Ottertail City Park Full of Activity

By Heather Rule

Ottertail City Park bustles with activities year-round. From Easter egg hunts to live music and holiday festivities, the park is the place to be.

The park hosted an Easter egg hunt in 2021, a huge event with the Easter bunny and hundreds of people. Each age group had a dedicated section of the park to search for eggs, making for a fairer search!

Spring rolls into summer for the traditional Music in the Park events held six times throughout the summers in the Ottertail Park. Bands and musicians are brought in for concerts in the park for two Tuesday evenings each in June, July and August.

Musicians are brought in from Fargo and even the Twin Cities. Blue English is a popular band from Fargo that’s performed in Ottertail Park.
The Slew Foot Family Band, a family group with a variety of instruments, is another popular act. The most popular acts over the years typically play music people are familiar with (‘covers’) rather than their own original music, according to Ron Grobeck, Ottertail mayor and president of the Ottertail Business & Community Association.

For 2022, they’re planning to bring in a doo-wop group, appealing to the 50s and 60s crowd, Grobeck said. The music draws big crowds, averaging more than 200 attendees for each event with a record of more than 600 people in attendance for an Elvis Presley and Neil Diamond concert. “It’s a social event for the area,” Grobeck said. “We draw residents and lakes country visitors from all over the
region. People look forward to it.”

All are welcome and invited to bring their lawn chairs or blankets on concert nights. The park also added an option to listen to the music via an FM tuner. People can stay in their cars across the street from the park and turn their radios to a specific channel to hear the music.

For the first time in 2021, the park also hosted plays. The theater productions – melodramas with a villain – were held on Saturday evenings in the park. They partnered with the Funtastics Theatre Troupe from Fergus Falls for “Choo Choo Chicanery” and then “Three Nights in Arid
Flats” by the Madhatters out of Wadena. The plays were a success, so the park might host theater again in 2022, according to Grobeck.

During the holiday season in December, the city hosts Otterdazzle, an all-day event at the community center and city park. From Otterdazzle in early December through Jan. 1, the park turns into a village and is full of holiday lights that flash to different music.

“We’re looking forward to 2022,” Grobeck said.