The Lake Wobegon Trail
“Twenty-five years ago, for amusement, I invented a small town where the women are strong and the men good-looking and all the children above average and started telling stories about it on the radio, and ever since then people have asked me if it’s a real town, and if it is, then where is it exactly? I used to say it’s fiction. “Oh,” they said. “Sure.” But they were disappointed. People want stories to be true. They don’t care so much about your gifts of invention as the fact that your story reminded them of people they knew when growing up. They want you to say, “The character of Darlene is based about 95 percent on my cousin Charlotte in Dubuque. I only changed the hair from auburn to blonde and made her more chesty.” So I started telling people that the town is in central Minnesota, near Stearns County, up around Holdingford, not far from St. Rosa and Albany and Freeport, northwest of St. Cloud, which is sort of the truth, I guess.”
-Garrison Keillor
Lake Wobegon Trail, Covered Bridge, Holdingford, Minnesota
Garrison Keillor practically made an imaginary town tangible with his vivid story telling and writing. The legend of Lake Wobegon struck a chord with more than just the people of Central Minnesota that he seemed to be describing. Since his first radio show of Prairie home companion in 1974, Garrison Keillor caught the attention of the whole country, catching listeners from all over the United States. To Central Minnesota, it meant something more. He seemed to be describing and romanticizing the lore of life in Central Minnesota. So the Albany Jaycees, a civic non-profit organization raised money to pave a trail name after the legend of Lake Wobegon. In 1998, the retired Soo Line Railway wave paved into a 10 feet wide, 65 mile long, multipurpose trail that weaves through the best scenery of central Minnesota. Art in Motion was built to compliment the trail, and visa vera. We appreciate the great stories of Lake Wobegon and whole heartedly support the Lake Wobegon trail. Bike, walk, or roller-skate your way through central Minnesota on the Lake Wobegon Trail. We are located just north of the Holdingford trailhead.
