There was a good turn-out for Monday’s annual Meeker County Historical Society Memorial Day Picnic at the Litchfield Opera House. The G.A.R. Hall and Meeker County Museum also had several visitors on Monday.
Museum Director Danelle Erickson says they had their last school tour of the season yesterday. She says they have a couple of events coming up in June, including the monthly Civil War Roundtable discussion on Thursday, June 8th at 1:30.
Erickson says Juneteenth is coming up on June 19th, so they will have an event on the Saturday before that – June 17th. She says there will be a noon lunch June 17th at the G.A.R. Hall and then a program about some of the black families who settled in Meeker County following the Civil War.
The Meeker County Museum and G.A.R. Hall is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 10-to-4 and on Saturdays from noon-to-4. It’s located at 308 North Marshall Avenue, just east of Litchfield’s Central Park.
The MS 150 bike ride from Duluth to the Twin Cities is coming up next weekend – June 9th through the 11th. Mark Nicholson of Litchfield will again participate in the event.
Nicholson says over 1800 bicyclists had preregistered before last year’s event and even though it rained last year, it was a good ride and he appreciates all of the people who helped support him. He says the MS Society uses the funds it raises for research and to help people who have MS with equipment needs and other things, and each rider needs to raise at least $300.
Nicholson says any donations to the National MS Society would be greatly appreciated and they may be dropped off at KLFD or mailed to Mark Nicholson at 61856 193rd St., Litchfield, MN 55355. He says he’s been training by riding his stationary bike and has been riding outside as much as possible this spring.
Nicholson says the MS 150 riders travel to White Bear Lake on June 9th where their bikes are loaded on semi trailers and then they ride up to Duluth on buses. He says on the first day of the ride, they go from Proctor to Hinckley, stay overnight in Hinckley and then they bike back to White Bear Lake the next day.
Xcel Energy will be installing a transmission line through parts of Central and Southwestern Minnesota and it will be running through parts of Meeker County. Public open houses are scheduled for June 6th at Powder Ridge in Kimball and on June 8th at the Meeker County Fairgrounds in Litchfield from 4-to-7 p.m. each day.
County Administrator Andrew Letson says you can voice comments about the project on Xcel’s website or attend the meetings to have your voice heard. He says 3 routes were being considered, but it’s been narrowed down to two – on the western side of Meeker County. A route from Kimball to Hutchinson was scrapped.
Letson says Meeker County is going back out for bids in its effort to sell the landfill property and its related equipment with a deadline of June 20th. He says the County is also continuing its remodeling project for the Court House and the Family Services Center and they are currently in the design phase.
Letson says the Family Services Center would become more user friendly with more of a reception area as you first walk into the building, and having Public Health and Social Services in closer proximity to one another. He says the County continues seeking employees for various departments and those job postings can be found on the Meeker County website.
Meeker County Board Chair Steve Schmitt says the Commissioners decided this past month not to enter into a new Sentencing to Service contract as that program has not had the participation that it used to have and needs the support of the state’s judicial branch. He says the Board agreed last month to loan money to the Stockade which will be paid back over 5 years to build a pole shed to house an equipment donation.
Schmitt says Meeker County has some construction projects taking place this summer, including a milling, overlaying and culvert replacement project on County-State-Aid-Highway 14 south of Darwin to the McLeod County line, and a bridge project in Manannah Township.