Silent auction to benefit Wilde-Duehn

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The proceeds of a silent auc­tion to be held in conjunction with the American Legion break­fast on Sunday, Jan. 15 will go to Liza Wilde-Duehn to help defray funeral costs for her late hus­band.

Elwood “Woody” Duehn died unexpectedly on New Year’s Day inLakeBentonat the age of 29.

“They had no insurance and the funeral costs are mounting up,” said Jen Adolph, friend of Wilde-Duehn. “We wanted to do something to help take the pres­sure off of Liza during this dev­astating time in her life.”

Wilde and Duehn had been married for about six months and lived inLakeBenton.

Wilde-Duehn is currently a co-manager with Adolph at the Lake Benton American Legion, work­ing primarily in food service.

Adolph and Joyce Miller are seeking donations of items for the silent auction to be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. while the American Legion serves their monthly breakfast of pancakes and sausage.

Contact Jen Adolph or Joyce Miller at the Lake Benton Ameri­can Legion if you would like to donate items for the silent auc­tion.

“We appreciate all of the sup­port we have been given from the community,” said Adolph. “This will definitely help Liza in her time of need.”

A mild winter so far in Lake Benton

The temperature on the electronic sign at Creamery Park in Lake Benton read 44 degrees on Friday, Jan. 6. People all over the area took advantage of the mild temperatures to do things not normally done in January.

Krog U of M Farm Family of the Year for Lincoln Co.

The Ken and Laura Krog family of rural Lake Benton were honored as the University of Minnesota Lincoln County Farm Family of the Year for 2011. Pictured from left to right are Laura, Rachael, Ryan, Hannah, Ken, Nicholas and Nathan Krog with a few family pets, a 4-H sheep and a one-day-old calf.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Ken and Laura Krog fam­ily of ruralLakeBentonwere chosen as the 2011UniversityofMinnesota Farm Familyof the year forLincolnCounty.

The Farm Family recognition program honored farm families from 75 participating counties throughoutMinnesotafor their significant contributions to the agricultural industry and their local communities in a ceremo­ny which took place at Farmfest on Aug. 4, 2011 at the Gilfillan Estate inRedwoodCounty.

Farmfest is the largest outdoor agricultural event inMinnesota.

“We are honored yet humbled by this recognition,” said Ken Krog. “There are a lot of other hard working farm families inLincolnCountythat deserve this award.”

Krog, a fifth generation farmer inLincolnCounty, grew up farm­ing with his parents Brian and Pat Krog and started his own op­eration as a sophomore in high school.

“When I was a senior in high school, I rented a piece of land fromVernonand Lucille Wil­liams who were retiring that year,” said Krog. “My brothers and I helped each other out, which we still do, and without Dad we wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

“My dad taught me a great work ethic, let me use his ma­chinery, supported us and had all the contacts necessary to be successful.”

Krog said he and his brothers got their start from a bunch of old farmers and neighbors who supported them and wanted to see family farming continue in the area.

Both Ken and Laura Krog graduated from Lake Benton High School, Ken in 1989 and Laura in 1990, and went on to school with Ken earning a busi­ness agriculture degree from Canby while continuing to farm and Laura earning her nursing degree at Watertown, S.D.

The Krogs married in 1993 and Laura Krog has been a regis­tered nurse atTylerHealthcareCenterfor the past 18 years.

“We started farming corn and soybeans in 1990 and have grown the operation from 120 acres to nearly 1,900 acres over the past 20-some years,” said Krog. “We now have sheep and cattle also. It started with two lambs Nathan received as his third birthday present from Grandpa and Grandma, John and Pam Nibbe. The next year we bought 80 ewes, put up a hoop barn and now we lamb, feed out and finish our own lambs.”

“Our flock has grown to 850 ewes and our cow-calf operation is at about 40 cows.”

The Krogs bought the family farm from Ken’s grandparents Arnold and Aletta Krog in 1998, though Krog has worked the land since he was a sophomore in high school.

“Great Uncle Leon Krog rented me some more land, which we still farm today,” said Krog. “We are very lucky and fortunate to have acquired a great group of land over the years.”

