International Falls Daily Journal - Ideas for improving our city - Comments

Fine letter, Fallsy. You

Thomas L. Johnson — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:23:18 -0500

Fine letter, Fallsy. You correctly and politely call it "incredibly unfortunate" that Rainy does not have a park like Woodenfrog. It is. Are there places that are underused or abandoned or adjacent to current locations that would even work for such a park? One that comes to my memory is the former boy scout camp. I have not been there in 40 years and wonder what if anything it currently is there, who owns it, all the stuff you mention in your posting. Because it is also incredibly stupid that the lake that brags about the thousands of miles of shoreline has no single car accessible campsite to become a vacation magnet. When a kid from the Cities or Chicago spends time at a campgrounds, she/he often has this great desire to revisit or even move to that place as an adult. In the grand scheme of things, the border area will have potential as a tourist site long after its potential as a paper-producing site have been played out. And I now have a suspicion that the questions being asked on this blog are becoming the agenda items for meetings in our home town -- witness last week's discussion about participation fees.

Clarks Park is now owned by

Doorsman 54 — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:27:45 -0500

Clarks Park is now owned by the heirs to the property, the city did the right thing and put it back on the tax roles. Let private investors develop it.

If you're intersested in a

Fallsy — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:43:03 -0500

If you're intersested in a "loop" style campground that is located near Voyageurs National Park, I recommend Woodenfrog State Campground in Kabetogama. It's only 30 minutes south of the Falls on 53 and is located close to VNP's Kabetogama Lake visitor center and boat launch, which is also the take-off point for their tour boat which takes trips to Kettle Falls, and on wildlife and sunset cruises. Woodenfrog a one-way dirt road that winds through the woods on the south shore of lake Kabetogama and has camping spots dotted along it so that there are nice patches of woods between you and the next camper, lots of which are tenters as well. It has a common beach area for swimming and taking off in canoes and kayaks if you're into that. VNP interp people put on campfire talks at the amphitheater there too...Friday nights I think. You may want to check on whether or not it has electrical hookups, but I know they have water wells and outhouses along the road, and each camping spot has a picnic table and fire ring. Kab is a quaint little community with rustic charm and has much to offer on the "southern" side of the Park, but don't forget to drive up and visit the Falls too!! :) This area is so unique in its rugged beauty, and there is enough of it to spend an entire lifetime exploring, so I hope you are able to continue visiting often...and bring friends!!

On another note, I just realized how incredibly unfortunate it is that a campground such as this does not already exist along the shores of Rainy. (If one does exists, please remind me of it because none come to mind.) Seems like a no-brainer way to get more "land-based" campers here. I know that there are some small RV parks scattered around, but something like a loop campground near the shores of Rainy that accomodates RV-ers, tenters and people who need a "home base" for short canoe or kayak trips would, in my opinion, probably prove successful. I know VNP is a water-based park with all of its campsites requiring a boatride to get to, and that's wonderful, it's what makes our park so unique. But it seems reasonable to me that not everyone who visits our area owns thier own boat or wants to pay to rent one for the duration of their trip in order to go camping in the park. Why not just offer a land-based camping option near Rainy as well? I live here and I'd probably even use it on nights where I wanted to camp out but didn't have lots of time or just thought of going at the last minute. What's going on with Clark's Park again?! I suppose that area wouldn't accomodate many campers though. But Woodenfrog is hopping all summer, and so are Kab's RV parks. Just a thought.

I have heard good things

six-shooter — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 22:01:52 -0500

I have heard good things about the Birch Point Camp.

I was wondering about

kris10denise — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:12:31 -0500

I was wondering about camping. I know the national park has rustic camping but I'm a pop-up camper type. Is there a campground with bathrooms and electrical hookups anywhere?

I was disappointed that the

kris10denise — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:11:01 -0500

I was disappointed that the history museum wasn't open over the weekend. I think that was the only thing we missed due to weekend closings.

It was very refreshing to

six-shooter — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:16:58 -0500

It was very refreshing to read about your visit back to the Falls. So glad you enjoyed your visit here. You had many positive things to say. The ideas you gave were very good ones,every little bit helps. I have seen several business' close because of closing early or hiring help that they couldn't afford so they could say they had their own business and go and do their own thing, if they had put in the hours that they paid the hired help it might have worked for them. Hope you come back for another visit and enjoy yourselves again.

kris10denise, Strange ear

roj2000 — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:16:06 -0500

kris10denise,

Strange ear piercings?? They must have thought you were teachers at Falls High. That's why they were so friendly! Just kidding! Did you all actually go into the Park itself and enjoy any of the campsites or other amenities??

Nice article, k10d. If you

Thomas L. Johnson — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:45:19 -0500

Nice article, k10d. If you stayed in town from Friday through Monday, you likely noticed that plenty of local businesses just plain close down at noon on Saturday, having decided apparently that the weekend crowd isn't worth the effort. In fact, I often race into town on a Saturday morning so I can go to a local lumber yard or boat shop before it closes. Menards doesn't. KMart doesn't either. Subway doesn't either, but the best local sandwich shop does. As Highway 53 gets wider and faster, IFalls is becoming a weekend destination and I do wish it didn't put itself to bed so early in the weekend. Of course, anyone who still thinks of 1965 as recent puts himself to bed pretty early on a weekend too. But I'm not a retail business. At least not so far.

No Rocky and Bullwinkle, but

kris10denise — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 07:27:02 -0500

No Rocky and Bullwinkle, but I did have a Waterloo, Wisconsin sweatshirt on most of the time. I figured a sweatshirt from another town and considerably strange ear piercings would flag me as an out-of-towner! Nobody seemed to notice or react unfavorably if they knew I was.

