On Saturday afternoon at 2:29, the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a snowmobile accident on Lake Willie in Ellsworth Township. The driver, 65-year-old Bruce Sunsdahl of Dassel, rolled his snowmobile while driving in circles. Sunsdahl was transported to Meeker Memorial Hospital by Mayo ambulance with non-life-threatening injuries. Litchfield Fire Department and Litchfield Rescue Squad also assisted at the scene.
The Litchfield Downtown Council, Litchfield Golf and Community Partners and Prospects presents “An Evening in Front of the Radio” – a dinner reader’s theater production about the golden age of radio. It’s coming up on Saturday, March 14th at Prospects in Litchfield.
Betty Allen says doors will open at 5:30 p.m., with a 2-meat buffet at 6 p.m. and the show at 7. She says tickets are $35 and it should be an entertaining show.
Allen says there are 70 seats available, so get your tickets soon. Carl Minton from the Litchfield Golf and Community Partners Board says they are providing the materials for a stage at Prospects along with the labor. He says this is a new venture at the golf club.
Darlene Kotelnicki says tickets are available at the Fieldgate Cheese Store, DeAnn’s Country Village Shoppe, Farm Bureau or by calling her at 320-535-0034; and it’s cash or check only. She says the cast includes Art Elson, Erika & Michael Buller, Paul White, Beckie Simenson, Karter Cunningham, Jeff Woods, Scott Nelson, Betty Allen and herself and they’ll be portraying news and other events that people would have heard on the radio back in the 30s, 40s and 50s.
Kotelnicki says they are raising funds to help with this summer’s musical line-up in Central Park. She says it’s a family-friendly show – with sound effects, and if it goes well, they’ll try it again.
The Litchfield School Board has approved of an adaptive bowling activity for special needs students. The inclusive activity will give the students a sense of competition.
Assistant High School Principal/Activities Director Justin Brown says that adaptive PE teacher Tyler Storm will instruct the class as the students will go to the Litchfield Bowling Center and compete electronically with students in other communities. He says it will be added to the school’s Minnesota State High School League activities.
Brown also presented to the Litchfield School Board last night a summary of the winter activities including the numbers of students involved in each activity. He says the pool renovation project which was recently completed at the High School turned out better than he could have imagined.
Business Manager Jesse Johnson told the Board about an issue that has come up with the surface at the tennis courts and the corrective measures that are planned in June to address the problem. Superintendent Susan Burris told the Board that the community survey deadline is approaching this Friday. She says formal proposals on budget reductions will be presented to the Board at the March 9th meeting; and conversations are continuing on the bullying issue. A parent spoke to the Board last night about a bullying issue last year that targeted her family.
Also last night, the Litchfield School Board approved of a resolution accepting donations including $250 from Perennial Bank for the Litchfield High School FFA, and $2,500 from the Litchfield Marching Band Boosters for the Litchfield High School Marching Band to pay for summer drill designer.
The Litchfield Visitors Bureau is busy promoting events in Litchfield. The Parade of Bands will be coming up in June, and with Litchfield Community Theatre observing its 50th anniversary this year, there will be 4 shows coming up in 2026.
The Youth Theatre is producing “Finding Nemo” in April. Heidi Pennertz is directing the show and says the story is similar to the movie, but it is a musical with lots of singing and dancing.
Pennertz says there are 42 kids in the show, with 8 more in the crew, and it can be seen in the Bernie Aaker Auditorium April 16th, 17th and 18th at 7 p.m. and April 19th at 2 p.m.
Rick Beecroft says Litchfield Community Theatre is putting together a production written by Tim Nelson called “Murder on the High Seas” which will be performed in mid-May so auditions will be coming up on March 17th.
Beecroft says the summer musical will be “Mary Poppins” with auditions at the end of May, and then Litchfield Community Theatre will do “A Christmas Carol” later this year. He says Litchfield Community Theatre is going strong after 50 years.
Mike Niedzielski from the Litchfield Visitors Bureau says you can find out more about what’s going on in Litchfield on their website – litchfieldmn.com. He says another Pistons & Props event is being organized on August 8th at the Litchfield Municipal Airport.