“Without the help and support of area farmers and neighbors in the early years, I’m not sure we would have made it.”

The Krogs have five children and each does his or her part to help out on the farm.

The Krog family has been in 4-H since their oldest child was in kindergarten and Laura is a livestock superintendent for sheep at the county level.

Nathan is 15 years old and a sophomore atElkton-LakeBen­tonHigh School. He plays foot­ball and basketball at the varsity level.

“Nathan is very essential to the farm and has a lot of responsibil­ity,” said Krog. “He does the fall tillage, has his own set of chores and cuts hay. Both boys do all my haying.” Nate has about 15 of his own ewes and is in FFA at school.

Nicholas is 13 and in eighth grade atElkton-LakeBentonSchool. He plays quarterback on the football team and also plays basketball.

“Nick lives on a sheep farm, but is a cattle man,” said Laura Krog. “He is a member of the Junior American Angus Associa­tion and gets a lot of sup­port from area cattlemen, neighbors and friends who help him with this oppor­tunity.”

Nick began showing cattle at the age of eight in 2006 and currently has 10 head of purebred Black Angus.

“Nick has a knack for running machines,” said his dad. “He was my com­bine driver this year at 13 and has been driving grain cart for several years now.”

Hannah is nine years old and a third grader at Lake Benton Elementary. She just started basketball this year and this is also her first year in 4-H, where she will show sheep and cattle.

“Hannah is a great help in the kitchen and around the house,” said her moth­er. “She hangs with her brother Nick around the cattle, has a very strong outside interest, likes to ride tractor and is her dad’s sidekick.”

“Some day she wants to drive truck for him, but not until she gets a bedazzled, bright orange semi with lots of bling.”

Hannah helps with laundry, dishes and en­joys cooking. Her favorite things to make are spa­ghetti and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Ryan and Rachael are seven-year-old twins and first graders at Lake Ben­ton Elementary.

“Ryan is a natural ath­lete and a man of action,” said his father. “He kind of lives in his brothers’ hip pockets and loves driving the utility vehicles and four-wheeler.”

“He wants to drive the grain cart, helps with chores and is the watcher of the gate when we go in and out of the pens.”

Rachael has a horse named Nevaeh (which is Heaven spelled backward) that she loves, a couple of her own ewes and gets very excited when she has sheep in the barn.

“Both girls share the horse and Rachael takes care of the dogs,” said her mom. “Shaggy is her favor­ite. She also likes to sit in the bottle lamb pen and talk to them to try to save them. She likes making cookies with her grand­mas and she names all of her animals.”

The whole operation is a family effort and everyone has their jobs to do.

“Laura is my ewe man­ager and an essential part of our operation,” said Krog. “She stays very busy working as a nurse, being a mom, running kids here and there and working with the sheep and on the farm.”

Both sets of grandpar­ents are also an integral part of the Krog family and help with preparing meals, taking care of or driv­ing the kids to practices, games or other events.

“We are very fortunate to have both sets of grand­parents living so close to us,” said Krog. “They are very family oriented and help out tremendously. Even the little things mean a lot to us.”

Laura’s parents John and Pam Nibbe rented them land in the early years and for the past two years John has been Ken’s right hand man on the farm, helping with spring tillage for he and his brother, haying, harvest, lambing and many other things.

“We start lambing in January with three groups, January, February and March,” said Laura Krog. “It gets very tiring as it’s a 24-7 operation and goes for three straight months.”

“Every ewe gets a pen with her lamb for 48 hours and then we put them in a larger pen with about 80 of each.”

Krog said the kids bring friends from high school home to help out with lambing.

“The kids all help out with different jobs,” said Krog. “Pen jobs, moving sheep, feeding, vaccina­tions, everything that’s in­volved.”

“We feed them all sum­mer long and sell them as fat lambs.”

In April the Krogs calve between 30 and 40 head.

“True farming is diver­sified with crops and live­stock so we aren’t relying on just one thing,” said Ken Krog. “We take a lot of pride in our operation and do things the right way.”

