We will again be groovin’ to and with the golden era of Really Old School rock N roll. In triplicate. Yes, its St. Croix County Fair time. So, don’t say no, make the trek to Glenwood City, maybe on multiple occasions, this weekend.

The fair does like few others, the golden oldies as “standards” time, in a truly classic way. Hey, even so many rockers got their start in doo-wop.
So turn your ears, in a pair of turns, fore and aft — to encompass both stages, as there are both a Croix Court and a separate pavilion — to listen to tunes of The Beatles and Elvis, and so much more from that era to present day.
The Weekenders — headline(r) question answered — as a band excel at doing “nothing anybody can’t do but you’re dumb enough to do it in front of everyone.” More wit like that hails from a first gig with eight songs, and they now have four hour’s worth and much more than those early 50 — and ’50s? — numbers on their set list. And growing. Their many shirts proclaim everything from Cheap Trick (most likely) to Volbeat. And they have a mouth organ player that’s said to rock the whole show! That comes from a post by tommy gunn. Dare I invoke Metallica? And what is a “weekender?” Said to be someone who lives to party for four hours on a Friday night come what may … and then do it again on Saturday?
And what is a Whitesidewall, as in the band? More than The Cars. And more than just a bit of doo-wop and rockabilly, from the golden age of rock and roll, and times when there could be a roller girl cruising by with “platters” and spinning (mostly FM?) radio. They in their bio reference taking it one step or digit farther, with Love Potion No. 10.
Celebrating their 50th year back in 2022, if you’re counting, The Memories have entertained across the country. With telltale harmonies and subtle but still classic songs, this Wisconsin-based duo is made up of Warren Petryk and Tim Stevens, spinning tunes at fairs such as this one — going back for much of its history — and festivals, community concerts and the often-prized corporate events well before U.S. culture truly went corporate. The Memories continue, therefore, to deliver “music, laughter and wonderful times,” from a musician or two who have the great coifed hair of not aging rock stars but The World’s Most Interesting Man, as their bio info and photo will attest.
So, to recap, the Sidewalls are also bright white and not off-color, and the wheels just keep on rolling. These Whitesidewalls have been around cranking oldies rock about as long as both it and those type of tires have been around.

To go back even further, The Memories have been dishing out distinctive ditties for decades as a duo. Catch them crooning before they are just … a memory. Timeless music.

Then to bring it a bit closer to the current, and wrap up the weekend … Its the Weekenders.
(Most of these acts, on Friday and Saturday, start at 7 p.m. or a bit after. Admission to the fair is always free).

More interactive than a band, more exciting than a DJ, more unique than dueling pianos, or so the duelers say. The String Showdown even as a duo is also faster than a speeding bullet and the playing of a rock group, and is intergalactic and cooler than that house band at the outpost bar in Star Wars where young Luke Skywalker got in a spot, (OK we’re kidding about that last part, except the cool component).

They are about to be your new favorite act for corporate events, fundraisers, festivals, and more, the pickers and grinners and more say. So check them out at next weekend’s St. Croix County Fair in Glenwood City to get the journey and party started. (And more on fests, Fun days could have been a bit more fun. See the Uncategorized department).

Multi-instrumentalists – and there are so many strings to choose from — Mike Lauer, affiliated with and having played with George Maurer and Bobby Vee, and Greg Byers, linked to Kat Perkins and even the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, collide like comets in The String Showdown! (There is a tenuous Hudson tie-in, as a man who frequents the Green Mill there recalls the days seeing Vee in their native Fargo, although not necessarily playing a V-neck guitar although that would be fitting, and when he spoke of the connection referred his wife as one of his faves, as if she knew him. And a man who frequents Dick’s Bar in Hudson and takes in music by guitar virtuoso Jeff Loven on a weekly basis, also is tight with Kat going back to the time she first reached fame beyond just the region, to the point that at places as far afield as Bogart’s in Apple Valley she’d pick him out in the crowd, even though mom, and hey she has sway, was uncertain about her right off the bat as when opening act, too many tattoos). So you can see the reach we are talking about in reference to the String Showcase.

