Bonanzaville in Winter...

We finally made it out to Bonanzaville, the nifty collection of area artifacts out in West Fargo.

Bonanzaville is owned and run by the Cass County Historical Society, and serves as the society's headquarters. It's a collection of exhibition buildings and actual historical buildings uprooted and moved, presumably to escape the wrecking ball. The former town hall of Arthur, N.D., is there, as is the Northern Pacific Railroad depot from Embden, N.D.

The handsome fellow off to the right is the Case Eagle, "Old Abe," who used to grace the J. I. Case Building in downtown Fargo. The Case Company was a manufacturer of farming equipment – it's now a giant who bought International Harvester while I wasn't looking and renamed itself "Case IH."

The "bonanza" part of the name comes from the farms developed after the railroads came to Cass County in 1871. To stir up business, they advertised back East and in Europe that land was available. Presumably, the winters were mentioned in the fine print.

The massive farms that resulted – with thousands of acres per farming family or company – produced bumper crops, and became known as "Bonanza Farms." One of the biggest bonanza farms was the Grandin Farm, north of Moorhead, with around 40,000 acres during the height of production.

The occasion yesterday was Bonanzaville's annual winter program. Controversy erupted last year when the program's directors decided to be a little more inclusive and accurate, and renamed "Christmas on the Prairie" "Holidays on the Prairie." Great unhappiness ensued locally, and attendance suffered. This year, in an attempt to straddle the divide, it was called "Christmas Memories."

Christmas Memories was a nice program of music and crafts, with vintage music being played and danced to, carols sung by groups wandering around in century-old dress, and lace being handmade. Choruses and choirs from area schools and organizations sang in the big performance building. Horse-drawn wagons were ridden upon:

Notice that while we're all bundled up and still pretty cold, actual North Dakotans walk past us without hats or scarves. The girl off in the background to the far right isn't even wearing a jacket or gloves!:

Make no mistake, it was cold. The low yesterday was 5 degrees, and the wind chill while we were outside was about 15 below. Hopefully, we can make it back out in the spring, when it's a little warmer and all the buildings are open.