News

TOGETHERNESS - Left to right: Beth Stankiewicz, Larry Johnson, Jess Stuckmayer bring the community together at the Waseca Art Center to support Waseca Area Caregiver Services (in what is hoped to be a yearly event).

Art show benefits caregiver services

Beth Stankiewicz, program director and accounts manager for Waseca Area Caregiver Services (WACGS) and Jess Stuckmayer, director of the Waseca Art Center have organized a Hometown Art Show and Silent Auction at the Waseca Art Center, to raise money to help individuals in need. When executive...

Resignation a formality

Waseca City Manager Lee Mattson announced at the Tuesday, July 5 council meeting that council member Ted Conrath had submitted his resignation. Conrath was not present at the meeting to explain why he resigned, but Mattson stated that it was “due to personal reasons.” Council member Jeremy...

Not a single horse missing

For 158 years, the Waseca County Horse Thief Detectives have gathered to assess their accomplishments. And every year they’ve been able to report proudly, “not a single horse has been unrecovered.” This was the case again in 2022 when the “Oldest Protective Society West of the Mississippi”...

FIREWORKS - An uncountable number of spectators circled Waseca’s Clear Lake for the city’s annual July 4 fireworks display. Photos from all of Lakefest 2022 can be found on Page 16

Pioneer photo by Deb Bently

Lakefest 2022

Waseca’s annual 4th of July “Lakefest” celebration featured musical acts ranging from local to national. Although rain and thunderstorms early in the day threatened the afternoon of festivities, the weather turned just in time for things to stay on schedule. The lineup of acts began at 3 p.m....

Gavin Vesper, Kaden Oliver and Rick Scholbrock of Kid Power Pedal Pulls. The group will be putting on an event at the Waseca County Free Fair Thursday, July 14 at 6 p.m.

Power pedaling for two decades

Every summer for 20 years, Rick Scholbrock has fulfilled his greatest passion through his company, Kid Power Pedal Pulls. Working out of a small Northern Iowa town, Scholbrock is famously known, and likely to be recognized by anyone attending a local fair, as the “kids’ tractor pull guy.” He and...

A birthday party at the meeting

At the Waldorf City Council Meeting on the night of Monday, June 13, small town friendliness and a need to get work done intersected. The meeting started with a little excitement when Waldorf Mayor Rob Wilkening nearly dropped, but safely delivered a birthday cake for city clerk DeeAnn Britton...

Preliminary budget approved

The Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton School Board adopted its preliminary 2023 fiscal year budget at its meeting on Monday, June 20. The 2022-23 projection for the general fund revenue budget was $9.194,278, down 9.81 percent from the $10,194,703 revenue for 21-22. The only budget items that...

Unity Gifts closes doors

In November 2021, Beth Hanson realized a lifelong dream in the form of her consignment store, Unity Gifts. Early last month, Hanson closed the doors for the last time. Unity Gifts was a consignment store which offered items made or upcycled by area vendors. The store was filled with unique...

Progress at Oelke Park

Janesville council member Jim Mulcahey was pleased to share news about the progress of Oelke Park in the Northwood neighborhood at the Monday, June 27 meeting. The Oelke family, who donated the land for the park, were pleased with its progress. “The Oelkes offered to pay for the signage at the...

Waseca clinic plans to add physicians

The Mayo Clinic facility in Waseca is a critical access hospital, which means that it must meet specific requirements to continue receiving certain funding. One such requirement is that the facility have no more than 25 beds: it has 12 and is considering increasing the number in the future. A...