More now to let them say it: “Get ready for a fun & fast-paced performance full of sweet licks and hilarious riffs! As a dueling string duo, they rock you with a mishmash of your favorite hits from radio, TV, and movies compelling your audience to clap, dance and sing along. You’ll be amazed at their instrumental prowess while you crack up at their irreverent, family-friendly humor.
“Each show is crafted to entertain; with the perfect blend of crowd engagement, comedy, and musical magic. Find out why The String Showdown is the Midwest’s hottest blend of musicianship and entertainment; book them today!” So you can see how in a crowd with the diverse tastes of a county fair, they are a perfect fit. The St. Croix County gang has done it again, bringing in a relatively new act to the region right when they are gaining prominence. They can look the part of either alt/rockers or a classical combo.
Here is some of their fast becoming a vast resume, again showing reach:

•Corporate events for Target (with Hudson and Twin Cities and beyond vibes), Boston Scientific (Out East vibes), Anheuser-Busch (St. Louis vibes), and The Dayton’s Project (Ohio and beyond).
•Paisley Park
•Dakota Jazz Club
•MGM Grand
•BBC2 (Later… with Jools Holland)

They were coming here, dressed in often amped-up-as-if-orange Patriotic arch footwear, to maybe even bald spots being hued blue and red with sunburn and white … But don’t be blue.

(And if you want something with a little less hue, and more straightforward and not so trippy — maybe? — check out the Notes From The Beat department)

For everywhere, including virtually every nightclub, you can still see such half arches — and not just the one beckoning you to go beyond onto the dike road — draped over railings and decks and featuring half circles and balls of color.
One tall man on his way to Booster Days a block away wore really high socks in the national colors, and baggy low-rider shorts to the point you couldn’t see much knee. Another also had the proverbial summer floppy hat and every inch of him was in red and white with a bit of blue.
At the band shell, with the music played by the (red)Fire Water Gospel Choir, one could see many red-hearted-shaped glasses and earrings, not golden, and talking between that person and the stage was a woman with antenna that could have passed for the US flag. The next night, and on those further on, red stars sprouted from her forehead. I knew two people in the band, and some in the food booths, but only about seven from Hudson in the hard crowd, made so by Minnesotans. The east metro represented all around, but not so much western Wisconsin.
Four pieces of watercraft were stacked high at WalMart, as high as a basketball hoop, for hitting the water in the Land of 10,000 Lakes — Minnesota — and of about 12,000 — a little known fact about their even better archrival for such, Wisconsin. This would trump the gift my father got a few weeks earlier, of a scale so as his ailing body fluctuated in such numbers, he could make med adjustments. Ranking this dad’s day gift on a scale of one to ten, with 8.5 being the watercraft … And a flyer for the Dollar Store made it official with a front-page-of-ad special placed in a lower corner, as I mused a while earlier, that is fit for either the deck or the beach, a folding chair, made wooden because dad likes that touch.

— And the sprinkled about sparklers also would lead them, if they are looking for a barometer on who is shooting off what. As in all that remains, as in their shells, of various pieces of fireworks in the alley behind the big box Flooring Solutions store, that says  it will be opening soon. So you have to wait for your solutions for a bit longer. Watch your toes!

To be fair, there were only three pieces to be seen — or wait, also a fourth on this day just a few past The Fourth. What’s on their labels is telling, and makes for great satire, which I always thought is an overused term, as it often is an excuse for simply spinning things in a humorous but not necessarily insightful way. Well, so I go myself.

Take this, Mr. Obvious: Do not touch glowing wire. (Sounds like good advice). Hold in hand with arm extended, away from body. (This becomes a sport?) Keep burning end of sparks away from wearing apparel (that’s the main kind) … Hold and light only one sparkler at a time. (Not ambidextrous?) … Contains no magnesium, chlorates or perchlorates, and are not regulated as a hazardous material for surface transportation under the provisions of APA Standard 87-1. (Well thank goodness, I feel better now. Some have said this is mainly a heavy metal website.) The package can only be sold as a package (That’s why they call it a package).

And does anyone see a double entendre here? Place on hard, open surface. Do not hold in hand. Light fuse and get away. This side up.