Krog says it is nice to live and farm inLincolnCountybecause they support local businesses from the gro­cery store, banking, parts, mechanics, fuel suppliers and the local businesses also support them.

“It’s nice that they sup­port us and we support them,” said Krog. “It means a lot when you can look a man in the eye and shake his hand. It’s important.”

Ken is a board mem­ber of the Lincoln County Corn and Soybean Grow­ers organization and also a member of the Knights of Columbus.

Laura is a member of the Lake Benton Volunteers for Education in addition to serving as a 4-H live­stock superintendent for sheep.

“I’m very fortunate to be a farmer,” said Krog. “It’s a great way to raise a family and make a living.”

“On any given day on our farm you will find us work­ing together or playing ball out in the yard.”

The Ken and Laura Krog family will reign as Lincoln County Farm Family of the Year until Aug. 9, when the 2012 winner will be intro­duced at Farmfest.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank those who nominated us for Lincoln County Farm Family of the Year,” said Laura Krog. “It is indeed an honor to represent our county with deep agricul­tural and livestock roots.”

“We are humbled by this recognition and know there are many families inLincolnCountywork­ing hard every day to be good stewards to the land, herdsmen to livestock and raise their families and support their communi­ties.”

Lions breakfast to benefit the Lake Benton Public Library

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The proceeds of the Lake Ben­ton Lions Club monthly benefit breakfast to be held on Sunday, Jan. 8 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the American Legion will go to help the Lake Benton Pub­lic Library.

The public library operat­ing costs are provided through the City of Lake Benton bud­get, though any extras need to come from benefit fundraisers from outside sources such as the Friends of the Library group, private donors and now the Lake Benton Lions Club.

“One of our goals for this year is to have an adequate display shelf for our newer books,” said Librarian Lisa Schardin. “Any extra funding we receive can go toward a display shelf in the front of our library to replace the cardboard display we have now, as well as a wall display unit for our newer teen books.”

“We also have some shelf space to add to our audio book and large print book collection. In addition, we have added a new goal this year of providing our patrons with more current movie selections.”

The Lake Benton Public Li­brary has been continually up­grading the selection for patrons over the past several years with many of the selections being donated by private citizens and community groups.

The Lake Benton Lions Club offers a monthly ala carte break­fast of pancakes, eggs, French toast, sausage, toast, coffee and milk with proceeds going toward a preselected person or group in need of additional funding.

Members of the Lions Club prepare and serve the breakfast in addition to cleaning up after­ward.

The Lake Benton American Le­gion donates the use of the kitch­en and hall for this purpose.

In many cases, Thrivent Fi­nancial for Lutherans also of­fers supporting funds to help aid persons or groups.

“We are very appreciative of the efforts the Lions Club is mak­ing to support our community library through their breakfast fundraiser,” said Schardin.

Serve it up Santa

Santa Claus and his helpers served food to the kids at Lake Benton School on Wednesday, Dec. 21. Pictured from left to right are Ryan Yockey, Cindy Nielsen, Marla Speakman, Matt Speakman and Santa, who sounded remarkably like Mr. Nielsen.

Schardin family hosting exchange student from Czech Republic

The Conrad and Lisa Schardin family of rural Lake Benton is hosting a foreign exchange student from the Czech Republic. Pictured from left to right are Lisa, Max, Conrad and Sam Schardin with Michal Prochazka from Prague, which is the capitol city of 1.2 million inhabitants. Prochazka learned a lot about America during his four month stay and had an opportunity to help out on the farm.

Michal Prochazka has enjoyed the past few months he has spent in southwesternMinnesotaas a foreign exchange student from theCzechRepublic.

Prochazka has been living with the Conrad and Lisa Schar­din family in ruralLakeBentonfor the past four months and at­tended school at RTR.

“I signed up because I wanted to improve my English skills, see how the people live here and meet new people,” said Prochaz­ka. “I also wanted to experience something new in my 17th year of life. I like to see the mental­ity of people, how other people think.”

Prochazka is fromPrague, the capitol city of 1.2 million inhab­itants in theCzechRepublic.

