Silversmithing photo by Tara Burns

WBCA In the News

White Bear Lake is Neat!

Metro Magazine
November 2007

By Chuck Terhark

Minnesota’s first resort town!” proclaims Bill Foussard, the ebullient proprietor of the White Bear Country Inn and its attached restaurant, Rudy’s Redeye Grill. It’s a local rallying cry that’s close to Foussard’s heart: As a child, he spent his summers in White Bear Lake, playing on its beaches, exploring Manitou Island (where the spirit of a white bear killed long ago by a Sioux hunter is said to reside) and kicking around one of the metro area’s most charming downtowns. These days, little has changed about that neighborhood: More than 100 gift shops, art galleries, bookstores, barber shops, salons, cafés, restaurants and pubs crowd the historic two-square-mile area, lying just a splash away from the lake.

As a hotel man and founder of the tourism advocacy Web site ExploreWhiteBear.com, Foussard is keen to paint White Bear Lake as a place worth visiting—and not just during the summertime. “We’ve got Manitou Days! Marketfest! The Pine Tree Apple Orchard—they’ve been here since 1958! And I don’t really like shopping, but people who do love it here. Look, there’s a knitting store!” He’s pointing to A Sheepy Yarn Shoppe. “I’n’t that neat?”—his favorite question.

Actually, yeah, it is neat. Charming resort communities and small, locally owned businesses are both endangered species on the Minnesota landscape, so finding one full of the other is something of a shock. To be fair, White Bear Lake is a year-round town now, and has been for generations. The thing is, nothing seems to have changed in that time. Parking along Fourth Street near Washington Square and heading into the 617 Lounge—a Prohibition Era-style gin-joint with a gangster atmosphere that rivals Mancini’s in St. Paul—one can’t help but feel like Michael J. Fox emerging from his DeLorean.

“ These places have all been here forever,” says Tracy, a waitress at the Cobblestone Café, a bustling eatery where Foussard sipped malts as a kid. Across the street (it’s paved now) sits a nearly empty Subway. Nearby is Caribou Coffee. And Foussard’s hotel is a franchise of Best Western. But apart from that, big chain businesses are rare here. When the afternoon bell rings at White Bear Lake Area High School, a few students mingle over mochas at the coffee shop, but most congregate at the Cup & Cone, a soft-serve stand that faced demolition when the Caribou stampeded into town, only to be rescued by long-time customers who couldn’t bear the thought of getting their butterscotch-dipped twist cones anywhere else.

“ There’s a lot of community pride here,” says Suzi Hudson, executive director of the White Bear Center for the Arts. A Chicago native, she moved to White Bear Lake 20 years ago to renovate a 100-year-old house and run the local bookstore. She realized it was a special place when she learned that her plumber was also a poet. “There’s a rich tradition of artists in the area,” she says. “The lake is such a wonderful source of inspiration as well as recreation.” The WBCA itself fosters that inspiration with community classes, exhibitions and such annual events as the autumn iron pour. One of Hudson’s favorite events is also the longest running: For 30 years, the institution has sponsored a community sandcastle-building contest at the beach. “The mayor is the judge,” she says with a laugh. I’n’t that neat? —C.T.

back to In The News