Goin' To The Lake Recap: Perham (Day 1)
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Summer is coming to an end, and so are the WCCO summer road trips to the lakes! Our final stop on our tour across Minnesota is in Perham, a three-hour drive northwest of the cities.
WCCO-TV's Mike Binkley and Liz Collin made the drive Thursday morning.
The Main Street of Perham is filled with shops and restaurants for visitors to check out.
Visitors notice a lot of turtles. The town has a big turtle fest every June and weekly turtle races. If you see a store that's part of the "turtle egg hunt," stop in and try to find the little green egg; prizes are given out all summer long.
While you're exploring Main Street, stop for breakfast, lunch or dinner at the Lakes Cafe. It's your classic small town diner: a lot of comfort food, friendly staff, good prices.
The pancakes for breakfast are known to be fantastic.
Mike and Liz stopped for lunch today. Liz had the turkey burger and Mike went with the chicken sandwich.
Goin' To The Lake: Lakes Cafe
----
You'll find many places around Perham that have turtle races, and they're plenty of fun here in Perham, even in the rain.
The winner of each heat gets $1, and then there are bigger prizes like t-shirts in the finals.
If the crowd is moving too much, the turtles will stop. They also go faster when it's hot, so Wednesday's cool weather may have slowed things down.
But in the end, they are turtles, so speed is not on their side.
Goin' To The Lake: Turtle Races
----
There's a new Waves of Discovery art installation just off Main Street.
They call it art to experience and explore. The 18-panel mural is made of concrete. And it's filled with more than 50 hidden items that relate to the history, culture and natural resources of this area.
You'll find things like a train, because the railroad here is the reason the town got it's start. You'll also find a dog, a nod to the big business in town, which makes pet food.
It was funded by donations; they raised $50,000 from the community in two days.
Here's the checklist of items hidden in Waves of Discovery.
Goin' To The Lake: Waves Of Discovery
----
It's always fun to see small towns like Perham that are thriving. One big reason for success is a company that a lot of you are likely familiar with.
KLN Family Brands makes everything from Barrel O' Fun snack foods, to that great Australian-Style licorice that's perfect for a road trip. But the company got started way back in 1964, making pet food.
Tuffy's Pet Foods has come a long way in the last 50 years. But it has stayed put in Perham.
"We've just always called this home," Nelson said. "Our community means everything to us," vice president Charlie Nelson said.
Nelson's father and grandfather started the company in 1964. They had all the ingredients to make dog and cat food; they just needed to get it in front of customers.
"My father loaded up a two-ton truck, then it was an eight-ton truck, and his dad said, 'Go sell it and don't come home until it's gone,'" Nelson said. "So the last guy of day got the best deal, obviously. They laugh about that."
Instead of going for big box retailers, Tuffy's has focused on smaller stores.
"We have grown our business with the independents," Nelson said. "Whether it is a hardware store or a nice independent specialty store that has five employees who wake up every day wanting to get a good product in front of their consumer's hands."
The strategy has paid off. This week, Tuffy's is celebrating the grand opening of its new production facility. It can churn out about 30 large bags of NutriSource dog food every minute. And it'll help position Tuffy's for the future.
KLN Family Brands would love people to come make Perham home. They said they have more jobs than people. KLN employs about 1,400.
Goin' To The Lake: KLN Family Foods
----
As the name suggests, Brew Ales and Eats has a great beer list -- and great food. Some WCCO viewers informed us that Mike and Liz needed to try the Gouda pickles, which is a dill pickle spear and Gouda cheese, wrapped in an egg roll wrapper and fried crispy. Mike is not a pickle guy, but Liz and the crew loved it.
They make everything there from scratch daily, and pride themselves on not offering standard "bar food." Owners Alex and Britt opened Brew in 2011. There is now a second location in Detroit Lakes.
Every town like Perham needs a place to stop and pick up your outdoor supplies, so they also stopped at Gene's Sport Shop on Main Street Thursday to get fishing licenses. Gene's has been in the same family since 1956. You can find everything you need to get out hunting or fishing, or enjoying time on the water skiing or tubing.
Goin' To The Lake: Brew Ales And Eats & Gene's Sport Shop
----
Perfect weather, great people, great food, great drinks -- and plenty of fun things to do and see. Thursday in Perham was perfect.
The first place Liz and Mike stopped at in town is one of the best candy and toy stores in the state. Of course, kids really know the most about Goose Gang Toys, so that is why they asked Miley and Grant for a tour!
Goin' To The Lake: A Tour Of Perham's Goose Gang Toys
----
Here are links to all the sights and shops mentioned by Liz and Mike:
Waves of Discovery (art display in downtown Perham)
-----
Here are photos from Mike and Liz's trip to Perham and here are highlights from other Goin' To The Lake trips:
— Watch the past 'Goin' To The Lake' segments.
— Watch the past 'Goin' To The (Frozen) Lake' segments.
