AS I SEE IT
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
As the long Labor Day weekend approaches, and with all of the
McKenzie County schools now back in session for another year, it is obvious that summer is officially over.
But there is still one last big event on tap in McKenzie County as another summer comes to a close. And that is Alexander’s Old Settlers’ Day.
Now in its 77th year, Old Settlers’ Day is steeped in a long tradition dating back to when Len Burns decided that it was time for the area residents to get together to celebrate the end of the harvest season.
As the story goes, Burns said that he would donate the beef for a barbecue if the area residents pitched in to help with the celebration. Today, the residents of the Alexander community have continued that tradition as every year a family steps forward to donate the beef and the community comes together to make it all happen. And according to the old-timers in the community, a Watford City newspaper editor by the name of Fred Shipman, my grandfather, helped teach them the secrets of pit barbecuing a beef.