General Store to serve up sweet treats, merchandise at Frontier Village

JAMESTOWN — Frontier Village opens for the tourist season on May 26, and visitors can expect to find an array of products and treats to purchase at the General Store, says Allison Limke, visitor experience manager for Jamestown Tourism.

The store has been closed in recent years and was previously a place where people could get food, snacks and merchandise. The revamped store that will be operated by Jamestown Tourism is expected to raise revenue to help with expenses at the village.

Among the items the General Store will offer for sale are coffee, sweet treats, souvenirs and Pride of Dakota products.

“A lot of our items will be Frontier Village themed with our new brand, you’ll see a lot of our characters and fun things like that,” Limke said.

Frontier Village added a new logo and five characters at the village starting in 2021 with Mayor Marty Sinclair. The other characters are Depot Agent Charlie Lyon, Homesteader Hilda Homer, Sheriff Archie Bloom and Stagecoach Driver Kitty Strong. Each character’s last name is a Stutsman County township, and each character tells stories of local or regional history for the experiences found in Frontier Village, Limke said.

Two antagonist characters will also be also new this year, she said: Slick Salesman Clay Flint and his "sticky-fingered sidekick" Durum.

The merchandise includes cups, tumblers, magnets, stickers, postcards and a coloring book. The General Store will sell Dakota Dirt Coffee, a Pride of Dakota product, with one flavor featuring Mayor Marty Sinclair called The Mighty Mornin’, a medium roast blend, and a dark roast coffee called Coal Dust, for Depot Agent Charlie Lyon, Limke said.

Locally sourced honey from Buffalo City Bees will also be available for purchase.

“Thunderbird Ranch in Valley City is going to be providing us with jams and jellies and chokecherry syrups,” Limke added. “ … That is our state fruit, is the chokecherry, so we’re going to be trying to push that and educate people about what the state has to offer in that regard. Buffalo City Popcorn is going to sell popcorn with themed flavors that include our cast of characters,” with six options to choose from, she said.

Frontier Village-themed and Jamestown-themed T-shirts and sweatshirts will be sold as well.

“We will try to highlight Jamestown’s big things,” Limke said, “so we’ll have a sticker pack with a Peggy Lee, Louis L’Amour and ‘I touched the beard sticker (for the World’s Largest Buffalo).’ Trying to touch on our little claims to fame.”

Other merchandise will include games that traveling families coming through may enjoy, such as Road Trip Bingo, as well as items people might have found in a general store in the 1900s and food, she said.

“I think things will sell well,” she said.

For people looking for a sweet treat, the store will serve up scoops of ice cream, ice cream cones, root beer floats and bakery items. Drift Prairie Brewery will be making the root beer that will be served at the General Store, Limke said.

Dakota Store will reopen at Frontier Village, Limke noted. The nonprofit was originally expected to continue operating only its downtown location this tourist season.

“The volunteers were very adamant about wanting to go back,” said Deb Lee, who operates the nonprofit that sells various North Dakota products.

Limke said she worked with Lee on what the store will offer so they won’t be selling the same items at the two stores.

Mary’s House co-signers will not be located in Mary’s House due to the condition of the building, so plans related to that group are not final, she said.

Also returning are jbros n me in The Trading Post and the Kirkpatrick Gallery.

Frontier Village will operate from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily starting May 26. A ribbon cutting is slated for the General Store at 4:30 p.m. on May 26.