Dakota Dispatch #9: More news from the Coteau

Last Saturday, my parents and I set out on another Eastern South Dakota adventure. We started the day by driving to Gary, a tiny town on the Minnesota border that was celebrating its 135th anniversary. We rolled into town just in time to watch a soapbox derby. This was the winners' heat -- featuring the winners from the three preliminary heats (my favorite part of the picture is actually the charming spectator in the background):


Next, Gary residents celebrated its birthday with bed races:


After all that excitement, we wandered town for a bit and I took a picture of my favorite Gary landmark, its windmill:


Next, we headed southwest toward the town of Estelline, where 125th anniversary celebrations were scheduled for the day (apparently, one of the railroads first came through SoDak in 1882, so 125th anniversaries are happening around the area almost every weekend this summer). We arrived in Estelline in time to wander around a small flea market/craft show (where my parents bought me a light-weight quilt as a graduation present), try some alcoholic rhubarb slush, and watch their parade.

The parade was pretty impressive for a town of 675 people; it lasted over an hour and included some SoDak parade staples as well as a few surprises.

The parade began with a rather patriotic pipe and drum corps from Sioux Falls. What was interesting about them was not so much their role in the parade (although, they were quite good), but the fact that we saw them about two hours after their parade performance, all dressed in their regular clothes, but still wandering the town in formation piping and drumming away. In fact, they kept piping and drumming as they all walked into the gas station where we had stopped on our way out of town. I guess they like to play.


Like any good prairie parade, there were lots of tractors:


And some old Scandinavians:



And, um, a De Lorean?


Okay, that's probably not a De Lorean (since I don't think they came in orange), but still.

After Estelline, we drove to Sioux Falls, where I had dinner with some college friends I don't see nearly enough and my parents tried out a new Chinese buffet (one of their favorite things). I ended the day back in Watertown, slightly sunburnt and smelling of smoke (the friends in Sioux Falls have a great fire pit) and mosquito repellent.

Summer, it seems, is in full swing.