Fountain, Minnesota- Yes...I'm Going to Go There.

A nail biting recount in the Minnesota Senate election, a slur on President-Elect Obama by Al Qaida's Number Two, and the pending nomination of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State (which is where Rip and Read always thought she should be)...and yet the most exciting story here is STILL Fountain, Minnesota.

As loyal readers (all four of you) will recall...Today Show Travel Host Peter Greenberg insulted the tiny town of Fountain by including it in his book "Don't Go There."

Rip-and-Read made some hay by imagining an "It's A Wonderful Life" style debate between Greenberg as mean old Mister Potter and George Baily sticking up for the small town. We also posited that, if Mr. Greenberg didn't mend his Elitist Big City Media Ways, that champion of "Real" America, Sarah Palin, would come and get him in 2012.

This didn't go over well with one reader. And, upon reflection, Rip-and-Read can't really blame them...after all, Fillmore County voted against Bush in 2004 as well as for Obama in 2008...so there was no need to bring the Dragon Lady into it other than the fact that I was, quite honestly, stuck for a closing.

But there was a bright ray of Sunshine in all of this. Yesterday, I got a really nice comment from Debra Richardson of the Fillmore County History Center. Debra was quoted in the original article which first caught my attention, and I reprint her comment here on the front page:

Alex,

This is Fountain's "Fillmore County History Center" Assistant Director, Debra, checking in with a comment. Viewing statistics for our website, I noted the incoming link from your blog.

Firstly, welcome to Minnesota. Secondly, I'd like to extend a welcome to Fillmore County and the village of Fountain, in particular.

We'd love for you to visit our museum. Over the past year, we’ve had 1500 people sign our guest book. Many are from the tri state area- but we’ve had visitors from all over the country- even from...Wasilla Alaska! And no, it was not Gov. Palin, though she would be most welcome. As would be any politician, travel writer, or radio advertising producer. Mr. Greenberg's brouhaha is not colored red or blue. History, sinkhole topography, and tourism are strictly non-partisan...and beyond borders. We’ve welcomed visitors from London, France, the Netherlands, Russia, Germany, and Liberia West Africa. It is frequently commented that our facility ranks up amongst the best museums in the country. Recently, an elder hostel group stopped in on a tour. One of the gentlemen took me aside to say that he’s been to all the renowned American museums and yet it was his opinion that the scope and condition of artifacts in our little museum in a tiny town on the Midwestern prairie shine amongst the best.

As to Mr. Greenberg, he obviously doesn't know a sinkhole from a hole in the ground. We'd love the opportunity to change his view, and viewpoint. Sinkholes are just one of those things you must experience firsthand to be able to comment intelligently upon.
As a natural formation, their very presence provides scientific data and research opportunities. As a unique part of southeast Minnesota's landscape, they're rich in history and lore.

Your “It's a Wonderful Life” clip voice over was clever. We have sinkholes; we also have a sense of humor. No offense taken. However, we do take offense to mistruths broadcast to the nation about our town and published by an author out to sell books, utilizing belittlement and controversy as a means to do so.

That said, we're expecting this sudden national exposure might be to our benefit. As a nonprofit, our limited operating budget doesn't allow the luxury of out-of-area advertising. We couldn't put ourselves on the map; therefore, in that respect we appreciate the backhanded shout-out from Mr. Greenberg.

On behalf of Fountain, Minnesota, I invite you to come visit us, Alex. There's a welcome mat, your choice of sinkholes, and small town hospitality awaiting your arrival.

Despite my cheap humor, Fountain had already managed to make my list of "Must Visit" places...I actually DO want to see the sink holes...and I also want to know more about the political history of this corner of Minnesota's First District.

But, now, after Debra's gracious comments- it's moved up near the top of the list...AND I'm bringing friends AND I hope that everybody who reads Mr. Greenberg's book decides to do the same.

So, once I come back with pictures- there will be (at least) one MORE report about Fountain and the history center.

Cheers!

A Fountain of Controversy- Fountain, Minnesota- that is

A few days ago, Rip-and-Read posted about Fountain Minnesota and it's run-in with Today Show Travel Commentator Peter Greenberg.

Fountain, a tiny town of 343 people in South Eastern Minnesota, bills itself as "The Sink Hole Capitol of the World". Greenberg has included it in his book Don't Go There and joked on the Today Show about spelling mistakes in the town's brochure and quipped that children might fall into a sink hole while bike riding.

After a reading of the story, the first thing that popped into my head was an image of George Baily (of It's A Wonderful Life) delivering a Capra-esque diatribe on behalf of Fountain to Peter Greenburg, whom I mentally cast in the role of mean old Mr. Potter.

It amused me, and so I ran with it. In the end, my sympathies are with Fountain, after all, this is a tiny little town that has one claim to fame, is by all reports a pretty nice little locale, and there is no reason for a big city commentator to go trashing the place.

