North Dakota
The Pet Rock was hatched 50 years ago by a North Dakota native
It’s December 1975. You’re steering your boat-sized Buick down 13th Avenue toward West Acres (WAAAAAAY out west). You’re singing along to the No. 1 song, “Fly, Robin, Fly,” when a familiar Christmas worry creeps in.
I don’t know for a fact that my mother actually lived out this exact scene 50 years ago. But it sounds like her. (Except she’d be listening to the Carpenters or Neil Diamond — not Silver Convention.)
But I hope Joan Briggs didn’t think too long and hard about what we kids wanted that Christmas of ’75. We, like millions of Americans, had caught the fever of that year’s hottest gifts: the Pet Rock and mood rings. Both are celebrating their 50th birthdays this year.
As we mark the golden anniversary, let’s look back at why those gifts were such hits.
First up: the Pet Rock. And did you know a North Dakota native invented it?
We’ve probably all had that fleeting thought (particularly as we’re paying bills): If only I had that million-dollar idea!
Think Spanx. Snuggies. Post-it notes.
A North Dakota native named Gary Ross Dahl had one of those lightning-bolt ideas — the viral (before they called it that) Pet Rock. It would make him a millionaire in less than a year.
Gary Ross Dahl was born in Bottineau, North Dakota, on Dec. 18, 1936, to Richard “Arnold” Dahl and Lavone Ferm Dahl. Arnold was a projectionist at the Pasture Theatre. In the early 1940s, the family moved to Spokane, Washington, where Arnold got a job with a lumber company and Lavone worked as a waitress and welcomed a second child, a daughter.
According to Curt Eriksmoen, in his “Did You Know That” column from April 26, 2015, after his parents’ divorce, Gary said he became “an obnoxious brat, somewhere between a juvenile delinquent and just a bad kid.”
He joined the Marine Corps in 1954 to straighten himself out.
He obviously did — finding his way to Washington State University and eventually California, where he worked as an artist designing signs in San Diego. That later led to a job as an account executive for an advertising agency.
When he wasn’t writing ad copy, he and his wife, Marguerite, took care of enough animals to fill a petting zoo: two German shepherds, two cats, two goats, two chickens and a guinea pig.
This is where fate steps in.
Dahl was at a bar with some buddies one night, commiserating about high-maintenance pets. He quipped that the perfect pet would be … a rock. No feeding. No grooming. No mess. No allergies. Just pure, geological companionship.
Sure, it was a joke. But the light bulb went on — and Dahl was on his way to making millions.
He got to work packaging his new “pet,” placing a smooth stone atop a bed of packing material inside a cardboard box complete with air holes — for “breathing.” Each rock came with “The Care and Training of Your Pet Rock,” a wonderfully deadpan manual that taught owners how to command their rock to “sit,” “stay” and “roll over” (best taught on a hillside).
The Pet Rock debuted in August 1975 and immediately became a cultural phenomenon. A few months later, Dahl’s wife was telling reporters they’d already sold 60,000 of them. By Christmas, more than a million had been “adopted” nationwide.
Ten years before they brought us the hugely popular Santa Bear, the folks at Dayton’s Department Store were all in on the Pet Rock. Gift buyer Ed Hovis called it the “smash stocking stuffer for 1975.”
Here in Fargo-Moorhead, shoppers flooded into the West Acres Dayton’s, picking up their new “pets” for just $4.
Absolute seasonal silliness, to be sure. Still, in 1975, the Pet Rock seemed to delight people as much as dog and cat videos do today.
In The Forum, one columnist wrote that while the shopping crowd looked grim and foot-weary, “every person at the Pet Rock display was smiling from ear to ear.”
But not everyone was amused.
The Duluth News Tribune’s letters section erupted into figurative rock-throwing, with one writer peppering his letter with gems like: “The real rocks are in the purchaser’s skull,” “I bet in this country, with the right promotion and a box and ribbon, human waste could be sold,” and “People who put this item out, those who buy it and those who advertise it are all sick.”
Sounds like someone needed a pet rock to snuggle.
Another letter fought back that it was just for fun and “a form of social commentary, something of which we have far too little.”
