Name: Violet Spolarich on fighting pipelines and protecting water in her rural community by Shanai Matteson in Best of Be Here Stories and Stories from Main Street
Duration: 4 min 55 s
Description: Violet Spolarich of Palisade, Minnesota (population 167) shares her story about growing up on the Willow River and Mississippi, and her feelings about the need to protect the watershed where she lives from the encroachment of businesses that threaten the health and safety of land, water, wildlife, and people who live in her community.

The "Be Here" storytelling project, in conjunction with the MuseWeb Foundation and the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program and other contributors, is an effort to gather and distribute stories about community life and places across the United States.

Listen to some of our favorite stories, gathered from people--young and old--across the United States.

Best of Be Here Stories and Stories from Main Street

Recorded in Alpena, Michigan

"My mother's grandparents came to this country from Serbia, and on the way from Serbia, they were given a sack lunch and in the lunch was a sandwich and other items but along with that was a banana, and they didn't know they had to peel their banana, or not peeling their banana, they just took a bite, and it was so sour they'd throw them overboard, so what she told me that's been passed through the years is there were bananas floating behind the boat as far as the eye could see because they didn't want to eat those bananas."

Part of the "Stories from Main Street" project--an effort to collect stories about small-town life across the United States. The initial project was the brainchild of the Smithsonian's "Museum on Main Street" program, an initiative that brings traveling exhibitions about subjects of national importance to small towns across America. This content is also included in the "Be Here: Main Street" initiative. "Be Here: Main Street" is a program created by the MuseWeb Foundation, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES).

Asset ID: 7012

Photo by Elena. Flickr Creative Commons. Attribution-Non-Commercial. (CC BY-NC 2.0)https://www.flickr.com/photos/elli19/1634004906/in/photolist-3uoGJo-8CFKWc-85vsE-9VScNr-5F3FAY-8FgYoF-5F3KNE-EE31w-5iu4gQ-orb9xv-483BmU-5CdMR4-5EYpF2-5EYmUM-6QRgpz-2Jnpr4-x2HAe-5F3K

Floating Bananas, Alpena, Michigan

Recorded in Alpena, Michigan

"I come from Charleston, South Carolina--a city that's rich with tradition and history. My mom was an excellent cook, sort of home-style cook, good Southern style. She did not believe in using recipes, and whenever I tried to get her to show me how to cook some of her best recipes, it was very frustrating because I'd say 'how many cups?', 'how many tablespoons?', and she'd say, 'well, you just put in enough til it looks right or it feels right,' and that was crazy making for me.

But, my mom was excellent at making shrimp creole, and one story about that is . . . you know, shrimp are expensive, so when she didn't have quite enough shrimp for all the people who were at the table, she would just compensate for that by adding lots and lots of hot pepper or hot sauce, and when I was courting my husband, he came and loved shrimp creole, but she made it so hot, that it would just bring tears to his eyes. He said it was so good though that he would put with the hot so it was so, so delicious. My mom made great biscuits; she made so many good things that were homestyle, and I miss her and wish I could cook half as well as she did."

Part of the "Stories from Main Street" project--an effort to collect stories about small-town life across the United States. The initial project was the brainchild of the Smithsonian's "Museum on Main Street" program, an initiative that brings traveling exhibitions about subjects of national importance to small towns across America. This content is also included in the "Be Here: Main Street" initiative. "Be Here: Main Street" is a program created by the MuseWeb Foundation, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES).

Asset ID: 7114

Photo by Longhorn Nation. Flickr Creative Commons. Attribution-Non-Commercial. (CC BY-NC 2.0)https://www.flickr.com/photos/15715455@N05/8566330747/in/photolist-e3YFFH-dMpqez-c54PVE-gqHpmZ-FVhTzg-rESj5-9TW6wV-tp7AJ-eniSry-9WyGSE-66SHDh-emTdXa-jMtPV-7cNgCf-7cJmpr-em

Mom's Shrimp Creole, Charleston, South Carolina

What's a traditional recipe without love?

"Love and tomatoes--the main ingredients in recipes that were handed down from generation to generation in my hometown on Main Street in Dobbs Ferry, New York. There were a lot of times when people would get together for celebrations, actually very often, there were weddings, celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, a child's first tooth, anything just to get together. The Italian women could really cook, and yes, they did share their recipes. Most of their recipes from Main Street in Dobb's Ferry, New York, that they handed down, they contained two ingredients almost in every recipe except for the cookies and desserts, and those two ingredients would be love and tomatoes, definitely."

