Rutland, ND

Rutland should be proud to learn that our Mayor was honored at the North Dakota League of Cities Annual Conference as the “Outstanding City Official for 2008.”  Ron Narum has served as our Mayor for 36 years.  During his tenure, the city streets have been resurfaced, additions were made to City Hall, and the sewer system was renovated and the lagoons were rebuilt.   Ron was one of the founders of the Rutland Museum and serves as the caretaker of the museum, pioneer house and country school exhibits for 20 years.

Ron has been chief of the volunteer fire department and served on the board of the fire protection district. He is chairman of the county jobs development authority, a member of the county weed control board and president of the county historical society.  He has served on the boards of the Rutland Community Club, the Rutland Community Development Corporation, Rutland Community Housing, the Lake Agassiz Water Authority and the North Dakota League of Cities. Prior to becoming mayor, Ron served as a city council member.   

After receiving this award, Ron Narum said, “Well, this is a surprise. But, it isn’t just all my work…it isn’t just me…the community makes everything happen. And the community really appreciates when you can do even small things for them.”

Congratulations to Ron!

The weather was absolutely beautiful.  Why would anyone want to be inside on such a lovely afternoon?  Lots of people, if you consider the crowd that attended Rutland’s annual Fun Nite.  The Town Hall was packed with people playing Bingo or trying their luck for prizes at the variety of games available.  The competition at the Cake Walk was pretty intense and some people went home with 3, 4 and 5 cakes.  I worked in the kitchen serving pop, lemonade, coffee, hot dogs, nachos, walking tacos, bars, ice cream sundaes & root beer floats.  My co-worker and I were sure kept hopping.  Kids went home with full sacks of loot, maybe a bit of a sugar high and a big smile on their faces.  The adults were also smiling after spending a nice afternoon visiting with friends and participating in the games with their children.  Thanks to Diane Smith and Hilary Mehrer for putting together another great community activity.

There will be a meeting of the Screening Committee/Action Plan Chairpersons on Tuesday, November 18 at 7:00 p.m. at Nordland Parish Hall.  The Steering Committee will be discussing the suggestions for the use of the $8,500 we received for successful completion of the Horizon Project.  Rutland residents have provided input through the suggestion boxes at the General Store and Cafe.  Suggestions included: 

At the Rutland Community Club meeting earlier this week one of the items discussed was the bathroom renovation which had been in the planning stages for several months - or is it years?  The discussion brought up the issue of all the needs in the Town Hall including a new heating unit and insulation in addition to handicap accessible bathrooms.  We were told that if some maintenance is not done on the building soon we could lose it.  It is estimated that the cost to update the building would be close to $100,000.

The City of Rutland does not have the funds to do what needs to be done.  Residents are writing grants and planning fundraisers but that will not be enough.  Letters have been sent to current and former Rutland residents informing them of these needs and to ask for donations for a maintenance and rehabilitation fund for Rutland Town Hall.  As seen above, the building looks good from the outside and appears clean and white but as we know looks can be deceiving.

Donations are asked to be sent to the Rutland Community Club, PO Box 65, Rutland ND 58067.  If anyone knows a potential source of large funding for a city building renovation, please let us know.  During these tough economic times we need to identify and approach any and every available source.

The Rutland Community received $8,500 for successfully completing the Horizons Project.  This money is available to help us work on the goals chosen at the Community Forum regarding advertising, recreation, housing and a hiking/biking trail.  The goals - and vision - were formulated and are shown on the Rutland’s Vision page.

We are soliciting community input on how to use the funds.  Suggestion boxes are in the Rutland Cafe and the Rutland General Store.  Comments can also be left here and they will be posted for more of a forum for input and community discussion.  Suggestions are being accepted until October 30.  The Horizon Steering Committee plans to meet and make a final decision based on these suggestions.  The meeting date has not yet been determined.

It’s not too late to get your voice heard.  Maybe there are other ideas that are not on the vision or goals list.  Get your comments, ideas and suggestions in.  Many other things fall under the categories of recreation - like a library which we don’t have in Rutland — or a regular ‘gym night’ in the Hall or whatever!  The Steering Committee will review and consider all suggestions.  Start now!

Everyone in this community is saying “Uffda” and are most likely thankful that the 24th Uffda Day event is behind us.  Oh, I think that the people who work the event have fun doing some of the chores - especially in the preparation that started two months before.  The work making the goodies — lefse, sandbakkels, krumkake, etc. — brings people together and some come to Rutland from neighboring towns to visit and help during those marathon efforts.   Even after doing this for so many years, we learn new things and brainstorm about what to change for the next celebration.  There is always the weather factor that is out of our control.  However, it is amazing that this community can draw so many for the one day.  Our biggest draw continues to be the lefse.  The dinner and other food and crafts also contribute to get people from far and wide to Rutland.  Despite the weather, we had a lot of visitors to town.  Kudos to everyone who pulled together another successful Uffda Day event.  Next year will be the 25th year and I’m sure that there will be something special planned.  Rutland residents be on alert that we’ll need everyone’s help to get that event going.  It’s not too early to volunteer — get your name on a list with the Community Club or simply leave a comment here and we’ll make sure that you get a call next Fall (or sooner) when the planning starts rolling again!!

This is the last chance to help with the lefse rolling for Uff-Da Day.  Four more sessions will be held this week (Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.).   This year we may just make the 4000.  As of last week, 3002 have already been made.  With four more sessions, 4000 is definitely within reach.  Once the lefse is ready, then the krumkake and sandbagel making crews will be hard at work. The next three weeks there will be a lot of harder working residents preparing for the big celebration!

The lefse crew is working steadily to produce an abundant supply for the upcoming Uff-Da Day sales and meal.  As of last Thursday, the gang has produced just over 1700 lefse.  There will be additional lefse rolling sessions this month every Tuesday and Thursday, 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.  There will be a late night session on Wednesday, September 10, at 8:00 p.m.  Anyone who wants to help out is welcome to come and join the workers at City Hall any of those dates and times. (The photo is courtesy of Wikipedia; the crew here makes perfectly round lefse!)

Uffda Day is only 34 days from now and I know that all the work and activities are shortly going into super high gear.  Lefse Lena and her crew has been busy.  I’ll get another count after tomorrow morning’s session to let you know how we are progressing on just the lefse.  There is much more to do and many more troops to rally to get the event ready for the 1000s of visitors who come.  Let’s just hope we get enough lefse made! (The schedule of events and activities is listed on the separate Uffda Day page linked at right.)

Last night was the 8 p.m. lefse rolling shift.  It was a fairly calm session (not like last year’s!).  About a dozen of us were there rolling, frying, flipping, folding, and packing the lefse.  There were refreshing beverages and we even ate a few of the rejects (some probably created on purpose!).  All in all, we managed to get another 193 in the freezer - so we’re over 500 already. 

This morning there was another crew and will be again this evening.  There will be plenty of opportunities for everyone to have a turn or two or three or more before we’re done. I know I’ll be back to help out.  It’s the only time of the year I get involved in making - or eating - lefse (I’m not Norwegian!).