Light Up Litchfield Contest Winners

The Litchfield Visitors Bureau held its Light Up Litchfield contest earlier this month. Eleven businesses participated and 436 votes were cast in the contest.

Janaye Prieve says first place went to the Fieldgate Cheese Store with 180 votes; second place went to It’s Knot Hair, Radiant Glow Spa, Kristie Isakson Accounting with 86 votes; and third place went to Center Bank with 85 votes. She says there’s a committee that organizes the Light Up Litchfield contest and the lighting of Central Park.

Prieve says if anyone is willing to serve on the committee, they may call the Chamber office at 693-8184. She says the two big events for the Litchfield Visitors Bureau each year are the Parade of Bands in June and the Light Up Litchfield contest which are meant to attract visitors to Litchfield and they advertise in other parts of the state to try to get people to visit Litchfield and spend money here.

Litchfield Visitors Bureau chair Shane Zeppelin has led the organization since it began in 2018, and after two terms, he has to step down, but he will continue to serve on the Parade of Bands committee. He says several people from Litchfield attended a Blandin Foundation conference in 2016 and one of the wishes from that event that became reality was the creation of the Litchfield Visitors Bureau, and one of their sources of income is a half-cent sales tax gathered by the City.

Zeppelin says the Litchfield Visitors Bureau also gets revenue from grants, including one from Explore MN. He says the sales tax in Litchfield comes from the two motels and the campground. For more information about the Litchfield Visitors Bureau, go to litchfieldmn.com.