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A People Kind of Place? Absolutely.

Occasionally, I will hear people laugh about the Town of St. Paul motto – “A People Kind of Place,” and scoff that it’s nothing of the sort. Sure, in St.

Occasionally, I will hear people laugh about the Town of St. Paul motto – “A People Kind of Place,” and scoff that it’s nothing of the sort.

Sure, in St. Paul – just like everywhere else you go in this world - you will find folks that aren’t welcoming or who can be rude and contradict the town’s friendly motto. But more often, you will find people that are gracious, kind, helpful and will go out of their way to help anyone in need, whether it’s a family member, stranger, acquaintance or friend.

It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve sat here thinking about that motto.

Last week, I visited the Rockies for the first time in a few years, and was struck anew by its majestic, wondrous, rugged beauty. But even though I was in such beautiful surroundings and enjoyed spending time with my children, I felt the call of home and work. I knew this would be a big week for our little town of St. Paul, with its hometown boy Brett Kissel coming back to stage a big outdoor concert, and I couldn’t bear to miss all the action. So I left the kids with my mother a couple of days early and drove back over the course of Thursday, coming home just in time to catch Kissel’s appreciation night for his sponsors.

While I was anticipating this being Kissel’s big night, I was pretty surprised to see him joined on stage by the three other men whose names grace the town’s welcome signs – Olympic curling champion Marcel Rocque, two-time world long-drive champion Jamie Sadlowski and Canadian master fiddler Calvin Vollrath. Together, the men auctioned off four autographed items - a curling broom, a long driver, a fiddle and a guitar that went for an unbelievable $7,000, to be donated to Haying in the 30’s, a cause close to Kissel’s heart following his mother’s battle with cancer.

After giving the crowd a taste of the concert to come, Kissel was quick to agree to a request for an interview, where he showed himself to be still the gracious, affable and well-spoken performer he was when I first interviewed him eight or nine years ago.

Over the next couple of days, everyone in town seemed to get more and more excited about Saturday night’s concert, with CMT cameramen in tow, the lights and stage coming together, other events unfolding across town, finally leading up to a fantastic hometown homecoming party under the stars at Jaycee ball park.

Everything about the week was amazing - from the unbelievable support of local sponsors, non-profit groups and businesses to the camaraderie of concert-goers and listeners to the very fact that St. Paul’s hometown celebrities showed the town they have never forgotten their roots and would never be too proud or too big to come and give something back to the people that were there to support them at the very beginning.

A People Kind of Place? You bet your bottom dollar that’s it is, and I couldn’t be prouder to call it home.




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