The Litchfield School Board met in the Litchfield High School Commons area last night. The Board had a demonstration of the CNC mill in Tyler Burgess’ room and also had a tour of the newly renovated swimming pool.
Burgess explained that the CNC (Computer Numatic Control) mill would normally cost around $80,000, but they got their equipment for $40,000 and it’s helping students learn how to produce precise parts – skills that they can use in the real world. Emmett VanDerBill demonstrated the engineering part of the process and Grant Dengerud demonstrated how the machine works as he produced precise components as school officials looked on.
The Board also got to see the renovations that have been made to the swimming pool at Litchfield High School – including behind-the-scenes – in the pump and filtration room.
The Board approved of new rates of pay for both the aquatics and Dragons Kids Club programs – following a presentation by Litchfield Community Education Director Grant Solem. The Board also approved of a resolution denying a Litchfield Education Association Minnesota Paid Leave grievance.
Also last night, the Litchfield School Board approved of a resolution accepting donations including: $800 from the Litchfield Eagles Club for the Litchfield High School Adaptive Bowling program; $1,000 from Marsh & McLennan Agency for LHS for After Prom; and a donation of labor from Brandon Nagel of the Litchfield Youth Baseball Association for Jurassic Park for the Electronic Scoreboard.
The Meeker County Horticulture Society will have its annual plant sale on Saturday, May 16th from 9-to-11 a.m. in the 4H Building at the Meeker County Fairgrounds in Litchfield. There will be all kinds of plants and other garden items at reasonable prices.
Connie Johnson says there will be annuals, perennials, herbs, vegetables, bushes, grasses and much more. She says they put them in pots and there are tags with information about the plants like you would find at a nursery.
Johnson says the plant sale on May 16th will also include items like planters, tools, bird feeders, books and more; and there will be a couple of Master Gardener interns there to answer questions. She says the proceeds from the plant sale help with expenses that come up with the Garden Gala and Garden Tour, for library books, to pay for speakers at their meetings and other items.
Johnson says if anyone has plants that they would like to donate to the sale, they may call her at 693-3556. She says you should bring boxes to the plant sale in which to place your purchases.
On this day in music, April 27, 1999, The Verve announced their split. The neo-psychedelic Britpop band had gone their separate ways once before, after completing their second album, A Northern Soul, in 1996. After reconvening in 1997 to record arguably their greatest work – the chart-topping Urban Hymns, containing the singles “The Drugs Don’t Work” and “Bitter Sweet Symphony” – they disbanded again. Frontman Richard Ashcroft, who went on to enjoy a successful solo career, stated to the press that the band would never reunite but in 2007, the group put aside their differences to record Forth.
In 1963, Little Peggy March became the youngest female singer to top the US singles chart when her second single, “I Will Follow Him,” took the top slot on Billboard’s Hot 100. March was just 15 years, one month, and 13 days old. Though she placed five singles in the Hot 100, all in 1963, she was a one-hit-wonder in the UK, where her single “Hello Heartache, Goodbye Love” went to No.29.
In 2008, British supergroup The Last Shadow Puppets scored their first of two UK No.1 albums with their Mercury Award-nominated debut platter, The Age Of The Understatement. A quartet comprised of Artic Monkeys’ Alex Turner, The Rascals’ Miles Kane, Simian Mobile Disco’s James Ford, and Zach Dawes of Mini Mansions, the group reconvened in 2016 for a second album, Everything You’ve Come to Expect.
In 2021, Australian singer-songwriter Anita Lane died aged 61. She had a long association with Nick Cave, writing songs with him when he was in the early 80s post-punk group The Birthday Party and briefly joining his band The Bad Seeds during the same decade. She also recorded two solo albums (1993’s Dirty Pearl and 201’s Sex O’Clock) which highlighted her distinctive noirish style.
In 1996, Oasis headlined at a stadium for the first time when they played the first of two homecoming gigs at Manchester City football club’s Maine Road ground in front of 80,000 fans. The concert marked the first time that Noel Gallagher played his iconic Union Jack-clad Epiphone guitar, which became synonymous with the Britpop movement.
In 1990, British movie The Krays opened. It starred Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp and Martin Kemp as the notorious London gangster twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray.
BORN ON APRIL 27
1944: Cuba Gooding (Main Ingredient)
1947: Peter Ham (Badfinger)
1947: Ann Peebles
1948: Kate Pierson (The B-52’s)
1951: Ace Frehley (Kiss)
1959: Sheena Easton
1959: Marco Pirroni (Adam and the Ants)
1979: Will Boyd (Evanescence)
1984: Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy)
1988: Lizzo
The Litchfield Masons Vidalia onion sale continues. Jim Curry will be taking orders for a few more days before placing the final order, and then the onions should arrive in mid-May.
Curry says he always orders a few extra bags and when they arrive, he calls the people who have ordered them, and they pick them up in his garage. He says he ordered 450 ten-pound bags last year, and since the Golden Fleece Lodge #89 began selling them in 2015, they’ve sold over 30-tons of onions in Litchfield.
Curry says he usually carries a notebook and pen in his pocket this time of the year, so that when people call him to order onions, he can write down the information. He says the money raised by the sale of the Vidalia onions helps to provide three $2,000 scholarships to Litchfield High School seniors.
Curry says the onions are $14 per bag. He says you may order them by calling or texting him at 320-221-1925.