An explosion and fire destroyed a camper and home on County Road 2 in Forest City Monday afternoon. The Meeker County Sheriff’s Department responded to the fire which was reported at 4:09 p.m. Monday. Litchfield Fire and Rescue and Mayo Ambulance also responded and found a camper on the property fully engulfed in flames, which quickly spread to the residence. It appears the explosion was likely from a propane tank that was consumed by the fire as it spread.
The property owner, 65-year-old Michael Huggett, was not home when the fire broke out but others who were on the property said the fire started in the area of the camper. No one was injured, and both the camper and the residence are considered a total loss. Assisting at the scene were fire departments from Dassel, Eden Valley and Watkins, and the MN State Fire Marshall’s Office. The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office and Minnesota Fire Marshal’s Office.
The grandchildren of Dave & Suzy Binsfeld are once again hosting a lemonade stand on Saturday during the Litchfield Watercade celebration from 11-to-3 – across from the Litchfield Middle School on East 10th Street. They were on KLFD Radio yesterday explaining how the proceeds this year will be donated to ProWorks.
Lyla got the conversation started yesterday – explaining all of the essential details.
Harrison explained the location of the lemonade stand, and also said that there would be a dunk tank there with some local celebrities.
Jack says the event gets bigger every year.
Jack says they are also serving hot dogs and chips. He says his favorite part of it is donating the money they make and helping other people. Grace says they’ve donated money to all kinds of causes over the years, and the recipient this year will be ProWorks.
Grace says if you can’t make it to the lemonade stand on Saturday, they are also collecting money for ProWorks through Venmo @cousinclan13. William says the money they raise this year will help to purchase a golf cart for ProWorks.
Haddie says the golf cart will be used to take individuals at ProWorks to their activities and it will also be used during Senior Citizen day at the Meeker County Fair. She says she enjoys being with her cousins at their lemonade stand.
Hank says they will sell a couple different kinds of lemonade, and you can mix them.
Caroline says the lemonade stand is possible – thanks to their grandparents who host it at their house on East 10th Street.
Again, the lemonade stand will be open on Saturday, July 11, from 11-to-3 at the Dave & Suzy Binsfeld residence on East 10th Street in Litchfield – across from the Litchfield Middle School.
The Litchfield Public Library has numerous events scheduled during any given week throughout the year, but with Litchfield’s Watercade celebration this week, there are even more events coming up. The library will have a float in the parade on Saturday evening – handing out books to children – and the book sale will be held on Saturday at the Library from 10-to-2.
Pioneerland Meeker County Librarian Beth Cronk says people line up in front of the library before 10 a.m. and they have to set up police tape so that the Friends of the Library can wheel the carts of books out onto the sidewalk. She says they’ve received a lot of donated books and this will be the biggest book sale they’ve ever had.
Cronk says the books, CDs and DVDs that they sell are reasonably priced and the proceeds help to fund programs that the library offers throughout the year and also with library improvements. She says they received a donation from the Wintercade Committee and a Thrivent grant that will help them pay for the books that they will hand out during the Watercade parade on Saturday.
Library Board member Kathy Keller says this is the 4th year that they will be handing out books during the parade and they have over 1500 books to hand out for young children up through senior high age. She says the money from the book sale and from donations has helped to pay for new computer chairs and for other fixtures at the Litchfield Public Library.
Keller says the library foundation is looking ahead to future improvements for the library facilities and donations are always welcome. Board member Tom Cubbage says they had a bookmark contest at the Litchfield Library and the winning bookmark will be included in the books that they hand out during the Watercade parade.
Cubbage says the bookmark contest was a great way to get youth involved in a creative event. He says the library offers all kinds of programming for both adults and children, and Children’s Librarian Jennifer Barnes does a great job with the programs that she leads. There will be a program this Thursday, July 9th, at 10:30 a.m. at the Litchfield Opera House with a dinosaur program presented by the Science Museum of Minnesota.
The Litchfield City Council received an update last evening about the downtown façade grant program. Jesse Turck from 4594 Design has been coordinating the project and says the construction document phase is underway for the 25 downtown buildings.
Turck says the façade improvement plans for the first 10 buildings in the program have been forwarded to the state for approval and then the next 7 will be submitted and after a couple of weeks, the final 8 will be submitted. He says once the state approves the projects, they will need to go to Litchfield’s Heritage Preservation Commission for approval and then the City will have to approve the building permits for each. Turck says construction is expected to begin in August.
The Litchfield City Council had a visit from Brooks Holmgren about a lift station at 20 West 9th Street. Holmgren presented some history about the lift station and the sewer back-up that has occurred at his home over the years. The Council approved of having the city staff put together a draft agreement with Holmgren regarding ownership and maintenance of the lift station.
The Council approved of a certificate of appropriateness application for Hans Hoeg at 201 North Sibley Avenue to remove some blocks around a door at the rear of the building to be able to move a tank out of the building, and then replace the blocks.
The Litchfield City Council has approved of hiring Corrine Grotto as an administrative/accounting technician; approved of a job description for an IT position; approved of a low bid of $254,805.59 from Hanson Paving of Sauk Rapids for the “campground road” improvement project along the southeast side of Lake Ripley; and appointed Donna Anderson to the HRA board.
A South Haven woman was hurt when her car crashed with a semi-truck on Monday afternoon. The accident occurred on Highway 24 at 4:55 p.m. Monday in Clearwater Township.
The Minnesota State Patrol says 32-year-old Shelby Rollings of South Haven was traveling southbound on Highway 24 when her 2013 Nissan Altima collided with a southbound 1996 Peterbilt semi at Wright County Road 40. Rollings was taken to Buffalo Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The semi was driven by 64-year-old Douglas Edward Kalkbrenner of Grove City who was not injured.