By Pastor John Hulden
It’s the middle of summer. Have you been to a lake yet?
Looking back on my just completed two weeks of vacation, water played an important role in my time away. At an Airbnb in Detroit Lakes, there was swimming and a pontoon ride, as well as a bike ride around Lake Detroit most every morning. In Moorhead — besides eating a dilly bar at the best DQ in the world — I did more biking up and down the bike paths along the mighty Red River of the North. Then I took the train to northwestern Montana to spend a week with my Mom at our little lake place next to a crystal-clear lake. Nothing beats jumping into a cold mountain lake after a sauna!
“The green spaces around Bde Maka Ska on that warm, beautiful day last week were full of folks BBQing, laughing, lounging, and playing volleyball, soccer, and frisbee.”
Back in Minnesota on the Fourth of July, we visited friends who live near Bde Maka Ska in South Minneapolis. The green spaces around Bde Maka Ska on that warm, beautiful day last week were full of folks BBQing, laughing, lounging, and playing volleyball, soccer, and frisbee. In the water were swimmers, waders, splashers, and too many floatation devices to count. Along with our grandson, we even got to see a turtle waddle into the water next to one of the swimming beaches.
I’ve been thinking and thanking ever since about public spaces.
WHILE DETROIT LAKES has a great public beach (across the road from Zorbaz), the rest of the shoreline is prime real estate. Most of the small fishing cabins have been torn down and replaced long ago with massive year-round “cabins.” It reminded me of Lake Minnetonka.
In Moorhead, where we lived for 16 years before moving 11 years ago to the other edge of Minnesota, the city’s leaders are contemplating a re-do of their downtown along the Red River. The citizens of Moorhead voted for a tax increase (!) to help re-think and re-frame their 1970 era downtown that is bookended by two public parks.
“I’m grateful for the forward-thinking, inclusive-minded leaders from years ago that argued and fought successfully for public access to the lakes in their cities.”
At that Montana lake I adore, we look across to a public campground. But there too, most of the small fishing cabins have been replaced by cabin-mansions. One of the property owners used prime lake shore for their tennis court — where I’ve never seen anyone with a racket and a tennis ball.
When I think of the Land of 10,000 Lakes, I’m grateful for the forward-thinking, inclusive-minded leaders in Minneapolis and Saint Paul from years ago that argued and fought successfully for public access to the lakes in their cities.
It made me wonder as I biked around a lake, and along a river, for what should I argue and fight? Is there an issue, a problem, an opportunity that might not benefit me today, but instead provide a clean, public space so generations to come can laugh, swim, eat, and play?