Culture

May 2025 Summer Events Calendar

May 12th, 2025

From concerts and car shows to Japanese art and Juneteenth celebrations, there's so much going on around the region this summer. This year's High Plains Reader Summer Events Calendar is back and bigger than ever. It's packed with everything you need to make this the best summer yet. 

Check out the May events below and mark your calendars with all the great June events on tap. We'll bring you July events and the August event calendar in our June print issue, but you can read them all…

Read more...


August 2025 Summer Events Calendar

May 12th, 2025

Back-to-school season is on the horizon, but there's still plenty of summer left. Check out our favorite August attractions and events in North Dakota and western Minnesota. 

And if if you missed them, here are a few excellent May eventsJune events and our July calendar as well. Happy planning! 

Emo Night Fargo

August 1, The Aquarium, Fargo

Cassandre 3000 brings emo and pop punk classics to the stage. Free and 21+.

aquariumfargo.com

Fargo Blues Festival

August 1-2, Newman Outdoor Field,…

Read more...


July 2025 Summer Events Calendar

May 12th, 2025

July means we're deep into summer and ready to find new ways to cool off, connect with our neighbors and have fun. Whether you want a road trip, a staycation or a way to shake yourself out of a midweek slump, these are our picks for the best events and attractions all month long. 

Planning ahead? Check out our August 2025 Events Calendar too. (And here are our May events and our June calendar, if you missed them!)

The Unchosen Ones Exhibit Opening

July 1, Hjemkomst Center, Moorhead

R.J.…

Read more...


June 2025 Summer Events Calendar

May 12th, 2025

This summer is action-packed, so High Plains Reader is making it easy to maximize those long summer days. Check out some of our favorite June events below and review our May 2025 Summer Events Calendar to find events you might have missed.

And we're just getting started. We share lots of great events happening this July and August also.

Tuesdays in the Park

June 3-August 26, Detroit Lakes City Park

It’s a new summer tradition! Catch a free, all-ages concert in the park every Tuesday…

Read more...


The humanities aren’t political — they’re personal

April 17th, 2025

By Prairie Rose Seminole

ms.prairierose@gmail.com

I was a child who walked behind my parents into classrooms and kitchens, spaces of song and prayer, where teachings lived in the air and settled on my shoulders. I didn’t yet have the words to name what I was learning, but I felt the weight of history in story, the pull of a sense of place in land, the breath of language in prayer, the shape of theology in the way we loved one another.

Faith, culture and community became my earliest…

Read more...


A letter to Leonard Peltier

April 16th, 2025

By Winona LaDuke

winona@winonaladuke.com

You sent me a postcard in 1984. It’s a picture of myself, author Peter Matthiessen and a few more of us in Fargo, right after your Bismarck evidentiary hearing in October. We had scraped together money and purchased a billboard downtown Fargo that said “Free Peltier.” We were proud of ourselves that day. That’s in the photo’s background.

You wrote a sweet note to me, the return: #89637-132, from Marion Federal Penitentiary. I’d gone…

Read more...


Long live cowgirls: HPR chats with Stellar Trick Riding Cowgirls

March 15th, 2025

By Sabrina Hornung

sabrina@hpr1.com

Rodeo is a family tradition for sisters Kate and Tera Flitton. The duo performs under the moniker Stellar Trick Riding Cowgirls. The Utah natives will be performing along with bareback riders, steer wrestlers, barrel racers and more at the Fargo PRCA Rodeo at the Fargodome on March 28-29.

Kate, who is 18 years old, has been trick riding for 11 years. Tera, age 13, has been trick riding for five years. Kate fell in love with the sport after seeing a…

Read more...


​Non-profit spotlight

January 15th, 2025

By HPR Staff

We’re all a part of building strong, healthy and inclusive communities. But the region’s non-profit organizations do a lot of the heavy lifting. Now it’s time for these organizations to step into the spotlight.

We asked several North Dakota and Minnesota nonprofit organizations to share three easy ways our readers can help them reach their goals in 2025. From Fargo-Moorhead to Grand Forks, Valley City to Bismarck, these groups showcase great art, local agriculture and…

Read more...


​The onion calendar: A folk forecasting tradition

December 26th, 2024

By Sabrina Hornung

sabrina@hpr1.com

The onion calendar is an old German folk tradition used to predict levels of moisture each month throughout the coming year using salt, a knife, an onion and a little bit of patience. Donna and Delbert Eszlinger of Ashley, North Dakota, honor this tradition each New Year’s Eve. They along, with a number of other locals, swear by it.

“It’s a German tradition that's been carried on from grandparents and great grandparents,” Donna Eszlinger said…

Read more...


​Holiday spiders goats and pigs:

December 19th, 2024

SHSND delves into their ornament collection

By Jenny Yearous

history@nd.gov

In 2017 we received Christmas ornaments from the North Dakota Former Governors’ Residence. The ornaments were gifts from local chapters of the Germans from Russia Heritage Society of North DakotaThree Crowns Swedish American AssociationSons of Norway and the Ukrainian Cultural Institute. Starting in 1985, different ethnic-themed Christmas trees were decorated at the residence as each year another group…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry Farrms Tracker Pixel for Entry FPL Tracker Pixel for Entry Blackbird Tracker Pixel for Entry P&P Tracker Pixel for Entry Gruff1 Tracker Pixel for Entry NewSalem1C

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee NelsonMore than 1,000 pro-worker events are planned for Thursday, May 1 across the country, including rallies in Fargo-Moorhead, Grand Forks, Minot and Jamestown. East Grand Forks and Bismarck will host protests…

From concerts and car shows to Japanese art and Juneteenth celebrations, there's so much going on around the region this summer. This year's High Plains Reader Summer Events Calendar is back and bigger than ever. It's packed with…

Saturday, May 24, 7 p.m.The Aquarium above Dempsey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoBe a part of a 20+ year tradition: ten bands enter The Aquarium and just one leaves with the ultimate prize — 300 cans of Hamm’s beer and the coveted…

By John Strandjas@hpr1.com One description that perhaps aptly describes the mental state of many lately is that they feel they are attached to a string. Or several strings. Call it the notion that people are played like puppets,…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comPerhaps it was by IVF — the Know-Nothings are “concepting” notzeesIn the middle of the 19th century the Republican Party morphed to the Know-Nothing Party for a short time. Members quickly…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com After a very inspiring conversation with Kayla Houchin of Sonder Bakehouse a few weeks ago, I decided that it’s an appropriate time to write a column about some of the sweet people who are involved…

Mooncats and Pert Near Sandstone play Empire TheatreBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comThe MoonCats describe themselves as “Americonscious Campfire Folk.” They have a clear acoustic folk sound with a sense of whimsy — think…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Of the many photographs that help tell the story “I Know Catherine, the Log Lady,” the one of David Lynch dressed as FBI Regional Bureau Chief (and later Deputy Director) Gordon Cole saying…

By Raul Gomez Modern Man was a gentle soul. If you were down or just wanted a friend, he’d be there for you. I remember the first day I met Modern Man. It was Jeremiah Fuglseth and me. He wanted to write about this legendary…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com There appear to be differences in the incidence of mental illnesses between men and women. For example, women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, post-traumatic stress…

By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…

By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson.nd7@gmail.com Our trucking business has me driving almost daily from gas plants in western North Dakota's oil patch to Canada. I haul natural gas liquids (NGLs) products we used to see flared off at…