All of the four said they were made in China, and one adds for a company in Florence, AL. But it is “Safe and Sane,” suchly registered in the state of California by the state fire marshal.

And how do they get here, to good ol’ Hudson? With more trucks seen, with flags not only off the end of the payload, but painted on the sides, in one case with all kinds of accompanying imagery that smacked of special forces soldiers in action, carrying as in Imo Jima, and in the other case only took up an estimated 10 percent of the side of the small semi. Could be a movie trailer here … —
In the main concourse right in front of other deals, WalMart workers led the charge with a stand to raise funds for a children’s hospital. It asked $2 for a hot dog, more than the price back in my day, and quite a bit over what you could buy at possibly WalMart, or for sure Aldi, and get a whole pack. I lingered then smiled and then joked about the requesite presence of The Colors, and the worker agreed, “oh yeah!” and gave a thumbs up. The Bring to the Fourth gift that was purchased was a combo of white and food-colored frosting, and gingerbread man. The Bubbly soda, silk milk, Tylenol and even Cresting toothpaste sported similar tones on their boxes.
The lead photo in a metro daily — on beating the heat and is it really that bad yet? — ran across three columns but there was not a Patriotic image or color to be seen. And I’m pretty sure this came from the conservative one of two.
It should be God Bless Us All, not just US. But loving America was the direct focus in chalk on a downtown sidewalk, halfway down its length. lots of big and colorful stars decked it out. It took-up all of a pair of concrete squares. (A nearby lobby showed a couple of world globes with the Big Three Colors all through as if a flag, that implied America is the only land in the land, all-in with no Allah and no borders. Hey, Russia and even China are much bigger!) More such renderings could be seen in the back lot of a downtown coffee shop, with two different little kids writing, hey I was here! And bright stars aplenty chalked up on the walkway on the other side of the block, with similar sentiments.
I was then falling three times, then gone away. I hit with my foot a seam in the sidewalk nearby, and it was an inch deep, running lengthwise. So down I went like a shot. Various people asked if I was OK, and it was just a little ouch on my knee, so I brushed off myself and my now gritty knee and continued on. A day or so earlier I saw a (somewhat younger I think) woman do that same thing, but she caught her balance rather quickly. I’d had a combo of the same result happen to me on a walkabout in North Hudson, but this time what hit home the most, in a reverse season, was the slick ice before and after the sidewalk seam. Like one I hit in the freezing rain many moons ago while changing lanes in the east end of St. Paul, causing my car to go into a literal tailspin.
Colorful word “baseball,” RW and B — and not rhythm and blues, as spun, where the brim of the cap should be, and a flag with odd decal, or is it a logo, in its corner.
And where there is a chance there is commerce. Even so, some venues decided to later-on be no-shows, as in close early, to avoid the show to come …
Over at Maurice’s, I’ll reference The Hill District for a change, they had this twist, calling last weekend “Red, White and Boom.” Another downtown business also went beyond the usual basic, and used the phrase “Let Freedom Ring.”
More of the typical was still seen THIS weekend, as the ghost of The Fourth Past, as a sign said simply and now too late “Happy Independence Day.” At least that middle word was a bit of a change-up. And a block away, also dated, was a cash company store that pitched, “Need some green this spring?”
That big truck redoing a bigger lot also told the tale. With a big trailer behind toting heavy equipment. But what stood out was the oversize Stars and Stripes painted across the entire long side of that truck, that thusly gave stretch limo vibes. A slightly lesser but largely similar approach was on a smaller truck, still adorned with those colors in such a way, to tout Matt’s Moving, as its flagship. If your pole is too large, to transport YOUR Old Glory.
But back to The Booster Barrage. Cause and effect. But first what I saw in the fest straight off, and straight up, set ’em up, after bar time. Or no.
It was 2:40 a.m. and there was no life at all to be shown on the main drag. And had not been, obviously, for some time, even as it was the hour for people to still be, if they’d been pushing last call, walking to their cars.
Fast forward to the weekend. There was many a young couple outside the doors of the places, vigorously discussing things. On the sidewalk’s edge, at Hudson Tap, a small group gave re-entry their best shot. They were no bad vibes here, just a lot of joking around. For a few minutes as others waited behind for their chance to get carded, but took in the show in front of them first. Inside, there was a guy who was beyond tipsy and still going, even later at other places, and was by himself. He wore a T-shirt that announced he was on a high school coaching staff at a nearby town. How would he get back to there? That thought could be a bit disturbing.
At Dick’s, there was some non-jovial rowdiness. In particular, a bouncer had taking the show outside to talk to someone who was upset about another guy, over an overture about a woman. The bouncer corrected him and said, “I heard you say, you’re f—— her.”
All in a summer day’s work.

