In 1956, Bob Raskob and his brothers were tired of driving to nearby towns to go bowling or dancing with their wives. The family ran a dairy farm, so staying out overnight wasn't realistic when the cows needed milking early the next morning. They bought land for $800 about 2 miles from home. Their brother Les Raskob acted as general contractor, working from a plan his brother Joe sketched. All of them kept their day jobs and built at night. The finished building held a ballroom, a small restaurant and an eight-lane bowling alley, and it opened as Medina Ballroom and Lanes. The venue's own homepage dates the opening to September 6, 1956.
Seventy years later, Medina Entertainment Center at 500 Highway 55 is throwing itself a free, all-day party on Saturday, October 17, starting at 11 a.m. The famous names get the attention. Johnny Cash, Garth Brooks and Willie Nelson have all played the stage. The party, though, celebrates something else: the steady, repeating uses that kept the lights on between headliners. Almost every item on the schedule traces back to one of them.
The October 17 Schedule, Read as a History
Registration through Etix is free, and signing up enters you for door prizes. Here is the day, matched to the part of the building's past each event comes from.
| Time | Event | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| 11:00 a.m. | Cosmic bowling at $19.56 per hour, per lane, all day | The eight-lane alley from 1956, now 12 lanes with leagues and weekend cosmic bowling |
| 2:30 p.m. | Big Cash Bingo: $50 packet, $500 payout each game, $2,000 coverall | The bingo room, which hosted Thursdays this summer with Wayzata Plymouth Youth Hockey |
| 3:00 p.m. | Kid's Zone with a bouncy house, arcade games, speed pitch and a balloon artist, free | The adjoining game room, long a spot for kids' birthday parties |
| 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. | DJ dance party in the Ballroom, free | The original reason the building exists |
| 4:00 p.m. | Mahjong open play, $20 | The card and game tables Bob Raskob kept up into his 90s |
| 5:00 p.m. | Meat raffle: $1 tickets, 10 rounds, $25 prize each round | A Minnesota bar staple |
| 5:45 p.m. | Line dance lessons with Kris, free | Decades of country bookings |
| 6:00 p.m. | Psychic readings from Ruth Lordan, free | A new item for the day |
| 7:30 p.m. | Shane Martin Band, free country concert; casino tables open until 9:30 | Bob's country era |
| 9:30 p.m. | Them Pesky Kids, free rock concert | Mark Raskob's rock era |
Robert's will run food and drink specials all day. The event page also asks guests to bring a non-perishable food donation for Interfaith Outreach.
The bowling price is a nod to the founding year. The lanes themselves show how much the building has grown. It opened with eight, and the current site lists 12, plus a full-service pro shop.
Why the Famous Names Were Never the Whole Business
The venue's history page lists a long run of national acts, including Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Keith Urban, Trisha Yearwood, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Alice Cooper and Buddy Guy. Little River Band, Blackhawk and The Outlaws have come back again and again. The page says Willie Nelson stayed after his show signing autographs until 2 a.m.
The family has been frank about where that business stands. In a 2017 Plymouth Magazine profile, Mark Raskob called competing for bands his biggest challenge, because casinos can pay more out of their gambling revenue. "But we do get a lot of really good bands," he said. The same profile explained that the ballroom doesn't hold the very biggest crowds. So the venue often books acts that are just starting out, or a little past their peak but still popular. Garth Brooks and Keith Urban were names on that list.
That helps explain the fall calendar. World According to Garth, a tribute to Garth Brooks, plays October 3 on a stage where Brooks himself once performed. Tribute shows, regional favorites and dances fill the dates between bigger bookings. The ballroom has also served as a polka room. In 2017 it hosted polka one Tuesday a month, which the profile called Bob's legacy. Bob booked country acts and Mark booked rock bands, and as Bob eased toward retirement, he booked only polka, his favorite. On October 17, Shane Martin Band goes on at 7:30 and Them Pesky Kids at 9:30. Country and then rock, in that order, follows the father and son who ran the bookings.
