- [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the citizens of Minnesota.

(wildlife chirping) (upbeat jingle) Coming up next, "Off 90".

An inflatable planetarium in Austin.

A story about frogs in Henderson, Minnesota.

Artwork by patients at a treatment center in St. Peter.

And a saxophone player from Winona.

It's all just ahead "Off 90".

(upbeat music) (music continues) (music continues) (cheerful jingle) (music continues) - Hi, my name is Gema Alvarado, and I work for Hormel Foods as a workforce wellness facilitator, co-leading the Hometown Food Security Project.

And today I'm here with my colleague Tanya Rodriguez, who's the Hormel Foods cultural anthropologist, doing a kickoff event around an art partnership that we're having with the Austin Public Schools.

All of these students that come through the doors today will showcase their art to really talk about youth food insecurity.

Depending on the classroom that they're in, students will make a piece that symbolizes food insecurity.

So the photography class might have one assignment, where the ceramics class with Jesse Smith might be making ceramic bowls to showcase what food insecurity looks like.

- Y'all got some really great large scale food art sculpture going on.

Y'all got a giant fork right down the street.

Now when you have a big fork, what do you need?

A big spoon!

And if you have giant utensils, you need a giant to eat with 'em.

So there you are in Blue Earth.

So you actually make art from food.

My name is Dr. Tanya Rodriguez.

I am the cultural anthropologist for Hormel Foods.

Today we're gonna be talking about the intersections of food and art and discussing how art is a tool for social change and social justice.

It's really about trying to help students understand the power of art, and it's really about them being able to see and activate on their own power, their voice, their ability to be food advocates in their community and within their cultures.

- So the Hometown Food Security Project is a simple, yet complicated effort to really make sure that no one in Mower County goes hungry.

So our current food insecurity rate is at 7%, and we wanna bring that down to 3% for Mower County residents.

- This morning we were unloading a produce truck from Channel One Food Bank, and they come each week and make a delivery of fresh items.

The need is very big.

I think during the pandemic, you might buy $100 worth of groceries, now it's $125 for the same amount of groceries.

And even though they say that prices are not continuing to go up, it still takes a bite out of a lot of people's paychecks, that they have their income.

- So this is the non-perishable side of the food shelf.

So when a person checks in for food shelf and they're going to shop, because we let people come in and shop for their own items, that way we know they'll use it to the best ability.

- We joined the Hometown Food Security Project early on.

We were one of the first members in the coalition.

So we kind of came in to sort of represent the low income in our community and in our county.

One of the big things we did was really kind of right before the start of the pandemic, we were working towards becoming what's called a Super Food Shelf.

And it's a food shelf that does a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit, also has a lot of protein, meat, and also vegetable protein, and then in addition to that, dairy.

We gave out almost 300,000 pounds of food last year.

We've gone even just from last summer of serving about 600 households a month to now, the last two months, we've served over 800 households a month.

(crowd murmuring) - [Gema] We have an exhibit called A Work of Art, Creating Food Security.

So we have different vessels of communication.

We have some students who wrote an essay if they were in an AP Geography class.

We had a ceramics class, digital media, photography, drawing and writing.

And each teacher had a different assignment for them to do, all centralized around the theme of food insecurity.

Dr. Tanya Rodriguez did, I think, five or six assemblies back to back.

And after each one of 'em, the students, some students stayed back and wanted pictures with her or had stories to share about their lived experiences or what they knew about hunger or how they could get involved in the fight against hunger in our hometown.

(upbeat music) (cheerful jingle) (radio chattering) (pensive music) - It's what we call a glider regatta.

And the difference between this and a contest is that this is just for fun.

(pensive music) We started doing this about 25 years ago, and someone woke up and says, you know, it's been 25 years, we should do this again just 'cause it's fun.

Most of these people are from around Minnesota, and some of 'em Wisconsin, a few from Iowa.

When we have the glider contests out here, we get people from all over the world.

We hold the US nationals here.

And we've held six of the seven classes of glider competitions in the country.