“It’s kind of a big transition coming from a big city to the country,” said Prochazka. “I like to compare the differences, learned a lot about farming and even got to drive the combine and a tractor.”

InPrague, Prochazka lives in a big apartment with five rooms, a living room and a balcony in a large apartment complex.

Prochazka said theCzech Re­publicis one-third the size ofMinnesotasince it peacefully split withSlovakiain 1993 and has a long history dating back to the second and third century.

He is used to being able to ride public transit to get around at home and found life in the coun­try limited his independence a little because exchange students are not allowed to drive.

“We have bigger cities, not small towns like here,” said Prochazka. “Everything is so far apart over here and two hours is a long time to be in the car. At home, I could be inItalyin about four and a half hours.”

Prochazka said theCzech Re­publicused to have farms but communism took that away. When they became a democracy after the Velvet Revolution in 1989, otherwise known as the Fall of Communism, most people took new jobs in the cities and the family farms just never came back.

“Michal had so much fun with the harvest he said he wanted to come back and help out every year,” said Lisa Schardin. “Con­rad gave Michal an assignment to find out about farming in theCzech Republicwhen he gets back home.”

Prochazka has two host broth­ers in Sam and Max Schardin. This is the first time hosting a foreign exchange student for the Schardin family.

“Michal got me interested in photography while he was here,” said Sam Schardin. “I taught him four-wheeler and Ranger driving and we went every weekend.”

Prochazka said he only signed up for one semester instead of a full school year because he felt that would be long enough.

Now he says it’s a tough call and he would like to stay, but is also anxious to go home so he doesn’t fall too far behind his classmates. He will have to pass several tests when he returns to his school.

Lisa Schardin said a friend told her about the program and that the family expressed inter­est, but didn’t think much about it until they received a call from American Cultural Exchange Services (ACES) in August.

“We had a family meeting and had a good discussion,” said Schardin. “ACES asked us not to treat Michal like a guest, but part of the fam­ily. We thought, “What the heck, let’s do it.” We de­cided it would be a great adventure.”

Prochazka said sudden­ly they called and the next thing he knew, he was say­ing goodbye to his parents and grandparents and was on his way toAmerica.

Prochazka has a nine-year-old sister, Lucy, and said his family travels a lot on vacation together.

The exchange program flies students to the near­est airport, so Prochazka was a little confused when he flew into Sioux Falls, S.D. “I was going to Min­nesota but flew into South Dakota,” said Prochazka. “When we drove to the Twin Cities to visit the Mall of America and see a Twins and a Vikings game, I realized how much clos­erSioux Fallswas and it made sense.”

Prochazka enjoyed Thanksgiving at “Grand­ma’s house” and also en­joyed a Blue Men Group concert inSioux Fallsin addition to attending a lot of the RTR football games and the Schardin boys’ basketball games and 4-H events.

Schardin said there are no school sponsored team sports in theCzech Repub­licand that sports orga­nizations are all privately run.

“I tried basketball at RTR, which was fun, but I never played it organized before,” said Prochazka. “I played baseball for many years, which is not big inCzech.I played on the Czech national team and we won the European Championship one year.”

Prochazka said he has many options inPragueso he has also been play­ing squash for three years, which is not as popular in theUnited States.

“School is different too,” said Prochazka. “InPraguewe have 13 subjects and here we only have six, so it’s easier.

“We have to learn Eng­lish and a second foreign language like German, French or Spanish is op­tional. I took German. We also go to school for 13 years before college, one more than here.”

Prochazka gave a speech in front of the whole school at RTR talking about the cultural differences be­tweenAmericaand his country.

“I got up in front of the whole school with a mi­crophone and everything,” said Prochazka. “I wasn’t too nervous and our prin­cipal, Mrs. Bush, thought I would do okay so I also spoke to the Kiwanis and the Danebod ladies group.”

Prochazka spent his last day at RTR before enjoying the Christmas holiday and a trip toFloridawith the Schardin family. He will visit relatives and friends inBoston,Mass.before leaving theUSAfor home.

“I know more things about myself,” said Proc­hazka. “I get along great with my host family. We have a great relationship.”

