The 2026 Litchfield Rescue Squad calendars are still available for sale. The sweepstakes drawing will be held on January 6th and then the winners are announced each week throughout the year.
Litchfield Rescue Squad Captain Chris Guggemos says the calendars are available for $20 each at Litchfield Building Center, KLFD, Miller Automotive, Ramsey Printing, Mid Country Bank, Sure Stay, Insurance Solutions and from any current Litchfield Rescue Squad member. He says the proceeds from this fundraiser help them purchase equipment beyond normal budget items that they would ask for from the Litchfield City Council.
Litchfield Rescue Squad Chief Blake Tangen says they’ve been able to purchase items like the LUCAS devices with proceeds from their calendar sales. He says the Rescue Squad mostly responds to medical and lift assists calls, and also accidents, search and rescue calls, sporting event stand-bys and more and they now have a full roster of 30 members, but people are still welcome to apply.
Tangen says applications are available at City Hall for potential Litchfield Rescue Squad members and also on their Facebook page. He says when you purchase a sweepstakes calendar, you have 246 chances of winning back your $20, twelve chances to win $100 and three chances to win $300 on April 15th, during Watercade and on September 11th.
A FOX-9 news story late last week reported that the Hastings American Legion Post #47 closed its doors abruptly on Christmas Eve, with officials there saying it would not be a permanent closure. Commander Paul Chadwick at the Litchfield American Legion Post #104 says they want to assure their patrons that that type of thing won’t happen in Litchfield.
Chadwick says the Litchfield American Legion is financially solid, and they just recently hired an assistant manager. He says the Litchfield Legion gave back $57,000 to the community in the last fiscal year – and most of that stays right in Litchfield.
Chadwick says one of the big issues for Legion Posts and other service clubs all over the nation is dwindling membership. He says 15 years ago they had 500 members and that’s now down to 262 as a lot of younger people are not joining clubs.
Chadwick says New Year’s Eve is always a big night for the Litchfield American Legion, and he says the club in downtown Litchfield will be open on New Year’s Day with a DJ from 1-to-4 p.m.
The 2026 Minnesota Legislative Session will begin on February 17th. State Representative Dave Baker of Willmar says this is the shorter session of the biennium when lawmakers typically put together a bonding bill.
Baker says the bonding bill is usually around $1-billion to fund infrastructure and other projects. He says in his district, he’s hoping that some money can be secured this time around to complete the Glacial Lakes Trail to connect Sibley State Park to New London, and he’s hoping there will also be funds for water treatment projects for Kandiyohi, Atwater, Raymond and Lake Lillian.
Baker says the Minnesota Senate passed a bill in the last session to address fraud by establishing an independent office of an inspector general, but it did not make it to the House floor, so he’s hoping that will get accomplished in the next session to make sure the staggering fraud schemes such as Feeding Our Future never happen again – and another way to help accomplish that would be to get new leadership. He says he endorsed Kristin Robbins – his colleague in the House – for Governor – and he encourages people to get involved in the caucuses which will be held early in February.
Baker says he supports a lot of what President Trump does, but he did not appreciate him calling Somalians “garbage” and linking the whole race to Minnesota’s fraud problem as there are many hard-working Somali-Americans in his district. He says does support the work of ICE agents as we have been too soft on crime and if anyone is in our nation illegally, they need to go.
Baker says he’s concerned about the new paid family leave legislation which will hurt businesses and drive them out of our state. He says he is also continuing to work on overdose issues which continue to plague our society and which claimed the life of his son, Dan, 14 years ago, but he feels we are making progress.