.”)

Gov. Tim Pawlenty was in the town this morning to kick off the sesquicentennial “Capital for a Day.”

For those who don’t know, Thief River Falls is in Northwest Minnesota, just to the east of North Dakota, just to the south of Canada in the fertile Red River Valley.

After a cold blustery bout at the 2008 Jonathan Festival of Garage Sales, I noted a number of trends.

The biggest garage sale development may be the sale of pop, coffee, bars, cookies and muffins.

Elmer KelmThe home of Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party founding father Elmer Kelm was demolished in Chanhassen last week.

None other than Hubert H. Humphrey called Kelm the “principal architect” of the merger of the Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties.

The quiz/knowledge bowl teams come immediately to mind when pondering dynasty programs at Chaska High School.

From 1983-2002, CHS teacher Jan Baker molded Chaska’s academic squads into lean, mean fighting machines. It’s a tradition that continues, with coaches Chris Lenius (a Jan Baker/CHS Quiz Bowl alumnus), Krista Hamman and Cheryl Petersen.

These teams, over the past several years, have brought back a wheelbarrow full of first-place trophies in knowledge bowl and quiz bowl state competitions.

Us suburbanites are often shunned, mocked or just plain misunderstood by our big-city neighbors.

So when I learned that a few new museum exhibits were featuring the suburban experience, I was already expecting a kick in the cul de sac.

I have to travel to a Minneapolis/ St. Paul museum to learn about the burbs? I mean, come on!

But other than a few missteps, the exhibits offered a fair amount of insight into how, and where, millions of Americans have decided to put down roots.

Nickelodeon Universe officially opens Saturday, March 15, at the Mall of America in Bloomington.

Camp Snoopy left two years ago, only to be replaced by “The Park,” which was basically the same as Camp Snoopy, with all of the popular Peanuts characters stripped off the rides.

It’s still hard to believe that United Features never reached an agreement with the Mall of America for the continuation of Camp Snoopy in Minnesota.

I’m a big fan of Honeycrisp apples.

The National Rifle Association would be the perfect sponsor for the “Defeat of Jesse James Days” in Northfield.