The 67th annual Litchfield Watercade celebration is coming up July 6th through the 9th. Three candidates are vying for the title of Miss Litchfield and the new queen will be crowned during the coronation on July 9th at 3 p.m. in the Bernie Aaker Auditorium.
Candidate number-one is Abby Stoffer – daughter of Tammy & Mike Stoffer. Her sponsor is Doosan Bobcat. She says her cousin was Miss Litchfield several years ago so she decided when she was a child that she would run for Miss Litchfield someday.
Stoffer says she was in the Litchfield Marching Band color guard when she was a freshman and sophomore, and played volleyball and softball her freshman year, but broke her arm playing softball, so stopped being involved in sports. She says she’s planning to attend Mankato State after she graduates from Litchfield High School next year to major in business administration and maybe go into real estate. Abby says the Beach Party is her favorite Watercade event. She invites everyone to participate in the Medallion Hunt which begins on Monday with clues announced on KLFD each morning at 10 a.m.
Seven Litchfield 4th graders are running as Junior Ambassadors. Two of them spoke on KLFD yesterday. Savannah Turnbough is sponsored by Family Fare. She invites everyone to the Sand Sculpture Contest at 5 p.m. on July 7th, and says her favorite activity is the Beach Party. Jordyn DeSmith is sponsored by the Tax Depot. She invites everyone to participate in the Watercade Run on July 8th and she says her favorite Watercade activity is the parade which will be on July 8th at 6 p.m. For more Watercade information, go to watercade.com.
The Litchfield Downtown Council is pleased to report that it has 3 new members – Perfect Pooches, The Red Door, and the Fieldgate Cheese Store. Fieldgate will have a grand opening on July 6th at 10 a.m.
Darlene Kotelnicki says she’d like to thank First District Association and Fieldgate Cheese for helping to sponsor the music in Central Park this summer during Thriving Thursdays along with a donation from the City of Litchfield. She says Terry Shaw and his daughter Andrea Peterson will perform tomorrow evening from 6-to-8 p.m., with food served by the Litchfield Student Anglers Club, and then on July 6th, St. Philip’s School will be serving pie and there will be a magic show called Mixed Nuts to help kick off the Watercade celebration.
Kotelnicki says the Kingery Family will perform on July 13th, Todd “Elvis” Anderson will perform on July 20th, and the Marv Nissel Band will play polka music July 27th, and there are more acts schedule for August, concluding with a tribute to veterans on August 24th. She says the Shaw Brothers will perform for the Christmas Gala on December 9th, and a sock hop is being planned for Wintercade in February.
Betty Allen says she’d like to thank all of the non-profit organizations that have been serving food in the park on Thursday evenings this summer, and everyone who has turned out for Thriving Thursdays. She says the Downtown Council is looking forward to another Candy Cane Parade on December 14th.
Allen says a second clock has been installed in downtown Litchfield this past spring in front of Mary’s Jewelry. She says they are waiting for benches to be installed downtown and the alley between the Legion and Sweet Escapes has been cleaned up for people to enjoy.
Terry Shaw and his daughter, Andrea Peterson, will perform in Litchfield’s Central Park this Thursday. The Dad and Drea show will be from 6-to-8 p.m., and the Litchfield Student Anglers will be serving food that evening. In case of rain, it would move to the Opera House.
Terry Shaw says it was a dream that he and his daughter would someday perform together as she would sing as a toddler on the front steps of his home, and later as he taught her to play guitar and he would have her come up on stage as he performed with the band Shaw Allen Shaw. He says Andrea grew up learning the songs of HIS era and when he took his children to a Bobby Vee concert in Bird Island, it was evident how influential his musical era was in their lives.
Terry says he began doing driveway concerts at his home in Willmar during the pandemic and he and Andrea will do one of those tonight, and will perform at the Senior Center in Willmar on Wednesday. Andrea says she lives in Michigan, but is back in Minnesota for about a month this summer. She says her father’s Terry Tales books came about because she had asked him to write down stories that he would share during her childhood. Terry says much of the music they will be playing this Thursday evening will be from the 50s and 60s – both country and rock ‘n’ roll. Andrea says they will be doing some Linda Ronstadt tunes this year and some other new songs.