The tiny town of Roslyn sits amidst the Glacial Lakes Region of northeastern South Dakota, a district of shimmering lakes and low hills. To the casual observer, Roslyn is just another ordinary prairie hamlet.
Ordinary -- until one spots the International Vinegar Museum that commands a prominent position on Main Street.
The how and why of the International Vinegar Museum begins with an extraordinary man named Lawrence Diggs.
My wife and I had an opportunity to visit with Lawrence recently at Rosie’s, a bar/ café located across the street from the International Vinegar Museum.
“I started out as a West Coast radio DJ, then moved onto the TV business,” said Lawrence regarding his life before vinegar.
After spending a decade in the broadcast biz, Lawrence decided to become a paramedic. “I wanted to find a way to give back,” he said when asked about this quirky twist in his career path. Giving back is a common thread in Lawrence’s life.
Being a paramedic in a major city taught Lawrence many skills, including the ability to start an I.V. on an unconscious child in the rain, and stabilizing a shooting victim as bullets whizzed by.
Lawrence again followed his instinct for giving back by traveling to the west African nation of Burkina Faso.
“I helped establish the first ever emergency medical service in Burkina Faso,” said Lawrence in his unfailingly affable manner. “People there didn’t even know what an ambulance was.”
It was during his sojourn in Burkina Faso that Lawrence became interested in vinegar.
“They have huge sanitation problems over there. It occurred to me that what they needed was something that can kill germs, is cheap, and can be easily produced from local ingredients. Vinegar was the perfect fit.”
Lawrence discovered that there was no definitive textbook about vinegar. Undaunted, he studied vinegar and literally wrote the book about its production.
Lawrence told us that vinegar has been around for the entirety of recorded history. Conversing with him was like attending a lecture given by a very lively and engaging instructor. When the discussion turned to the wonders of our world, especially the vinegar microbe acetobacter, Lawrence murmured reverently, “I see evidence for God in everything.”
“Hannibal used vinegar to split boulders in his path as he marched his army, which included war elephants, over the Alps,” said Lawrence. “That was over 2,000 years ago. This tells us that the ancients had a deep understanding of vinegar‘s properties. His feat wouldn’t have been possible without a long history with vinegar.”
My wife and I asked how one makes vinegar.
“Vinegar can be produced from anything that has enough sugar or starch,” said the Vinegar Man. “Beer and wine work especially well. They’re always trying to turn into vinegar anyway.”
We asked where one might acquire the proper bacteria for making homemade vinegar.
“It’s everywhere!” grinned Lawrence as he gestured at the air. “All it takes is a source of sugar or starch and maybe a little acetic acid to kick-start the process.”
Homemade vinegar is similar to any other home-produced item.
“You’ll never get exactly the same result twice. That’s the beauty of it. We have been conditioned to expect that everything we consume will be absolutely uniform. But by doing so, we miss out on the deep richness of variety!”
So how did you end up here? And what’s the deal with the museum?
“After I wrote the vinegar textbook I came to be regarded as an expert, so I started a vinegar consulting business. I came to Roslyn on vacation and liked the town so much that I decided to stay.
“Roslyn was looking for something to set it apart and draw people. I told them that they needed to create something that was totally unique. They looked at me and said ‘You’re the uniquest thing we’ve got. Why don’t we do something based on your business?’ This was how International Vinegar Museum and Roslyn’s annual Vinegar Festival were born.”
Has the Vinegar Museum succeeded?
“It’s been a success in that it put Roslyn on the map. It’s succeeded in that our kids are proud when people say to them ‘Oh! You’re from the town with that Vinegar Museum!’”
Lawrence recently handed the reins of the International Vinegar Museum the Vinegar Festival over to the town of Roslyn.
“My goal is to resume my vinegar consulting business,” he said. “Another of my goals is to travel to poor countries and teach them how to make and use vinegar. I don’t know how much time I have left on this earth, but while I’m here, I want to give back as much as I can.”
One gets the feeling that Lawrence will achieve all his goals -- whether it’s traveling to a small nation to teach vinegar production or changing an ordinary small town by helping it launch a very unordinary festival.
