Dear Shirley,
Before the break of Valentine’s Day Friday, a whole load of Grand Forks youth will be out of here on a bus to Fargo. There they will catch a plane to New York City. And they will be singing Monday night in Carnegie Hall.
Then there’s a contingency of family members and friends going with them and flying out of Grand Forks. They will have four days in New York, staying in a hotel near Carnegie Hall.
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You can just imagine the excitement in the air. The singers are in Grades 7 through 9. Their conductor is Melanie Popejoy, founder of Grand Cities Children’s Choir program.
Evan Walsh, one of the singers, said the Grand Cities choir members will wear black and white formal attire. Their itinerary includes rehearsals, as well as seeing two musicals - “Newsies” and “Wicked.” They will hear the choir at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and visit Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. There will be sightseeing and shopping in Times Square before the performance Monday.
Winter is moving along, and I told Paul Helgerson at Odin’s Belmont Service Station where I filled up this week that the worst is over. He looked at me with a grin on his face and said he would remind me of that statement in March.
Yes, March!
Some of your Arizona snowbirds from around here who are wintering around Mesa are planning their annual breakfast down there. They are expecting their largest crowd ever - 250 are signed up already. The breakfast is at 8:30 a.m. on March 6 at the Golden Corral Restaurant. The organizers are Bob and Pat Wood and Carol Anderson.
North Dakotans like getting together, you know. A bunch of them gather to watch UND sporting events at O’Sullivan’s in Mesa. Phyllis and Homer Rovelstad help organize that.
The UND men’s hoops team is back in town and playing Montana State tonight. Saturday I met up with the parents of Samantha Roscoe, a newcomer to the women’s basketball team. The flight and travel time for Gary and Carole Roscoe from Perth, Australia, was 36 hours. They were delighted to see their daughter, who came to UND alone last fall at age 17 and spent Christmas here with her roommate’s family.
Samantha, or “Sam”, is 6 feet 3 inches tall. She has the same number 5 here that she had back home in Perth.
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Her parents had never seen this much snow. They loved it here. Their only problem was remembering to drive on the right hand side of the streets.
Wish I could join you down there on the desert. I still have the card that identifies all the cactuses by name so I don’t have to keep asking.
Love from your sister Marilyn in the land of frozen pipes, dented cars and missing mittens.
P.S. The Grand Forks Republicans are holding a Lincoln Day Dinner at the Ramada this evening. The speaker is North Dakota’s Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. And when he speaks, I will listen - even though it means missing the basketball game between the UND green men and Montana State.
Reach Hagerty at mhagerty@gra.midco.net or (701) 772-1055 .
