Flaa designs 2000 Polar Daze Button

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Nov. 19, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

Bemidji fourth-grader Kayla Flaa's Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox picture is as cute as a button.

In fact, it's been made into a button -- the official 2000 Polar Daze button.

Flaa was awarded a plaque by the Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce Thursday for winning its annual Polar Daze button contest. She also received a $50 savings bond.

More than 500 Bemidji area children in grades kindergarten through fifth grade entered this year's button contest, with the theme being "Paul and Babe enjoying a Minnesota winter."

Flaa said her button, depicting Paul with an arm around Babe in the middle of a snowfall, demonstrates their "happy friendship." She added that the snow is representative of the Polar Daze celebration.

Flaa said her picture didn't take "very long" to draw, and this wasn't the first time she entered the contest.

"I was surprised when I won," Flaa said. "I thought, 'It couldn't be me.'"

The Polar Daze button, which sells for $1, can be purchased from members of the Bemidji Special Olympics, area businesses and members of the Polar Daze committee. The proceeds from the button sales will help fund this year's Polar Daze events Jan. 14-23.

The button allows people to get into some Polar Daze events for free and others at a discount.