It also put me in mind of the Red State/Blue State theory of America, in which "The Heartland" of small towns is in conflict with the Big Cities and Sophisticates of the Coasts. So, adopting (with what I hoped was obvious sarcasm) the tone of a Right-Wingnut commentator, I pictured small towns across America rallying behind a resurgent Sarah Palin for revenge.

I have to admit that I found the whole story kind of funny and didn't feel that there were any serious issues at stake. After all, in one corner, you have a town which bills itself as the Sink Hole Capitol of the World, and, in the other corner, you have Peter Greenberg shamelessly plugging his book; which, as Greg Sellnow in the Rochester Post Bulletin points out relies on 40 year old Cleveland jokes for humor- so how good can this tome be?

Not to mention that fact, that, after a nail bitter of an election, I needed something light to write about, and this seemed like appropriately light fare- a travel writer vs. a sink hole...

This story seemed harmless.

WRONG...

This story is still making waves here in South Eastern Minnesota, and the Post Bulletin ran another opinion piece about Fountain/Greenburg Feud today.. In his piece, Greg Sellnow, takes great pains to describe Fountain as:

... a pretty, quaint community. The Root River Trail bike path runs through town. Its main street includes one of the area's last surviving small-town groceries, "Willie's Meat and Groceries."

Greenberg is taken to task for giving the place an "undeserved poke in the ribs".

Here at Rip-and-Read, one anonymous commentator has left no doubt that they were not amused by our take, and they share their opinion that we at Rip-and-Read were guilty of "bigotry" and a "cheap shot"...

The comments attached to Sellnow's Post-Bulletin piece are in the same vein:

"Shame on you Mr. Greenberg...
I thought how uninformed he must be and how stupid he must think everyone must be."

The story, at least around here, has struck a nerve. People have been leaping to the defense not just of Fountain, but also Cleveland, Galveston and, yes, Tracy B and Friend Russell: The CORN PALACE...all places skewered by Peter Greenberg in his book.

...so my question is: what nerve has been struck. And what does it mean, if anything, in a Blue State/Red State Dynamic..? Are we looking at the symptom of something serious here after all?

Comments are always welcome.


Greenberg's book is called "Don't Go There." The original article in the Post-Bulletin was by Laura Gossman and is here.

The Today Show vs. Fountain, Minnesota: Land of 10,000 Sink Holes and 343 people

Fountain, Minnesota, which is about 30 miles south of Rip-and-Read's new home, bills itself as "The Sink Hole Capital of America". With only 343 residents, the sink holes are just about all they have. Sadly Rip-and-Read has just learned of a dastardly move by the venal Eastern Elite Establishment to take even this title away from poor Fountain...leaving them with nothing but holes.

According to the Rochester Post Bulletin, Today Show Travel Host Peter Greenburg totally dumped on the little town and it's 343 residents by including their attraction in his book, "Don't Go There", and then waxing funny about it on the morning news.

Mostly notably, Greenburg seized on the fact that the word "Capital" was misspelled in the town's tourist brochure. Of course, there are very few things guaranteed to tick Rip-and-Read off faster than a spelling purist. There is a misconception that Good Spelling equals High Intelligence, when, in fact, it is no more than a signal of Petty Pedantry. If bad spelling was good enough for our Founding Fathers, then it is Good Enough for us...and should be more than Adequate for an elitist like this Greenburg fellow.

According to the article, no one is sure if Greenburg actually managed to visit the "Sink Hole Capital of the World." The Post Bulletin's Laura Gossman interviewed Debra Richardson of the Fillmore County History Center:

Richardson said she'd like to invite Greenburg to stop and visit the town.

"We could take him out to a sinkhole and let him know they aren't a danger to children in the area," Richardson said. "Many kids are fascinated by sinkholes and are eager to learn more about the formations."

Rip-and-Read is sure that this is true...who wouldn't want to spend a day, perhaps even a week, looking at, thinking about, and maybe falling into, a sink hole: nature's playground? Any Red Blooded American Tourist would be Proud to include this stop on their itinerary; Afterward, they would display photos prominently in the digital picture frame bought from Walmart to commemorate the experiance.

After thinking about Peter Greenburg's snide comments (which I admit I've neither heard nor read) I couldn't help but see this as a big city swipe at small town life. I wondered just what that great defender of Small Town American Values, George Bailey of It's A Wonderful Life would have said. I imagine something like this:



In the end, this just tells us that the results of the recent election have gone to the heads of the Big City Elite Media...and they think they can return to their old ways of disparaging the citizens of tiny little God-Fearing, Sink Hole Havin' burgs like Fountain.

Well, I would like to remind Greenburg and his cohorts that Sarah Palin, that great champion of the Real American, will be back- with a plumber AND a six-pack, and that this time: IT'S PERSONAL...