This story was collected in conjunction with the Museum on Main Street program at the Smithsonian Institution. It is part of the "Be Here: Main Street" collection, intended to capture Americans' stories about their neighborhoods, waterways, towns, traditions, and personal experiences. #bHereMainSt

Asset ID: 7483

Photo by Simon Q. Flickr Creative Commons. Attribution Non-Commercial. (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/simononly/5056890126/in/photolist-8GRTfN-apGAds-6PSVfG-8iCKD7-6XMsy6-drBnei-psrwq-anaJTX-6276Fj-WpyUa-aYQBiv-7ez14t-arVFSD-vJmPR-9hHbB5-9eqwVy-83zUUG

Love And Tomatoes, Dobbs Ferry, New York

Recorded in Lawson, Missouri

"My mother worked as a cook in a jail for several years, and she passed on some very interesting recipes. And one of them is cookies that have ground browned hamburger in them as a ... You would almost think that it is ground raisins, in it."

"Wow". 

"And the other favorite recipe that we passed on is a chocolate cake that, when you eat it, you think has coconut in it, but really it is sauerkraut. And putting it in with the chocolate sweetens it. And so ... Then my mother wrote these recipes down, and some from my grandmother and her grandmother, and wrote them down and made a cook book for me and my sister, and then I have made it for some of my older granddaughters.  So we're passed this down from probably four or five ... Almost five generations, now ... Passed some of these recipes down.. 

"That's cool."

"Yes."

Part of the "Stories from Main Street" project--an effort to collect stories about small-town life across the United States. The initial project was the brainchild of the Smithsonian's "Museum on Main Street" program, an initiative that brings traveling exhibitions about subjects of national importance to small towns across America. This content is also included in the "Be Here: Main Street" initiative. "Be Here: Main Street" is a program created by the MuseWeb Foundation, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES).

Asset ID: 7372

Photo by Monique Massiah. Flickr Creative Commons. Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0). https://www.flickr.com/photos/moniquemassiah/9123115330/in/photolist-eUbmkU-6NeazY-3TGG8r-7p3CqM-qhu3z4-4cZCuu-D1NEt-5ChpjQ-7BtxTb-7p7uFh-4hmaTo-5HtMFr-5L393G-uJdja-7J8gAG-aZQ5it-6wFrB-qhu4i8-57eRzE-fi9deh-5qU4Ve-5JZAfm-drNPZb-5kKd-oHiSeb-3gE3Wn-qinqH9-5dNKrM-9fv1Nv-rHJm-7hFyGJ-ph3SFW-9fv1U8-czbf-4qN6Qs-btGaeB-9zbxCG-7Xvf2i-mB5TZ-ajUQcW-4H6yxX-9eoycN-9sTjh3-3K87Q5-JCc6f-dCtyiT-5LdhYB-stNbN2-9fy9Cy-7p3Cgz

Jailhouse Cookies

This story was collected in conjunction with the national traveling exhibition "Water/Ways" by the Museum on Main Street program at the Smithsonian Institution. It is part of the "Be Here: Main Street" collection, intended to capture Americans' stories about their neighborhoods, their waterways, and their towns. 

"My relationship with water is a bit of a contradiction. I’m originally from an island in the Caribbean famous for its beautiful beaches and water. As a plane flies into the airport, you can see the water getting lighter as it gets closer to the coast and it kind of glows. It’s very beautiful. My grandmother’s house is located very near to the beach. Basically, you’re on the road and you cross the street and you’re on the beach, so at night, you can hear the waves crashing. Despite all of this, I didn’t learn to swim until about seven years ago. As much as I loved being in the water, I was always terrified of having water cover my face. Even as an adult, sometimes in the shower, as water covered my face there was a moment of panic. Additionally, my grandmother had a very fearful relationship with water as well. She is traditionally from the countryside of Barbados—the idea that water was dangerous; you had to be very careful--That water and fire take away everything. 

So, I’d go to the beach and I’d get in the water, and I’d splash around, but I never really learned how to swim officially. So, I moved to the United States, and I spent my summers in Barbados. Even if I was here in New Jersey. We didn’t go to the beach in New Jersey because why would you go to the beach in New Jersey if you knew what the beach in Barbados was like—we were very snobby about our water, our beach choices. Years past and I moved to D.C. about eight years ago, and I was talking to a co-worker of mine, and his mother was Cuban, being from the Caribbean, and I mentioned that I didn’t know how to swim, and I kind of looked at me and he laughed. Katrina, such a stereotype. Okay, let’s make a deal, if you teach me how to swim, I’ll feed you. He was someone in early 20s, I’d just feed him. So, we did. We went to the local pool in Silver Spring, and he taught me how to swim. 

