Todd Swank: 250 Years Later, Still Chasing Life, Liberty, and Lake Time

July 5, 2026

250 Years Later, Still Chasing Life, Liberty, and Lake Time

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for July 5, 2026

We kicked off a full week of celebrating 250 years of freedom at Midwest Ribfest at Mystic Lake Casino, headlined by the man still making us wonder why Jessie had to be so selfish with his girl. Rick Springfield shocked the crowd by announcing he was 76, then proceeded to look and perform like he had found a backstage loophole in the aging process. Classic songs, loud guitars, and smoked meat. Not a bad way to start America’s birthday week!

Even better than the concert was randomly bumping into our old friends Joe and Jill Fischer. We caught up, laughed, and rocked out while Rick Springfield ripped through classics like “I’ve Done Everything for You” and “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” which is solid advice unless the strangers turn out to be old friends.

On Friday, Tracy and Dave came to town for the holiday weekend. Dave is known for hilarious T-shirts, and this one got plenty of attention at the Prior Lake Farmers Market. A few people looked shocked, like wiener jokes don’t belong between sweet corn and cucumbers. Please. This is America.

After picking Tracy and Dave up at the airport, we headed over to Luke’s new house so they could see it for the first time. They gave it the official family approval tour, which mostly means walking around, saying “this is really nice,” and pretending we all suddenly know things about countertops.

From there we headed to Avery and Abby’s, where they were kind enough to serve us an amazing lunch. Avery grilled up some terrific burgers while Abby supplied all the great sides. I’m assuming Avery learned those grill skills in college or on YouTube, because there is no evidence that kind of knowledge came from my genetic line.

We spent the afternoon cruising Prior Lake on my boat, despite a forecast that had been threatening rain all weekend like it was trying to ruin our plans personally. Instead, the weather turned gorgeous. Sometimes luck is just the universe briefly forgetting to mess with you.

Friday night we ate at our favorite restaurant on Prior Lake, Charlie’s on Prior. To be fair, it’s also the only restaurant on Prior Lake, but that just means they’ve really nailed their market share. Good food, great view, and the kind of place that makes you feel like summer is doing its job.

Dave asked the waitress what was popular, and I immediately told him he couldn’t visit Minnesota without trying the walleye. This was bold advice from a man who may have never actually ordered it himself. Dave said he liked it, but I spent the rest of the meal wondering if I had just committed a small act of culinary fraud.

After dinner at Charlie’s, I thought it would be fun to make 9:00 reservations at the Boardwalk in Shakopee so we could sit and watch Canterbury’s fireworks. Great plan, until we got there and I immediately felt guilty for our waitress since we weren’t ordering full meals. I panic-ordered a couple desserts nobody really ate because everyone was still full. The fireworks were amazing though, so I still think we made the right call.

We celebrated the 4th the best way possible: a full day on Prior Lake swimming, boating, and watching the annual boat parade. We had planned to end the night with fireworks at Mystic Lake, but the rain we had dodged all weekend finally found us and the show was canceled. After 250 years of freedom, Mother Nature still apparently has veto power.

On Sunday, we spent time with Grandma Linda, starting with brunch at Ze’s Diner. After a weekend of boats, fireworks, and patriotic chaos, this was the part that actually mattered: three generations around a table, laughing, telling stories, and proving that freedom is pretty great when nobody has to cook. Two hundred fifty years in, freedom still tastes better with bacon.