Tenney's Moment of Fame

Pardon my hiatus from blog-writing. The craziness of balancing a demanding full-time job, a home, family, and a boat load of book promotion events resulted in the need for a little get-away, so my husband and I have been vacationing in the Caribbean over the past week. The cruise was great, and we had some great snorkeling adventures. For those of you who have been on a cruise, you will understand when I say that the floors of my house are still moving, and this morning I felt as if the entire church was afloat. I am hoping my land legs return soon.

Marsha (Hardie) Nater was kind enough to send me a DVD copy of the May 1989 “Good Company” show which highlighted Tenney’s ten residents. Marsha likened the buzz that’s been created by my book, The Tenney Quilt, with the buzz that was created on May 23, 1989 when Tenney was declared as “the smallest town in Minnesota.” The little town of Funkley in northern Minnesota had officially been declared as such by WCCO Radio (Minneapolis-St. Paul); however, KSTP-TV found out that Tenney was truly the smallest, and decided to make amends.

The TV station sent a limousine out from the Twin Cities to pick up the entire population of Tenney, whom I have to believe were jittery with excitement at the time. There was apparently a “send-off” in Tenney for those departing in the limo, though it would have had to be other family members and friends doing the sending off, since the entire population was in the limo.

The Tenney bunch was wined and dined in the Cities, then appeared on the “Good Company” television show which aired from the Valley Fair Amusement Park in Shakopee. First, the group ate in their own private dining room at the Radisson St. Paul Hotel. They were then given a tour of the Summit Avenue mansions in St. Paul, they stood on the steps of the state capitol, they wandered through the sculpture garden at the Walker Art Center, and then had a ride on the “Josiah Snelling” river boat on the Mississippi River, traveling from Harriet Island to Fort Snelling and back. The Tenney folks saw the Metrodome and toured the Minneapolis lakes area in their limousine. Governor Perpich declared that day “Tenney Day” in Minnesota, and the group was presented with a plaque to commemorate this declaration.

Al and Lou Manthie, Opal Hardie, Al Hungerford, Lorraine Church, Willie Rossow, Marian Harrington and Leo Berg were given quite a bit of air time on the TV show, an event that is priceless now to those of us who are always seeking ways to learn more about Tenney, its people, and its history. Several of the Tenney folks answered the question about what they liked about Tenney with “it’s quiet.” The men, with their plaid shirts, sport jackets and seed caps, and the women in their blouses, polyester slacks and sensible shoes, honestly looked a bit dazed by all the hoopla.

The event lives on in the memory of many people who remember the “buzz” that it created. Many of you may also be aware that the pint-sized population of Tenney is memorialized in a photo of the group taken on the steps of the Tenney Church [which appeared in the book, Our Smallest Towns: Big Falls, Blue Eye, Bonanza and Beyond by Dennis Kitchen-1995). That photo now hangs in the Lake Wobegon Store in the Mall of America.