(energetic music) Gliders are fun to fly on because one, you don't have to manage the engine.

And the second thing is because it's a challenge to fly it and fly it accurately and correctly.

Literally, you stay in the sky or you don't depending on your skill, your ability to find thermals, rising columns of air and to navigate them, to exploit them, to gain altitude and then go on to the next one.

So it's a bit of a chess game.

(upbeat music) (music continues) So many people think that gliding is difficult, and really, it is, it's difficult in that you have to be able to navigate and find the unseen thermals and these kinds of things.

But on the other hand, gliders are very simple to fly.

You look at most of these gliders, they'll stall at 28 to 30 miles an hour.

They're very, very slow-flying aircraft.

When you need to, they'll cruise at over 100.

But they're built to be landed out in fields if required.

Gliding is a very inexpensive sport, relatively inexpensive aerial sport.

When you look at it, you will have some of these glider trailers over here.

You don't have to pay hangar rent, the aircraft lives in the trailer.

It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to assemble.

And beyond that, all it takes is either a winch launch or an AeroTow to get aloft on it.

If you've got a good day like today on it, you can stay aloft for hours.

So it's very inexpensive flying if that's what you're looking for.

- And it takes a while to get the grin off your face.

And you're guaranteed to go home with no adrenaline whatsoever because it'll wring you out really good.

- [Jim] And you'll also notice that people over here help each other.

And that's one of the nice things I like about gliding, it's a very social sport.

People, you can't go gliding by yourself.

You need someone to be the tow pilot, you need someone to help you rig, you may need someone to help you walk the wing.

So people get to interact with each other.

And that's why gliding is one of the air sports that is actually increasing the number of pilots as compared to other forms of aerial transportation.

(upbeat music) (cheerful jingle) (film whirring) (playful music) (music continues) (music continues) (music continues) - [Ron] Wells doesn't have the world's largest ball of twine.

We have a $3 theatre ticket with first run movies.

- Oh, hey Betty!

- Hi!

I'm Betty Roberts Olson and the kids all call me the Theatre Lady.

I started working at the Flame Theatre in 1965.

The former theatre owners, Sid and Helen Heath, asked me if I would work for them because they wanted to go to a wedding.

And I said, yes, I would for a week, but I ended up working 45 years.

(playful music) (energetic music) - It opened somewhere in the 1900s, the early 1900s.

It went through a number of different stages from being named the Princess Theatre, then the State Theatre.

I'm Ron Hartman, and I've been the chairman of the Flame Theatre Board for about 14 years.

(siren blaring) There was a fire that took the theatre out.

- I remember the fire.

The movie that was playing was "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof".

I thought, "What are the kids going to do now?"

You know, because a town this size at that time, there wasn't much else to do but go to the theatre.

Then they rebuilt.

- [Ron] And they had a contest to name the new theatre.

The Flame Theatre is the winning name that they chose.

- [Betty] So that's what it's called.

- We have a swimming pool, library, parks, but the theatre's something special, especially in a small town, because it brings people together.

And they don't have to leave town to go see a movie.

The city has always owned this building.

But they had a number of managers along the way, people that privately tried to make it go.

Somewhere around 1960, the city took complete control of the theatre.

We have done a lot of things in this theatre.

New sound system, our crowds were getting bigger, we had to add another popcorn machine.

We went to the digital projection system.

The Flame Theatre has always been known as a family type theatre.

The R movies have never done very well here.

The one exception was "Passion of the Christ", which was an R movie, and that particular movie was one of the first movies we had that the lines went around the block.

We sold that out every night.

So that was the exception.

Otherwise, the animated movies, the Pixars, the Disneys, they do extremely well.

We don't have a lot of room in that lobby, but it's a good problem to have, because when they're packed in there waiting in line, we know it's a good movie and there's a lot of people coming.

The Flame Theatre has never been expected to make a profit.

What the city would like to do is just have us try to break even.

I think our city council is thrilled when they see Main Street full at night with cars.

And they also know that more than half of these people come from other towns within a 30 mile radius.