Schardin anticipates that there will be an ad­justment period after Mi­chal leaves.

“We get pretty attached,” said Schardin. “Michal is like an older brother for our boys. It has worked out really well.”

“We saw his sense of hu­mor right away and had one accent issue in the be­ginning, but we figured it out. It was about eggs.”

Lake Benton Elementary presents Christmas Concert

Jenae Christensen, Aubree Bales and Caedmon Bressler sang the introduction to “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” as the preschool and kindergarten students prepared to sing the song. One little girl couldn’t help but wave to her parents.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

Lake Benton Elementary pre­sented its annual Christmas Con­cert on Monday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. in the school auditorium.

Opening the program was the fifth and sixth grade band with “The First Christmas Overture” and “Jingle Bell Polka.”

Band members were Saman­tha Schindler, Jaylen Miller, Jayla Prosch and Tiffany Rouge on flutes, Anika Finzen and BryAnn Miles on clarinets, Samantha Schindler on alto sax, Taryn Krog on tenor sax, Garret Hudson on the French horn, Carter Bressler, Tanner Gregoire, Nicholas Martinez and Carter Peake on trumpets, Blaine Hefti and Ryan Yockey on trombones and Wade Busselman, Jacob Miller, Brett Tiedeman and Caul Harstad on baritones. Caleb Goertz, Brayden Nielsen, Hunter Nielsen, Kaden Kremin and Zachary Reese played percussion instruments.

Following the band was Caul Harstad performing “Jingle Bells” and “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” on the acoustic guitar.

Preschool and kinder­garten students sang “Ru­dolph, the Red-Nosed Rein­deer” using entertaining vocal and choreograped antics with the introduc­tion performed by Aubree Bales, Caedmon Bressler and Jenae Christensen.

The youngsters also performed “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “Jingle Bells” using bells as props.

Samantha Schindler and Taryn Krog played “Silent Night” on the alto and tenor saxophones as Music Director Marijane Borresen accompanied them on the piano at the school Christmas Concert on Dec. 12.

Taryn Krog and Saman­tha Schindler performed “Silent Night” on their re­spective Ssaxophones fol­lowed by Carter Bressler and Jacob Miller perform­ing “Hark the Herald An­gels Sing” on trumpet and baritone and Samantha Schindler soloing with “The First Noel” on flute.

Grades one through four took the stage to perform a medley of “A Bugz Christ­mas,” We’re Hungry,” “A Tree Without Lights,” “Let your Best Light Shine” and “The 12 Bugz of Christmas” singing “For our Christmas Production, we’d like to in­troduce to you.”

Four mop tops came on stage dressed as the Beat­les at the end of their per­formance to loud screams from the rest of the bugz.

Grades five and six per­formed humorous bits to­gether on “The Christmas Tree Feud” followed by “Let it Snow” and “A Bit of Holiday Cheer.”

Grades kindergarten through fourth joined the fifth and sixth graders on stage with multi-colored flashlights for the two fi­nale songs as the house lights faded to black and they sang “Light Up the Tree” and “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” to the delight of the audience.

The band and choirs were directed by Marijane Borresen with assistance from the teachers.

Refreshments of cook­ies, bars, coffee and punch were served in the cafete­ria after the program.

Anderson, Nibbe and Schindler join library board

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Lake Benton City Council met in its regular meeting on Monday, Dec. 19 at 5:30 p.m. as Mayor Mike Carpenter offered citizens the opportunity for an open forum. As in past meetings, no one responded.

Trustee Barb Powell reported that the library board added three new members in Ethel An­derson, Amy Nibbe and DeAnn Schindler.

The three will join President Anne Lichtsinn, Secretary Jodi Greer, Treasurer Dyann McCa­rthy, Edel Hudson, Diane Evers and Shirley Clayson in addition to Librarian Lisa Schardin.

In other business, the council acted on and approved payment of the claims against the city and municipal bar and Clerk Rosie DeZeeuw noted that an entry called the EMT Refresher Course was actually a bill belonging to the Lake Benton First Respond­ers for training at Minnesota West in Pipestone.

