 Well if you want to take a walk on the wild side this weekend you might want to check out the wild rice festival in Park Rapids. Mal Meyer caught up with some of the local talents who will be at the festival in this week's In Focus. Simon Zornes has been processing wild rice since he was a kid with his grandparents. I thought he had praised me and he was more like can you now get us into the rice? At the festival he'll be talking about his handmade rice process and the simple machine said he's used for years. If you want to feed yourself a little bit of education some time that's all you really need you know the equipment itself can be either as complicated or as basic as you want it to be. And before the machines he picked it apart by hand. It's an art form he says is starting to fade. We have this mass production thing going on with wild rice right now but that's not anywhere near of what it always was. He hopes that people at the festival will learn to start asking questions about their wild rice to further appreciate it. Knowing where that food came from is like the first step in knowing something about that food you know. Here in Park Rapids at the music shop local musician Eddie Lee Kidd gives us a taste of what he'll be performing this weekend. Eddie Lee Kidd was raised on Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson but steered towards rock. He has found inspiration in all sorts of ways including through a music contest as he describes. This nine-year-old girl that was in a hospital in Nashville and she wrote a story called Wonderland so I wrote a song called Wonderland. Eddie's craft also comes from years of practice with his family band. Started a band called Burning Sage. It was my mother, my sister Wendy, my oldest brother Richard, me, my brother JR and my little sister Lisa. Previously a drummer he picked up a guitar and has been playing that ever since. I still play drums every now and then but very rarely. I like to stick with the songwriting. It's my way of giving back to the people. He'll be one of the first musicians to play at the festival with other performers throughout the day. With this week's in focus in Park Rapids, I'm Mal Meyer, Lakeland News. And that festival will also feature a wild rice hot dish contest fire dancing. I know you might be taking part in that right? And music as well. The event starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Armory Square in Park Rapids. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.