By early 1976, the craze faded, despite Ross offering shoppers red, white and blue bicentennial rocks.
He tried to make lightning strike twice that Christmas of ’76 by offering the equally silly “Original Sand Breeding Kit,” which allowed “buyers to grow their own desert wasteland.”
It didn’t hit. But it didn’t really matter. That single year — 1975 — made Dahl a millionaire.
He remained active in the world of advertising, later co-authoring “Advertising for Dummies,” which surely would include a chapter on how the power of one odd idea, packaged with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek charm, can set you up for life.
Dahl always insisted, “I packaged a sense of humor for a very bored public.” And it’s hard to argue that a sense of humor might be one of the best Christmas gifts of all.
Gary Ross Dahl died March 23, 2015, at age 78. In one final, fitting twist, his obituary appeared in many newspapers on April 1 — April Fools’ Day.
And yes, if you’re wondering, the Pet Rock never really went extinct. You can still buy one on Amazon today for $29.95 — proving that inflation affects even imaginary pets.
For a man who once sold the world a rock in a box, maybe Dahl’s greatest legacy is simpler than all the numbers: for one strange, silly season in 1975, he reminded us that laughter itself is sometimes the perfect Christmas gift.
Next week: The other Christmas fad of 1975 — the mood ring — and does the one I wore in sixth grade still work?
What did Christmas shopping look like more than 50 years ago?
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BOYS PREP BASKETBALL=
Alexander-Trinity Christian 81, Divide County 58
Beulah 55, Des Lacs-Burlington 26
Harvey-Wells County 61, Nedrose 51
Killdeer 54, Dunseith 52
Linton 75, Sargent County 32
Milbank, S.D. 64, Hillsboro-Central Valley 61
New Salem-Almont 71, Mandaree 32
Our Redeemer’s 89, Kenmare 32
Parshall 71, Trenton 70
Richey-Lambert, Mont. 57, Beach 55
Rothsay, Minn. 71, Richland 38
Shiloh 70, Oak Grove 59
Watford City 77, South Prairie/Max 64
Westby-Grenora 49, Savage, Mont. 40
White Shield 72, Strasburg 55
Dickinson Trinity Shootout=
Central McLean 70, Bowman County 54
Dickinson Trinity 63, Stanley 22
Wilton-Wing 70, South Heart 51
Ramsey County Tournament=
Championship=
North Star 65, Lakota/Adams-Edmore/Dakota Prairie 57
7th Place=
Warwick 72, Benson County 61
5th Place=
Carrington 53, Griggs-Midkota 45
3rd Place=
Devils Lake 73, Larimore 63
Stutsman County Shootout=
Drake-Anamoose 54, South Border 49
Glen Ullin 47, EKM 44
MPB 63, Washburn 59
Midway-Minto 61, Ellendale 53
Napoleon/G-S 53, Kindred 44
Oakes 69, Kidder County 39
GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL=
Ashby, Minn. 65, Tri-State 49
Benson County 47, Hatton-Northwood 38
Dunseith 46, Killdeer 39
Ellendale 54, South Border 36
Flasher 42, New England 16
Garrison 54, Grant County/Mott-Regent 51
Kenmare 55, Our Redeemer’s 43
Kindred 70, Bottineau 21
Lambert, Mont. 52, Beach 50
Maple River 53, LaMoure 52
Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood 57, TGU 54
New Salem-Almont 67, Mandaree 44
North Prairie 67, Westhope 49
Park River 42, Griggs-Midkota 37
Richey-Lambert, Mont. 52, Beach 50
Rothsay, Minn. 65, Richland 32
Sargent County 55, Linton 48
Savage, Mont. 40, Westby-Grenora 33
Shiloh 56, Oak Grove 47
Sisseton, S.D. 66, Oakes 17
Strasburg 39, White Shield 30
Surrey 67, Larimore 38
Trenton 58, Parshall 40
Dickinson Trinity Shootout=
Central McLean 55, Bowman County 41
South Heart 45, Stanley 41
Sanford Pentagon Classic=
West Fargo Horace 70, Tea, S.D. 41
Filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court
North Dakota
Kaitlyn Grace Lucier, Fargo, Chapter 7
Samuel Todd Hicks, formerly known as Thomas Samuel Hicks, Fargo, Chapter 7
Teresa and Dominik Renwick, Fargo, Chapter 13
Susan Renee Fuller, formerly known as Susan R. Schaffer, doing business as Susie’s Sparkling Cleaning Service, Fargo, Chapter 7
