Yet another tourist attraction, the 20-year-old Lewis & Clark Interpretative Center near Washburn, is opening its doors for free to students all year.

At the foothills of the Turtle Mountains, Bottineau continues to market its recreational opportunities, while Rugby, long identified as the geographic center of North America, doesn’t see recent controversy over that status as hurting its tourism.

Area communities are capitalizing on whatever identifies them as unique to find tourism success.

CANDISC has been a tourism boon for a number of small communities that have landed in its path over the years. The difficulty in maintaining a volunteer base has led to this being the final tour, but to have extended the run for 25 years is remarkable, said McKaila Matteson with the Garrision Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Submitted Photo A Lakota dance stick is part of the Northern Plains Artists Suite exhibit showing at the Lewis & Clark Interpretative Center through Oct. 31.

“That’s quite a long time to have successful events running,” Matteson said, noting Garrison has two other events just shy of that 25-year mark. The annual Christmas Dickens Village Festival is going into its 24th year, while the Memorial Day weekend’s Skyfest also will bring kite enthusiasts back for a 24th year this May.

They are three highly successful events that have brought a lot of tourists into the community and have helped make a name for the community, Matteson said. Garrison’s tourism also is helped by having Lake Sakakawea in its backyard, and Matteson said fantastic fishing conditions predicted for the lake this year are likely to keep those tourism numbers up.

At Washburn, a sponsorship from MDU Resources and the Lewis & Clark/Fort Mandan Foundation is providing for free admission for all students, including college students, at the interpretative center, which is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“We have been increasing the hands-on opportunitities that just make the experience more interactive,” said Robert Hanna, interpretative coordinator. New this year are the Young Explorers Knapsacks, a scavenger hunt in which kids can use the tools of Lewis and Clark to explore the exhibits on a new level, as well as a variety of sports, games, food tasting and other activities that bring history to life.

At the fort there is a newly-enhanced Young Explorers Play and Discovery Area as well as regular fort tours by trained guides. The fort is filled with a variety of new replicas, from buffalo robes to leatherbound books, made possible with funding from the Northern Plains Heritage Foundation and the Lewis & Clark Fort Mandan Foundation.

“If people have been on a fort tour before, this would be a great year to come back,” Hanna said of all the new replicas.

Highlights of the upcoming season include:

– Explorer Days on June 3 and 4, featuring re-enactors in historic costumes giving demonstrations on the life and skills of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

– The Northern Plains National Heritage Area Suite art exhibit, featuring the works of Minot’s Walter Piehl and other artists, through Oct. 31.

– “Brush Scholar: The Lewis & Clark Art of Michael Haynes,” featuring the work of a leading artist in the area of historic research on Lewis & Clark, through June 25.

– Capital in Farm Country walking tour through downtown Bismarck, featuring major turning points in North Dakota farm history where they happened, July 9.

– Music in Harmony Park on the evening of July 14, set to include a number of family fun events.

– “Hometown Retrospective: Washburn Art Through the Years,” exhibit by Washburn artists, from July 14 to Nov. 30.

– Prairie Plein Air Artists exhibit at the Fort Mandan Visitors Center, featuring works for sale made at Fort Mandan during the summer, July 22 to Oct. 15.

– Farmers Market every Friday evening from July 14 to Oct. 27.

The interpretive center is open from October to April on Mondays through Saturdays. The center is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 83 and N.D. 200A at Washburn.

The Washburn community is using lodging tax proceeds to initiate a new marketing campaign that will include taking a look at capturing more of the tourism traffic generated by the interpretative center.

Economic Development Director Tana Waldren Larsen said a committee of young leaders also has taken over coordination of Wasburn’s signature Riverboat Days event. The committee has been hosting community fundraisers, including a Halloween dance and a dueling piano event, to generate funding for even bigger celebration this coming June 9 to 11.

Across the state, Bottineau has natural tourist attractions in its backyard with the Turtle Mountains and Lake Metigoshe.

Bottineau Winter Park, known for its skiing and other winter events, has summer activities that include the annual Iron Will Warrior Challenge on June 10. The event, which attracts many military families, will have new obstacles for the 5-kilometer event and also a fun run for kids. All proceeds go to the Annie’s House Adaptive Recreation Programs.

A golf tournament for Annie’s House is set for July 29 in Westhope.

The Club de Skinautiques will show off the group’s water skiing skills at The Hill, Lake Metigoshe, on the evenings of July 1 and 3 and Aug. 12.

Another highlight of the summer is the Bottineau County Fair, the oldest fair in North Dakota. This year’s event from June 15 to 18 includes concerts by Orchards Fire, BonJourney and Little Texas.

A car, antique tractor and vintage snowmobile and motorcycle show will be part of Bottineau Crazy Days Aug. 4 to 5. The event will include a poker run on Aug. 4 and an outdoor flea market and a barbecue cook-off on Aug. 5.

While in Bottineau, visitors can stop into Pride Dairy, the only small-town creamery left in North Dakota. Famous for its ice cream, Pride Dairy also now has a coffee and sandwich bar, along with a retail selection of cheese, butter, caramel, honey, syrups and toppings.

In Rugby, the Geographical Center monument at U.S. Highway 2 and ND Highway 3 and the Northern Lights monument along Highway 2 continue to draw tourists. The 88-foot steel Northern Lights monument, lit with colored lights, was erected in 1996.

The Geographical Center monument has been in place since 1932, a year after a U.S. Geological Survey identified the center of North America as Pierce County, where Rugby is the county seat.

“You see people in the summertime from morning to night, stopping and taking their pictures. It’s the big attraction,” said Cathy Jelsing, executive director of Prairie Village Museum in Rugby, another attraction for tourists.

Shelley Block, former director for the local visitors bureau and currently a consultant for the agency, said the community promotes its geographical center designation on its website and its brochures, and tourists are finding their way there in large numbers.

However, last year, a bar in Robinson acquired the trademark to the geographical center and challenged Rugby’s right to claim the distinction. Earlier this year a geography professor at a university in Buffalo, New York, did his own calculation that placed the center near Center.

“I think there’s a lot of people that don’t even know the controversy unless they are really paying attention to it,” said Block, who believes Rugby has both the most community pride and the marketing edge when it comes to the geographical center.

Rugby is working to regain the trademark. In the meantime, Jelsing doesn’t see the controversy doing any harm.

“I think it’s actually going to make it better, because people are going to say, ‘I want to see this thing that’s so controversial,'” she said.