Ellendale, North Dakota - Historic Opera House - 2014 Author Tour Part 3

(To start at the beginning of this series of posts about my 2014 Author Tour, go here)

From Wimbledon, North Dakota, we travelled to Ellendale, North Dakota, population nearly 1400, to give another talk about the Red River Trails and my book Ox Cart Angel, this time at the Ellendale Opera House. First, Paige and I checked into the old family run Oxen Rider Motel on the edge of town. I love the sign.

The Ellendale Opera House was a great venue - a beautiful building, with lots of work being done to restore the inside to its former glory. It originally opened in 1909, and seated up to 800 people, but eventually fell into disrepair. In 2002 a non-profit group, O.P.E.R.A., Inc, took over and started making long-needed repairs.

I love these painted panels. They're actually fairly new, and were put there to protect the original windows while they're restoring the place.

Here's Jeanette Robb, my contact at the region's historical society, giving Paige and I a tour of the place. These are the stairs leading up to the theater.

Here's the theater stage, located on the second floor of the building. There's also a balcony that I didn't get a good photo of. But chairs would be placed on this main floor for performances, and then removed for dances.

A look at some of the restoration work being done on the ceiling. Old on the left, new on the right.

Jeanette showed us some of the original chairs of the theater - Paige was responsible for drawing the smiley face in the dust of the middle chair.

A look at the opera house's old circuit board - I can't help but think there were sparks a-flying whenever anything was turned on.

I actually did my presentation in the nicely refurbished lobby of the building on the main floor. It's a clean white room with local artwork hanging on the walls. They do put on plays on the main stage, but the historical society is still in the process of raising money to finish the renovations. I would love to go back and see the place when it's finished!

Thanks for stopping by. Now on to part 4A!

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Midland Continental Depot Transportation Museum & Peggy Lee - Wimbledon - 2014 Author Tour Part 2

(To start at the beginning of this series of posts about my 2014 Author Tour, go here)

The second stop on my 2014 Author Tour brought me to the town of Wimbledon, North Dakota, population 216. I gave an Ox Cart Angel talk there at the Midland Continental Depot Transportation Museum, which had also once served as the home of the famed singer Peggy Lee. Her father was the depot agent for a while, and so she lived there in the actual depot when she was a kid. She went to school in Wimbledon, and some of her acquaintances/former classmates have volunteered at the museum over the years.

Daughter Paige and I ate at the cafe in town before the shindig. Good food, but holy cow - a hamburger there cost $9.20! That seems like something you'd pay at Disney World, not small-town America. The cafe was cool, though - attached to a long grocery store, it had an old decorative ceiling, nice staff, etc.

Below is the Frazier grain storage, where the Midland Continental Railroad ended (it was supposed to head all the way north to Winnipeg, but that never materialized).

Here's the Midland Continental Depot Transportation Museum where I gave my talk. The folks there were very nice and brought homemade cookies, lemonade, and coffee:

The upstairs was all devoted to Peggy Lee - or Laura Engstrom, as she was originally known. A lot of effort was put into the place. Very nicely done. I went in not knowing much about Peggy Lee, and came out wanting to listen to her music.

One of the dresses she wore:

Just a small portion of a display of all of her many albums. One great thing about the museum is that you can listen to a 78rpm of Peggy Lee on an old hand-cranked Victrola, and then sit down and choose any one of hundreds of her songs to listen to on an iPad.

She actually lived with her father and step-mom in the top floor of the depot, and her bedroom is preserved there:

Her mother died when Peggy was very young, and her step-mom was not a very nice person. She did nothing to encourage Peggy's talent, but the town's people really helped her, fixing dresses for her, doing her hair, being a big support for her before she was propelled into super-stardom. Here's her singing Fever:

Thanks for stopping by! Now on to part 3 of my 2014 Author Tour.

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Visit Joel's Amazon Page!

Jamestown, North Dakota - National Buffalo Museum, Frontier Village - 2014 Author Tour, Part 1

(To start at the beginning of this series of posts about my 2014 Author Tour, go here)

The first stop on my 2014 Author Tour with my daughter Paige was in Jamestown, North Dakota. I had a book signing at the National Buffalo Museum. It's a nice museum with lots of displays on bison and their part in the history of America.

I always like to stop in Jamestown on my way out west (or coming back home from thereabouts) and take a walk in the old frontier town they have set up.

Here's the statue of the bison, which I always must pay homage to when passing through. It's the largest in the world. Not sure why it had a lei on it while we were there - perhaps it had spent the winter in Hawaii?

Here's a view of the frontier town. You can go into all the little buildings, and each has a nice display.

A little memorial to some of the townsfolk who have passed away:

Paige gets a time-out in the old jail:

Author Louis L'Amour grew up in Jamestown, and included in the frontier town is the Louis L'Amour Writer's Shack set up in his honor.

A display of some of his many books:

An old safe in the bank building. I have a thing for old safes, and I thought this one was especially cool.

Not a lot of people showed up at the signing, but it was still a nice time, and I got to chat with some wonderful folks and even sell a few books.

Thanks for stopping by! Now on to part 2 of my 2014 Author Tour.

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Visit Joel's Amazon Page!