Pure Botineau

Next weekend is "Maple Grove Days." So Maple Grove, Minn., celebrates with a parade, probably some eating contests, fireworks, etc. I told my friend that to be a good citizen that supports her community, and just to get some exercise, I'm running in the Maple Grove Days 5K. He said, "Oh, for pure botineau, huh?" Within seconds, here's where my mind went: the run follows the shoreline of a lake. Minnesota has horrible mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are always worse around bodies of water. I'm going to be running around water. Mosquitoes carry diseases, like the deadly West Nile. And pure botineau sounds like botulism, also a deadly illness. So my friend must be saying, oh, run the Maple Grove 5K and get some nice disease, in fact a disease in its PUREst form, which must be the worst kind. And we affectionately rip on Maple Grove all the time, how it tries so hard to be "small town" but it just simply is not and can it really be any more suburban?! What with it's endless upscale restuarants and shopping. So I felt sure he was sarcastically making fun of me for participating in Maple Grove Days, and thus supporting the likes of Pottery Barn and other chain businesses, with his pure botineau remark.

He wasn't. And pure botineau is not a deadly mosquito-borne illness. It turns out my friend is actually more of a true Maple Grovian than me. He knows Pierre Bottineau, thought to be the founder of Maple Grove. In 1854 I guess Bottineau built the first frame house in the area that is now considered Osseo/Maple Grove. OK then. I guess I AM running for Pierre Bottineau. And I probably won't get any mosquito bites anyways, because the run is in the morning, and mosquitoes are usually just bad at night.