(Upbeat cheery music) - Hello and welcome to Prairie Pulse coming up a little bit later in the show, we're going to profile a Belcourt North Dakota, sculptor, Bennett Brien, but first joining me now is retired Major General Mike Haugen, General, thanks for joining us today - Thank you, John.

Thanks for the invite But, you're here today to talk about the Fargo air show.

I know that, and we're excited about that and a lot going on, but before we do that tell the folks a little bit about yourself and your background please.

- Oh, well I grew up in the Valley City area still have a farm up there and went to Valley City State and then graduated from, Minot State.

I started flying at, in, in my high school age and have been a pilot ever since Flew with the air national guard here in Fargo.

The Happy Hooligans, ended up as the commander of the Happy Hooligans and also flew with Frontier Airlines and ended up as the Adjutant General retired from the military as the Adjutant General for the state of North Dakota.

So I've, I've been around airplanes and air shows my whole life - Well, there you go.

So you probably going to answer my next question.

You know, how, and when did you get started with the Fargo air show?

And I want to hold this up real quick because we're excited.

Fargo air show is back July 24th and 25th.

So, but let's go.

How did you get, and when did you get started with that?

- I was, I was in the Air National Guard and the Air National Guard had sponsored a couple of air show, open houses, as military organizations and then Dick Walstead, my co-chair was involved in organizing as civilian slash military air show.

And we actually were incorporated back in I believe it was 1986 and I'm one of the original signers.

We're a, we're a 5 0 1 C4 organization.

So we're a, we're a charity.

And if we are lucky enough to earn any money at the air show we use, as Dick says, we we use kind of a strange business model.

We give it away.

And, and so over the years we have given, oh my oh almost $600,000 back to the community.

We donate money to the Fargo Air Museum.

We've donated money to the Roger Maris Cancer Center, Sanford and numerous numerous charities around the community.

- Yeah of course, last year due to COVID the air show was canceled, probably a big disappointment but can you talk about that and how all that transpired and what happened?

- Well, actually last year there were numerous shows canceled but we have, we have normally done a show every other year and last year we were not scheduled and we were lucky we weren't because there were so few air shows.

Matter of fact, in talking with performers to line up this year as air show, several of them said, if if they do not have a show this year they're gonna sell their airplane and quit the business.

So I think we're finding it's just the opposite.

There are, there are numerous shows that we know have been canceled but those that are a little later in the season like ours is they end of July 24th and 25th.

They, the, the excitement is there and it, it also it also varies State by State.

There are, there are some shows that you would have thought would happen in California that are not, the Midwest there are a lot of air shows that are happening.

And I think it's, it's a difference in and how different states treat the COVID lockdown.

- Yeah.

Well, you're probably right with that because you know it's back seems like it's going to be a great show, looking at your flyer and talking about it here, but were you happy to see the CDC course guidelines changing?

I mean, come on in January I didn't think I would be able to get a vaccination until about now, you know, June or July and yet I was able to get it in March.

So the vaccinations happened a lot quicker.

And so has that just made it even easier to have this event?

- It, it has.

And, and back when we were first really worried about whether we could actually put on a show or not, we did a we did some background study and we had we had some volunteers from the state from UND School of Medicine and from County Health here in Fargo do an analysis and they looked at what was going on at the time with vaccinations.

They, they explored, well, your event is all outside.

That's the number one good thing.

It'll be later in the season when it's warmer.

So that's a second good thing.

And, and again, looking at outside activities and, and they they basically said in studying all the factors we think you should not have an issue putting on a show.

We also said, we want another analysis by you, in June So they, they are right now just looking at it again, of course looking at CDC guidelines, just like you mentioned the department of defense guidelines are of course we have DOD areas out at the airport.

They have been relaxed.

And, and the only ones that have not yet is TSA.

So the Transportation Security Administration is still and and they say, well, they own the airport.

And, and we kind of go, well, yes we understand federal money is used to operate the airport and we have to follow their guidelines.

But we also look at City, State, County, Federal guidelines from other agencies, and they're, they're quite different.

So what we're hoping, and we're going to stress to people that want to buy tickets is to check check the website right before you go to see what our restrictions are but we're still going to do some some precautionary measures.

