Perham's Turtle Fest returns for 47th season with turtle races, music and more
A turtle crosses the finish line in first place during turtle races in Perham, Minn.
Derek Montgomery for MPR News | 2014
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If you visit Perham, Minn., this Friday, you’re bound to see some turtle races.
They're happening as part of Perham's annual Turtle Fest, along with a whole slate of activities, live music and food.
For more on the history of the long-running festival, MPR News host Cathy Wurzer talks with Dan Shroeder. He was a longtime director of Perham's chamber of commerce and is currently the chamber's membership sales director.
Perham, Minn.
William Lager | MPR News
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: If you visit Perham, Minnesota this weekend-- that's off of Highway 10 near Detroit Lakes-- you might hear this--
ANNOUNCER: Turtles out of the bucket, nose behind the white line.
[WHISTLE BLOWS]
ANNOUNCER: Let them go.
[CHATTER]
CATHY WURZER: That's not a herd of stampeding turtles. I mean, they're turtles, yes. That's the sound of fans cheering the turtles on at the Turtle Races in Perham. Is part of Perham's annual Turtle Fest, along with a whole slate of activities, live music, and a whole lot of food. Dan Schroeder is on the line. He was a long-time director of Perham's Chamber of Commerce and is currently the chamber's Membership Sales Director. Dan, welcome to the program. How are you?
DAN SCHROEDER: I'm doing wonderful, and Thanks for having us.
CATHY WURZER: Absolutely. OK. For those who have not had the pleasure of attending a turtle race, what does it look like? What does it sound like?
DAN SCHROEDER: Well, I'll tell you what, we just got done with them about a half hour ago. We had our opening ceremonies for Turtle Fest here in Perham for our Summer Celebration 2023. We had over 240 racers, almost 250. And, of course, that brings a lot of people into our Turtle Park, and it gets noisy, and people have some fun. It's a great family event, and we're all kicked off here now to get ready for Turtle Fest this year.
CATHY WURZER: OK. When it comes to the best turtle races, as you know, Longville has been holding its own races for a number of years. So has Nisswa. You guys have been doing it for, what, 40 years?
DAN SCHROEDER: 46 years now. This is our 47th season. So yeah, it's been going on since 1978. And we call ourselves the International Turtle Races because we get people from all over the world.
CATHY WURZER: OK. Well, so I should know this, I guess, being a native Minnesotan, what's the tie between Perham and turtles?
DAN SCHROEDER: Well, just our nature. Our celebration used to be called June Fest up until the early '80s. And then, with all of our lakes up here in Otter Tail County-- there's over 1,100 lakes right here in Ontario County, which were in the center of it. And we just-- Turtle Fest is to celebrate our outdoors, the turtles are a part of that, and it's just something that we call "living our vacation" because of all the water, lakes, and rivers here. And that's what we do. So it's just celebrating our outdoors.
CATHY WURZER: So is this a one and done kind of a deal, or do you have turtle races throughout the summer?
DAN SCHROEDER: Yeah, we do Turtle races each Wednesday in our Turtle Park here right by the city building. And it's June, July, and August. We do them 10:30 each Wednesday.
CATHY WURZER: OK. Now, I know you've seen turtle races. What's the secret to winning a turtle race beyond having the fastest turtle?
DAN SCHROEDER: Well, that's about it. You hope you get the right turtle, and you get out there, and they run. And it's amazing how quick they do go from center to outside circle. And we get to-- like I said, this morning we went through 25 heats of them, of 10. And then we had our finals and gave away some great prizes to the winners.
CATHY WURZER: What's the favorite part of the festivities every year for you?
DAN SCHROEDER: Well, for me it's the grand parade-- Friday night's grand parade. it's been something that's gone forever. We have over 100 units, and it's just a great place to be. We get 4-5,000 people watching it throughout the community. And it's just a great evening, a great night. The parade is always special.
CATHY WURZER: I do love small town parades. Super fun. And we should say, if you get that many people, for goodness' sakes it's almost more than the population of Perham.
DAN SCHROEDER: Well, it is. I tell you what. What happens, you know, you explode in the summertime, like I say, with all the water we have here, and all the resorters, and vacationers, and whatnot. Perham proper is about 3,400 people only. We have over 4,500 jobs, which is crazy. But the school district, because of all the lakes and people living on the lakes, draws from about 11,500 people.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, my goodness. OK. So this Friday is the big parade, right?
DAN SCHROEDER: Yep, it is. Friday is the parade. And a lot of things are happening right now, but a lot of the big stuff, the main stage start Friday and Saturday, and there's things going on all over. And for people who want to come visit us, they can check out all of our events on perham.com/turtlefest.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Dan, I know you're busy. Thanks for taking time to talk with me. I appreciate it. And happy Turtle Fest.
DAN SCHROEDER: Thank you very much, and you guys have a great weekend. And tell you what, we got a little bit of that smoke up here too today.
CATHY WURZER: Oh heck. Do you really? Well, all right, just be careful then. Thank you.
DAN SCHROEDER: All right, thanks a lot.
