My Trip to Grand Rapids, Minnesota
By Katie Andrist

“It’s a swell state, Minnesota. We lived in a white house with a garden. Grand Rapids is surrounded by lakes. It is a beautiful, beautiful town.” ~Judy Garland

Although she lived only 4 years of her life in this beautiful northern Minnesota town the people there celebrate her life every year with a Judy Garland Festival. Grand Rapids, Minnesota is a town with a population of 7,976 people located about 50 miles north west of Duluth, Minnesota. The Judy Garland festival is held every year in June. This past year they celebrated Judy’s 80th birthday and every year the festival gets bigger and better.

I have never been to the Judy Garland Festival. I was lucky enough to get to Grand Rapids, MN this past summer. When I told my friends I was going to go to Grand Rapids many asked the question….Michigan? When I said, “no, Minnesota” they then went on to ask the question “why?” For the most part the why question is because I live right here in the state of Minnesota and when you go on vacation most people tend to leave the state. I have lived here my whole life and I have never been that far north. This trip was actually my sisters Idea and I probably would have never went this year if she had not suggested it. She knew what a big fan I am of Judy’s and she set up all the arrangements.

We left our house on August 12, 2002, at 4:30 AM. The trip to Grand Rapids for me was a little boring because it is like pine trees on both side of the road all the way there and maybe a house here or there. If you roll down your windows on your car all you can smell is pine trees. We arrived in Grand Rapids at 9:30 AM. This town is a very nice town although for me it looked much bigger than what I thought it would be. I come from a town of 2,125 people so for me Grand Rapids was HUGE!

We stayed at the Saw Mill Inn which is right next door to the house Judy lived in. It was nice because you could walk from the hotel right to the house. When we got there just as bus tour of older people had just arrived and so we got a guided tour of the house. The tour guide tells about Judy’s life as you listen in the background they have her music playing. This is a beautiful house. Although if you go they’re expecting to see stuff that actually belonged to Judy’s family you will be disappointed. Nothing in the house is original other than the main structure of the house including the floor, walls, and staircase. Every thing else has been replaced with things from that era in time. We actually got to hear the tour guide speak twice. I was a little disappointed in the fact that some of his information was incorrect. I enjoyed going to the house because it made me feel a little closer to Judy. I loved the gift shop. They have many Items you will never find anywhere else. In fact I bought a picture that a girl from Grand Rapids drew for this contest they have during the festival. It is a beautiful pencil drawing of Judy in different stages of her life. The house is not in its original location. The address of the house is 2227 Hwy 169, from down town Grand Rapids go south on Hwy 169 look for a little white house on the right. They are open Monday - Sunday 10AM - 5PM. During the off season you must call ahead for an appointment.

The next place we went was the old central school. This building really stands out in the center of the town with a yellow brick road out front. What is interesting about this Brick road is that people can by a brick and have their name put on it. The exhibit in the school is a very nice one. It has a lot of pictures of Judy and her family from when they lived in Grand Rapids. The old central school lays claim to having the largest collection of Judy memorabilia in the country they have Replicas of the ruby slippers as well as some of the famous costumes from her movies. This was the only place they didn’t say any thing about taking pictures. At all the other places it was not allowed. I did take one picture of a Judy cut out of her at the age of 2. This was my favorite exhibit until we went to the Children’s Museum. The Old central school is located 10 Northwest fifth street, (281) 326-6431. Take either Hwy 169 or Hwy 2 to the center of town and follow the yellow brick road in to the school.

Now if you are a true Judy fan as I am, your life will not be complete until you go to the children’s museum in Grand Rapids, MN. You can’t miss this building it stands out like a sore thumb, because of the painting of the wizard of oz characters on the side of the building. This has to be by far the best out of the three places I went. They have a lovely collection. They have many things that actually belonged to her and many pictures that her family has donated. I could have spent days in there looking at every thing. There are so many beautiful pictures of her as well as artwork people have donated. There was this one art picture that if you looked at it from different views you saw her in different parts of her life it was so beautiful! There are real costumes at this exhibit. I think my most favorite thing that I saw there was the white microphone Judy used on her TV show. I have watched those shows so many times and to see it right there up close it was very special. The Children’s museum is located 19 Northeast fourth street (off Hwy 2) toward the center of town and is only open in the summer. When I was there they were building a new children’s museum right next to Judy’s house. I am not sure when that will be completed.

This is a trip that I recommend every Judy fan to take. The way I see it, Judy seemed to think that her happiest years of her life were spent there and I can see why. The people are very nice and the town is beautiful!