General Store exceeds expectations this season at Frontier Village, says Jamestown Tourism official

Sep. 21—JAMESTOWN — Frontier Village in Jamestown saw over 131,000 visitors this year, said Allison Limke, visitor experience manager for Jamestown Tourism

Jamestown Tourism, which manages the Village on behalf of the city of Jamestown, reported visitors this year were from all 50 states and over 30 countries. The Village's season ran from Memorial Day weekend through Sept. 17.

"It went really well," Limke said. "We had lots of visitors and we sold a ton of ice cream."

The General Store was open for the first time in recent years, offering ice cream, sweet treats, coffee, Jamestown-related merchandise and other merchandise.

"We sold almost 700 gallons of ice cream at the General Store this summer," Limke said.

She said the General Store exceeded her expectations.

"We actually had to get another freezer because we were running out of ice cream so quickly," she said.

People were also purchasing other items, so Limke said they added more family-oriented items such as children's games, stuffed animals and candy "and that really did very well. We sold almost 65 pounds of taffy this summer."

Also popular was kuchen.

"Our kuchen sold like crazy," Limke said. "People loved kuchen. All the locals loved to get kuchen and then the visitors loved learning what it was. That was a very common question was 'What's koochen (as pronounced by visitors)?'"

Another popular item was the "I touched the beard" T-shirts, she said, which were hard to keep on the shelves.

She said next year, the General Store will add a new candy station with more historic candies and other merchandise featuring more fun items with Jamestown and North Dakota themes.

"I'm continuing to look for local vendors who are wanting to get their stuff out there," Limke said.

Other additions to the Village this season included a new wooden train set, a flagpole sponsored by the All Vets Club next to the path of the World's Largest Buffalo, and native prairie plant species being installed along the pathway.

Limke noted with the addition of antagonists Slick Salesman Clay Flint and Duram, his raccoon sidekick, the Village now has seven characters. The others are Mayor Marty Sinclair, Depot Agent Charlie Lyon, Homesteader Hilda Homer, Sheriff Archie Bloom and Stagecoach Driver Kitty Strong.

"They all tell the stories of Frontier Village," Limke said, but visitors don't know who the characters are and why they are telling the stories. To help, they're creating a Cast of Characters Hunt activity for kids, she said.

"So this scavenger hunt will kind of orientate people to who the characters are, the stories that they tell, the history that is behind them," she said.

Those who finish the activity will get a coupon for $1 off their ice cream and a small mayoral seal pin to keep.

The historic Burlington Northern Sante Fe railroad gatehouse has been moved to the miniature train track and will be updated next spring, Limke said.

"Rotary has donated the money so that we can do that project so we're really excited about that and thankful for that," she said.

The gatehouse will be more like a playhouse after work is completed, she said, with interactive pieces a train gatehouse might once have had such as dials, switches and a telegraph with the Morse code alphabet.

A caboose located west of the General Store that's been closed for four years will be removed, Limke said. It was closed due to insurance requirements and being too costly to fix for its value. They have a few ideas to fill that space, Limke said.

"And we also have a Midland Continental caboose already that you can walk in and explore and see and pretend to sit up in the bunks ...," she said.

Mary's House is also expected to be removed in the next few weeks. The house was not open this year.

"It's hard because so many people appreciate the history of that older home but the water damage and the mold is too far gone to save it," Limke said.

Next year, the former Mary's House site is expected to be used for food trucks and they are looking for food truck vendors, she said.

"If they want to get on a schedule that's our hope is next year we can have a set schedule, we can help advertise that we're having barbecue this day, or knoephla soup, whatever it might be, just get the word out that there's a lunch option up here," Limke said.

Near the food truck location, picnic tables and benches are being added to the north side of the train depot where there's an overlook, and the wooden train playset is also located there, she said.

"It'll be another nice spot for people to stop and enjoy Jamestown," Limke said. "Look over the city, maybe have a sandwich from whatever food truck might be up here, then go grab an ice cream cone and explore the Homestead Shack and touch the beard."

Jamestown Tourism is also working to raise money for a new playground to install in the spring, Limke said.

"We are at nearly two-thirds of our goal with a great deal of community buy-in and support," she said, along with applications for grants. "We would welcome any more donations to help assist us in making this new playground a reality."

The playground will be in the same location as the current playground, but new equipment will allow more children to use it, Limke said. The current equipment is geared to children ages 8-12.

"For little kids, it's really hard to have fun over there and so we want to make it more accessible for kids from 18 months to 12 or 13 years old," she said. "A little more fun, a little more inviting."

Limke noted that Frontier Village is Jamestown's site.

It's not Jamestown Tourism's," Limke said. "It's not ours. It's everyone's and if people want to see improvements up here, there's ways to help. If they want to see a new playground, they can help out by sending a donation or offering to help when it's time to do the installation and cleanup."