Shannon Lynn Taylor, Fargo, Chapter 7
Jesse Patrick and Jaime Elizabeth Brown, Williston, Chapter 7
Kerri Lee Weishaar, Minot, Chapter 7
Terry Marie Moritz, Valley City, Chapter 7
Joshua Allen Sewill, Hatton, Chapter 7
Bryan Eugene Flecker, Minot, Chapter 7
Anna Marie Rahm, formerly known as Anna Marie Tanner, and Joshua Edward Rahm, Bismarck, Chapter 13
Sherri Rae Fisher, Baldwin, Chapter 13
Heather Lynn McElroy, formerly known as Heather Anderson, Grand Forks, Chapter 7
Kaitlyn Autrey, Grand Forks, Chapter 7
Michelle Lynn Miller, Fargo, Chapter 13
Kimberly Georgeann Callahan, Fargo, Chapter 13
Erin Elaine and Jose Luiz Murphy, Bismarck, Chapter 7
Shelly and Kieth Quimby, St. Thomas, Chapter 7
Minnesota
Bankruptcy filings from the following counties: Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Norman, Otter Tail, Polk, Traverse, Wadena and Wilkin.
David Howard Gilpin, Osakis, Chapter 7
Timothy Virgil Hoag, Moorhead, Chapter 7
Jason Darryl Dykhoff, Ottertail, Chapter 7
Zachary Nicholas Hodgson and Jolynn Beth Warnes, formerly known as Jolynn Beth Hodgson, Kensington, Chapter 7
Riley Matthew Hinman, Alexandria, Chapter 7
Layne Christopher Condiff, Park Rapids, Chapter 13
Thomas Beecher Hoyer, Menahga, Chapter 13
Christine Karen Jakubek, also known as Cristine Anderson, Chapter 7
Chapter 7 is a petition to liquidate assets and discharge debts.
Chapter 11 is a petition for protection from creditors and to reorganize.
Chapter 12 is a petition for family farmers to reorganize.
Chapter 13 is a petition for wage earners to readjust debts.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
North Dakota
Hoeven, Armstrong, Traynor speak on OBBB Rural Health Transformation Fund updates in ND
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – On Friday, North Dakota U.S. Senator John Hoeven, Governor Kelly Armstrong and Health and Human Services Commissioner Pat Traynor explained how the state plans to use millions of dollars from the Big Beautiful Bill’s Rural Health Transformation Fund to transform healthcare across the state.
They spoke extensively about the special session to allocate the funds, and confirmed that it is still tentatively set for Jan. 21.
The Big Beautiful Bill allocated $25 billion for rural healthcare nationwide. North Dakota received $500 million for five years and $200 million for the first year. There is still another $25 billion left to be spent, and North Dakota is hoping to receive an extra $500 million.
“I truly believe that with the plan we’re putting in place and the things we built that line up with that, we’ll get a billion dollars over five years,” said Hoeven.
Federal rules require the state to lock in contracts for the money by October first— a deadline officials say is driving the need for a special session.
In the first year, North Dakota will focus on retention grants to keep existing staff, technical assistance and consultants for rural hospitals, as well as telehealth equipment and home patient monitoring.
Governor Armstrong says the special session will include policy bills tied to how much federal rural health funding the state can earn.
“We’re going to have a physical fitness test for physical education courses, nutrition education, continuing education requirement for physicians, physician assistant licensure compact—which North Dakota has been doing, dealing with that since the heart of the oil boom and moving forward—and then an expanded scope of practice for pharmacists,” said Armstrong.
Hundreds of millions of dollars could reshape healthcare in rural North Dakota, and state leaders say the next few weeks are key to receiving and spending that money wisely.
The governor says he only wants to focus on bills related to the Rural Health Transformation Program during the special session and doesn’t intend to deal with other state issues during that time.
Copyright 2026 KFYR. All rights reserved.
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