A Neighborly Picnic off Eighth Street

We enjoyed a wonderful picnic – and the shade of the tall trees – last Saturday at Barden Park in St. Cloud. The “Main Street to Eighth Street” Lewis family celebration was a good excuse to bring the Riggs family members together for a gathering. Unfortunately, not everyone could make it, but we had about 75 percent of the family there, which was a great turnout for a busy summer weekend.

We even managed to gather in one place long enough for a kind man to take a group picture with multiple cameras – not an easy task!

Three generations of Riggs family members gather in front of the Barden Park bandstand.

G. (George) Oliver Riggs, the cardboard cutout who loves to travel, was finally able to meet his great-great-grandson G. (Griffin) Oliver Riggs, the adorable baby son of my cousin Brent and his wife Nicole – it was a photographic moment we made sure to capture for posterity.

The two G. Olivers together!

Griffin with my dad, who was about Griffin's age when he moved to St. Cloud.

Brent with Griffin

My grandfather Ronald with my dad, William

Before the picnic, Steve and I toured the Lewis House, the longtime home of Dr. Claude Lewis (brother of author Sinclair Lewis) and his wife Wilhelmina. The house was built in 1926 and is located in St. Cloud’s historic south side neighborhood, next to St. Cloud State University. It was designed by prominent St. Cloud architect Louis Pinault (1889-1980), who also designed the octagonal granite bandstand across the street from the Lewis House.

Steve and me before the Lewis House tour; the bandstand behind us was built in 1925.

The Lewis House was one of many neighborhood homes affected by the university’s expansion in the decades after World War II. The house was taken over by the university in 1972 and turned into office space for the St. Cloud State University Foundation and Alumni Relations. Known as the alumni house for many years, it was recently renamed for the Lewis family to highlight the connections between the campus and the neighborhood. 

The house my dad, his brother Bob and his sister Dana grew up in, next to the Lewis House, was moved to another location in town, and the site became a parking lot.

My dad has fond memories of the interactions he and his brother, Bob, had with their neighbors. Some of his recollections are mentioned in a story Alex Ames wrote about the Lewis family for the May issue of Crossings, the Stearns History Museum magazine (Ames just graduated from SCSU with a master’s degree in public history).

“Mrs. Lewis, whom Bill remembers as ‘very motherly,’ always had homemade cookies for the boys,” Ames wrote.  “The observant medical professionals even made sure the kids stayed hydrated while playing outside. Dr. and Mrs. Lewis ’had a Culligan water cooler they [they] could have had in the kitchen, but [they] left it out on the porch, and the Riggs boys could help themselves! We loved Dr. Lewis,’” Bill Riggs remembers.

We didn’t see any water available for guests on the porch of the Lewis House last weekend, but that was OK – the Riggs family members brought plenty of food, drink, and even some homemade cookies (thanks, Mom!) for our picnic in the park. Dr. Lewis and Mrs. Lewis would have felt right at home.

Seb and Louisa investigate the bounty of picnic food.

Elias has a swinging time in St. Cloud’s oldest park.