We've looked at how much square footage we have how many, we have 32 acres that's fenced in for the air show.

So we can put including social distancing.

We can put about 60,000 people in that area.

Well, we've never had 60,000 people.

We'll we, we do run 20,000 per day, 25,000.

And, and we still have plenty of room to spread out.

We also have airplanes that will be open and available to walk through, to look at, and and we will do hand sanitizing.

We'll, we'll offer face masks maybe gloves when you go through.

So we're, we're still gonna do safety precautions but again, we're outside.

It should be nice and warm if this weekend is anything like the rest of the summer.

- [John] Sure.

Well, as you and I were talking, before we came on camera here, a lot of events are starting to have a lot of people attending, especially if they're outside events.

- [Mike] Correct.

So, but tell us about what's going to happen at the air show this year.

What do you have?

- Well the, the headliners are the Blue Angels and the Blue Angels are back again for, I don't remember how many times.

I think about 11 times now we've had them and this year is really quite unique for a couple of reasons And the main one is that the boss, the commander is a Lieutenant Commander, Brian Kesselring.

Now Brian is a Fargo South High School graduate.

He's a Concordia graduate And he attended with his father Kurt, the, the air show in 1986.

And at that air show, the boss was Gil Rude from Portland, North Dakota.

And Brian looked at the Blues, pointed him out and said dad, someday, I'm going to do that.

And lo and behold, this year, he is doing that.

So he will be here as the boss.

So it's really great to welcome the Blues and especially their new Commander.

And because he's a local boy - Absolutely roots right here in North Dakota.

In fact, let's take a quick look at some of that video.

(inspiring music) (upbeat music) - I'll tell you what, that's some fun video to watch.

And it was only a short version of what the people will see if they go out.

Can you talk about the precise precision and the training required to fly those planes?

- Certainly the, the Blues fly a tighter formation than than a normal military pilot.

When, when we fly when I used to fly F16 or the F-4 we'd fly with three feet of wings spacing.

Okay.

So you could, you could move up and down.

The Blues normally fly with 18 inches of wing spacing.

And the, they even joke once in a while sometimes we exchange paint, which means they bumped.

And, but they, the maneuvers that they fly are designed for the show, of course but they are also basic air to air maneuvers that all the military pilots who fly fighters use and do so, it, it takes a lot of experience to get to the point of being asked to be on the Blue Angels and or the Thunderbirds, either one and the, the precision and the capabilities of the airplane is what is the demonstration teams try to relay to the crowd and say this is what your Navy does.

This is what your Marine Corps does or this is what your Air Force does, so it's.

- Can you talk about some of the other planes people will see obviously the Blue Angels are fighter jets but there's all kinds of restored planes.

- There, there are, we have some unique ones.

We have a couple of brothers in valley city called the Lindemann brothers.

Okay.

So there's Paul and Jared Lindemann.

They fly three different airplanes in the air show.

So they will fly a, a Stearman, a World War II trainer and they do an act with that.

They, they fly a pit special, and then they have a 1939 Waco which is a biplane with a big radial engine but this Waco is unique.

It also has a jet engine on the bottom.

So, so they're going to fly that and, and RAD Aerosports out of Valley City is one of our main sponsors this year.

And then for the first time ever Jeff Bourbon who flies a, a Yak, it's a very unique airplane because it's two airplanes stuck together.

What he did is he cut the wings off and, and put these two.

And it's a, it's a Russian airplane Russian trainer with a radial engine.

So he put these two airplanes together to make a twin engine aerobatic airplane, and then decided like the Lindemann's with RAD Aerosports I need more power.

So I'm going to hang a jet engine on the bottom of mine too.

So these two are going to do a dual act and then they're going to premiere that act here and then go to Oshkosh, the big EAA fly in.

So we have a Valley City connection.

Now Jeff Bourbon went to UND Flight School and then we have two F-35, Marine Core, F-35's coming in also flown by a UND graduate and he's an active duty Marine.

So they're coming in and then we have Kent Peach from Minot.

So we have a, a good North Dakota bunch of performers here.

