Robbie and I won a New Ulm Chamber of Commerce drawing back in March when we saw the New Ulm-based movie, New in Town. The Chamber’s gift basket contained all sorts of goodies, but the biggie was a night’s stay in the Silverson Suite at the Beyer Haus B&B, courtesy of the owners (also bloggers), Bill and Peggy Beyer.
The meticulously restored Beyer Haus B&B has many charms, including luxurious hot tubs, a hilarious dog named Mr. MacDougal who can briefly balance a basketball on his nose while zooming around the backyard, and miniature dioramas hidden in the baseboards of every room.
We were joined at breakfast by a neighbor of the Beyer’s, Ann Makepeace, who serves on New Ulm’s Heritage Preservation Commission. Ann was one of those involved in the creation of the Historic Downtown Walking Tour Video Podcasts that I’ve heard so much about from Northfield Historical Society’s Hayes Scriven. We checked out two iPods from the Visitors Center and spent a couple hours downtown on Saturday afternoon on the podcast walking tour, including the Post Office/History Center above. We used most of the 50 dollars of Chamber Bucks that were in the gift basket for some outdoor dining at the ‘upscale Italian’ Lola’s Larkspur Market (newspaper story) restaurant. Fun coincidence: our waitress, Maggie Mae, grew up in the Beyer Haus. Maggie’s Room was her bedroom.
What might Northfield learn from New Ulm on this type of promotion, other than to make sure a blogger wins the drawing? 
Looks like you had a good time in New Ulm and what a basket of goodies! I would be interested in your thoughts on their podcasts.
I think it is a better approach than the one I saw on Fox news recently, where the local cops stop cars with out of state license plates and give them something, not sure, but city bucks to spend in town.
They said everyone was really nice about it, but I could see that sort of thing turning bad at some point.
New Ulm is a neat town. We were met with a lot of nice vibes there when we visited two years ago. I think they have a nice promo idea there…and really good beef sandwiches.
[...] http:// September 20, 2009 | Griff Wigley | Comments 0 [...]
Tausend Dank for the wonderful story about New Ulm and the fabulous Beyer Haus (one of New Ulm’s treasures).
Prost!
Shannon
You’re welcome, Shannon. And nice of you to say nice things about another B&B in New Ulm, given that you operate one there as well. I’ve added the URL for your Bingham Hall Bed & Breakfast to your comment URL.
I’m delighted to see that you have a page on your B&B site dedicated to the US-Dakota War. I’ve blogged quite a bit about it on NativeAmericanMinnesota.org.
[...] When Robbie and I visited New Ulm a couple weeks ago, we kept trying to put our finger on what it was about their downtown’s main drag (Minnesota [...]