The Litchfield High School Hall of Fame induction ceremony is coming up this Friday in the Litchfield High School Commons with a reception at 6 p.m. and a program at 7 p.m. There are 4 people in this year’s group, including Mark Scharmer from the Class of 1973.
Scharmer says he was born and raised in Litchfield where his father was a math teacher. He says he was involved in football, basketball and track at Litchfield High School, then attended college at Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter, and then spent 41 years with Federated Insurance before retiring in 2018.
Scharmer says his insurance career took him to Owatonna, Kansas City, Nashville and back to Minnesota – in Lakeville – where he serves on the Board of Directors for Lakeview Bank. He and his wife, Meg, have two children – John and Lauren, one grandchild, and another arriving in a couple of weeks, and they spent many years as mentors in the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program.
Scharmer says back when he was in college, he started something called Tanks in which friends from high school and college would get together in Litchfield during Watercade weekend and play softball. He says the friends no longer play softball, but have still met for the past 50 years.
Scharmer says anyone connected to Litchfield should take a lot of pride in the town and the people who have connections there. He says he learned life lessons growing up in Litchfield that have benefitted him later in life and he is going to share that bit of wisdom with the students he meets at Litchfield High School this Friday.
The Grove City Area CARE program has its annual Octoberfest on Sunday from 4-to-6:30 p.m. in the South Grove Gymnasium on South 3rd Street in Grove City. There will be a pulled pork dinner, farmer’s market, crafts, a bake sale and a drawing for prizes.
CARE Volunteer Coordinator Rosie Dilley says the meal includes pulled pork, potato salad, beans, chips, dessert and music, and the cost is $14 for adults, $6 for children 10 and under, with a family cap of $35. She says this is their biggest fundraiser of the year.
Dilley says the CARE program provides all kinds of services with a group of volunteers to help keep seniors living safely in their own homes. She says they provide transportation to doctor appointments, grocery shopping and for other errands; senior dining, visiting, light house-keeping, morning exercises, and more such as a foot clinic which has really expanded.
Dilley says they have bingo once a month, Care Crafters on the second Tuesday, Friendship Club the second Thursday, a support group on the third Wednesday of each month, nursing services from Ecumen of Litchfield, and more. She says you can find more information at grovecitycare.com and donations may be sent at any time in memory or in honor of someone to Post Office Box 192 in Grove City.
The Litchfield City Council addressed numerous topics last evening with a very full agenda. One of the more contentious items was the renewal of the concession stand agreement at the Civic Arena.
Councilman John Carlson spoke up against renewing the one-year contract as proposed which he said was 100% skewed toward the hockey program so that other organizations that host events at the Litchfield Area Recreation Center do not benefit fairly. Council member Darlene Kotelnicki argued that the Youth Hockey organization owns the equipment and keeps it stocked and staffed. Carlson introduced a resolution, which was approved, to accept the contract with Youth Hockey for the concession stand for one-year, but to allow other groups to use the community room at the Litchfield Area Recreation Center to sell concessions during their events.
The Council approved of a land transfer for a transmission project with the Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency which wants to use land near the City’s well field and land near the power plant. A second reading – with an amendment – was approved for ordinance #841 – related to the Minnesota state building codes and plumbing codes.
Deputy Registrar Linsey Stoppelman from Litchfield and Cokato Licensing spoke to the Council about a resolution of support about revenue-sharing as deputy registrars state-wide are hoping to get the state to share filing fees. The Council approved of supporting this effort.
Beth Cronk approached the Council with a request for a 3% increase in the City’s 2027 budget for the Pioneerland Library. No action was taken, but city staff will consider the request and bring back a recommendation to the Council. Janet Forstrom spoke to the Council about using $10,000 of her father’s memorial money towards new flagpoles and lighting at Lake Ripley Cemetery. A motion was passed to have Forstrom meet with city staff to look into costs and where this project would land on the Council’s priority list of projects.
Also last night, the Litchfield City Council approved of several Certificate of Appropriateness Applications from the Heritage Preservation Commission for projects on North Sibley Avenue – at 207, 210, 226, 236, 241 and 242 North Sibley Avenue.
