Fargo, Day One: Zoo, "61", Libations, and More

In August 2021, daughter Jill and I traveled to North Dakota – an eight-day getaway to Fargo, Jamestown, Minot, and Bismarck. Click HERE to read a short introduction to our wonderous trip.  
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This story is the second in a series about our journey through North Dakota. 

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Fargo, North Dakota (Sunday August 1, 2021) We awoke refreshed and raring to go! This was our first full day in Fargo, and we had lots to see and do.

“What’s up first?” I asked Jill. And so began our Sunday…
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Sunday Morning
“Uhhh…let’s eat!” she replied as she pulled out her list of restaurants. “The menu for the Boiler Room looked interesting.”

As we made our way there, Jill spotted this public arts mural on VFW Post 762, located on 2nd Avenue N. These patriotic eagle wings were created by West Fargo artist Lauren Starling.
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“Hold on,” Jill said. “Another photo-op!” My little girl was pretty as a picture!

The entrance to the Broiler Room was on Roberts Alley, which was literally an alley between the buildings that fronted Broadway N on one side and Roberts Street N on the other. As we learned, though, this “urban alley,” part of an ongoing project to revitalize downtown Fargo, was a lifestyle concept that offered entertainment, shopping, and apartment living. Nice! 

The Boiler Room was subterranean – Jill and I descended a flight of stairs to reach the entrance, a red door with glass panes. When we stepped inside, my first impression was “industrial” – cement floor, brick pillars, wood beams, metal ceiling, bright lights, and some piping – a modern take on a boiler room. It was fun and interesting, and so was the menu!

Jill suggested we start with an order of Scotch Eggs, and after a quick glance at the description – Our Favorite Appetizer! Hardboiled eggs wrapped in sausage and deep fried. Served with spicy maple aioli. – I agreed. Mmm, mmm good! 

The “main event” was a fried chicken breast covered in sausage gravy served with a Belgian waffle and fresh fruit – an order for Jill, an order for me. It was a big plate of tasty food that I took as a personal challenge. As you can see, I won – there was nothing left on my plate!

Sunday Afternoon
It was time to channel our inner child with a trip to the Red River Zoo. I read that this zoo had many unique animals, so I was not surprised to see a Tigalo – part tiger, part buffalo – that greeted Jill and me near the entrance. Okay…you got me. The Tigalo (center photo) was another of the 39 fiberglass bison installed in Fargo and neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota! 

The 33-acre zoo, opened in 1999, was named for the nearby Red River, which formed most of the border between North Dakota and Minnesota as it flowed north into Manitoba, Canada. While the footprint of the zoo was small, it was home to over 600 animals that represented 89 species. 

As Jill and I wondered along the well-marked trail, we passed exhibits with prairie dogs, tortoises, bald eagles, alpaca, goats, camels, birds, and more. We also saw a Dutch Belted cow, a Gypsy Varner horse, and, inside a pavilion, a fully restored 1928 Allen Herschell carousel. 

This was a delightful outing, and a great opportunity to see a handful of animals new to us. 

It was a short drive from the zoo to the Fargo Visitor Center, where we picked up helpful brochures on attractions and landmarks in and around Fargo. We also spotted Aunie, a colorful fiberglass bison created by artist Anne Bradley Kiefel.    

There was a long list of notable people from Fargo: astronaut James Buchli, Academy Award-winning artist Richard Edlund, pop singer Bobby Vee, and musical satirist Peter Schickele (a.k.a. “PDQ Bach”), to name a few. And then there was “61” – the American League right fielder Roger Maris who broke Babe Ruth’s long-standing single-season record of 60 homeruns with 61 “dingers” in 1961. Maris, who was born in Hibbing, Minnesota, grew up in Fargo and graduated from Shanley High School, which qualified him as a native son.  

At the Visitor Center, I learned that the Roger Maris Museum was nearby – inside West Acres Mall, about five minutes by car.

“Can we go?” I asked Jill, knowing this was not on her list of things to do. (Truth be told: Jill never heard of Roger Maris. Sacrilegious!)
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“Yes, of course we can,” she replied with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. That’s my little girl!   

As we made our way to the museum, we spotted this bison inside the mall. It was titled Buffalo Path - The Gathering.

The Roger Maris Museum, a 70-foot display case, was opened in 1984 and renovated in 2003. Maris, described as a “humble hometown hero,” initially declined to have a museum erected in his honor. He relented, though, when the founders agreed to create a free public display. 

