You say you can’t even pronounce sesquicentennial.  Not to worry, when Warren Nelson and the Big Top Chautauqua Orchestra are done with their evening presentation of Old Minnesota: Song of the North Star you will not only be able to say it, you’ll be able to sing about it, and know why Minnesota isn’t still part of Wisconsin!  

Old Minnesota : Song of the North Star is a personal, musical, historical hike through the old ways of the Gopher State . What is gone now, or mostly so, from our sight and sound will be ‘songtold’. ‘Old Minnesota ’ will be a grand excursion. Travel back down the river of time to see and hear what Minnesota was all about in its early history -- the native people, the immigrants, the farms, the forests, the waters, the iron ore. From Paul Bunyan loggers in the north to black earth farmers in the south, and from the founding of the Twin Cities to the tragic story of the Sioux Uprising, the history of our great state will come alive again.  Using large scale historic photos from the Minnesota Historical Society collection, original songs, historic readings, dramatic reenactments, and dancing, the Big Top folks will tell the history of Minnesota at the time of statehood.

Warren Nelson, a native of Fairmont , Minnesota , host of the popular Big Top Chautauqua shows in Bayfield , Wisconsin , musician, historian, radio show host for the nationally public radio broadcast, and all around nice guy will lead his ensemble through an evening that will be fun and informative  for the entire family.