It was a very liberating experience because I knew I loved being in the water, near the water. It’s very soothing, you know I can splash my hands in the water and just lose time. But the ability to move through the water—to feel weightless—is something you just cannot describe. I remember the first time he got me into the deep end; I did my doggie paddle or my elementary breaststroke back and forth across the pool. It was exciting. One afternoon, he couldn’t meet me, so I just went by myself. I figured there were lifeguards if anything goes wrong, someone will notice! The shallow end was crowded with kids and their families. I just went back and forth across the deep end, and I just felt this really liberating, free, kind of weightless grin on my face . . . this idea of moving through water. 

There’s something very peaceful, very calm about it that is very hypnotic. So, even though I came to it late in life, I can say that water really is a very beautiful, very pleasing, very soothing sort of thing. This idea of growing up on an island and being surrounded by this beautiful landscape, this beautiful water, and just being able to enjoy even if I wasn’t swimming, walking near it or hearing it crash on the beach at night and standing and letting the waves role over your toes and to feel the sand, or standing and looking out across the water, you can see it getting a deeper blue the farther out you go, but there is something quite magical about water. I think that’s why so many people are drawn to water and so many communities are concerned and fearful about the future of their waterways because it’s something that I think is instinctively and innately a part of our make-up that we crave the connection to the water around us."

Asset ID: 3915

Learning to Swim: The Beauty of Water

This digital story recording was created in conjunction with the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program and its Stories from Main Street student documentary initiative, called "Stories: Yes." The project encourages students and their mentors to research and record stories about small-towns and rural neighborhoods, waterways, personal memories, cultural traditions, work histories, as well as thoughts about American democracy. These documentaries are then shared on Smithsonian websites and social media.

This moving story explores why people settled in Lanesboro originally in the 19th century, contrasted with a deeply personal and local perspective on what it takes to sustain a small town in the Twenty-First Century. An intimate portrait of community, economics, Main Street and the future of rural America emerges through the lens of the filmmaker, her peers, local business owners, and the town’s decision makers. Produced by Mai Linh Gjere in conjunction with Lanesboro Arts, Minnesota, with technological support from Erin Dorbin.

Mai Linh Gjere (00:00): My name is Mai Linh Gjere. I'm a city transplant, and I'm a prime example of a millennial living in a small Midwestern town also known as Lanesboro, Minnesota. Lanesboro was created by joint stock company owners in New York with the starting population of about 600 people. The time it was founded is very much disputed, some saying 1869 and others saying 1868. In the early years, Lanesboro was just like any other small Midwestern town. Lanesboro had everything its residents needed. Somewhere to eat, somewhere to drink, somewhere to worship, and a hotel. Lanesboro grew quickly adding a flour mill, a hardware store, general stores, and eight saloons. That's two more than what we're allowed by law. In 1876, Lanesboro was at its peak with over 1,600 residents. My family moved here to Lanesboro from St. Paul in 2004 when I was only two years old. My parents, Mike and Kirsten Gjere, saw opportunity and potential here. They made the decision to relocate for several reasons. Now, 12 years later, they talk about those reasons, difference between a small town and a bigger city, and what lies for Lanesboro and its future.

Mike Gjere (01:05): We spent all of our summers in the country and we liked being here so we just decided we would like to live here full time. When I was younger, we had a farm near Lanesboro that we'd spend the summers at. We had the opportunity to buy a farm here in Lanesboro so we bought a farm and we decided to move down here.

Kirsten Gjere (01:25): All our activities were bicycle riding and we did some fishing and canoeing and we liked all that out here so we decided to move.

Mike Gjere (01:35): Oh, that was a lot of work. Yeah.

Kirsten Gjere (01:35): We bought this place at an auction, which was nerve wracking.

Mike Gjere (01:39): Yeah. We bought the farm at an auction and the barn was falling down, the house was falling down.

Kirsten Gjere (01:46): The windows were rotted out.

Mike Gjere (01:47): There were no fences.

Kirsten Gjere (01:49): Carpets smelled like mold.

Mike Gjere (01:51): It was rough.

Mai Linh Gjere (01:52): In 2016 during the spring and summer months, Lanesboro streets are bustling, people everywhere, eating, tubing and sightseeing. With a population of just 740, one would think Lanesboro doesn't have a lot going on. But by looking at Main Street, that is clearly untrue, sort of. For three months, Lanesboro is a cheerful, quaint and busy town, but it wasn't always that way. In fact, some describe it as more of a ghost town year round.