There were people launching boats at the visitor's center, but the RV crowd we always see in National Parks was there in full force. You know, the ones that will talk your ear off about every national park they've been to since 1950. There were also families with kids. It was a good mix.

kris10denise, Were you

roj2000 — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 06:23:59 -0500

kris10denise,

Were you wearing your "Rocky and Bulwinkle" sweatshirt? If so, then they may have mistook you for a local!! Those people in the VNP Visitor center were probably park rangers and people who launch their boats at the ramp there. You may have come right at free coffee and doughnut time!! Just kidding! Glad you enjoyed your stay. See you in twelve years!

My husband and I were just

kris10denise — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 22:59:13 -0500

My husband and I were just in the Falls a few weeks ago for a long weekend vacation (we live near Milwaukee, WI). I hadn't been up for twelve years; I spent every summer at Sha-Sha until I was sixteen. Since I talk about my great memories of the Falls so often, I had to show my husband the area.

I was thrilled to see that many things I remember have not changed, like Smokey and the Sportsmen's Museum. I was pleased to see new businesses like No Place Like Home, Giovanni's and the coffee shop in Rauscher's Bros. old store. The new Sha-Sha lodge is gorgeous.

We make it a point to patronize as many local businesses as possible. We were very happy with the variety and quality of dining and shopping. I think the only type of shop I didn't find is a gallery of local art. Maybe there is one and I missed it. The type of souvenirs I like are "local" things like art, food and wine. I saw a lot of kitschy knick-knacks that said Minnesota... they could say Internationals Falls, at least!

One thing that stuck in our minds about the trip was how nice people were in town. Milwaukee (or as we call it, Killwaukee) is not the town you see on Happy Days, so we weren't used to people being friendly and open. We struck up conversations with many locals, and nobody sneered at us for being tourists. I know every town has local politics and arguments, but overall, the people we met were very gracious and helpful.

This website and the sites of individual businesses helped me a lot when planning our trip. I visited No Place Like Home's website before we drove up and knew I'd want to stop there. The Tee Pee Motel's website helped me choose lodging there (which was very clean and reasonable).

When stayed in town Friday through Monday, and I didn't see the tourist information center open. This was disappointing because I like to stock up on literature when I travel. Maybe the end of September is considered off-season, but I was surprised at how many tourists were in town. The Voyageur's National Park visitor's center was quite busy.

One suggestion I have for local businesses is to partner up. When we travel, we ask the hotel staff where the locals eat. If the staff has a menu behind the counter (or a menu in the phone book), it's a huge help. I'm more likely to eat a restaurant if I know I can afford it! If lodging can refer restaurants, and restaurants can refer lodging, word-of-mouth becomes a very effective and cheap way of advertising. I didn't see any menus in the phone books we looked through.

Another tool I've seen small towns use is "passports" to local businesses. Each business is listed on a card, and as you visit them, you get a stamp on the card. When your card is full, you turn in the passport for a prize. I worked at an antique store that did this and people were rabid about getting their stamps!

Anyway, I just wanted to share that I loved our time in the Falls, and look forward to spending more time there next year. You have so much going for your town right now... keep it up!

MamaG, why can't your kids

Peanuts — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:17:15 -0500

MamaG, why can't your kids go there? I live in I Falls, believe me it's worth the bus trip and the gas I spend going back and forth to school. It's all about priorities. You just have to call the school and see if there are any openings in the grades that your children are in. If the classes are full or close to it, they won't accept any more open enrollment students. My kids have went their since K, but if they told me that they couldn't go there any longer, I would move to LF in a heartbeat.

roj2000, your right I didn't mention parent involvement. It's such a natural that I didn't even think about it. One thing about small schools (besides small class sizes) is everybody knows everybody, that means if someone sees my kids doing something wrong (or right, they are good about positives also), I'm sure to hear about it! Your right about holding kids accountable, my oldest was just benched because of bad grade. Her fault, I could have done something but I didn't, the coaches (Varsity, B and C) all told her they were disappointed in her, she let them down and let her team down- (she's a good player and a starter). I totally supported them saying that, I don't think we will have to worry about bad grades again. :-) She felt horrible and served her time.

Hockey doesn't suck all the

MamaG — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:34:50 -0500

Hockey doesn't suck all the life out of their sports in Littlefork. In the Falls, all you hear about is how much $$ hockey brings in. (Of course, we don't really see that. It's an expensive sport to play and the parents eat a lot of that.) If we didn't sink so much of our money into hockey, we could have some good sports teams such as basketball and volleyball. Good grief, we've even gotten rid of speech! Not all kids are hockey players or athletes. Only the kids with parents in Boise can play sports here. It cost $150+ per sport with a cap of $500. There is no GAA anymore either. Littlefork fired their coach, so where did he go?? International Falls. Good ole boy network at work around here. Littlefork hired the woman who applied here and didn't get the job because she didn't put up with any of this town's *hi*. Can't they move Littlefork closer so my kids could go there??? LOL

Peanuts, One thing that you

roj2000 — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:11:38 -0500

Peanuts,

One thing that you left out, that I would bet is part of the successful equation they are using, and that is "Parental involvement". All of the things you mentioned won't totally work, unless you have the parents involved and holding their children accountable. Thanks for the feedback, and it's good to hear the news from District 362. WAKE UP School District 361!!!! You don't have to be in the rut you are in!

Ideas for improving our city

MamaG — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:12:17 -0500

Have you ever thought that International Falls could be a great place to live and could draw a lot more tourists than it does?