They still remain, the remains of The Fourth of July, such as a set of Patriot Theme baubles on a moderately sized and multi-faceted stick, both round and square and rectangularly flag-shaped, set in a small and quaint corner of a front yard just down from me, in all colors that include but go beyond the trinity of red, white and blue. Tiny actual flags above them, two of them. All a full 50 lining the sidewalk and entry walk to the house a few more blocks down.

But The Fourth speaks for itself, as all things of business necessary except, say but not limited to, the American standard of the convenience store, are shut down. Gotta see fireworks, most workers do, and grab a space to park your butt or your boat hours in advance. Such as to later also take in, and be taken in, by the Stillwater show. Standing in Line? Tonight? With the lights on? Heavy glow. More on that in a later post.

But what about The Third, on a Monday, which means that it becomes a floating (word chosen intentionally to account for you crazy partiers) four-day holiday. Or maybe four-and-a-half, as so many of you — yeah you — took not only the in-between Monday as a vacation day, but the Friday aft off to get the party started. And a bouncer friend who had just had it with it all, said well gee, with this shit-show brought by shutdown most everywhere else, it means I won’t get a break from dealing with rowdy people until after Wednesday passes. But then wait, he rethunk with my prompting, The Fourth that is at play, actually ends on Tuesday. I think his angst is understandable.

So, Joe goes back to The Third. I had some deadline stuff to deal with and needed the always fickle editorial OK, but would anybody be in, as you can never tell what an editor or ad client is going to say, even if it would seem to a logical person to be a slam dunk. So with one, got an answer back prior to 8 a.m. as I am sure they, still working from home, wanted to just get the minimal done and get their gonzo grill going. Thus a rubber stamp of a rubber stamp? So I pushed the process along, to no avail as the sun rose higher, with they and so many others. Just see ya on Wednesday, or you will be so swamped with backup work that it becomes Thursday.

So I had a vested interest to see if all commerce, such as mine would be, would stall on that Monday. So I did what all good Patriots, or even more modern Pagans, would do to find out, then proclaim. I put my trust in Google.  What’s indeed open for Patriot patrons, and they report uhm, its a holiday and thus there have been no updates by this business to their website since say, 2022, so we can’t ensure accuracy.

But what did pop up, as far as closure(s), on the a majority of search possibilities? That bastion of unbridled American commerce, read capitalism, as this is The Fourth, the stock market(s). We all knew already about things like mail delivery, government offices and maybe banks, from past experience.

So what did I find? And verified. These markets will close their rampaging doors at 1 p.m. So hey, and I may be being cynical, those in Boston and upper-crust Connecticut and New York, haughty all, then can pack up and still hit the Hamptons and New Hampshire and Maine, well before nightfall, and shoot off early the often-illegal stuff they bought in that trek to Wisconsin — one of the few places you can get it — after deviating north from high-profile business done in Chicago. Maybe hide “the works” when coming back through Ohio. But like the past firing of muskets, it passes muster when traversing the Massachusetts foothills.

I told that laugher to my mom, twice, and she didn’t get the joke. Maybe that’s because she’s from southern, sliding a bit westward, Milwaukee, at the doorstep to the state were so much of this is legal and going bang well into the night is as much as farming truly the standard operating procedure (SOD).

But back here, where we are truly westward. A new server friend downtown was doing her first stint in summer, as a true newbie, and experiencing Booster Days, which with the Tuesday timing of The Fourth, could choose to run a full five days. Craziness all the way through until 10:30 p.m. at her late shift, and though she’s not a metalhead, she could appreciate it too, At This Place We Call The Zoo.

