In addition to having wonderful memories of the early years of the Mankato Figure Skating Club, Wendy Blethen has access to many scrapbooks filled with photos, newspaper clippings and programs.
Those scrapbooks have been brought out recently as the club begins planning its 50th anniversary show in April 2025. Wendy’s mom, Mary Jane Blethen, started the club after arriving in Mankato and finding her new town didn’t have much in the way of skating.
To be clear: 1975 is the date of the first show, coordinated through what was then the Mankato Area Recreation Council, with great community support. The first was, to say the least, a very rudimentary “ice show.”
It was three years later, in 1978 and after the new Ice Palace (now All Seasons Arena) had been operating for a few years, that the club was actually formed.
“(Mom) is like, ‘We’ve got an ice show. We have nobody that can skate. How can we get people to come to the show?,’” Wendy remembered. “So they decided to collaborate with the (Brett’s) Teen Board and the YMCA Youth, and they put on a fashion show on ice.”
While this was going on, Mary Jane began giving lessons, the Ice Palace started establishing itself in the community, and young people, like Wendy, were launched on their skating adventure.
Early pictures not only show Wendy, who already had experience, doing a solo, but there’s also her dad, Bailey Blethen, selling programs, and her brother, who was a hockey player, donning a bandana and a cowboy outfit. Mary Jane asked Wendy to recruit her friends from Wilson School to get involved. Dixie Johnson from Brett’s was a tireless promoter and supporter, Wendy said.
Through difficult times at the arena, Mankato Figure Skating Club endured. As part of the preparation of the 50th annual show “Cinderella: If the Skate Fits on Ice,” the club is hoping to connect with alumni willing to share their stories. Those can be shared April 4-6, 2025.
“The annual ice show is a wonderful way for our skaters to show off their talents and hard work for the year,” said Debbie Radzak, a Mankato Figure Skating coach. “The show is a legacy of Mary Jane Blethen, a local figure skating enthusiast.”
An Edina native, Mary Jane had become interested in skating early in her life. After graduating from high school, she traveled the U.S. as an Ice Follies performer with the Shipstads and Johnson show, according to a Free Press article following her death in 2014.
Her summers were spent skating at state fairs throughout the Midwest.
“The famous Blethen story is that my mom had helped dad pay for law school by skating in what they called ‘tank shows,’” Wendy said. “They’re unpacking (after moving to Mankato) and my mom’s like, ‘I am so stressed out. I just need to get my skates and go.’”
That’s when she learned Mankato didn’t have an ice rink for figure skaters, Wendy said. When contacting the local curling club, Mary Jane found she wouldn’t be allowed to do many of the moves she was accustomed to doing. She set about creating a space for skaters and skating, which happened in 1973.
The show is a longtime labor of love for many of those involved. Sarah Otto is one of the coaches and was the first Cinderella in 1993; she and coach Debbie Radzak each have been involved with 40 ice shows.
When asked if she thought her mom expected the club to last 50 years, Wendy said, “You know, I think so.” Mary Jane worked hard to build a skating community by drawing from the overall community, knowing she wouldn’t always be there to guide it, her daughter said.