GRAND FORKS – The Alerus Center bustled with thousands of eager shoppers Saturday, Nov. 15, as the Pride of Dakota Holiday Showcase opened for the start of its two-day event.

The facility became an enticing, can’t-miss mecca for those in search of unusual or unique items for themselves or Christmas gift-giving. It was expected to draw more than 9,000 visitors, one of the hundreds of vendors told the Herald.

Administered and hosted by the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, the Pride of Dakota program is an opportunity for businesses and organizations to connect with people in this region and beyond. More than 500 member companies participate in the program.

The event is also held annually in several other cities throughout the state.

“I come here every year,” said Autumn Maurstad, of East Grand Forks. “It’s one of all my stops.”

She was shopping for Christmas gifts, along with her husband Adam Maurstad.

At the “Holly the Potter” booth, she held up a natural-colored ceramic mug. Holly Van Santen Knipe, of rural Grand Forks, is the creative potter who has operated this business for many years.

“This coffee cup just spoke to me,” Maurstad said. “The bottom is not too gritty, the handle is good, it holds nice – it’s the perfect coffee cup. I’ve been looking for the perfect coffee cup for two years; I broke my last one.”

Tanya and Rick Anderson, of Grand Forks, have operated Tan and Jay Creations for two years.

“We have something for everybody,” Tanya said.

They hand-assemble items including pens, zipper pulls, coffee stirs, key chains and other items.

The work takes “many, many, many hours,” Rick Anderson said.

“It keeps us busy, but I enjoy it,” his wife added.

Pamela Knudson / Grand Forks Herald

At the Pride of Dakota Showcase, the range of products are as vast and diverse as one could imagine – from the decorative to the functional, most of them handcrafted by North Dakotans. Available for purchase were artwork, food and beverage items, pet supplies, books, pottery, jewelry, photography, kitchenware, products to enhance personal health and well-being, and much more.

Carleen Hennenfent, a retired mortician from Bismarck, displayed her book, “Incomplete,” which offered insights on dealing with grief and the loss of loved ones – people as well as pets.

With memories that are stirred, the holidays can heighten that sense of loss, said Hennenfent, a grief educator. “It’s the nostalgia” that permeates the holiday season.

“People want yesterday to come back,” she said, “and they’re frightened of tomorrow. (It’s important) to live in the now, where at least we have some control.”

Nostalgia also plays a role in attracting customers to the traditional sock monkeys Keith and Leslie Ogden, of Cavalier, North Dakota, offered at their “Smitten with Mittens” booth.

Pamela Knudson / Grand Forks Herald

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Leslie has been making these stuffed figures for 18 years, she said. Each one requires “two socks – original, red-heeled socks – one for the body and one for the extremities.”

When the Odgens go south for the winter each year, neighbors in their retirement community like to buy them for their grandkids, to carry on the memory.

Her husband Keith, a retired state trooper, was selling his second book, “More Humor on the Highway,” which recounts the fun incidents that happened and the funny things people said to him, as a trooper on the job, and regretted later.

“I don’t want to remember the bad things,” said Ogden, a native of East Grand Forks who worked 26 of his 28-year career in Cavalier.

His first book, “Humor on the Highway,” sold 2,500 copies in Pembina County, he said. “(People) wanted to see who’s in it.”

Pamela Knudson / Grand Forks Herald

On Saturday, the Alerus Center parking lots were nearly full and, inside, lines formed as additional security measures were in place, with personnel checking purses and totes and wanding visitors before entering the venue.

Pamela Knudson / Grand Forks Herald

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The Pride of Dakota Holiday Showcase is also planned for Nov. 21-22 at Scheels Arena in Fargo and Dec. 5-6 at the Bismarck Events Center. Showcases were held earlier this fall in Minot and Dickinson.

Pamela Knudson / Grand Forks Herald