So it'll be a, a great local show.

And then we have some other airplanes that are, are unique.

I also want to get into an education piece that we've really never had before.

And that is we, we have a stem program for science technology, engineering, and math, and, and we have a local group of students who do robotics.

They're going to put on a demonstration.

We have an air force recruiting booth that has a virtual displays in it so, kids can go up and see a TV screen.

It's interactive.

They can change tires on a C-130.

They can fix a hydraulic leak on an airplane.

So it's not just about flying, but it's all the other aspects of that.

And we're going to have a UND we'll be down to, with some of their airplanes.

And then North Dakota State University is going to be in place.

So we're going to, we're gonna offer educational things for kids, not, not just watch the airplanes, but actually hands-on and see what type of careers you might like to have an aviation - Sure, generally so much going on.

It sounds great, but how many people volunteers does it take to put this air show on?

- Oh my, we have the, we have the best committee ever.

We have 70 volunteers on this committee and it's an established committee.

And we have, we have every everybody in that committee has their niche.

And so to, to be the co-chair is just an easy job because everybody does their part.

So we have everything from someone worrying about setting up tents, tables, chairs, to porta-potties to garbage, to transportation, to marketing.

And, and all we get to do is how is your area?

How is your area?

They're oh, we're doing great.

So - Is the air show safe?

You know, some people with all the activity with all the planes is, is - Yes.

Well, let me, let me tell you that we have we have only had really tiny, minor injuries.

Most of those have been people tripping on the tarmac or something like that.

But what we do is each year before an air show we have the complete safety review and we have an accident plan in place.

The fire chief at the airport conducts a tabletop exercise with all the fire departments and all the law enforcement agencies who are involved.

And it's a, so, so we are we are prepared if anything happens obviously we don't want anything to happen.

And I might also mention with bringing up law enforcement this year there's going to be some road construction.

University on the east side of the airport is being reconstructed.

So there will be some traffic delays.

And of course, 19th avenue is shut down for the aerobatic box for people to fly in.

So they, FAA does not allow any driving in that box.

So, so if you come to the air show plan on a bit slower traffic that day.

- Okay well, with that said what I understand you have a family pass.

Can you talk about the tickets?

- Yes well, you know, we, we looked at ticketing and we we've tried to figure out what, what would someone want that we aren't offering?

So this year we're offering a mom and dad and two kids and you can go online to, to the fargoairsho.com to buy all your tickets, and you can buy them in advance.

And it's cheaper if you buy them ahead of time.

And we've had very good response so far.

So don't, don't delay too long, but that was, that was one of the things that we thought, you know, to get more families out there, we should offer that.

So we're doing that this year.

- Well, what kind of crowds do you expect this year especially with COVID.

- I, well, from what I've seen in, in, you mentioned earlier about the Indianapolis and the outdoor gatherings the 500 that I think we're probably going to have 30,000 people out here this year.

- [John] Wow.

- So going to be a great show and we have we also have some ground acts.

So you have to get into the area to see the ground acts.

We have to stop the show when the airlines land and take off.

So we have motorcycle jumpers again we've got a jet truck that has three jet engines on it.

It goes 300 miles an hour and a half mile.

And so you're going to see a lot of smoke and fire.

- Well, there's so much going on.

I'm glad you got to those ground shows, but if people want more information where can they go, who can they contact - Yep, fargoairsho.com and air show we dropped the "w" off it, it's just like Fargo there's no "w" in, in Fargo.

So there's no "w" and air show, and you can find our ticketing and you can find the latest on COVID.

You can find the latest.

- Well best of luck to you.

Thank you for joining us today.

Stay tuned for more.

(upbeat music) - Bennett Brien is a Native American and Metis artist who sculptures can be found across the region.

He also designed the now retired University of North Dakota Indian head logo to watch him work at his studio in Belcourt North Dakota is an amazing experience.

(southern music) - [Bennett] I like portraying something good, God country, family.

That's the way it's way we roll around here.

(southern music) - [Bennett] My name is Bennett Brien.

I'm from Belcourt North Dakota, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, Metis artist.

- I make two and three dimensional artworks.

