The Meeker County Board of Commissioners received an annual report last week from Parks Superintendent Braden Piram. He spoke about the ten parks around the county and the many recreational opportunities available at each of them.
Piram says there are 18 shelters – with many of them available for rent; 16 restrooms, playground equipment, fishing piers, trails, boat landings, campgrounds and more. He says the County collected over $85,000 in camping fees in 2024 and they also get revenue from shelter rentals and firewood sales.
Piram says there was a storm this past summer that downed 38 trees and damaged the pier at the Lake Koronis Park, but they should be getting insurance compensation and Stearns County is helping with stump removal. He says the Forest City Stockade is also part of the Meeker County Park system and is a popular destination for many people each year.
The Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office was notified Saturday night at 9:57 p.m. that a hunter was missing in the 29000 block of County Road 9 Northeast in Burbank Township. The hunter – a 59-year-old Stewartville man – had last been seen at 5:30 p.m. and no contact had been made with him since that time.
The Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office responded with a drone and a K9 to assist in the search. A New London firefighter was already on the scene and the drone and K9 were both deployed at 10:42 p.m. The hunter was located at 10:52 p.m. and was waving his arms at the drone as it hovered above him. The terrain where he was located was dense with woods and swamp.
A rescue team was formed and entered the woods on foot and by ATV and located the hunter at 11:39 p.m. and safely brought him out of the woods at 11:57 p.m. He was medically cleared at the scene by New London Ambulance.
Assisting the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office was the New London Fire Dept., New London Ambulance, Kandiyohi County Rescue Squad, Brooten Fire Dept. and Belgrade Fire Dept.
The annual Pumpkin Patch Festival at the Nelson Farm, south of Litchfield, will open on September 27th and will continue weekends – and during the MEA break – through October 26th. There will be some special weekend themes, including Grandparents Weekend Sept. 27th & 28th.
Don Nelson says grandparents will get $1 off of their admission when they bring a grandchild the first weekend. He says Bud & Marlys Larsen will be at the farm on October 4th & 5th with fiddle music; Dairy Industry Day is October 5th; and the final weekend – October 25th and 26th will be Military Appreciation weekend so active military members will get $2 off of admission.
Nelson says the pumpkin crop is pretty good even though the excess rain caused some of them to rot, but they planted more than usual this year. He says the corn maze this year will challenge your mind, and he had to put an electric fence around it this year to keep the deer out.
Nelson says there are 4 trebuchets on the farm – one which launches marbles, one that fires golf balls and two that send different sized pumpkins into the air. He says there are all kinds of other activities, foods and more and you can go to nelsonfarm.com to find more details.
There is more parking at the Nelson Farm this year for the Pumpkin Patch Festival. The farm is 3-and-a-half miles south of Litchfield on County-State-Aid-Highway 1. The Pumpkin Patch Festival is open Saturdays and during the MEA break from 11:01 a.m. to 5:01 p.m. and on Sundays from 12:01-to-5:01 p.m.