They know that when they get here, maybe before the movie they eat at one of the restaurants or after the movie, they stop at a restaurant or they stop to gas up.

(playful music) I think there's still something special that everybody realizes of having a gigantic screen and the experience of others around them.

This is such an asset to our town.

One of the city leaders called it the Jewel of Wells.

(cheerful jingle) (upbeat piano music) - Hal Leonard does have a mission, and it is to get music to everyone no matter where they are in the world.

It brings you up, it brings you down, it makes you happy, it can lift your spirits.

Music is just, is very calming, very invigorating.

And you don't have to be able to read music to do it.

You know, music is part of everybody's life.

My name is Jean Papenfuss, and I am the credit manager for Hal Leonard Corporation.

There is something very special about working at a company that does print music.

It's like you have your very own music catalog right at your fingertips, or your music, it's all in your home.

This is your home.

And you can just go and take a look, and you can look at it and feel it and touch it.

It's just, it's awesome.

It's just breathtaking.

(machines whirring) - My name is Mindy Czaplewski, and I'm the Vice President of Finance and Winona Operations at Hal Leonard Corporation.

Hal Leonard produces music in print.

And by that we mean it could be any genre from pop, rock, jazz, movies, television, theatre, Broadway.

It could be for any level and it could be for any instrument.

(machines whirring) Hal Leonard was a popular dance band formed in the 1930s by Harold Hal Edstrom, Everett Leonard Edstrom, and Roger Busdicker.

And the Edstroms' father was not fond of his name being associated with a band at the time.

So what they did is they used two of their names, and it became Hal for Harold and Ev's middle name was Leonard.

So the band was named Hal Leonard.

They performed in Winona and the surrounding areas until they ultimately broke up, which resulted in the formation of Hal Leonard, the music print company.

(machines whirring) One of the reasons I think printed music is important is because it allows people to recreate something that's been in existence either for a short time or for a very long time.

The printed music takes music created by individuals and allows it to live on for years and years to come and for an infinite number of people to enjoy.

(upbeat piano music) Our roots are here, we were started here, and we were started here by residents that were originally from Winona.

And we've stayed here.

We've gone from being a very small local company to being an international, highly successful company.

And Hal Leonard has not lost the importance of our Winona connection.

We have three facilities in the Winona, Minnesota location, production, distribution, warehousing, and administrative functions are located in Winona.

And in Milwaukee, we have business affairs, product development, sales and marketing.

(piano music continues) We're sort of the quiet resident on the east end of town.

(piano music continues) Although I think most musicians easily recognize the Hal Leonard name, it's safe to say that a vast majority of Winona residents do not realize that we're located right in their backyard.

(machines whirring) If they're a musician, they do.

They're very familiar with us and the name and what we do.

Maybe not the extent of how much we actually provide to the music industry, but definitely the name and the fact that we are music publishers.

(piano music continues) - Music is a part of everybody's life.

Music is around us, music is within us, music comes from your heart, music comes from your soul.

And everybody has it.

(piano music continues) (piano music continues) I once heard a saying that if you have music in your soul, it can be heard by the whole universe.

And I am proud that Winona is part of that.

(cheerful jingle) (upbeat music) (music continues) (music continues) - My name is Tim Glowczewski.

I'm one of the owners here at the Lakeview Drive Inn.

We've been around since 1938.

I think this is our 79th year in business.

And we're here on a cruise night.

Well, Lakeview was originated in 1938 by a gentleman named Emil Berzinski.

My dad purchased it in 1977 and he kept it till 1992.

My brother and I bought it in 1993 and we still run it today.

If you look out to your right here, we have Sugarloaf Hill, and it's a beautiful view.

Back in the '50s, you used to do a thing called Dragging the Gut.

And Dragging the Gut was driving your hot rod down 3rd Street.

But this is kind of a tribute to Dragging the Gut, stopping at the drive-in and having a nice cold root beer, seeing the carhops in their poodle skirts.

So they'll actually come out to your car and wait on you.

