| 10/19/2009 5:38:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | |
| | Mendota Heights Halloween Bonfire | The annual city bonfire burns behind Mendota Plaza Shopping Center from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31. Hotdogs and pop will be available.
Mendota Plaza is located at the southeast corner of Highway 110 and Dodd Road. For more information, contact 651-452-1850.
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Halloween bonfire sputters but will burn again
Danielle Cabot
Review Staff
The annual Halloween night bonfire at Mendota Plaza, Highway 110 and Dodd Road, has been a tradition for over 30 years, and despite plans to renovate and expand Mendota Plaza, this year will be no different.
This fall, the city of Mendota Heights received word from developers Paster Enterprises that the bonfire must find a new home due to construction scheduled to begin at the Plaza. It was too late to find a new location. Plans were scuttled. Brush piles have grown in backyards without nary a fire to fuel.
But as the month of October progressed, developers at Paster realized that construction won't begin until mid-November, according to Ken Henk, director of development and construction. They contacted the city early last week letting them know that if there was still time, the fire would not interfere with breaking ground. The city determined that it was not too late, and announced Oct. 14 that for one more year, the Plaza will once again light up with towering flame and the smiling faces of families.
The bonfire was organized for the first time in 1974 by resident and then-city council member Russell Wahl and his family as a civic event. Somerset Golf Course and Mendakota Golf Course each pitched in $50 to fund the event. When the Wahl daughters grew up and moved away, Russell found himself shorthanded, and passed the reins to the Mendota Heights Fire Department, which has tended the annual fire ever since. "it was quite a run quite an experience and we enjoyed it very much," said Wahl.
Firefighters have donated their time to keep the event safe and serve the more than 1,000 hotdogs that are given out for free every year.
Chief John Mazco joked that they initially wanted to call it the Russell Wahl Memorial Bonfire, to which Wahl responded, "I'm not dead yet!"
The bonfire has always been at Mendota Plaza, though it was a bit further east before construction of the senior housing complex. Folks are known to arrive in costume, and in the past, Paster has arranged for hay rides at the event.
Mazco also pointed out that it is a great opportunity for Mendota Heights residents to clean up their yards a bit. Starting Monday, Oct. 19, Mendota Heights residents (only) may bring clean burning brush such as tree branches, limbs and trunks not over 6 inches in diameter to Mendota Plaza between the hours of 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Brush will no longer be accepted after noon on October 30.
Brush restrictions are as follows:
• No disposal by commercial lawn and tree service is permitted.
• No leaves, grass, paper, rubbish, and tree limbs or trunks over 6 inches in diameter.
• No items that will pollute or contaminate the air.
While turnout is often dependent on the weather, ranging from 700 to 1,500 people a year, Mazco said the Halloween blizzard of '91 was the best bonfire he can remember. "It was just so surreal. We had a warm fire - it was a big fire that year - and the snow was falling, and people were just in a festive mood, and it was just one of the most picturesque standing-around-the-fire-to-get-warm things."
Next year, the event will have to find a new home. "We knew that at some point as Mendota Heights continues to develop this day would finally come," Mazco said. While Henk said the Plaza would likely welcome back the event once construction is finished, the bonfire would have to be smaller. The Plaza's new design does not include an expanse of open space to allow for the size of the traditional bonfire.
So far, Dodge Nature Center has approached the city for consideration as a future site, Mazco said. A new site would need to provide both parking for the crowd as well as proximity to the residents. It also needs to be a site that can be monitored for safety and to ensure that only suitable brush ends up in the pile.
Danielle Cabot can be reached at southwest@lillienews.com or 651-748-7815.
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