Down the block, they invited the creatures into their establishment, in case they needed to sober up. Dunn Brothers coffee, across the street from the Smilin’ Moose, would be open 7 to 7  — not Seven Eleven — on July Fourth.

A music buff, I assume, could not call my bluff when I asked her at Dick’s Market – at check-out not in the frozen foods, and I did not touch her on the sleeve, and she did not spill her purse, to pay the self-serve machine — if anyone had told her she looks just like Taylor Swift.

She used to get that all the time, the fan as such added, but now she was a little older and Swift had again changed her hairdo, too. But she was still a tall, cool one, in fact both of them.

Swift in fact, has all kinds of her personas and style looks shown as she rides an elevator, and hits the concourse like in a concert stadium, during a commercial you probably have seen umpteen times, unless you’re not into pop music and/or live under a rock. My new acquaintance, blond or not so blond or not at all, could now after years only sport a couple of those looks, but she was wearing one as we spoke. Concert is coming.

All this would make for a good trivia question, as when the Hudson Tap has at times had on a weekend day, the exclusively Swift challenge. Tailor your trivia to Taylor.

Why the picturesque pictures on what fans would love to call love in an elevator? A commercial shows all her different looks throughout the years. Her mega tour is aptly dubbed The Eras (Eros?) Tour. A fellow music critic over at the Pioneer Press raved that she is indeed the big deal, responding after her late June performance(s) here. Other metro papers and TV stations are often abuzz with Swift commentary, things from helping out with a personal touch a fave fan fallen on hard times, to calling out security for roughing up a patron, a few rows back from the front row.

Speaking of fans, what if you are a youngster? Mom and dad can use their best judgment for if you are ready, and take you to that show tonight, as there’s a light on, but kids are staunchly prohibited from being in The Pit upfront. Moshing madness at a non-metal concert?

There are other interesting and exacting stipulations. Yes, still cameras are allowed, and patrons are encouraged to capture the joy, but no video taping. Lens can be no more than six inches, and methinks they may be yet another boyfriend problem behind that?) And yes, posters are allowed, but only can be up to 24-inches-by-24 inches. Coulda made it easier and just say two feet twice.

There were two shows here and they were not Swift, lasting a full three hours, even after a couple of warmup bands hit the stage at around 6:30 p.m. When you have that many hits! That’s why there were a sellout total of 120,000 fans attending and ticket prices started at 80 dollars. Thus needed when you put on, and have to pay for, this kind of high-level production! Swift from the stage said the Minneapolis fans, plus those trekking here from all around the Midwest, were the “most generous.” Much needed.

Much of this is great marketing. The commercial that has flooded the airwaves shows Swift hawking Capital One credit cards, although with their stringent credit limits I doubt that she carries one. So does she really need that extra cash, after singing about beauty and singing about truth at $80 or more a patron?

Swift is a great business person, and has been said to have an IQ of about 160, and it shows now and when she was a child singing wiz. (Anything above 150 is thought to be statistically insignificant.) There are a lot of Mensa-and-past level geniuses in the rock world, and they don’t all sing super-deep songs about philosophy. Enter believe it or not Gene Simmons of KISS, and I bet you’d never see both of them mentioned in the same sentence/paragraph.

So for now, hope you all made the diagonal trek to Chicago to take it at least one of the three, count them, shows there.

So you went out to get her some killer flowers of a kind originating in say Kashmir — high but not in-the-desert dry as the only thing on your list, that’s filled with this and that — mixed in with those from all around our country, but that was not enough.

A cache of chocolate? And also candles? Creatively make it into a combo? Hey, she’ll cater to the crafts you’ll find here, coming for The Kinni. And extend the gift idea, even if its for other people or occasions or even rewarding yourself, much further with a bunch of newly added brands of bubbly? With wind chimes, and (rough)hewn woodworking that’s either vintage or original, also chiming in? And as they say, so much more. All under one roof in a big for River Falls bonafide floral and gift and design center, at what you could call Powers Flowers.
This is so varied and special that even if visiting from another village, say in the Twin Cities, you might want to stop off just blocks before getting to the main tourist district and take care of all your gift-giving business. Maybe why you’re here, need a quick housewarming present or two? And a makeup gift for back at home if you stayed in River Falls enjoying its various amenities way too long, as people tend to do here? Or were here, there or anywhere in the two-county area for one of its many music festivals, and needed a shopping respite between sets?

