A magazine readership survey conducted in August shows familiarity and satisfaction with North Dakota Living are trending upward.

In May 2020, 48% of readers said they were very familiar or familiar with the magazine, while 29% were not very familiar. Familiarity with North Dakota Living increased to 64%, while unfamiliarity dropped to 17% in August 2024.

Similarly, satisfaction increased six percentage points in four years, with 66% satisfied or very satisfied with the magazine. Readers who said they were unsatisfied fell from 6% to 4%.

Sen. John Hoeven spoke at the Aug. 27 grand opening of the Heart of America Medical Center in Rugby, where he gifted the new rural health care facility an American flag flown over the U.S. Capitol.

“It’s kind of scary thinking about traveling an hour plus to get the care we need,” Marketing and Human Resource Specialist Lauren McClintock said at the Aug. 27 grand opening for the new Rugby hospital. “We want to think about the future when we think of health care, and we want to think about our communities and what can help us the most.”

The founders of 3 Farm Daughters, from left to right, are Grace (Sproule) Lunski, Mollie (Sproule) Ficocello and Annie (Sproule) Gorder.

With a mission to create healthier food options, three sisters – Annie (Sproule) Gorder, Mollie (Sproule) Ficocello and Grace (Sproule) Lunski – are transforming the way people think about pasta, one nutritious meal at a time.

After growing up with a deep passion for farming instilled by their family, the Sproule sisters ventured one-by-one to college at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn. However, it wouldn’t take long until whispers from the Red River Valley beckoned them back to the fertile fields of home, Sproule Farms near Grand Forks.

During a memorial dedication to a fallen soldier, the Schafer-Boye-Lange American Legion Post 69 from Flasher sounded a 21-gun salute and played taps.

More than 60 years after Capt. William Richardson’s F-106 aircraft crashed into the frozen prairie near Flasher in 1963, a memorial saluting his sacrifice now stands alongside Highway 31 in Grant County.

Richardson’s daughter, who was 2 years old when her father died, tearfully attended the memorial’s dedication, as a 21-gun salute sounded into the pristine sky and a P-51 Mustang roared overhead in a flyover.

The soldier’s ultimate sacrifice has been honored in a warm embrace by the state, even though he was not a native son.
 

Bowdon meat

What is your town known for?

Jamestown is the buffalo city. Bottineau takes “pride” in its ice cream. It’s hard to beat a steak in St. Anthony. And Stanley has the Sibyl Center, a small-town beacon of arts and culture.

For Bowdon, it was its meat plant and locker.

“There’s been a meat processing plant in Bowdon as long as anyone can remember, probably well over 100 years now,” says community member and local farmer Bob Martin.

Mike Steier and Treyten Krohmer bow hunting

Service and sacrifice are two things Mike Steier understands well.

After graduating from New England High School, Steier volunteered in 2005 for a yearlong deployment to Iraq. Last year, he retired from the N.D. National Guard after 20 years of service.

After returning from Iraq and working as a farmhand, Steier went to Bismarck State College on the GI Bill and obtained his electrical lineworker degree. Shortly after, he was hired by Roughrider Electric Cooperative in Dickinson, and he’s worked for the co-op ever since.

cow

What can other towns learn from Bowdon and its meat processing cooperative?

“It gets back to the basics of the game, the baseball analogy: Too many are shooting for the grand slam when they could be really focusing on these types of base hits,” says Ellen Huber, rural development services director for the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives (NDAREC). “Big things get all the attention, but this is an important incremental small business step a community was known for and made sure they could continue to stake their claim.”

Lori Carlson gathers signatures

Voting and elections provide a vehicle for citizens to change laws or introduce new ones they think would benefit their community.

With North Dakota’s ballot measure process, citizens can introduce a statewide ballot measure to change the North Dakota Constitution or state law. A statewide measure can be placed on the ballot by the Legislature or through a petition process initiated by the citizens of North Dakota.