On April 19, 2022, the Board of Directors of the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC) awarded 37 arts programming grants for a total of $244,820 in funding to applicants throughout southeastern Minnesota. This included 23 Legacy grants for $184,850, four Programming Grants for $18,425, eight Small Towns/Rural Areas grants for $39,860, one School Residency grant for … [Read more...]
Dinner on the Bluff presents: Forty Years of Peregrine Research Event features Jacquelyn Fallon from the Midwest Peregrine Society
Jacquelyn Fallon, VP of Field Operations & Minnesota State Coordinator for the Midwest Peregrine Society, will be the featured speaker at Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center’s Dinner on the Bluff event on Saturday, May 14! Fallon’s talk, “Celebrating Success… Continuing the Work! Forty Years of Peregrine Research,” will explore the remarkable success of the … [Read more...]
Houston County’s 2022 Century Farm
The Bernard Eden family farm is the only farm in Houston County to be recognized as a Century Farm in 2022. The family’s homestead is located across the road from the first tee at the La Crescent Pine Creek Golf Course in scenic Pine Creek valley. The Minnesota State Fair and the Minnesota Farm Bureau sponsor the Minnesota Century Farm Program. Each year the two organizations … [Read more...]
Preston VFW Auxiliary celebrates 75 years!
Magdlin-Gilbertson Auxiliary to VFW Post #6893 members met on Saturday, April 9, 2022, at the Preston Servicemen’s Club for their monthly meeting. Officers elected were President Diane Johnson, Senior Vice President DD Himli, Secretary Sandy Amundson, Treasurer Janet Eulberg-Woellert, Chaplain Linda Snyder, Conductress Pat Scheevel, Guard Joan Wissing, Patriotic Instructor … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Farm boy evades “friendly” fore hooves while dancing to Lady’s tune
Part seven of a series It was “a different approach to torture,” putting the harness on a horse named Lady. It was “a dance to Lady’s tune.” Her front feet were some of the most active I have ever seen,” wrote Warren Lange in the published memories of his boyhood on a 1930s farm on South Ridge in Mound Prairie Township, Houston County. Lange described Lady as highly … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Wearing bells in Houston, stuck in muck in Caledonia
They wore “beautiful brass bells, that made the prettiest musical sounds,” according to Houston, Minn., historian Ingrid Julsrud, referring to dray horses. A dray was a wagon and team of horses that unloaded freight and merchandise at the train depot for delivery to downtown merchants. Baggage might be taken to hotels. Railroads reached southeast Minnesota during the 1860s and … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Not showing off – just hanging on!
Part five of a series Sisters Barbara and Juliet Lee, on horseback, rampaged through downtown Spring Grove. Onlookers on that mid-1920s Sunday afternoon thought the teenage girls were showing off. After all, they were the daughters of renown horsemen Knute Lee. But recalling that speedy spectacle years later, Juliet told her son Mark that the girls were just holding on as best … [Read more...]
Cub Scout Pack 53 food shelf donation drive a success
Cub Scout Pack 53 of the Rushford Peterson area recently held a food shelf donation drive, and is thankful for the generous donations to the Rushford Food Shelf. Pack 53 is also appreciative of the many area businesses that hosted donation cups to raise money. This donation drive raised $1,166.32 for the food shelf. … [Read more...]
21st Annual Bluff Country Studio Art Tour – where art is made!
From April 22-24, 2022, artists in SE Minnesota’s Bluff Country will open the doors to their creative spaces for a behind-the-scenes studio view not usually offered to the general public. During this annual self-guided event, these accomplished artists will be displaying their work, demonstrating their processes and selling pottery, paintings, turned wood items, jewelry, fiber … [Read more...]
Peering at the Past Horses traveled on trains, Knute’s big dream of a big barn
Part four of a series and the second concerning Knute Lee Mustangs moving from Montana to southeast Minnesota? Some took the train. Two Spring Grove men traveled by train to the “wild west” state of Montana where it was still possible to catch wild horses. Knute Lee and John Kjome purchased recently-domesticated (broken) mares and broncos and brought them back by rail to … [Read more...]