Over 1,000 FFA students from Minnesota attended the National FFA Convention which began on October 29th in Indianapolis, Indiana. Several local FFA members received honors during competitions which were held at the national convention through November 1st.
Andrew Schmitz of the Eden Valley-Watkins FFA was one of 8 FFA members who participated in the pre-convention delegate committee process. Among the 9 schools receiving the Minnesota National Chapter 2-Star Chapter recognition were the Dassel-Cokato and Eden Valley-Watkins FFA Chapters.
The 2025 National Agricultural Proficiency Awards were announced at the National FFA Convention, and Minnesota had four finalists in four areas. All national finalists were interviewed by a delegation of judges prior to the announcement of the winners. The Minnesota finalists included: Agricultural Communications – Olivia Vorpagel, Southland FFA chapter; Agricultural Processing – Adreanna Kaas, Milaca FFA; Dairy Production-Placement – Porter Kuechle, Eden Valley-Watkins FFA; and Fruit & Nut Production – Cameron Addington, Cannon Falls FFA.
In the Career Development category, the Agricultural Issues Forum team from the Litchfield High School FFA chapter earned a Bronze ranking. The Conduct of Chapter Meetings team from the Dassel-Cokato FFA chapter earned a Silver ranking. The Food Science & Technology team from Dassel-Cokato also earned 11th place and a gold ranking.
Honorary American Degrees for 2025 went to 6 Minnesota residents including Judy Barka of Litchfield and Corynn Flood of Cokato. You can find out more about the awards that were given to the various chapters around Minnesota and find out more about FFA at FFA.org or MNFFA.org.
On Wednesday night at 11:53 P.M., the Stearns County Emergency Communications Center was advised of a fire at the address at 250 Liberty Street in New Munich. Stearns County Deputies, New Munich Fire and Melrose Ambulance responded to the scene.
Upon arrival, Stearns County Deputies located a man with a garden hose extinguishing the fire on his front porch and inside of his residence. 35-year-old Corey Pirttila of New Munich told deputies that they had a heater on the floor in the kitchen facing the direction of some clothing. He believed that due to the direct heat onto the clothing, the clothing articles started on fire.
Pirtilla told deputies that he thought he put the fire out and had placed the basket of clothing onto their porch. He went to bed a short time after and later woke up and saw heavy smoke throughout the home. Pirtilla grabbed a garden hose and put out most of the fire and New Munich Fire arrived and took over. Pirttila, 34-year-old Breanna Rivera of New Munich, and three children were inside the residence when the fire started. They all safely evacuated from the residence and sustained no injuries.
On November 6, 1993, Meat Loaf scored his first No.1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That),” featuring Lorraine Crosby. Written by the artist’s longtime collaborator, Jim Steinman, the epic power ballad clocked in at just over 12 minutes (the shortest single version was cut down to 5:13) and appeared on Meat Loaf’s multi-platinum-selling album, Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, a sequel to his 1977 debut. The song became a global sensation, topping the charts across Europe, as well as in Australia, Canada, and the UK, where it was named the best-selling single of 1993. While audiences are still questioning what “that” actually means, the Grammy-winning song remains a favorite, decades later.
In 2014, with the release of 1989, Taylor Swift became the only recording artist to have three albums that sold more than one million copies each in their first week (following 2012’s Red and 2010’s Speak Now). The chart-topping title remained in the Billboard 200’s Top Ten for a full year after its release.
In 1975, the Sex Pistols played their very first live show at London’s renowned art school, Central Saint Martins. The set lasted a total of ten minutes and found the punk pioneers opening for Bazooka Joe – a band featuring Stuart Goddard (the future Adam Ant) on bass.
In 2005, Madonna scored her 36th Top Ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hung Up.” The feat tied her with Elvis Presley, who held the record for the most Top Ten singles on the US pop chart.
In 1970, a newly-formed Aerosmith made their live debut at Nipmuc Regional High School in Mendon, MA. The Boston band would release their self-titled debut a little more than two years later.
In 1993, Pearl Jam’s Vs broke US records for the highest album sales in one week. The highly-anticipated LP, which debuted at the top of the Billboard 200, followed the group’s genre-defining debut, Ten.
BORN ON NOVEMBER 6
1884: Adolph Sax (inventor of the saxophone)
1948: Glenn Frey (Eagles)
1961: Craig Goldy (Dio)
1963: Paul Brindley (The Sundays)
1966: Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big)
1979: Trevor Penick (O-Town)
The Craft and Bake Sale at the Litchfield Opera House will be held this Saturday from 9-to-3. There will be about two dozen vendors there with all kinds of crafts, books and baked goods.
Connie Lies says the members of the Greater Litchfield Opera House Association have been busy making apple pies that people can purchase frozen and then bake for their upcoming holiday gatherings. She says there’s also apple crisp, caramel apple pie, caramel apple crisp, cookies, candies, bars and many types of breads.
Lies says the Boy Scouts will be at the Craft and Bake Sale selling wreaths, and members of the Litchfield Area Writers Group will be selling copies of their books from the past years. She says any proceeds that the Opera House Committee makes will go toward the ongoing renovations of the building and for utilities and taxes. She says the building is available to rent for weddings, memorial services, parties and other gatherings.
Karen Urdahl says people usually line up outside the door long before the Craft and Bake Sale begins to purchase pies and other baked goods. She says they applied for a Thrivent Action Team grant to help with the costs of assembling the pies.
Urdahl says the renovation of the Litchfield Opera House has progressed so much. She says they are in the process of getting the balcony finished so that it can be used in the future for additional seating.
The results from the Cokato Community Blood Drive last week are in and the goal was exceeded by 6-units. The goal was 69-units and 75-units were actually collected.
77 donors showed up for the blood drive on October 27th with 63 doing the whole blood donations and there were 12 power red donations. There were 6 first-time donors and 9 deferrals. The next blood drive in Cokato will be on February 23rd. To schedule appointments, go to redcrossblood.org.