CATHY WURZER: Dan Schroeder's been on the line with us. He's the longtime director of Perham's Chamber of Commerce Turtle Fest starts today. As you heard, they already had the turtle heats.
It runs through Sunday. Full schedule is at perham.com/turtlefest. And of course, all summer long, because I'd love nothing better than small town festivals, we're going to continue to highlight some of those gatherings happening across the state right here on Minnesota Now.
ANNOUNCER: Turtles out of the bucket, nose behind the white line.
[WHISTLE BLOWS]
ANNOUNCER: Let them go.
[CHATTER]
CATHY WURZER: That's not a herd of stampeding turtles. I mean, they're turtles, yes. That's the sound of fans cheering the turtles on at the Turtle Races in Perham. Is part of Perham's annual Turtle Fest, along with a whole slate of activities, live music, and a whole lot of food. Dan Schroeder is on the line. He was a long-time director of Perham's Chamber of Commerce and is currently the chamber's Membership Sales Director. Dan, welcome to the program. How are you?
DAN SCHROEDER: I'm doing wonderful, and Thanks for having us.
CATHY WURZER: Absolutely. OK. For those who have not had the pleasure of attending a turtle race, what does it look like? What does it sound like?
DAN SCHROEDER: Well, I'll tell you what, we just got done with them about a half hour ago. We had our opening ceremonies for Turtle Fest here in Perham for our Summer Celebration 2023. We had over 240 racers, almost 250. And, of course, that brings a lot of people into our Turtle Park, and it gets noisy, and people have some fun. It's a great family event, and we're all kicked off here now to get ready for Turtle Fest this year.
CATHY WURZER: OK. When it comes to the best turtle races, as you know, Longville has been holding its own races for a number of years. So has Nisswa. You guys have been doing it for, what, 40 years?
DAN SCHROEDER: 46 years now. This is our 47th season. So yeah, it's been going on since 1978. And we call ourselves the International Turtle Races because we get people from all over the world.
CATHY WURZER: OK. Well, so I should know this, I guess, being a native Minnesotan, what's the tie between Perham and turtles?
DAN SCHROEDER: Well, just our nature. Our celebration used to be called June Fest up until the early '80s. And then, with all of our lakes up here in Otter Tail County-- there's over 1,100 lakes right here in Ontario County, which were in the center of it. And we just-- Turtle Fest is to celebrate our outdoors, the turtles are a part of that, and it's just something that we call "living our vacation" because of all the water, lakes, and rivers here. And that's what we do. So it's just celebrating our outdoors.
CATHY WURZER: So is this a one and done kind of a deal, or do you have turtle races throughout the summer?
DAN SCHROEDER: Yeah, we do Turtle races each Wednesday in our Turtle Park here right by the city building. And it's June, July, and August. We do them 10:30 each Wednesday.
CATHY WURZER: OK. Now, I know you've seen turtle races. What's the secret to winning a turtle race beyond having the fastest turtle?
DAN SCHROEDER: Well, that's about it. You hope you get the right turtle, and you get out there, and they run. And it's amazing how quick they do go from center to outside circle. And we get to-- like I said, this morning we went through 25 heats of them, of 10. And then we had our finals and gave away some great prizes to the winners.
CATHY WURZER: What's the favorite part of the festivities every year for you?
DAN SCHROEDER: Well, for me it's the grand parade-- Friday night's grand parade. it's been something that's gone forever. We have over 100 units, and it's just a great place to be. We get 4-5,000 people watching it throughout the community. And it's just a great evening, a great night. The parade is always special.
CATHY WURZER: I do love small town parades. Super fun. And we should say, if you get that many people, for goodness' sakes it's almost more than the population of Perham.
DAN SCHROEDER: Well, it is. I tell you what. What happens, you know, you explode in the summertime, like I say, with all the water we have here, and all the resorters, and vacationers, and whatnot. Perham proper is about 3,400 people only. We have over 4,500 jobs, which is crazy. But the school district, because of all the lakes and people living on the lakes, draws from about 11,500 people.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, my goodness. OK. So this Friday is the big parade, right?
DAN SCHROEDER: Yep, it is. Friday is the parade. And a lot of things are happening right now, but a lot of the big stuff, the main stage start Friday and Saturday, and there's things going on all over. And for people who want to come visit us, they can check out all of our events on perham.com/turtlefest.
CATHY WURZER: All right. Dan, I know you're busy. Thanks for taking time to talk with me. I appreciate it. And happy Turtle Fest.
DAN SCHROEDER: Thank you very much, and you guys have a great weekend. And tell you what, we got a little bit of that smoke up here too today.
CATHY WURZER: Oh heck. Do you really? Well, all right, just be careful then. Thank you.
DAN SCHROEDER: All right, thanks a lot.
CATHY WURZER: Dan Schroeder's been on the line with us. He's the longtime director of Perham's Chamber of Commerce Turtle Fest starts today. As you heard, they already had the turtle heats.
It runs through Sunday. Full schedule is at perham.com/turtlefest. And of course, all summer long, because I'd love nothing better than small town festivals, we're going to continue to highlight some of those gatherings happening across the state right here on Minnesota Now.
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