Eric Bergeson 2011
Living in a small town provides life-long education, entertainment and great food. Where else are funerals the main social event? Where else do you have a different accent for every neighborhood or family? Where else do people in their 80s still play a vital role in community affairs? Eric discusses the ups and downs of small town life in an entertaining talk which has no serious purpose besides fun. If a piano is on hand, Eric will make use of it.
This talk will be customized to fit the eccentricities and interests of the communities of the Lake Agassiz Regional Library system to reflect the history and culture of the region.
- Event Dates, Locations and Attendance at each individual event:
05/31/2011: Halstad Living Center - 40, Mahnomen Library - 14, Ulen LINK
Site/Senior Center - 22
06/01/2011: Bagley Library - 18, Detroit Lakes Library - 56, Hawley Library - 31
06/02/2011: Barnesville Library - 17, Rothsay Community Center - 10,
Breckenridge Library - 8
06/03/2011: Ada Library - 27, Fertile Library - 43, Shelly LINK Site/Senior
Center - 23
06/04/2011: Crookston Library - 28, Climax Library - 36, Moorhead Library - 45
418 people attended this program.
- Partner Organization(s):Lake Agassiz Regional Library
- Partner Organization(s) Contribution/Role in the Program:Lake Agassiz Regional Library paid $255.44 to LARL's Legacy Project coordinator for coordination and development of this program, LARL also paid $200 for advertising.These amounts were paid from LARL's operating budget.
Attendees will:
- Gain new insights into the uniqueness and value of our rural Minnesota heritage.
- Understand the joys and sorrows of researching and writing about our local history.
- Be encouraged to share and preserve their own stories.
- Contemplate the entire arc of white settlement in rural Minnesota, from homesteading, to the glory days of the 1910s, to the brief renaissance of rural vitality during the 1950s, to the present.
Survey results:Please rate the quality of this program: (Using 1-5 scale, 5 being excellent and 1 being poor)
- Not rated - (2), 1- (0), 2 - (0), 3 - (1), 4 - (6), 5 - (189), Average (4.91)
What did you like best about the program?
- Taught me more about the past (3)
- Eric's knowledge and humor (24)
- Good information (4)
- Information with history (2)
- Rural America
- Good humor; great knowledge
- Local history (12)
- Always learn something new!
- The informal way of the delivery & history (3)
- History (16)
- Lots of side trips & audience
- The speaker, the topic, everything, the history about the area
- Great
- He was very entertaining to listen to
- Meeting the author! Follow him on his blog
- History behind the book (2)
- Discussion of Halstad (4); I was principal there for 2 years in 60's
- Log barn setting
- Informal and humorous
- I had experienced many of the moments that were talked about
- History of farmers
- He was entertaining & great history stories & we could hear very well (2)
- The "down home" approach & ease of delivery; the music was an added treat
- Interaction & the audience was fun - great & fun music
- His gentle, down-home wit & connection with the audience (3)
- Singing (2)
- Tell it like it really is; even got some new insights from the audience
- Impossible to choose
- Informative while funny! (2)
- The whole program was great - Piano playing (2) - great job
- The stories that weren't fit to print
- The speaker was very interesting, I learned a bit about writing a book
- Eric is very entertaining (3)
- Enthusiasm
- Lively presentation with a lot of insightful information pertaining to the area
- Humor & way he can tell stories, relate to anyone attending
- Talking about sports (6)
- Speaker's magnificent effort to know the history
- Music (6)
- Talking about our local residents & older plays
- Memories
- Fun speech!
- Eric exuberance about small towns
- Very educational & entertaining at the same time (2)
- Eric
- All the stories, they were all special & easy to connect with
- His talk about early days at the nursery
- Good speaker, interesting (5)
- Good information, research authentic, clearly spoken, comedy, humor & serious when needed
- Marvelous, personable, relevant speaker
- Like history based lectures especially small towns
- Interesting speaker -love the historical parts
- Amazed at his knowledge of the past
- Information - humor - great story
- The audience participated and shared their stories of old times; it was educational & interesting
- His easy talking style and involving the guests in his story
- Discussion
- Human interest stories
- Great entertainment
- It was about local people (3)
- His stories!! (21)
- How easy he was to listen to
- Liked hearing about home town boys (sports)
- Full of interesting details about the region
- Interesting & excellent speaker
- Eric's entertainment
- Eric is a very entertaining speaker, even thought the topic of basketball wasn't my cup of tea, I enjoyed the time I spent listening
- Excellent presentation
- Music was great (2); very interesting talk about his writings
- Everything, just great (18)
- His impersonation of the country singers; very interesting account of the writing his book about Halstad
- Excellent knowledge & research of subject matter; good speaker - very good delivery with humor
- Everything - very interesting, what a talented man!
- Awesome storyteller (7) - his passion for subject
- Great stories - historical info - lots of humor!