The council also acted on and approved two rehab grant checks presented for payment.

One of the checks was for work done at a business in Cotton­wood in the amount of $1,696 and the other was for asbes­tos removal in two residential dwellings in Lake Benton in the amount of $900.

The mayor and clerk will sign the checks and send them to DSI- Services, Inc. in Ivanhoe for payment on Dec. 26.

The council met with Community Executive Director Heather Ulrich- Glynn on the sale of a lot in replat of Gile and Mork’s addition.

Royal Lynn recently pur­chased Lot 7 and has of­fered to purchase half of Lot 8 at $3,750. The city will maintain the other half of Lot 8 near the playground and the sale has been approved by the EDA.

The council approved the sale and replat of half of Lot 8.

The council reviewed seven past due water bills and one lawn mowing bill and approved adding the unpaid balances to be ap­plied to property taxes as special assessments be­fore the end of the year.

In the mayoral report, Mayor Mike Carpenter said the last half of the LGA money will be com­ing in as will $7,708 from the League of Minnesota Cities.

Carpenter also said Kin­ner and Company request­ed the annual audit for $10,200 which is up $325 from last year. The coun­cil approved the increase as an audit must be per­formed and Kinner and Co. has performed exception­ally in the past.

Carpenter also reported that the government wants to change accounting cat­egories in revenue sources and fund balance reporting due to the Government Ac­counting Standards Board (GASB) Resolution 54.

In the future there will be more structured clas­sifications with five cat­egories to give a more detailed breakdown of revenue sources and fund balances.

The next meeting of the city council will take place on Jan. 3, 2012 at the Heri­tage Center/City Offices.

Lake Benton Welcome Rock moved to south end

The “Welcome To Lake Benton” rock was moved from Creamery Park near the electronic sign on the northwest edge of Lake Benton to the south end of town to welcome visitors from that entry point on Tuesday, Dec. 13. The rock temporarily sits on the ground awaiting landscaping in the spring, which will raise it to a higher level for easier viewing.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Lake Benton Chamber of Commerce gathered for its monthly meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 6 p.m. at the Heritage Center/city offices.

It was reported that city main­tenance personnel moved the Welcome Rock from Creamery Park to the south end of town on Tuesday morning.

The original vehicle coordi­nated to move the rock wasn’t able to lift it so Rick and Becky Brownlee offered the use of their loader to get the task done.

“We want to thank Rick and Becky for the use of the loader,” said Chamber President Mike Carpenter. “Rick has a big heart for donating to the community and we appreciate all they do for us.”

The rock was moved to a tem­porary location until landscap­ing can be done in the spring. The rock will be raised for eas­ier viewing as people come into town from the south.

The secretary’s and trea­surer’s reports were given and members voted to authorize Treasurer Jenny Nordmeyer to pay the bills before the end of the calendar year.

Nordmeyer was unable to at­tend this meeting due to a prior commitment.

Chamber Secretary Heather Ulrich-Glynn said the 2012 Lake Benton Visitors Guides had ar­rived at 6:30 a.m. that morning and passed them out for mem­bers to review.

Ulrich-Glynn said the Visitors Guides look very nice with up­ dated photos and informa­tion and that she is boxing them up for distribution.

Ulrich-Glynn also said the Christmas Tree Walk and Holiday Open Houses were well attended and that voting for the trees on-line was a big hit this year.

Also posted on the City of Lake Benton Facebook page were the open houses and winners of the holiday lighting contest, among other items of interest.

Winners for the holiday lighting contest were Bob and Beth Redlinger, first place; Dale and Florence Rochel, second place and Vernon and Marlene Neis­ius, third place.

Winners of the Christ­mas Tree Walk decorating contest were Kids Campus, first place; Lake Benton Hardware, second place and Lake Benton Public Li­brary, third place.

Grand prize drawing winners were Deloris Johansen and Willie Olt­mans. Each received $50 in Chamber Bucks.

Gary Williams reported that Santa Claus Day at Lake Benton School went very well again this year with over 150 kids receiv­ing presents due to gener­ous donations and contri­butions from citizens and businesses in town.