— Film it and they will come, and maybe with their own and additional camera!

The other night in downtown Hudson, just beyond the Heading East cross-street sidewalk to a main drag road, there was a great big white tarp to be seen. About double the size of a lane in basketball, if at a sports bar. So just what was going on here, causing a street be be basically shut down at that eastern edge? I didn’t think it was the typical construction — as after all this is Hudson and there are some killer posts coming on that topic — but I just had an inkling about the ilk to be found …

So I asked one of the two “extras” who were hanging around on the sidelines. Oh, we are filming a commercial! With Common Council prior OK, I am assuming. Hudson likes its Discovery thing, when it comes to tourism type thingees. There was a guy positioning himself around with a camera, but for the moment at least, a noticeable lack of props. Just that great big and burgeoning heap of plastic piece, with bright lights and big city beaming directly onto it, ten feet east of said sidewalk.

This was at about 9 p.m. on a Thursday. Huh, kinda cool, so then I made my way over to Ziggy’s to take in some music. And then coming back, 45 minutes and one set later, there was still work going on and even the start of some actual filming. Standing at street-corner-side was a guy in uniform, talking to someone. Not sure if it was an actual local cop or a security dude.

Then next day, walking down the opposite side on the same street, on a very close-by street-corner, there was a very fashionable young woman also carrying a camera, the big old school kind, not a glorified cell phone. She had on a barely-there tank top and trademark baggy PJ type pants, a look that often goes together these days. She could have been in front of the camera, primping and preening on the sidewalk.

Like the previous night, I made my way on down, to the convenience store, and on the way back spied her again, scouting out prey with her camera. —

So build me up a design, buttercup, to paraphrase a popular flora-focused song?
Enter Bo Jon’s Flowers and Gifts. As a family-owned business with a tremendously broad scope, they are capable of — and indeed relish the thought of — creating exquisite arrangements of flora and beyond, while intertwining countless styles across countless countries that include the traditional, garden style, high style, and to incorporate specific brand names, ikebana, Biedermeier designs, Hogarth curve designs, Western Line designs and many more. Whew. Their experienced designers can create everyday arrangements, wedding and special event designs and installations along with stunning funeral pieces, they say. Also offered, just as importantly, are a wide range of gift items including many specialty chocolates, now even wine and beer, tropical houseplants, wooden crafts, local art and candles. As far as their big plans for expanding, they’ll be offering delivery into the Woodbury, Stillwater, Oak Park Heights and Afton areas, while still ironing out exact details. Their large crew — I even recognized an old neighbor from North Hudson, behind the counter and in one of the main floral assembly areas — agree that they love offering products from many favorite small businesses, whether located in the St. Croix Valley or Texas, or parts in-between. “Let our design team work with you to honor the relationships and moments that mean the most to you,” they emphasize, quite emphatically.
The cordial, very helpful and detail oriented young man who answered the phone, promptly, then wrote every word of my long note onto his notebook, is one of the members of the five-person family who carry on a tradition forged by a number of prior owners over many years, and now run the Bo Jon’s who got its name from them. He added that others like him in that way, including his siblings, provide their personal touch of candles and woodworking products, as those were the two biggies he specified, to round out the mix of offerings.
He added that the family was told it might take some doing to get their liquor license, for things like the bubbly for your honey on your honey-do list, as these are not always easy to come by, since for obvious reasons these licenses are in demand. Everybody wants one. So they applied back in a January time frame, hoping to get all such things in order by Valentine’s Day, and were pleasantly surprised to have them all be an actual go by the first week or two of February. It helps to stay on top of such things. Flowers and other featured products too.

