On Wednesday, June 24th at 5:05 p.m., the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a tractor fire in the 64500 block of CSAH 18 in Ellsworth Township. Meeker County Deputies and the Litchfield Fire Department responded to the scene. Deputies arrived and found that a tractor parked in a machine shed was on fire. The Litchfield Fire Department arrived and was able to extinguish the fire. The owner, Dwight Barrick, 84, was home and was able to remove other vehicles from the shed. There was no apparent fire damage to the structure or other property. The cause of the fire is believed to be mechanical.
2024-25 Miss Litchfield Addie Lundin has one more month in her reign as Queen of the Lakes – representing the Minneapolis Aquatennial. She has had a very busy year balancing her duties as Queen of the Lakes, attending North Dakota State University and working.
Lundin says there are over 300 appearances for the Aquatennial ambassadors to attend but she is able to split up some of them with the Aquatennial princesses. She says she attended Octoberfest in LaCrosse, WI last September, the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena, CA on New Year’s Day, the Queen of the Snows pageant in Aberdeen, SD in January, followed by the St. Paul Winter Carnival and then another festival in Winnipeg, Canada in addition to all of the festivals and parades in communities around Minnesota this past year.
Lundin says she will be attending events in Litchfield for the 70th annual Watercade celebration, concluding with the coronation on July 12th in which she will invite 2025-26 Miss Litchfield Brooke Caron to attend the Minneapolis Aquatennial July 18th through the 26th. She says you can find out about the Aquatennial events at mplsaquatennial.com including the torchlight parade on July 22nd and the Queen of the Lakes coronation on July 25th.
Lundin, daughter of Erin & Daryl Lundin, says she’s working weekends this summer at Jomas Hill Vineyard & Winery – south of Darwin, which was her Watercade sponsor, and is working mornings at Simply Good Coffee Co. in Litchfield; and she will be returning to NDSU this fall for her junior year to continue her nursing degree. She says being crowned Queen of the Lakes was a blessing which has changed her life and given her a passion for children, and she is considering a career as a pediatric intensive care travel nurse.
A man is dead after an accident at a Stearns County poultry processing plant. The Cold Spring/Richmond Police Department says at 1:15 Thursday morning they responded to a medical emergency at Pilgrim’s in Cold Spring. A 29-year-old male employee became pinned beneath equipment in the loading dock area. When officers arrived, the individual had already been removed from under the equipment by coworkers.
Emergency medical care was provided; however, the male was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s. The incident remains under investigation and no name has been released at this time.
The Cold Spring/Richmond Police Department was assisted by the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office, Cold Spring Rescue, and Mayo Ambulance.
If you enjoy learning about the natural world you might consider becoming a Minnesota master naturalist volunteer. Classes will be offered the week of August 17th at the Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center, west of Spicer.
Master naturalist volunteers complete a 40-hour hands-on course with expert instructors and fellow learners – studying natural history, environmental interpretation and conservation stewardship. Final certification comes with the completion of 40 hours of volunteer service.
The program offers three courses that correspond to Minnesota’s three major ecosystems – Big Woods, Big Rivers, Prairies and Potholes, and Northwoods, Great Lakes.
The class will cover the natural and cultural history of the Prairies and Potholes region. An in-depth overview of the prairie ecosystem will be provided. Through the class, participants will develop their ability to observe nature and will learn tools to improve these skills.
Participants will also improve their communicaton skills by sharing knowledge with other participants and will work on a group project. The classes will be held Monday through Friday – August 17th through the 21st – from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Minnesota Master Naturalist program is sponsored by the University of Minnesota Extension service. For more information, go to www.minnesotamasternaturalist.org/courses.
In 2009, 50-year-old “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson, died in his Beverly Hills home. While Jackson’s personal life was mired in controversy and mystery, the artist’s enduring influence was undeniable. After rising to fame as a child, performing alongside his brothers in The Jackson 5, Jackson broke out as a solo star with 1979’s Off the Wall. It was 1982’s Thriller, however, that changed the course of his career – and pop culture history. Holding the record as the highest-selling album of all time, Thriller was the first LP to feature seven Top Ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Beat It” and “Billie Jean,” while its music videos broke racial barriers on MTV. Over the next decade, Jackson would continue to smash records, rising to become the world’s most successful entertainer through albums like Bad and Dangerous.
In 1984, Prince released his iconic sixth studio album, Purple Rain. The album, which featured his band the Revolution, also served as the soundtrack to his film of the same name. One of the world’s best-selling albums of all time, Purple Rain remained at the top of the Billboard 200 for an astonishing 24 consecutive weeks, while it produced two No.1 hits, “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy,” as well as the Top Ten singles “I Would Die 4 U” and the title track. The album went on to win two Grammy Awards and an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.
In 1967, The Beatles performed “All You Need Is Love” live, via satellite, to 400 million viewers in 25 countries. Captured at EMI Studios, the segment featured a colorful array of decor and signs, plus a variety of high-profile backing vocalists, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Graham Nash, Keith Moon, and Eric Clapton. The performance was part of the groundbreaking Our World TV production, which marked the first multinational production broadcast via multiple satellites.
In 1988, with “Foolish Beat,” 17-year-old Debbie Gibson became the youngest female artist to write, produce, and record a No.1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 1988, 26-year-old Hillel Slovak, the founding guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, died of an overdose. The Israeli-born musician met his future bandmates as a student at Los Angeles’ Fairfax High School. While he did not appear on the band’s debut album, he can be heard on 1985’s Freaky Styley and 1987’s The Uplift Mofo Party Plan.
BORN ON JUNE 25
1935: Eddie Floyd
1945: Carly Simon
1952: Tim Finn (Split Enz, Crowded House)
1954: David Paich (Toto)
1963: George Michael
1972: Mike Kroeger (Nickelback)
1991: Charlie Salt (Blossoms)