Local News

Dragon Dining will get started next Monday – June 8th. The program provides free summer meals for kids 18 and under at the Litchfield High School Cafeteria.

Meals will be served Monday through Friday from June 8th through July 31st from 11:30-to-12:30, and no meals will be served June 19th, and July 6th through the 10th. No registration is required.

It’s dine-in only – the meals must be consumed on-site. Children ages 1-to-9 must be accompanied by someone 12 or older. There are no seconds, and adult meals are $5.75. If you have any questions, call 320-693-2444.

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Fire damaged a coffee shop and some other businesses in Downtown New London on Thursday night.  The New London Fire Department says at 9:48 p.m. Thursday, they were dispatched to the Waysetter Coffee Shop, formerly Lake Effect Coffee, at 32 North Main Street.  A passerby spotted smoke and flames and called 911, and firefighters also saw flames when they arrived about 4 minutes later.  They entered the building a quickly extinguished the blaze.  With the help of The Spicer Fire Department, they checked out to make sure the fire hadn’t spread, but there were no signs of fire or damage to the roof or ceiling. 

The business had recently been undergoing renovations, and it is believed the fire started by spontaneous combustion of stain-soaked rags in a garbage bag.  Damage to the coffee shop and adjacent businesses was estimated at around $30,000, with fire damage to the front entrance area of the coffee shop, and smoke damage elsewhere.  Fire crews were on the scene for about an hour, and they got help from New London Ambulance and the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office.  No one was injured.

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The Litchfield Downtown Council has a full schedule of music planned for this summer in Central Park. The concerts will be on Thursday evenings from 6-to-8 p.m. and the first one is coming up on June 4th.

Art Elson says there’s usually a non-profit group serving a meal or some refreshments during each concert and there may be room for more organizations, so check with Darlene Kotelnicki about that. He says the June 4th event will include the Watercade Brat Feed and Frank Sinatra music.

Elson says the rest of the summer schedule includes the Gig Noonan Band on June 11th, a Premiere movie night set up by Tim Cook on June 18th, the Dad & Drea Show on June 25th with ice cream served by the Meeker County dairy princesses, the Willmar Barbershop Chorus on July 2nd – made possible with a Southwest Minnesota Arts Council grant, open mic night on July 9th during Watercade, a Vibrant Broadband movie night on July 16th, the Marshall Star Band on July 23rd, Acoustic Relativity on August 6th, the Everett Smithson Band on August 13th, another Vibrant movie night August 20th and the Gig Noonan Band on August 27th.

Betty Allen says the Litchfield Area Community Foundation will have the popcorn stand open during each of the Thursday concerts this summer, and you should bring a lawn chair. She says they get some of the acts from previous years to return, but also find some new performers.

Allen says in case of rain, they make announcements on KLFD Radio by 3 p.m. the day of the concerts and then they move them to the Litchfield Opera House. She says she’d like to thank the people who attend the summer concerts in Central Park – and the City of Litchfield for the $3,500 which helps make them possible.

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With spring finally arriving in Minnesota, pollinators will be hard at work to produce the colorful flowers and plants we see during the coming summer season. One of the most important native pollinators is the solitary bee, making up 70% of Minnesota’s bee population out of a total of 500 native species.

As the name implies, solitary bees prefer to live alone instead of in a traditional hive. The female bees collect pollen, build nests, and lay eggs all by themselves. Their work in pollination helps produce most of the food we consume every day, such as fruits, vegetables, and even nuts. Unfortunately, these insects are rapidly declining in numbers due to loss of habitat and environmental changes. 

To spread awareness of this issue, Kimball Kruisers 4-H Club member, Maisy G., has been organizing events and activities in her community throughout the past few years. This year, she led the Kimball Kruisers Community Pride project that focuses on solitary bees and their roles in our environment. Maisy led the club in making 3 bee ‘hotels,’ which consist of wooden structures for the insects to live in.

Club members worked together to paint the houses with bright colors to attract bees and brought supplies like sticks, paper straws, pinecones, wool, reeds, and other natural products to fill the hotels. These items provide places for solitary bees to build nests and lay eggs. The hotels do not include any food for the insects and simply allow bees already existing in the environment to thrive. 

On May 2nd, the Kimball Kruisers 4-H Club meeting took place at the Kimball Public Library. Members placed one of their bee hotels at the local library to support solitary bees and other insects within their own community. To help teach more people about the project, Maisy also made a poster board with educational resources and facts that can be found inside the library.

The other two hotels can be found at Anderson Gardens in Litchfield and Hilltop Care Center in Watkins.  Maisy says she hopes this project teaches people that bees do not have to be scary and they actually play an essential role in our ecosystem. This Community Pride project was an excellent way for 4-H’ers to learn about pollinators and to make an impact directly in their community.

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