Sturgis, and take or leave a few years for my Main Motorcycle Man and his mate, just turned 80 years old. So what’s new now? They are already making plans over a beer for what to do when all of the above are 100! And as for other fairly recent holidays …

Sturgis has celebrated many decades of annual travel and more destination, but there were partial road work closures to greet the cycles going up a hill before they hit the actual town recently. That logically would have created a clog not good for social distancing, but bikers are known for forging through, if not leaving their old ladies behind as an, in this case, spacing mechanism. That aside, for a change its not the virus that’s the villian, although that still could also also be seen upon arrival. Still, my main Sturgis old man, who literally has roared to the Dakotas for most all of those years of celebrations, said he would do it all again, like Ozzy has often said and they are about the same age, even come 20 years from now when the rally turns 100 — and he as well — and that would make in years my main Sturgis man well … Can I get back to you after his back is done aching from the last time? And see if his much younger cohort, a motorcycle mechanic from Baldwin who set up shop in one of its Dutch-style, windmill-type places, all the way up, will roam along through the boredom of southern Minnesota/northern Iowa farm fields to get there and immediately become more enthralled and enamored.
Oh wait a minute, I saw BOTH of them last night, at a new local hot spot as Sturgis would now have to wait until next year to be redone, even with all the broadened and flattened cycles the size of a small car that are out there. Did Forrest, the younger guy, actually go with to hit the rally, I asked. They kinda looked at each other back and forth — maybe that was kinda the absurdity of the question — then nodded in agreement that it was a duality, (and again sorry about the heavy metal reference, but they are into it as well).
Other holidays, and other days of note, that were effected by the weather and also the virus since it took full hold, include in rough order of impact, The Two Village Laden Motorcycle Runs, (again a theme), a boy and his annual Lake Mallalieu ice rink that can be seen rather than boat launches from the bridge when allowed by the iffyness of well frozen, Four-20, Mom’s and Dad’s days, July Fourth, Cinco De Mayo, and of course Easter. Of special note, in a way that built as months went on into the summer, are the antique car show in North Hudson, which began with autos forming a semi-circle around the site, then branched off to a building mode where eventually there were cars parking with their numbers growing in the center of things. And where 4-20 may have tanked, (my vape shop friend and possible advertiser was sitting right behind Forrest, the cycle guy on two fronts), although the possible celebrants as such may not fully remember, it continues to live on in the house building project on a very small scale, which you might think would be needed, in red painted numbers on the side of front wall. Or would that simply be the eventual address, when the walls are drywalled and siding erected and the numbers might be seen as buried treasure — again to those who remember. On one house down in what should have been descending order of address was a No. 425 painted on a big brick and also featuring an arrow. And doing it even worse as far as numbers of roofers in a tiny space, one name we won’t be able to forget as social distancing for years is was again, Going Down For A Time, Sturgis. And in the same time frame, but not as far over to the west, was the State Fair that wasn’t. Minnesota, I’d wanted to try two things — guess which ones — but there was no possibility as all sense of fair was I did find a voucher/ ticket stub for free entry, but would they honor it … even the way back machine says no, as it was from 2009. That was far older than the Way Back Burgers hawked by a restaurant somewhere way back from the freeway between St. Paul and Hudson, and no, we are not talking the Happy Days hometown drive-in or even whatever is the place that Sherman hails from. And does that decades-old Terrible Towel I found, State Fair style, count for anything as far as entry these days?
And we must mention the festivals that have gone by the wayside, such as Bluegrass Days and on the same site two months later River Falls Days, Pea Soup Days, Booster Days, Good Neighbor Days, the St. Croix County Fair (which suddenly had no need to a attract a crowd from the Near West), and most recently Pepper Fest, although the latter was one of those that lived on via golf tournaments to the near east that were part of the deal. Need more than the movies as a preview on screen at the PepperFest Village Park. But for one screen that was repeatedly over the top … there was shown on it an ad for an ongoing weekly ravioli feed at Kozy Korner.
<And St. Pat’s Day is not the only half-year anniversary>
At home, we made up for it with three-layer shepherd’s pie, hamburger on the bottom, then mashed potatos then corn, divied up as far as volume, and again to taste, quick and cheap, simple and easy. And again, the various seasonings are probably in your cupboard right now and are not necessily that exotic.
A recent post dealt with the September half-St. Patrick’s Day, which of course has been seen to compensate for the St. Paddy’s Day That Never Was. Would also Easter have a six-month anniversary of observance? The answer might be yes in my neck of the woods, where so much story fodder falls into my lap. Take the family just up the block that is very diligent about celebrating religious holidays as, yes, a family and award-winning for it. The Christmas tree was up past certain holidays such as Valentine’s Day and even toward St. Patrick’s Day, as the above barometer. Then an Easter flag and likewise lawn poster took their place, and are still up today. Up and around in the next block has been a group of almost a dozen spring/Easter animals, largely the stuffed kind, attached to tree trunks and the like as part of what we would describe as a wild island, just past the curb. (A sign was added lately that said, jokingly because their display is cool, weeds for free. You just have to pick them). And even now, there are two more animals left from the spring thaw that also even made it through the summer heat, a frog creature that now is obscured by some of those weeds, and a teddy bear twined to a tree trunk with wire that has small barbs. Hey, he is imprisoned, I would say, until the next Easter season comes around.
Going back, Groundhog Day was proven to be a trick, as that furry animal saw what was likely to come and gave up the ghost, more than a half-a-year before these days and the approaching Halloween. And with that movie, I have to reference Bill Murray and his long-term Dick’s Bar connections, knowing the long-time owner well. And then for April Fools Day … that previous statement was true, by the way … who but some of our voters have been the fool? Still exercise that right to the most beneficial degree possible