The colorful history of the city of Carver will be on full display this year, thanks to an oral history project coordinated by the nonprofit organization, Carver On The Minnesota, Inc. (COTM).

The first video in the series featuring interviews with Dwight Schultz and Darrel Swanson will be shown to the public from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 11, at Carver City Hall. The remaining video installments will be unveiled at public screenings on a monthly basis through May.

According to Annette Hentz, COTM president, the idea for the oral history project was hatched in the fall of 2024. Hentz and a friend were treated to a tour by longtime Carver resident James Fletcher, who shared fascinating and humorous tidbits about local history that few people knew.

“After he was done, my friend and I looked at each other and said, ‘We have to capture this stuff,” Hentz recalled. “And not just from him, but from other longtime residents in Carver who have memories and stories to tell that are going to be gone when they’re gone.”

At first, the idea was to capture the stories using a cellphone. But Hentz said the plan eventually evolved into a full-blown video production.

Hentz applied for a Legacy Grant from the Minnesota Historical Society, through the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, which supports projects that preserve Minnesota’s history and cultural heritage.

“Carver on the Minnesota has no treasury for something like this,” she said. “I had never filed for a grant before, and it’s an arduous process. It took months to put it together. But lo and behold, the Minnesota Historical Society gave us a $10,000 Legacy Grant. We were elated.”

Once the funding was secured, project coordinators decided to select three themes for the initial set of oral histories — the 1965 flood, the construction of the Carver levy and the Carver Riverside Ballroom that burned in 1985.

A list of local residents who had vivid memories of those Carver events was developed and filming began.

“We started finding people who had knowledge of those events and were willing to be on camera,” Hentz said. “The interviews were absolutely fascinating.”

Hentz said the company producing the videos, Captivate Media, did a wonderful job with the final products. The original plan was to post the videos on the COTM YouTube channel for everyone to access, but Hentz said some of the older Carver residents didn’t know how to access that online resource. That’s when the idea of public screenings at City Hall came about.

Hentz said she excited for the public to finally view the videos.

“It’s really, really thrilling,” she said. “I hope it goes well.”

Hentz said she hopes the videos help jog people’s memories or reveals a piece of history that they don’t know. The series should be of interest to longtime residents and new residents alike, she added.

“I am hoping that we will have a treasure trove of videos that grows and becomes valuable to the community,” she said, “and that the videos will let people know what a treasure Carver is.”

After this Sunday’s premiere, the screenings of the next episodes of “Carver Stories: Oral Histories” will be as follows:

• Feb. 15, 2026 — Loren Huepenbecker (owner of the Carver Riverside Ballroom) and Mike Shaw (The Shaw Band)
• March 15, 2026 — Dick and Jeanette Lenzen and Barb Swanson, lifelong residents
• April 19, 2026 — Dale Koktan and Mike Wendolek (The Polish Plaboys) and Luann Kloos Anderson on the Ballroom culture of the 1960-70s.
• May 17, 2026 — Loren Huepenbecker (audio recording with historic photos) and Mike Shaw (different video than February)

Each video runs approximately 105 minutes in a movie-theater-style setting. Evenings include a brief introduction, two video screenings with a short intermission, and an optional question-and-answer session with members of the production team. Admission is free, with donations accepted.

Following the video screening events, Hentz said the episodes will reside on the organization’s YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@CarverontheMinnesota, for access from anywhere.

Interestingly, Hentz just recently applied for a second grant to continue collecting oral histories in Carver. If the “Carver Stories” project continues, Hentz said a few different themes will be developed for future interviews.