Take a lot of food, a dash of history, a sprinkling of sporting events and tons of fun for everyone and you have an idea of what the Kensington Rune Stone Days were like last weekend.
The three day festival, June 18-20, included garage sales, ax throwing, craft and vendor show, bean bag toss, street dances, a classic car show, a parade and more.
The celebration began Friday with citywide garage sales, displays by the Kensington Area Heritage Society Museum and Rune Stone Research Center, a pulled pork meal from the Kensington Commercial Club and Working Wonders 4-H Club, ax throwing, Family Night on Main Street, inflatables, concessions, glow sticks, wristband special discounts, a baseball game, Little Miss Runestone Pageant and a street dance.
The fun continued Saturday with the Kensington Lions pancake breakfast and a bake sale, softball tournament, more garage sales, golf tournament, a Kid Zone, bean bag tournaments, build your own bluebird house, flower planting, make your own slime, craft and vendor show, live music at the Kensington Community Center and a street dance.
Events wrapped up with a a classic car show, a Father's Day luncheon, community church service, antique tractor pull and a grand parade that carried on despite a drizzle of rain.
1/7: Daniel Nathe, 12, who lives in Long Prairie and attends school in Osakis, competes in the Kensington Rune Stone Days Antique Tractor Pull on Sunday, June 20, 2021. (Al Edenloff / Echo Press)
2/7: Tanner Nessman of Kensington catches a bag of potato chips that was thrown his way during Sunday's Rune Stone Days Parade. (Al Edenloff / Echo Press)
3/7: The winners in the Little Miss Rune Stone Pageant wave to crowd at Sunday's Rune Stone Days Parade on June 20, 2021. They included (left to right) Kaylee Knabe, the 2021 Little Miss Kensington Runestone, Second Princess Exoza Ziyodullaeva and First Princess Mya Garvin. (Al Edenloff / Echo Press)
4/7: Winners of this year's Little Miss Kensington Rune Stone pageant are Kaylee Knabe, 2021 queen (middle), Exoza Ziyodullaeva, 2nd princess (left) and Mya Garvin, 1st princess. (Contributed photo)
5/7: Royalty in the Miss Hoffman Pageant ride in the Kensington Rune Stone Days Parade on Sunday, June 20, 2021. The Hoffman Harvest Festival takes place on the second weekend of August. (Al Edenloff / Echo Press)
6/7: The West Central Area High School Marching Band entertain the crowd during the Kensington Rune Stone Days Parade on June 20, 2021. (Al Edenloff / Echo Press)
7/7: A young boy riding in a Kensington Fire Department truck threw candy to the crowd at Kensington Rune Stone Days on June 20, 2021. (Al Edenloff / Echo Press)
Al Edenloff is the editor of the twice-weekly Echo Press. He started his journalism career when he was in 10th grade, writing football and basketball stories for the Parkers Prairie Independent.
