The Meeker County Dairy Royalty was crowned on Saturday in Manannah during the 72nd annual Meeker County American Dairy Association Princess Banquet and Coronation. Claudia Frenchick and Elizabeth Thyen will be serving as Dairy Princesses for 2026.
The Junior Princesses will be Ella Lahr, Elizabeth Lahr and Virginia Isaacson. Alexis Blunt will serve as a Dairy Ambassador. 2025 Princess Kay finalist Paige Frenchick gave a farewell speech during the coronation. Frenchick spoke about how the experience reshaped her life, gave her more confidence, taught her leadership skills and deepened her appreciation of the dairy industry.
The 2026 Dairy Princesses, Claudia Frenchick and Elizabeth Thyen, spoke as if they were addressing school board members and talked about why whole milk should be reintroduced to the school lunch programs.
The 54th annual Peanut Butter & Milk Festival officially ended on Saturday as the ten guests from Hartford, Alabama – Litchfield’s Sister City – returned to Alabama. The group had a busy week of tours and other events.
Peanut Butter & Milk Festival Chair Terri Anderson says the groups who travel to Meeker County from Alabama each year often see things that many of us who live here never get to see; and it’s the same for the groups from Meeker County who travel to Alabama in the exchange program – as they see things that the Hartford residents may never get to see in their own home area. She says the Southern guests toured the G.A.R. Hall on Friday and they always enjoy that tour as the Civil War history in the South is not as well-preserved.
Anderson says the Peanut Butter & Milk Festival actually got started in 1971 by Litchfield grocer Bruce Cottington as a way to promote peanut butter in his store and it has thrived over a half century with many families involved into the 3rd and 4th generations. She says it’s a great way to celebrate our youth – especially those involved in FFA, and agriculture; and she would like to thank everyone in the community who supports the festival in various ways and helps to keep it growing into the future.
State Representative Scott Van Binsbergen of Montevideo has announced that the state is providing up to $2-point-7-million in grant funding for a highway project on the eastern edge of Litchfield. Meeker County Public Works Director and County Engineer Phil Schmalz says the award will help MnDOT fund most of the cost of installing a roundabout at the T-intersection of U.S. Highway 12 and County State Aid Highway 34.
Schmalz says it’s long been a problematic junction, with Highway 12 currently uncontrolled and a one-way stop on Highway 34. The Minnesota Department of Transportation approved grant funding for this project through its Transportation Economic Development (TED) program, which aims to fund improvements with measurable economic benefits.
Van Binsbergen says he congratulates the Meeker County officials who were successful in obtaining this grant and to the people of this area who will see the benefits. He says this program funds projects that contribute to job creation, job retention, or another measurable economic benefits, and he looks forward to the positive results this grant will bring Meeker County residents.
MnDOT indicates it will fund up to 70 percent of the project’s total cost – the maximum allowed under the TED program – with the county responsible for the balance. Schmalz says the county is still working to source the balance of funding for the project. MnDOT’s grant parameters stipulate the work must begin by June of 2028.
The Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a vehicle going through the ice on Lake Lillian in East Lake Lillian Township on Friday at 11:38 a.m. A 2014 Dodge Ram 1500 was pulling a fish house and broke through the ice. The front end of the vehicle was submerged. The driver from Bird Island was able to escape by breaking the back window. The driver was not injured. Also responding to the scene was the Lake Lillian Fire Dept.