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Main Street is back

By Staff | Oct 23, 2016

Blue Earth mayor Rick Scholtes prepares to cut the ribbon honoring the city’s reconstructed Main Street at the Complete Street Fall Festival on Oct. 15. Faribault County commissioner John Roper, left, and city administrator Tim Ibisch, right, hold the ceremonial ribbon.

The street is complete.

Actually, Blue Earth’s new Main Street was not quite finished when the city’s celebratory fall festival kicked off Saturday, Oct. 15, but it was close enough for families to pour into the remodeled downtown for more than 12 hours, welcoming what local officials hope is a new era of small-town shopping.

“I remember when I was little, we would pack into the car and come down here,” said Faribault County commissioner Greg Young, one of several speakers during the street’s ceremonial ribbon cutting. “It’s my hope that, with this street and these businesses, we can get back to that.”

Plenty of others at the Complete Street Fall Festival, funded in part by the city itself, agreed. And the open-doored stops along Main Street, from Oswald Brewing Company to the newly opened Becki Steier Studio, showcased exactly the kind of business that could compliment Blue Earth’s new road.

Of course, other than paving the way for an enhanced downtown shopping district, the city’s long-awaited Main Street project also churned out, well, a Main Street to be proud of.

Mayor Rick Scholtes, city administrator Tim Ibisch, county engineer Mark Daly and city engineer Wes Brown said as much during the ribbon cutting, and a handful of others from Rep. Bob Gunther and county commissioner John Roper to Faribault County Development Corporation’s Tim Clawson saluted the finished product as well.

With several blocks barricaded and various vendors set up on the yet-to-be-driven-on street, guests got a taste of hours-long entertainment, strolling on the city’s new Main Street sidewalks along the way.

The Senior Center, on West Seventh Street, began the festivities with an opening ceremony and all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, hosted by Blue Earth’s Eagles Aerie and served by the flapjack-flipping Chris Cakes, of Iowa.

Before the dedication of the Blue Earth Community Foundation’s mural, displayed on the side of Blue Earth Graphics, everything from bounce houses and a caricature artist to face painting and a guest appearance by Super Deuce the Super Horse kept the street busy throughout the afternoon.

A bean bag tournament and hot dog eating contest were also part of the celebration, with Juba’s SuperValu and Coxworth Water Conditioning among the many businesses sponsoring the festival.

Rounding out the evening, with kids and adults alike coming together at the center of the street, were performances by the Blue Earth Area Chamber Singers and bands Beyond Blue and Powerhouse, as well as a Knights of Columbus steak fry at the American Legion.