The room has its own details. The 6,100-square-foot maple dance floor still has its original air cushion, built for ballroom dancing. The black ceiling, as Missy Miller explained in the profile, is recycled money sprayed on for soundproofing. "The ballroom is our most authentic space," Miller said. The current site lists the ballroom at up to 2,300 people for concerts and special events. Bandleader Johnny Holm, who had played there a couple of times a year since the 1970s, called it "the last of the great ballroom era."
A Building That Has Been Rebuilt and Reworked
The building has been rebuilt from scratch once. A fire in the 1970s destroyed it. The venue's history page dates the fire to 1973, and the 2017 profile dates it to June 1974. Two 17-year-olds died in that fire: Bob Raskob's daughter Kathy and her friend Lori Ellingson. They had been upstairs painting the bandstand ceiling. The family rebuilt within months, and the rebuilt structure is the one standing today.
Since then, keeping up has meant constant reinvestment. "We've had to do lots of remodeling over the years," Miller said in 2017. "That's the biggest struggle, having to constantly put money into it to keep it up-to-date." Here are the milestones the profile recorded:
- Bowling scores went from pencil and grease pen to an automated machine in 1974.
- Scoring software in a center console followed in 1985.
- The lanes were refinished in 2000.
- A new ballroom sound and lighting system went in during 2016.
- Over the decades, the restaurant and bar have been remodeled and renamed four times.
The current name is Robert's Craft Kitchen & Bar. It's open seven days a week with a scratch-made menu of American favorites. The Medina Inn next door has offered rooms for 45 years, including bridal suites, for guests staying over after an event.
The family has stayed involved throughout. Mark Raskob started as a janitor at age 12 for 25 cents an hour. He later worked as bartender, bookkeeper and band booker before becoming general manager and president. "I've kind of got it in the blood," he said in 2017. KSTP described him as the owner of a family-run venue in its December 2020 profile. Bob Raskob came in every day until his death at 90. He played cribbage and cards with friends and sat at the end of the bar for every show. Miller also credited her grandmother, Geri, with keeping the business running. "Without my grandmother, he would have had no business," she said.
The Neighbors Who Use the Room Every Week
The groups that come back on a regular schedule are the clearest evidence for how the place has lasted. This summer, Medina Entertainment Center and Wayzata Plymouth Youth Hockey ran bingo every Thursday from June through August. Missy Miller's first official job, at 14, was the coat check and then the "wiener wagon." She made coffee and hot dogs at 5 a.m. for the weekly flea market, which the 2017 profile said the Hamel Lions still ran on Sundays from May through September. The Hamel Lions' 2026 flea market season ran through the last Sunday in September, so it ended this past weekend.
Business customers come back too. In 2017, American Midwest Power had held its events there for 28 years. Its shipping and inventory manager, Mark Fjerstad, called it "a great venue that keeps us coming back, year after year." Today the venue has three private event spaces for groups of 10 to 1,500. It hosts weddings, reunions, school events, holiday parties and luncheons, and it also caters off-site. The staff has stayed for years as well. In 2017, chef Trent Anderson had been there almost 25 years.
The Rest of the Fall on Highway 55 and Nearby
The anniversary sits in a busy stretch for Medina. A few dates to know:
- October 3: World According to Garth at Medina Entertainment Center.
- October 17: The 70th anniversary festival. Baker Boo runs the same day at Baker Campground in Baker Park Reserve. You'll need a campsite reservation, and Three Rivers warns that availability is limited because of construction.
- October 24: The City of Medina's Trunk or Treat, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Medina Police Department, 600 Clydesdale Trail.
- October 31: The Rockin' Hollywoods Halloween Dance in the ballroom.
- November 28: Gear Daddies with guest The Belfast Cowboys.
The canceled October 2 Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute is marked that way on the venue's event page, so check before you plan around any listing you saw earlier this summer. For the anniversary itself, the bowling special runs all day and the free concerts start at 7:30 p.m.
Places like Medina Entertainment Center are part of what a home in Medina comes with: a ballroom, a bingo night and a youth hockey fundraiser a short drive away. If you'd like to talk about the places that shape daily life around Highway 55 and Lake Independence, The Fowke Weber Team is glad to share what we know. Get in Touch.
