One of my fortunate meetings with famous Minnesota author William Kent Krueger.

Oh man, I had a rude awakening the other morning. And, it had nothing to do with the sound of the helicopter taking off from the roof of United Hospital District and sounding like it was going to fly through my bedroom on its way to some large hospital somewhere with someone having a medical situation on board.

That was once me, of course, but that was not why I woke up a bit startled.

No, my rude awakening happened a bit later when I suddenly realized that it was the end of June, and the first of July was Friday.

You know what that means, don’t you? The year 2022 is now half over.

Is that even possible?

As you get older you start to feel that the years are just flying by.

When you are a kid, a school year lasts forever and a day. When you are older, and the end of school comes, it seems impossible because you feel school just started two months ago.

Same with 2022. It just got started, didn’t it? How can it be half over?

It seems like just a couple of weeks ago Giant Days was months away. But somehow the time went by faster than greased lightening and suddenly Giant Days is this coming weekend.

Wow. Seriously, I just don’t know how that is possible. Wasn’t it just the end of winter a couple of weeks ago?

Anyway, Blue Earth’s big summer event is soon going to be upon us. And, as I have been busy with other things, the Giant Days Committee has been busy planning and plotting another big celebration of the Big Green Guy.

I don’t know about you, but I am looking forward to it, especially after last year’s big, new and improved event. This year promises to be just as great.

You can read all about it elsewhere in this issue of the Faribault County Register.

But, I want to note that there is going to be not one, but two pretty well-known people showing up at Giant Days this year.

First is Sammy Davis, a war hero and one of the men who was the inspiration for the Forrest Gump character, specifically the part with Forrest Gump serving in Vietnam.

Davis is spending the day here on Saturday, July 9, and will be in the parade and speak around noon.

Another dignitary, Minnesota author William Kent Krueger, will also be in the parade and will be at the dedication of the new mural on the wall at the Blue Earth Community Library and Fossil Discovery Center at 12:30 p.m.

Maybe you have heard of Krueger, or maybe not. A lot of people I know have read his books and enjoy them. I know that I sure do.

I have quite a few friends that I have pointed in the direction of Krueger’s books about Cork O’Connor and life in a fictional town in Northern Minnesota.

I always strongly advise that they try and read the books in order, as there is a definite progression, especially when it comes to following along with the main character Cork O’Connor’s life.

I did not follow my own advice when it came to reading the series of books however.

I still remember the first time I read one of Krueger’s novels. I was up north in Minnesota in a small town years and years ago, and stumbled on a book store. I can’t resist those so I went in.

While I was perusing the shelves I found a book titled ‘Boundary Waters.’ Since I had made a habit of going to the Boundary Waters every other summer or so, I decided to buy the book.

I loved it. I went to the library and got another one by William Kent Krueger. Then I discovered there was an order to them, so I got the actual first one – Iron Lake. Boundary Waters was No. 2.

I have read them all and quite a few of them more than once. And yes, I have read one of them while camping in the Boundary Waters.

I have also been fortunate enough to visit with Kent (yes we are on a first name basis, even though Kent is technically his middle name) a couple of times. He once was at the Muir Library in Winnebago with a couple of his author friends. And back on July 11, 2019, he spoke in Elmore, of all places.

He gave a little talk about himself, how he became a writer, and how everyone should follow their dream.

He also read an excerpt from his brand new book at that time, This Tender Land. It was not even out in bookstores yet, so we got a nice preview of it.

This Tender Land and Ordinary Grace are his two books that are not part of the Cork O’Connor series. I thought they were great reads.

Back in March, while I was in Florida, I told a recently retired friend from Mankato about William Kent Krueger’s books. He has now read all 22 of them – in order – and is making plans to come to Giant Days, just to meet the author of these books.

And maybe get his new favorite author’s autograph at the same time.