Elizabeth Fries Ellet Interpretive Trail
Wilderness in the city

The City of Eden Prairie, Minnesota owes its name to Elizabeth Fries Ellet, the East Coast writer who visited the area in 1852. In her travelogue book, Summer Rambles in the West, Ellet described the Minnesota River Valley which adjoins the current day City of Eden Prairie as the garden spot of the territory.
The celebrated valley of the Minnesota River–called St. Pierre by the French, and until recently, St. Peter’s—extends in a general direction from west to east, and, with the country along its tributaries, forms the garden spot of the territory.
Writers & Readers Common Grounds
Ellet, Gossip, Historian, Writer…

Who was this woman? A female who seemingly excelled at mischevious gossip and entangled relations with the opposite sex (Edgar Allan Poe and Rufus Grisowold), Elizabeth Fries Ellet anecdotally named the city of Eden Prairie on her visit here in 1852. Unlike most of her fellow writers at the New York literary soirees of the 19th century, Ellet was a prolific writer and broke with tradition by writing for dime novels, lady’s magazines and newspapers (penny press) in what many writers of the time referred to as yellow journalism.
Bug City: Make a Bug
2019 Event Info

Bug City: Make a Bug Fourth Event – Join us at Eden Prairie’s 4th Hometown Celebration
Bug Tent at Round Lake Park July 4th from noon-6 p.m. Volunteers needed (must be accompanied by parent if under age 18)
•Live Bugs
•Write Shaped Bug Poems and Create Bugs in a Jar
•Take a selfie with Butterfly, Lady Bug Wings
• Create your own Buggy Face Art
Bug City: Make a Bug is sponsored every year by Eden Prairie Metropolitan Ford.
Winning Writers…
2018 Bill Holm Poetry Contest

2018 Bill Holm Winner, Jayne Marek
March 18, 2019
The titles of Jayne’s pieces are “Snow Day,” “Hungry,” “The Balance,” “Winter Pond as Window,” “Worry,” and “Woodcock Walk.” Since I lived for over 30 years in the upper Midwest, I have written a number of poems about that distinct ecology and climate, especially about the cold months. This set reflects the chilly joys of walking and watching birds in winter, for instance in Indiana, a flyway for cranes and a place where one can encounter woodcocks making their invisible, eerie-sounding displays.
Jayne’s Bill Holm Witness poetry collection to be published in WRUP Blog.