Ground broken on first HfH of Prairie Lakes home

Sept. 3, 1964 – A “baby” tornado caused damage on several area farms when it blew through the area as part of a late summer storm. The tornado damaged out-buildings on three New Prairie farms.

Minnesota Gov. Karl Rolvaag was given a bleak picture of the county’s farm situation when he toured the drought-stricken area by helicopter. County FMHA supervisor, Harold Kvale, and county agent, N.P. Hanson, and about 300 area farmers met Rolvaag on the Arnold Rinken farm south of Sedan.  

LaVanche Solvie, who had spent 22 years as a caseworker in the county welfare office, retired. She said that the main change in her work in that time was that there were presently programs other than financial assistance. That had not been true when she began in welfare work in Wilkin County in 1936.

Sept. 5, 1974 – Damage from the first frost of the season was reported to be heavy. Weather observers figured this was the earliest killing frost on record for the area. The mercury had been plunged to about 30 degrees on Labor Day with gardens and flower beds showing the most damage.

Mary Thompson of the Wayside 4-H club was named the top dairy exhibitor at the Minnesota State Fair. The daughter of Ellsworth Thompsons of rural Starbuck was also a county dairy princess and a runner-up in region competition. She received the 1974 Achievement Award as the dairy exhibitor which gained her a trophy, a $250 scholarship and a trip to the National Dairy Expo in Wisconsin.

Pictured in the Tribune were the winners of the ladies’ golf championship at the Minnewaska Golf Club. Included in the photo were Helen Hagen, champion and flight, runner-up and consolation winners, Maire Ogdahl, Lilah Peacock, Mildred Olson, Pat Lepper, Mary Black, Irene Ask, Jan Lecander, Gwen Shea, Kay Peterson and Flow Richards. 

Sept. 6, 1984 – Second District Congressman Vin Weber appeared in Glenwood to visit with area residents. Chief among the issues area folks raised with their representative were farm concerns.

The Glenwood City Commission was pleased to discover that the bids it had gathered on tree removal for the city were considerably lower than expected. The city had been removing 100 to 150 dead trees per year for two or three years, mostly due to high incidences of Dutch elm disease. 

The Rev. Eb Schefers began his work at the Sacred Heart Parish in Glenwood. He had most recently served St. Olaf’s in Elbow Lake and was active in Marriage Encounter presentations. 

Sept. 5, 1994 – Glenwood voters would be filling in arrows instead of putting “Xs” by names in the next primary election. The city of Glenwood had purchased two Optech III-P ballot reading and counting machines which was to cut the ballot counting time to as little as an hour or less, according to City Administrator David Wencel.

The Minnewaska Area Schools District welcomed new teachers on staff for the 1994-95 school year. Pictured in the Tribune were Emily Crabtree, Shari Opdahl, Jennifer Mahan, Janel Mahmood, DeAnna Baukol, Denise VerSteeg, Amy Teff, Wade Amundson, Meribeth Noyes, Helen Olson, Todd Sauer, Sue Gregersen and Terry Kipka. 

Eighteen Glenwood Boy Scouts and six volunteer adult leaders had experienced a once-in-a-lifetime adventure program in the Florida Keys which was operated by the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The scouts swam with the dolphins, ate barracuda and experienced the taste of saltwater. Those who participated in this program were Shaun Crumb, Kyle Gugisberg, Greg Nelson, Bruce Nelson, Brad Nelson, Kaleb Sargent, Kim Gugisberg (scoutmaster), Bill Ogdahl, Curt Ogdahl, Jacob Lang, Scott Noland, Aaron Sharatt, Tom Warfield, Brent Noland, Larry Lang, Wayne Zimmerman, Jared Zimmerman, Eric Pederson, Josh Zimmerman, John Marks, Kyle Gaffaney, Herb Peterson and Jerry Marks.

Aug. 30, 2004 – Ground was broken on what would be the first home to be constructed by Habitat for Humanity of Prairie Lakes. At a simple ceremony at the building site, which was on First Avenue North between Sixth and Seventh Streets in northeast Glenwood, people gathered to bless the start of the project.

The sun must shine on the Irish. Several hundred people showed up Sunday afternoon for the Irish Fest sponsored by the Terrace Mill Foundation in Terrace. A morning rain, which almost ran until noon, didn’t scare away visitors, and they were rewarded with a sunny afternoon to hear the Riverside String Band and Katie McMahon perform on the TMF stage.

Ronald Nelson, of Glenwood, had recently won the “30 Year Service Award” at the annual Minnesota Association of Agricultural Educators’ (MAAE) summer conference in Mankato. Nelson had taught in Minnesota for 30 years and was currently teaching agriculture at Minnewaska Area High School.

The Glenwood City Commission directed changes in the drawings for the Lakeside Ballroom which would reduce the cost of the structure by about $200,000. Working from a list of changes proposed by its restaurant lessee, six items were deleted at the request of the lessees. At least one other will be bid as an alternate. The net result of the changes is a building with a total estimated project cost of $2.7 million including architectural fees. 

Sept. 1, 2014 – Welcome Glenwood, a new program through the Glenwood Lakes Area Chamber, officially began welcoming newcomers to the area in July 2013. The volunteer group aimed to make new residents and businesses feel at home by providing information about the area as well as a custom bag full of welcome gifts.

Quinco Press, Inc., an offset printing operation in Lowry, was in the finishing stages of an expansion project and was installing a Gross press, featuring four high-tower units that would improve efficiency and color capacity for the many publications printed at the facility.

Fine arts venues in Terrace saw more than 110 visitors to the first annual Upper Chippewa River Art Crawl held Aug. 23-24. Visitors were welcomed to Dreaming River Gallery, Pope Art, the Schoolhouse Gallery and the Terrace Mill galleries, where the works of more than 35 artists were displayed.