Features & People

The 2012 McGregorArea Dollar for Scholars Beach Brunch is Sunday, February 5, at the McGregor Community Center. Graduating classes have been hosting a meal to raise scholarship funds for the past seven years. “With a creative group of seniors, we earn six to seven thousand dollars,” says Cheryl Haapoja.

This year’s seniors will be hosting a Beach Party. Wear your Hawaiian shirts and sandals as the fun starts at 10:30 a.m. with coffee, games and silent auction. McGregor Seniors will be on hand to help you find the perfect beach game to play! Prizes donated range from flowers to tools, cookies to skilled labor. They will also be selling off their Flamingo herd.

The live auction featuring items the seniors themselves have made will be the highlight of the day. There will be art, quilts and labor available for sale. Last year the bidding wars were quite heated. Please come and join in the fun.

In 1992, Cheryl Haapoja got a group of people together to start our McGregor Area Dollars for Scholars. They have awarded $157,225 in college scholarships to McGregor area graduates since then. Each graduating class (and their family) help raise scholarship funds throughout their senior year. The initial goal of the McGregor group was to award ten percent of the graduating class a scholarship. That goal has since expanded to include scholarships for every senior who applies. Depending how creative a graduating class is determines how much money is raised for scholarships.

Scholarship applications are reviewed by an objective committee of community members. The applications do not have the...

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The Tamarack Sno-Flyer’s Vintage Run will go on as scheduled on January 28 despite lack of snow.

It has been an unusual year for Minnesota weather. Above average temperatures and barely any snow has left people with creative ways to find winter fun.

The kids in the pictures, along with other children took advantage of any little bit of snow we had to do a little sledding. Not all activities can go on as planned though.

The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon has been cancelled due to the lack of snow. It has only been cancelled once before, in 2007. Other years, it has been postponed or had the starting point moved to an area with more snow. This year it was decided to cancel it all together.

The Tamarack Sno-flyers aren’t as easily beat though. The 23rd annual Vintage run will go on whether or not there is snow.

Plans for this year’s run are in full-swing and going forward.  “There’s not much we can do about Mother Nature,” acknowledged Denny Pepera, President of the Tamarack Sno-Flyer’s. “Maybe we could do a snow dance or something,” he laughed.

The last time this happened was both 2002 and 2003. At those runs there was very little to no snow, so many snowmobiles stayed on their trailers for the run from Tamarack to Lawler.

Those years there were about...

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A philanthropy group in Aitkin County called the Jack-a-Lopes has disbanded. It was started in 1966 and over the years has given $188,465.85 to various groups and organizations in the county.

According to “The Story of the Aitkin County Jack-a-Lope Hunters, Inc.,” a history of the club written by Amy M. Wyant, the story officially begins on May 18, 1966 with eight businessmen from Aitkin County who had been talking for years about how to increase tourism in Aitkin County. The charter members were: Edward S. Barrows, Lloyd Berquist , Kenneth Boyd, Patrick Cummings, Richard (Bud) Johnson, Lawrence Leonard, Marlin (Doc) Nelsen, Gary Verrips and Clinton W. Wyant. Before disbanding, Bud Johnson and Kenneth Boyd were the only remaining charter members.

The Jack-a-Lopes wanted to create a unique image for Aitkin County that would represent Aitkin similar to the Alexandria Viking and Brainerd’s Paul Bunyan. On March 16, 1967, the Club became incorporated in the State of Minnesota and they copyrighted the Jack-a-Lope as the image for Aitkin County. Article II of the Article of Incorporation stated: “The purposes of this corporation shall be the promotion of tourism, to solicit and raise funds for the promotion and betterment of Aitkin County, to construct, own, build or operate all matter of enterprise incidental to the promotion of the Aitkin County Jack-a-Lope, to create jobs in Aitkin County, to aid needy individuals and organizations directly in improving their economic situations…

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