And we have little trays that hook on your window.

And you can eat your meal in your car or you can sit at a picnic table here.

Back in the early days before the war, most carhops were men.

The cars used to come in.

And they'd call 'em carhops because the men used to jump on the running boards of the car and they used to follow them right into a stall.

But what happened was the war came along and the men went to war and all that was left was the girls.

So then the girls started doing it, and for some reason that caught on, I can't imagine why.

But it's nice to have a nice looking girl come out and wait on you.

We've had an awful lot of people on special events.

I know we had one time 175 cars.

It was a Mini Cooper night.

We had 'em parked in every nook and cranny and on the neighbor's lawn and over in the park.

And there must have been 500 or 600 people here.

Some nights, you just can't believe where people come from.

They come from Hastings and Rochester and the Twin Cities and Black River Falls and Wisconsin Dells.

We had Lady Bird Johnson here one time.

When Lakeview was first started, there was seven items on there.

Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, I think root beer, buttermilk.

I don't think milkshakes were even available at that time.

Right now we have six pages of menu items.

Yeah, we have pizza, yeah, we have tacos, but burger, fries, and soda is pretty much how America eats.

I do have a classic car, yes.

I've got a 1951 Ford pickup.

This happens to be Chevy night (laughing) so I left my Ford pickup at home.

You gotta be part of the group.

You gotta have a car.

(energetic music) (music continues) - I grew up in the A&W here in Spring Valley.

I spent my whole life in here as my parents owned it.

I used to sit in the kitchen and on a high chair, me sitting out in front with the trays.

So when I say I've been here forever, I was.

(music continues) - You're welcome.

- [Mark] I just think this was a fun era with the drive-ins.

Tell me how many drive-ins are around.

This one has been a drive-in since 1956.

- I used to work here as a carhop in 1966 and 1967.

I started out as a cook and then I got to be a carhop.

And then I ended up in the front room where you made the ice cream cones and the shakes and the malts and everything.

- Will you grab me some of those lids down there please?

- And you always had to watch out for, make sure that when the carload of kids came in, that you got all your mugs back.

Friday and Saturday nights was a lot of fun.

There used to be a drive-in theatre right across the street so when the theatre got out, the kids would all come over here and have root beers and malts and hamburgers.

I was born here in Spring Valley.

I graduated in 1967 and I have a '67 Mustang.

Being right outta high school, you couldn't afford one.

And so I waited for many, many years, and one of my friends called me and said, "Eileen, if you don't do it now, you're never gonna do it."

- [Mark] This kind of business is a lifestyle.

You don't just do it halfway.

It's just, we've always lived it as a lifestyle.

Everything has revolved around the A&W here.

My wife and I have been married for 35 years and have never been on a vacation in the summer.

I've been here seven days a week.

- You watch the highway patrols out there, no burning out or nothin'.

- Well, you're looking at a lot of cars that used to come in here from the '50s, '60s, '70s.

Take a look around.

All these styles of cars are running outta these carports all the time.

Roadrunners and GTOs and older Corvettes and the Nomads.

That's what people were driving back then.

And the lot was full of those style of cars.

So it kind of goes with the era.

This place was great with the muscle car era.

The place would be full of muscle cars.

And I grew up in that era too, so I always had a muscle car back then too.

Everybody wishes they'd have kept one or two of them.

- [Employee] Hi, can I help you?

- Can I have two small twist cones, please?

- Will that be all?

- Well, I've been in the restaurant business quite a long time.

And you know, the idea of a drive-in just really appealed to me.

You just don't see enough of these anymore.

And to be able to keep one going like this, you know, we found one for sale and it had such a great history, we really just wanted to build on that.

- Everybody says, why do I do this?

You know, I'm 57 years old.

You know, I've been here for 40 years.

Between you and I, I think I'm done making milkshakes.

If I wouldn't make another one probably the rest of my life, I'd be okay with that.

But it's the people.

That's what keeps me coming back every single day.

(upbeat music) (music continues) (energetic jingle) (cheerful jingle) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.