Meeker County recently put together a strategic plan with a mission statement of “United to Lead, Driven to Serve.” The vision statement for the strategic plan is “Meeker County serves with integrity and purpose – building trust and partnerships to support the health, safety and well-being of communities where people choose to live, work and grow.”
Meeker County Administrator Andrew Letson says the plan was conceived with input from staff, department heads and the County Commissioners. He says the plan helps to develop goals which will be checked along the way, over the three years of the plan.
Letson says the strategic plan has four priorities – financial stewardship, assets & amenities, quality economic growth and organizational excellence – and there are strategies and goals within each of those areas. He says they want to make Meeker County a place where people want to live, work and thrive.
Letson says he’s been presenting budget information to the County Board as they get ready to develop a levy for 2026 and it’s the most challenging budget he’s had to work on as there are a lot of unfunded mandates being handed down from the state and federal governments. He says the levy increase is likely to be more than 9% as they proactively try to anticipate changes to SNAP, Medicaid, child protection processes and paid family medical leave – resulting in $1.5-million in new costs for 2026, 2027 and 2028.
The Litchfield Area Community Foundation (LACF) will have an appreciation event for the donors and customers of the popcorn stand on Thursday evening in Central Park from 5-to-8 p.m. The event was supposed to be on September 4th, but was postponed due to the weather.
LACF board member Kevin Angier says there was a popcorn stand in Litchfield back in the early 1900s and it had been nearly 40 years since there had been steady popcorn sales in Central Park, so the Foundation got it back running this summer with a stand donated by Granite Falls.
Angier says they’re hoping to expand the popcorn stand days of operation to include Saturdays next year. He says they can use other groups and people besides those associated with the LACF to operate the popcorn stand.
LACF board member Michelle Rambow says the popcorn stand began operating on Thursday and Friday evenings in early July this year. She says the popcorn stand is helping the Foundation to raise more money to put into its endowment fund.
Rambow says the popcorn stand is in a good location at the corner of 3rd Street and Sibley Avenue in Central Park. She says there will be a band playing during Thursday night’s appreciation event in Central Park – so bring your lawn chairs.
This will be the last time the popcorn stand is open for the season, except for the Fallin’ Into Fun Fest on September 20th. Donation information and grant applications are available on the LACFoundation website.
The Minnesota State Patrol responded to a crash involving two motorcycles on Saturday morning at 9:16 on Highway 24 in Kingston Township. Both motorcycles were southbound on Highway 24 when they collided. 79-year-old Lawrence Claire Sorenson of Bloomington was driving a 1991 Harley Davidson and 67-year-old Edwin Danny Jostock of Rochester was driving a 2007 Harley Davidson. Jostock received non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to Meeker Memorial Hospital. Also responding to the crash were the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office, Kimball Fire Department, and Watkins Ambulance.
The G.A.R. Hall and Meeker County Museum was busy over the summer months with a lot of travelers stopping in to visit. Several members of the New London to New Brighton Antique Car Run stopped in on August 9th as the cars parked right outside of the museum on North Marshall Avenue.
Museum Executive Director Danelle Erickson says they get a lot of visitors who are doing genealogy research and they are happy to help them. She says the next Civil War Roundtable program will be coming up on Thursday, September 11th at 1:30 p.m.
Erickson says she had an article in the July 24th Litchfield Rail newspaper about the Crow River store and there’s a replica of the store on the second floor of the museum. She says she will have another article coming out soon about Rosendale – another small Meeker County community which typically contained a store, post office and creamery.
The G.A.R. Hall and Meeker County Museum is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 10-to-4 and on Saturdays from noon-to-4. For more information, go to meekercomuseum.org.