- The talk on writing
What did you expect to experience or learn from this presentation? Were your expectations met?
- I expected to be entertained - I was! (2)
- Humor (2)
- Yes (80)
- Norman County History
- Entertainment(4)& local history (5)
- Great things about history (4)
- Didn't have any idea what it was about but knowing Eric - knew it would be good
- Local culture
- I guess more about getting a book published & edited & etc; like information
- History of small towns
- To learn some history of local area & laughter
- I had read earlier book and followed my expectations
- Stories
- Educational & fun (2)
- I expected to be entertained, because I had been told that he had a great sense of humor.He was entertaining!
- Life in small towns
- Just wanted to meet & experience the author
- History of the Valley/Small towns (4)
- We had read the book & know a lot of the people he made reference to
- Wasn't sure - thought he would speak about small town life, in general, but he spoke only about his one book about Halstad
- Excellence
- Thought he might play piano
- Interesting (4)
- All expectations were met.So entertaining, humorous and a good storyteller.Thank you!!
- A lot about Halstad!
- A fun outlook on whatever
- Good (2)/great entertainment (4)
- I was open to anything - and was so pleasantly entertained
- Lots of new insights about life from 1900 to 1960
- I had no idea what to expect
- Enthusiasm for small towns
- Learned a lot of history mixed with humor
- I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation
- I expected it to be humorous and it was
- All good
- Programs was everything I expected and more
- More than I thought
- Had no idea what the topic would be
- Memories you had forgotten about
- Fun presentation
- Small towns are great
- Stories brought back memories
- You bet!
- Did not know what to expect
- Yes, we were already fans of Eric
- About his books
- I expected him to be interesting because I have read his book
- I thought he'd talk about farming, plants & flowers - this was better!
- Touch with the past
- I knew I would hear a good talk
- Just what he knew and lived; "Down on the Farm"
- General info
- Entertainment (3)
- I did not know what to expect even after reading the poster; but I learned new things and enjoyed it
- What I got - had read one of his books - will read rest - yes even better than expected
- Yes - captivating
- A great entertainer
- Eric is always a surprise!
- I had no idea about what to expect
- History of post
- An enjoyable program (2)
- To be entertained (3)
- Have always enjoyed him
- To learn about small town living; some - the jest of the small town living was that everyone pitched in
- I would come to listen to him again
- My expectations were greatly exceeded
- Personal stories
- Eric always presents a good program and he did again tonight
What other programs would you like to see offered at the library?
- Poetry
- Music (6), storytelling (2), MN Science Museum visit, museum visits, etc.
- Historical (3)
- Informational on writing, publishing, etc.
- Gardening
- Anything! (4)
- Humor
- Entertainment
- Speakers like him to come
- Eric to come back
- Whatever you choose
- I enjoy most educational programs (2)
- Other speakers, learning certain crafts
- Similar (7)
- More authors from Minnesota (7)
- You are doing great - keep it up!
- For children - to encourage reading about history
- Anything, that has some educational value
- Eric on another of his topics (3)
- People who have unique stories or music
- Programs about arts and crafts
- Some more speakers
- MN History
- Travel, authors & entertainment
- Authors really open doors
- Anything with or about music and theater
- Author visits - Will Weaver, Joanne Fluke
- Frank L Wright
- More information on early settlers, people who came from other countries
- Something related to birds
- Music events (8)
- Old history
- Crafts & stories of local people & things
- They are all good
- Personal experience speakers that can be motivational to others over coffee & cookies
- Sheila O'Connor (Big Read in Clay Co.)
- Other authors (4)
- Comedy or inspirational speakers - common problems of everyday living - need coffee
- Roxanne Henke; Ree Drummond
Prior to this program, have you ever attended a program at the library or sponsored by the library? Yes (143) - No (83)How did you hear about the program?Program flier - 23Information/poster at the library - 52Information/poster in the community - 35Library newsletter - 11Library web site - 10Newspaper/magazine - 106Radio - 22Television - 20From library staff - 39From another person - 42Check your age range: Birth to 5 (0), 6-17 (5), 18-54 (37), 55 and over (183)What is your zip code? 56510(12) 56621(6) 56676(2) 56634(2) 56514(9) 56560(9) 56572(1) 56520(5) 58075(2) 56523(1) 56716(19) 37716(2) 56540(12) 56541(1) 58102(2) 56501(16) 56544(2) 56587(5) 56557(6) 56585(2) 56548(13) 56542(1) 97720(1) 58218(2) 56554(5) 56549(7)58045 (2) 56589(3) 56584(3) 58103(1) 56579(3) 56581(16) 56568(2) 56520(1) 56536(2) 56585(9) 56652(1) Do you have a current library card? Yes - 154 No - 28 NA - 16 # of evaluations received: 198