Asset ID: 8676
For a complete transcript, please visit www.museumonmainstreet.org

Small Town, Big Changes, Minnesota

This story was collected, edited, and produced by students in Lanesboro, Minnesota, for the Museum on Main Street program at the Smithsonian Institution. It is part of the "Be Here: Main Street" collection, intended to capture Americans' stories about their neighborhoods, waterways, towns, traditions, and personal experiences. #bHereMainSt

The story explores why people settled in Lanesboro originally in the 19th century, contrasted with a deeply personal and local perspective on what it takes to sustain a small town in the year 2016. This intimate portrait of community life, economy, Main Street and the future of rural America is uniquely told through the lens of the filmmaker, her peers, local business owners, and the town’s decision makers.

Farming and Agriculture in Lanesboro, Minnesota

This digital story recording was created in conjunction with the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program and its Stories from Main Street student documentary initiative, called "Stories: Yes." The project encourages students and their mentors to research and record stories about small-towns and rural neighborhoods, waterways, personal memories, cultural traditions, work histories, as well as thoughts about American democracy. These documentaries are then shared on Smithsonian websites and social media.

Recorded in conjunction with Houston County Historical Society, Minnesota. Produced by Stories: Yes curator Olivia Obritsch, with support by Erin Dorbin and Olivia Hoff. 

Kelly Asche (00:05): With the data I look at in the history that I know and the things that I've learned, I see communities constantly and consistently evolving and changing. And so I tend to think about small towns in a little bit more positive light that it has changed a lot, it has evolved from where it has been 20, 30, 40, or 50 years ago. I know not everything's positive. I know there are problems and challenges, but I believe we need to nuance the narrative a little bit more away from just negative or revitalization, but more towards look at all these interesting things happening at all of these interesting places.

Olivia Obritsch (00:37): Nowhere could this be more applicable than Lanesboro, a small town with a plethora of experience with change gleaned from the events that have taken place here in the last 40 years. This is that story.

Jennifer Hungerholt (00:59): When I think back to the '70s, I lived in Rochester and I'd come down here and visit my grandparents on weekends. Town was just dead. I mean, it was nothing going on

Robin Krom (01:10): Lanesboro was a beautiful town, but it was pretty well closed up.

Marc Sather (01:16): Lanesboro was like many small towns. It was somewhat abandoned, boarded up.

Olivia Obritsch (01:23): So what caused the transformation in Lanesboro from its semi neglected state to the vibrant town it is today?
Robin Krom (01:31): The trail was the first huge factor, I think, that really brought Southeastern Minnesota as well as Lanesboro a lot of growth.

Olivia Obritsch (01:47): The railroad first entered the area in 1868 with the construction of a new portion of rail line that originally stretched from Rushford to Lanesboro. The railway was first christened The Root River Railroad but changed names several times in rapid succession until 1880, when it was absorbed into the preexisting Chicago, Milwaukee and St.. Paul Railroad Company, often referred to as simply The Milwaukee Road.

Asset ID: 8671
For a complete transcript, visit www.museumonmainstreet.org

The Rebirth Of Lanesboro, Minnesota

Violet Spolarich of Palisade, Minnesota (population 167) shares her story about growing up on the Willow River and Mississippi, and her feelings about the need to protect the watershed where she lives from the encroachment of businesses that threaten the health and safety of land, water, wildlife, and people who live in her community.

Violet Spolarich on fighting pipelines and protecting water in her rural community

"Don't tell anyone."

Story read and written by Don Bell.

Incident at the Lumber Yard in Lanesboro

Ann Madland is a jeweler in Lanesboro and she talks about life as an artist in a small town.

Ann Madland, an Artist in Lanesboro

Anna Loney is a metal smith in Lanesboro and she talks about life as an artist in a small town.

Anna Loney, an Artist in Lanesboro

Anna Loney's Art Story

The "Be Here" storytelling project, in conjunction the Peale, Baltimore's Community Museum, and the Smithsonian's Stories from Main Street initiative, is an effort to gather and distribute stories about community life and places across the United States. The first version of this project began in 2011 with the Stories from Main Street storytelling initiative,  the brainchild of the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street (MoMS) team. Today, the Peale is partnering with Museum on Main Street to continue the storytelling campaign, often connected thematically to MoMS' traveling exhibitions about topics like work history, waterways, food culture, traditional music, hometown sports, etc. Anyone with an interest in life in America’s towns and communities can add their own experiences to the archive.

The "Be Here" program is an effort to diversify the voices of American cultural stories, stories especially about places that are important to people. To leave a story, download the "Be Here Stories" app on the App Store. Learn more at https://www.thepealecenter.org/bherebmore/

listener, writer, water tender | a collection of interviews + water stories >>> place-based art + everyday activism

Violet Spolarich on fighting pipelines and protecting water in her rural community

Shanai Matteson

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