Specialty services at Bo Jon’s

They offer a large inventory of fresh flowers that include tropicals, indoor house plants, seasonal outdoor annual plants, dish gardens, contemporary and traditional arrangements, high-style floral arrangements, funeral designs, extensive gift lines, gourmet and fruit baskets, assorted gift baskets, and greeting cards. Got all that, consummate shopper and consumer? They follow with things hard to find under one roof like those wind chimes, garden stones and sympathy-based items, and those from Valley Fudge and Candy Co. Many new vendors are coming onboard soon.
“If you have any questions or need more information, we’re always here to serve you and make your flower-sending experience a pleasure,” they again emphasize. So call them at 715-425-1522, or just stop in at 222 N. Main St. in the center of River Falls, Wis. at the zip code of 54022.
There are many special events planned. Among them, the family caters to weddings, funerals and other such gatherings, and have partnered with Belle Ame Vineyard in River Falls, where in the coming weeks they will be offering to their patrons a Bo Jon’s cart of fresh flowers. The educational facet of the business will kick-in when they host seasonal classes on how to do your own planters, flower arrangements and wreaths, while you enjoy a glass of wine, charcuterie and the beautiful landscape of the vineyard.
Arch rentals that were hand-built by them from 100-plus-year-old reclaimed barnwood, in various styles, as well as centerpieces and other items, are on hand here. This family business now supplies residential and commercial landscaping, outdoor planters throughout the changing seasons, and irrigation systems.
Customers can be supplied with almost anything related to the main focuses of their growing shop. When you are parents, you learn to foster the talents and even expertise possessed by your children and draw these out, and you can see that touch in so much of their merchandise. The kids’ marketing flair, especially in working with their own individual gifts, even is shown by the fact they wrote business plans — and shared their love of plants — for their parents to incorporate. Scores of the sources of product are truly unique. With that said, since the family, as a whole but in particular their mom, loves travel that is regional and beyond, it is only fitting that they should partner to offer their services and products via other like-minded companies in western Wisconsin and especially eastern Minnesota. And deliver to many of those areas.

Here is an article, slightly edited, that tells the tale, posted by the River Falls Area Chamber of Commerce (and Tourism Bureau):
The Powers Family moved to River Falls from Hudson during the height (or depth) of COVID. They were looking for a little more room to spread out without bumping into their neighbors and stumbled upon a house with a little land that made that possible for them. One of the things that they liked to do as a family was to go for country drives, (and there is so much fodder for this in the area, and they even will deliver to much of it). They like to explore and see nature. Ditto. On one of their drives, Erin announced with content that she was home. That was a BIG statement for anyone that knew Erin as she has lived all over the United States and traveled a lot. The next thing she asked Jeff was “Do you want to buy a business and set down roots?”
Jeff and Erin then presented the idea to their three teenagers, (a bold move, but they were very receptive). Then they asked each one of their children to write up a business plan as to what they were interested in, what they could bring to the table and what they absolutely was a non-starter. After reading what each teenager said, and what they were willing to offer, Jeff and Erin embarked on finding the right business that fit their family.
In May 2022, Erin and Jeff as her “not so silent partner,” purchased Bo Jon’s Flowers & Gifts. This allows each of the Powers Family members to bring a little of themselves into the shop, (increasing the skill sets present to five-fold). Erin runs the day to day operations as well, with her creative background, helps dream up all the projects to keep everyone busy. Liam is often seen at the front of the store waiting to welcome customers into the store, much like a Waffle House experience, (and he is a wealth of information). Jonah is often busy with his shop classes at school, (one way he uses that follows), track and his girlfriend but when he has time he likes to make wooden crafts for the store. Cara is a permanent fixture of the store. She is a self described, “plant nerd” and can often-times be found caring for those, even the exotic, in the front of the store or outside. She has a passion for floral design and will one day take over the shop when Jeff and Erin decide to hang up their hats, (and flower pots).
In their free time when not at the shop, the family loves to travel to neat little places and bring back little treasures from their trips, (near and not so near), to share with the rest of the community. Jeff and Cara have taken up pouring their own line of candles called, “Powers of a Candle,” which is sold at Bo Jon’s along with knit hats that Cara makes. The family have sixty-eight and counting animals and often sell their free range chicken eggs to the community. They grow their own fruit and vegetables as well as quite a few of their own flowers that they bring in each year to sell at the shop.
They are excited to continue their journey in River Falls and send a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported them throughout their ongoing adventure!

