August 7, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Rachel Reabe visits the Great Lakes School of Log Building, where students learn the basics of log construction by doing it. The only full time, year round log building school in the country operates out of the woods near Ely in northeastern Minnesota.
August 6, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio's Catherine Winter visits the last remaining tugboat company in the Duluth Superior harbor. For more than 150 years, big ships have sailed the Great Lakes, from state to state and out to the sea. For nearly as long, little tugboats have helped the great freighters in and out of harbors, broken ice for them in winter, and rescued boats in emergencies.
July 15, 1996 - MPR’s Martin Kaste interviews players on the first day of the USA Cup Girl’s Youth Soccer Invitational taking place at the National Sports Center in Blaine.
July 11, 1996 - On July 11, 1996, Land O'Lakes celebrated its 75th anniversary with a gala celebration at its corporate headquarters with a VERY special guest. Culinary guru Julia Childs traveled to Arden Hills to celebrate the dairy products company's big day by, among other things, milking a cow. MPR's John Rabe was on hand to record the event…and even gets a cooking tip.
July 6, 1996 - Every year, half a million people visit Itasca State Park near Bemidji. They go to see the headwaters of the Mississippi and to walk in groves of huge, old pines that have been growing since long before white settlers arrived in Minnesota. But the old growth forests in Itasca State Park are facing a serious threat…an explosion of pine bark beetles threatens to wipe out EVERY old growth pine in the park.
July 4, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Rachel Reabe visited Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota as part of a report that years of bare bones budgets have taken their toll on Minnesota's park system. Officials say the resources and facilities are being neglected, as funding for parks has not kept pace with popularity.
July 3, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger visits the central Minnesota town of Crosby, which is having a comeback of sorts…from prospering former mining town to bustling “antique” town. Those windows now contain 40 antique stores. Locals are hoping the recovery expands to other businesses for community.
June 27, 1996 - Midday rebroadcasts the Minnesota Public Radio documentary Signs and Wonders, produced by Mary Losure. It takes a look at tongue-speaking and the rapidly growing Pentecostalism movement.
June 24, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports on ‘fiber farming’ in Minnesota. Northern Minnesota farmers are trying to grow and harvest hybrid poplar trees as a new source of pulp for the paper industry and even a possible savior of Minnesota forestlands.
June 17, 1996 - As U.S. farmers are getting older and the high price of starting an agricultural operation increases, Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports on a Minnesota program based in Granite Falls that is making efforts to get young farmers in the business. The hope is that by matching beginning farmers with established farmers, farm ownership can gradually be transferred to a new generation.