SG 3, Southland 0 25-16, 25-12, 25-11 Spring Grove assumed control during the latter part of the first set and then dominated the remainder of the 2022 season-opening volleyball match at Southland on Aug. 25. The second set began with the Lions scoring with 11 kills on their first 12 attacks. The Grove girls then scored the first seven points of set three. Overall, … [Read more...]
Spring Grove girls take state ranking into 2022 season
After a 20-win season a year ago (20-10, 12-2 SEC), the Spring Grove volleyball team enters the 2022 campaign at No. 7 in the state coaches association Class A preseason poll, believed to be the program’s first state ranking. The Lions return five of their top nine performers and four of the six servers from a team that won two playoff matches to reach the Section 1A … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Few “flamboozles,” but there were velvet capes
They thought the valley the “grandest spot on Earth, their home without an equal in the land and which they would not exchange for any other in all Christendom.” That grand valley was Yucatan Valley in Houston County, Minn., as described by Capt. Samuel B. McIntire. McIntire (1838-1917) was the first Minnesotan appointed to West Point. Graduating in 1862, he was thrust into … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Battling with rubber bands, biking without pedaling
Part two of a series During the Great Depression of the 1930s, resourceful children – often with parental assistance - used what they had for entertainment. Automobile tires had inner tubes to retain the air. Discarded inner tubes could be cut into narrow but strong rubber bands, which became ammunition. “Through judicious use of wood and bands, we were able to fashion rubber … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Enjoyment, surely some romance, on Sunday afternoons
Part one of a series It was before television, movies and even radio. There were not yet competitive sports. It was the late 1880s and 1890s near Hokah, Minn., which had been settled by those with European heritage in 1849. Many young folks comprised their family’s first generation to be born in North America. There were very few traveling entertainers that came to Hokah - a … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past The Mohawks, Matter’s, marriage and Avalon
Part six of a series The Mohawks, a dance band from the Mabel, Minn., and Hesper , Iowa, area, played for 655 dances during the 1930s and 1940s. One of their longer road trips was a 1935 all-afternoon, all-night drive to Lake City. The nearly 200-mile round trip traversed mostly gravel and dirt roads. Returning home, they stopped for a sandwich at an all-night café. They were … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Small schoolhouse blossoms into large opera house
Part five of a series Internationally acclaimed stage actress Ethel Barrymore appeared in a play at the Opera House in Spring Grove in 1918. A small town could attract touring entertainment if there was an appropriate venue for the performance. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, entrepreneurs in southeast Minnesota invested in some combination of traveling stage companies, … [Read more...]
Area high school athletes excel at national clay target tournament
By Lee Epps Colton Tollefsrud of Mabel-Canton was in the top 4% of trap shooters at the USA High School Clay Target National Championships at Mason, Michigan on July 8-10. He hit 195 out of 200 flying clay targets to place 71st among 1,716 competitors. Spring Grove’s Taylor Reinhardt placed ninth among all 262 girls and 109th among all shooters (boys and girls). She and SG … [Read more...]
Girls softball program coming back to Spring Grove School
By Charlene Corson Selbee The Spring Grove School Board heard the girls and approved their request for a girls softball team. “It is very exciting. I also really like the way the process went about. Our students talked about and advocated.” Superintendent Rachel Udstuen continued, “What I really like about it, is our girls thought about it in exactly the right way and … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past From roller skating to Duke Ellington
Part four of a series Thirteen of the nation’s most famous band leaders and their musicians thrilled audiences and dancers in Caledonia, starting with the 1952 appearance of “Duke Ellington and his World Famous Orchestra” and closed with the 1954 performance of “Harry James and His Music Makers, starring Buddy Rich at the drums.” In between were Lionel Hampton, Ray Anthony, … [Read more...]