On Sundays they are closed, but on weekdays open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. That last part is important when you are in town for a weekend festival, and there are many.
They accept the following wide range of payment methods: Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and even Apple Pay and Pay Pal.
Areas served just in Wisconsin include River Falls, of course, and bergs like Beldenville, Baldwin, Ellsworth, Hudson, Prescott, Roberts and Spring Valley. None are too small or too big.
Now talking about the tremendous scope of their store. They deliver to these facilities, so many that you’ve probably done business with some of them before and built up trust: Bakken-Young Funeral & Cremation Services, Our House Senior Living River Falls, O’Connell Family Funeral Homes, Comforts of Home, Kinnic Health and Rehab, Wellhaven Senior Apartments, River Falls Area Hospital and Keehr Funeral Home.
Email them at bojonsflowers@gmail.com. You can also find them on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.

They had gone different routes with their hair, facial and on the head, but these two performers still can rock the look, bringing it to Somerset on Friday evening.

This might, also, be role reversal, but country crooner Willie Nelson is the headliner and singer Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin fame is the opening act, playing with Alison Krauss across the big stage. Trampled by Turtles is also on the bill.

These days, Plant has his curly locks kept as long as ever, and he can be a bit scruffy with the facial hair. Nelson by contrast, now has in most cases his beard fit and trimmed and carefully coiffed, even looking respectable. That’s a tall order for a festival calling itself the outlaw variety. My mom of all people, was told by one of her nieces that RE: The Relatively Older Willie, he could be a lookalike for her, or is it the other way around? The other older and maybe wiser niece has not chimed in. (I must say that the new look Willie’s beard is just like mine, as it is today, rather than MY outlaw days, so to speak, of a few years back.)

— For another event of this and many former seasons, with origins of almost three decades ago, see Picks of the Week. And also, marking the end to fighting another ending that too often crops up, there in a motorcycle rally on Saturday that raises funds for suicide awareness. This is announced as the last installment of this annual event. Kickstands up starting an noon, and ride the rally through 5 p.m. It starts and ends at Mel’s Downtowner in River Falls, and all vehicles are welcome to ride. Even that old Pinto. OK, this is not a joking matter, so I should not make it so. Bad (joke) Joe. Even though the ride ends its run today, donations will continue to be accepted. This series of events was spurred by a lovely young local woman who took her life a few years ago. —

The show gets underway at 3:30 p.m. and is at the “natural” amphitheater, which seems fitting. Also that way is the fact that a madcap drummer friend and fiend of mine, who had gone on world tours back in the day, saw a pop-up performance by Plant when he also went country at an intimate show up near St. Croix Falls.

Other shows were hawked, even moreso, on the local bulletin boards at various nightspots and the like. They also are a dichotomy, as they range far east and west from the St. Croix Valley. But we have you covered with our coverage as per this review. Weather remained seasonable, not much more than in the 70s and a light breeze, and the rain held off, so these mega-bills with scores of bands playing all day were well attended when the events were held last Saturday. (I deemed this too far afield for a preview, just that if you looked hard enough at places like Ziggy’s that have their own bands, there was the old 8.5-by-11 page on the bulletin board.

First up, all the way over in Marion on the other side of Wisconsin, where I used to live, there was a bill with really cool band names, Polar Alchemy, Lo-Fi Killers who just have a have a creative approach to their sound, Shovel Head, Fallen … This was dubbed the Fett Fest, and that surname is kinda big down that way, and it was BYOB, apologies to System of a Down. Hey this played well in the heart of Badger Beer Country, for obvious reasons.

Take you back the other way to St. Paul and the Payne Avenue Fest, with a full 25-band lineup, too many to list. Again the cool name, as in a main sponsor, that being Caydence Records. You could see this late-breaker announced on the door of one of the newest shops in downtown Hudson, just in the nick of time after their opening.