As I walked the length of the exhibit, I saw a replica of his 1961 locker, several of the uniforms he wore, his MVP awards and Sultan of Swat Crowns, and many of the homerun balls and bats from his record-breaking season. 

I grew up on the east side of Cleveland and was a die-hard Indians fan, but I did not know, until I saw this photo and read the accompanying storyboard, that Roger Maris started his career as a minor league player in the Indian’s organization and made his major league debut with the Indians in 1957. (Maris is the player in the middle.) One year later, the “Tribe,” as they were then known, traded Maris to the Kansas City Athletics – a trade I was sure they soon regretted!  

The Roger Maris Museum was great entertainment for me, but I saw that Jill was getting antsy, so we moved on.

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Sunday Evening
We spent an hour in our hotel with our feet up. Jill used this time to post on Instagram, while I posted to Facebook. After all, our fans wanted to know what we did this morning and afternoon. (Wink, wink!)  An hour later, we ventured out for drinks, dinner, and a walk about town.

I read an article in Fargo Monthly about Wild Terra Cider Bar, an “urban cidery focusing on experimental ciders.” I mentioned it to Jill, and she said, “Let’s give it a go!”
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The cidery, located on 12th street, was a little over a half mile from the hotel – an easy walk. On the way, we stopped at the glass-enclosed mini museum attached to Fargo Fire Department Station 1 to admire this 1924 gas powered fire truck restored by firefighters in their off hours. It was an distinctive piece of city history, and a real beauty! 

Wild Terra was the brainchild of two siblings, Ethan and Breezee Hennings, who “just kind of fell in love with cider.” They purchased a dilapidated hundred-year-old horse barn, which they demolished – they were interested in the location, not the building! – to construct a two-story taproom that incorporated salvaged wood from the barn and other materials. The Hennings opened Wild Terra Cider in 2018.   

The menu, posted on the wall behind the bar, listed more than a dozen unique ciders, all fermented from apples harvested from the surrounding communities and infused with other fruits, spices, and/or hops. Jill and I tasted a couple of the ciders, and then ordered Slack Packer, which was infused with pineapple and two types of hops. It was semi-dry and sweet…and very refreshing!

Last evening, at Mezzaluna, I had a sour ale brewed by Rhombus Guys, located in Grand Forks, North Dakota. (My goal was to drink local, and I succeeded – each and every day of our trip!) I liked it so much that our waiter suggested we try Rhombus Guys on Main Avenue, which served up gourmet pizza AND all the beers they brewed. It sounded like a winning combination to me, so off we went. 

So, what beer caught my eye this evening? The Summit Oatmeal Stout Nitro, which was “brewed with naked oats from the United Kingdom” and infused with a nitrogen/CO2 mix that gave drinkers “a warm, smooth, creamy finish.” I had no idea what ‘naked oats’ were, but I loved the way the ‘finish’ sounded. GREAT TASTE! 

There were 10 pizzas to choose from. All had a mouthwatering combination of ingredients, and a few had cute names, like Big Dogz and T-Rex. We ordered side salads and two eight-inch pizzas – the all-meat T-Rex and the veggies and meat Deluxe.
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The pizzas soon arrived, and we chowed down. Jill was not impressed, but I thought both were good – hot and tasty with browned (not blackened, thank you!) crust. You be the arbitrator when you visit Rhombus Guys!

We crossed Main for a closer look at a brick and tiled-roof depot. A storyboard told us that it was built in 1898 for the Northern Pacific Railroad – the railroad that put Fargo on the map back in 1871 – and that it was once surrounded by a park with gardens and a fountain. 

The city acquired the depot in 1971, renovated it and the gardens, and dedicated Depot Plaza in 1984.

Next to the depot were several railroad cars on rails, each with a colorful mural painted on one side. The murals were created by Fargo artist Steve Knutson. The first mural, unveiled in October 2017, showcased a bright yellow and orange bison and the words “Greetings from Fargo.” Nice! 

The Jasper Hotel sat adjacent to Broadway Square – a venue for special events, including art and culture, live concerts, seasonal ice skating, and movies under the stars. When Jill and I reached the hotel, prepared to call it a night, we discovered this was movie night. The feature film was Rio Bravo, a 1959 American Western that starred John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and Angie Dickinson. It was a beautiful evening, so we grabbed a seat and watched the movie for a while.

This, our first full day in Fargo, was fun from start to finish!

Click HERE to read the next story.