Local News

Managing Editor

The Cromwell City council meeting was held on January 25, 2012. Members present were, Council Members Lisa Lund, Warren Peters and Tom Borglund, Clerk/Treasurer Scott Warner and Mayor Samuel Clark. Council Member Raymond Lally was absent.

After role call, the mayor welcomed Superintendent Jennifer Backer and invited her to address the group. Backer began with inviting the council members to stop by the school anytime and told them about a new strategic plan that was sent out with last week’s bus bulletin. This plan is to get more involvement from the community for improvements to the school.

Backer then talked about the “Alert!” section on the brand new website. This section tells about the things to come at the Cromwell-Wright School like a new master schedule, “We are kind of destroying the current master schedule,” said Backer. “If you’ve had kids go through, you’re probably as frustrated as I am.” This will give students more options for elective classes, will add some college level courses that can save families money by allowing the students to earn some of their credits before graduating from high school and add a homeroom to start an advisor-advisee program.

“The elementary will be involved in the changes too,” added Backer. There will be a regularly scheduled “flex” day where typical academics will be pushed aside and students will experience a stimulating day of hands on education in activities such as trapping and maple syruping. “America’s great right now at killing creativity in schools. We’re not going to allow that to happen”

Backer concluded by...

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Managing Editor

The McGregor Area Chamber of Commerce held their annual dinner and membership drive on Wednesday, January 18. It was hosted by Eagle Point Lounge with Terry’s Famous Meatloaf & Chicken Buffet and desserts by Kelly’s Kitchen & Good Food Concessions.

Carol Altepeter from Explore Minnesota Tourism was the keynote speaker. She spoke of the benefits of tourism to Minnesota. “Tourism is equal to agriculture,” stated Carol. “Travellers spend more than $31 million a day in Minnesota. That just blows my mind. In Aitkin County tourism provides 544 jobs, sales tax is $1,372,738 and gross sales is $19,473,641.” She went on to emphasize that she wants to partner with the McGregor Area Chamber in increasing tourism in our area. One way she will do that is to post events on the Explore Minnesota website.

Carol then spoke briefly about the Chamber’s application to host the Governor’s Fishing Opener in 2013. “It’s been reviewed and I did the site visit and everything is wonderful. We do have two more applications,” said Carol. “If by some chance you’re not awarded, don’t worry, you can apply again. We have one fishing opener per year, so sometimes it takes a couple of years to get in. White Bear Lake, when they held it, had applied three times.” The winning applicant will be informed in April so they can attend this year’s opener in Waconia.

“Your community is a good community. I look forward to being able to promote you more. That’s definitely on my docket,” Carol concluded. “We’ll be looking at working with you more in the future...

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Contributing Writer

Think about the stories of the pioneers – they traveled, often alone, into territories they had not ventured into before. They were motivated by a vision of a better life than they were leaving – either escaping a bad situation, or spurred by a vision of new opportunity. The maps were not always good. As a metaphor, the challenges faced by a pioneer resemble those of an entrepreneur.

Over twenty years ago, Jay and Lori Erckenbrack began an entrepreneurial journey. They had worked together in the 1980s at New Frontier Foods – which actually started in McGregor, and shortly after moved to Aitkin – a venture in wild rice that experienced its own pioneer adventure before ultimately failing. During one of the multiple management shake-ups, Jay and Lori were laid off. Their map wasn’t well drawn, but they knew they had a passion for wild rice, and products incorporating wild, crafted ingredients. After performing research, including attending the national natural foods trade show, they landed upon the formation of a food company (registered as “Minnesota Wild”) in 1990 that would feature Minnesota native berries to produce jellies and syrups. They worked with local Native American Tribes to obtain their raw materials of wild rice and berries.

At this early stage, there was no expertise in winemaking, but interest from having seen honeywines at the natural food show. So, it is somewhat ironic that in 2010 Minnestalgia was the 14th-largest Minnesota wine company, according to the Book of Lists published by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal. Wine production subsequently began in 1995, with a grand opening in April 1996, incorporating honey and locally harvested...

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