Williams said the San­ta Claus Day committee would like to thank Josh Osland for participating and donating his time.

Bridget Dinnel and Shir­ley Sandberg said the flea market format worked out very well this year and suggested the chamber do the same thing next year.

The flea market was held in conjunction with four city festivals and events, which brought many people and vendors into town.

Ulrich-Glynn said the bus tour mailings have gone out and that many tours book in June for the next year.

It was mentioned that it would be nice to get the Lake Benton Opera House schedule earlier so bus tours could book accord­ingly to bring more people into the shows.

The chamber is looking for volunteers to serve on the board. There are a few openings available and those serving would like to see more participation from other members.

The question was raised to see if a 5:30 start time would work better for people than the current 6 p.m. start time.

The final meeting of the year adjourned at 7 p.m.

Santa Claus and the Zoo Man bring holiday cheer to Lake Benton

Austin Johnson, son of Jerid and Mindy Johnson of Lake Benton, came prepared with his Christmas list to show Santa at Lake Benton’s Santa Claus Day on Saturday, Dec. 10. Santa Claus Day is sponsored by the Lake Benton Chamber of Commerce and coordinated by employees of First Security Bank though contributions from members and businesses in the community.

By Dan Kuss

lbnews@itctel.com

The Lake Benton Area Cham­ber of Commerce held its annual Santa Claus Day championed by all employees of First Secu­rity Bank on Saturday, Dec. 10 at Lake Benton School.

As children entered the gym they were given a ticket to hang on to for a drawing to be held later.

The ever popular Zoo Man opened the program at 10 a.m. by providing entertainment with his live animals for the audience made up of children, parents, grandparents and friends.

The Zoo Man has been travel­ing the United States and Canada for about 20 years with animals of all kinds to educate the young and old by introducing his au­diences to birds, mammals and reptiles.

The Zoo Man showed his non-poisonous snakes and even pre­tended to bite one to show the kids that the snakes were not a hazard to anyone in the build­ing.

Kids had a chance to hold the reptiles as the Zoo Man ex­plained that not all snakes are harmful and that they do have a purpose, which is to help control rodents and other pests.

This year the Zoo Man added a bunny he is traveling with that he also explained is up for adop­tion.

In his 45-minute presenta­tion the Zoo Man involved par­ticipants from the audience and included humor in order to edu­cate everyone about the many endangered species conserva­tionists are trying to protect.

Santa Claus Day also involved presents. First Security Bank em­ployees have put on Santa Claus Day for at least 12 years now.

“We had well over 150 kids this year and every one received a present,” said Janel Stuefen, project coordinator. “I usually get about 160 gifts, but since donations were so generous this year we were able to display quite a variety for the kids to choose from.”

Stuefen began working on San­ta Day in the beginning of Octo­ber by taking out a classified ad in the Lake Benton Valley Journal requesting donations of cash or new toys.

“We had some very generous donations of toys and cash from local people,” said Stuefen. “We also received boxes full of Beanie Babies so each kid that sat on Santa’s lap got one of those, too.”

Before long a reserved section of the bank began filling up with gifts culmi­nating with many more purchases leading up to the big day.

Gifts of toys were pur­chased locally as much as possible.

Santa Claus Day has been a Lake Benton tradi­tion for many years.

“I remember going to the Opera House when we were kids,” said Darcy Miller. “We would watch a movie or a cartoon and they would give us one of those net stockings full of stuff.”

Santa Claus Day has grown over the years and kids now have more nice presents to choose from.

Santa Claus made his magical appearance and waved to the crowd as he made his way to his throne by a Christmas tree.

As their number was called, each child up to sixth grade was able to go up to the long bank of ta­bles on the gym floor and pick out a gift of their lik­ing.

Kids were then able to make their way across the gym to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas as parents took the opportu­nity to take photos.

“In the past we used to wait until all of the pres­ents were given out,” said Stuefen. “This year we brought Santa in early and let the kids visit with him right away, which saved people from standing in a long line and also saved time.”

Each person who vis­ited with Santa was then allowed to choose from a variety of Beanie Babies as the event came to a close.