(southern music) - [Bennett] I like to live honorably.

And that's the way I was raised.

- Parents are both French and Indian grandparents on both sides, French and Indian.

- [Bennett] My oldest brother started drawing one time.

He was eight years old, I was six.

I seen them drawing tanks and boats and soldiers and whatever.

So I thought that was cooler than heck.

I was just blown away by what you could do with a pencil.

- [Bennett] When I was in boarding school at St. Joseph's Indian boarding school in Chamberlain, I seen Oscar Howe's was work, and that's when I kind of kicked into the native subject matter.

- I went to school in Santa Fe, New Mexico and I took three firsts and three shows I entered.

- Taos, the Heard Museum in Phoenix and then one in Santa Fe.

- Stan Johnson was the instructor at UND.

And that was his last year, 83, 84 school year.

And that was when I took my first sculpture classes.

One of the assignments was to do something small, medium and life size.

And I did a small stone sculpture.

I only did the small one for the three projects in the first semester.

And then the second semester I took sculpture too.

And he asked what I wanted to do this time.

And I said, geez, I like to do a life-size sculpture.

He says, what are you going to make?

I says I dunno, maybe a Buffalo - He says what 'cha gonna make it out of I says, hmm, geez, I don't know.

- He says he ever weld.

I said, no.

He says, can you learn?

I said, yeah.

- And that's when I got that big, wow, man this is just so amazing.

(upbeat guitar music) - [Bennett] I like abstract and I like realism.

So I tried to get the two together.

- Rebar, you're doing something different more like a three-dimensional thing.

- That rebar is like a pencil line in space.

- You can bend it by hand.

You can cut it with a bolt cutter by hand.

You don't need no power, nothing.

And it is the cheapest stuff.

You could get really, cheapest metal.

- I'm working on another Fighting Sioux sculpture.

This is my second one.

The first one I did in 2015 that's at Engelstad arena by Engelstad's box.

- I hadn't done a face in a while and this one's going a little different.

It's going a little faster, actually.

- It's challenging.

You really have to use your brain.

- I did the profile first, I copied the profile off my design just right.

You start that way first, you always do the research, if you could.

- The first one was the bison on the capital then the horse on the capital.

- And then the Sharp-tailed grouse, a piece in the federal building, that's four in Bismarck.

And then I got two in Wahpeton, three in Grand Forks, one in Crookston, four around Belcourt.

- So I'm pretty much just a North Dakota guy.

- They're different, but they're all kind of like the same in a way, because you've put all of yourself into each one, - I like doing something that'll bring some good thoughts or memory like an Eagle for the native, he was like, the messenger brought your prayers to God.

The great spirit Kitchi Manitou, however you want to say it.

(happy guitar music) - [Bennett] I was right over here, when I designed the fighting Sioux logo that was in 1999.

- Earl Strinden asked me to come up with one, So I sat down by the week I had it done, I got sketches of different ones.

- I just did the one, then I showed it to Earl said, good we'll take it.

- As far as the design of the guy, I just, just drew it out.

- When I started it, it was going to be something warrior type, strong looking, brave.

- The purposeful look are the feathers for their honors of what they've done in life through a little war paint on there the war paints for everyday struggles.

- Maybe having a cheerful disposition at work, maybe that's a struggle for you saying hi to someone you don't like, maybe.

- I'm still doing Fighting Sioux paintings for people, And I personalize them, whatever you want on it.

- So I guess the Sioux logo has been pretty kind to me.

(happy guitar music) - It was gratifying, you gotta be thankful you get to do stuff like that.

- And then you just think about what you're going to do next.

- If they like it, that makes me feel pretty good.

- If you could explain the symbolism to them, I'm sure they'll feel a little different I suppose if you're there talking to them right there.

- [Bennett] Because if they can just look and admire maybe the skill would patients it took the do something like that.

- I want them to know I'm from Belcourt.

- I love the state the good people you meet around here.

- I wouldn't want to be in New York or LA you crazy?

North Dakota, that's the place to be.

- Well, that's all we have this week on Prairie Pulse and as always, thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) - Funded by the North Dakota council on the arts and by the members of Prairie public.