There are a couple of ways that MNbump can help to promote your Events. 1) You can create a Facebook Event. This Event will be added to the MNbump Facebook Events list & a link will be included on the MNbump Calendar of Events. A …
I was just checking the events on our MNbump Facebook page and noticed the next three are in Clinton – with Graceville and Ortonville after that. On January 28th, it is Learn to Drop Spindle Class at the Inadvertent Cafe. A quote from Kathy Draeger …
What a delightful lunch today! I was invited to speak at the Ortonville Study Club – all about MNbump. I was very excited to see that all but one of the members had heard about MNbump – one even noted that they currently have a call out for a new Pastor and that they had referred those inquiring on this position to the MNbump.com website for information about the area.
The presentation centered on MNbump’s history (originated as a Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley project through a grant by the University of Minnesota Regional Sustainable Development partnerships & the University of Minnesota Tourism Center’s grant to Big Stone Area Growth – the Countywide economic development group) and then summarized how this initiative is also assisting with our regional recruitment work based on Ben Winchester’s “Brain Gain” report (University of Minnesota) with details noted on the first page of the handout (Handout, PDF) and community connections/development. I can talk at length and with great enthusiasm on this topic – so their questions helped to keep me focused!
We also came up with a couple of ways to all work together on MNbump – Kathy Randall takes wonderful pictures while biking in Big Stone County (I know because we are friends on Facebook) – like most people, she keeps her settings private on her posts. She will be making some of those photo posts on Facebook public so that I can share them on MNbump! Another great outcome, is that the Study Club members are from a number of different Churches in town and they’d like to get together to talk about how they can create their own Google Calendars so that their Church activities will be able to be merged with the MNbump’s Community Calendar.
Gayle Mittelstaedt noted that my picture was hanging in the entry (with all those that have been confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church) – thankfully she did not specify which year-section that I could be found in (but to note, the photo is in color!)
I was so impressed with the Study Club’s initial reading which they all read together after starting the meeting that I just have to share (and I think it would be a wonderful piece to read before any and all meetings!): Keep us, oh God, from pettiness; Let us be large in thought, in word, in deed. Let us be done with fault-finding, and leave off self-seeking. May we put away all pretenses, and meet each other face to face, without self-pity and without prejudice. May we never be hasty in judgment and always generous. Make us to grow calm, serene, and gentle. Teach us to put into action our better impulses, straight-forward, and unafraid. Grant that we may realize it is the little things that create differences; That in the big things in life we are one. And may we strive to touch and to know the great common heart of us all; and O Lord God, let us not forget to be kind.
Their Mission Statement:To provide sociability, enlightenment, and pleasure for the members by means of the study of literature, art, travel, problems of health and government as well as other subjects of current interest to the group.
The Ortonville Study Club meets at Zion Lutheran Church and is catered by Crazy Apron Catering (lunch was awesome – in case you were wondering – turns out I was wearing some of the caramel topping from the the apple dumpling dessert during my presentation but they were kind enough not to point it out.)
(video below) The Inadvertent Cafe in Clinton is known for their amazing breakfasts (unique, local – organic options to start your day!); however, the cafe’s larger purpose is to provide the area with a community commercial kitchen. The owner of the cafe, Brent Olson, is …
We have been posting our school music programs on our Facebook page and now that we have a few more to add, we’ve decided to post all the videos on one page for easy access. They all did a beautiful job. Enjoy!
We are considered “rural” here on the MNbump – people enjoy coming to our area for the fishing and the beauty of Big Stone Lake, the National and State Parks – the beauty of a more open-space quality of life. Our region is perfectly described with two hashtags – #QuietlyBeautifulMN, #WildlyConnectedMN! — and for us, here on the MNbump, we have people like Dan and Brenda Kafka, who take full advantage of the “Connected” part of our Region’s hashtags!
Dan and Brenda Kafka own Pro Image Partners in Ortonville. When you look at the front of their business on Main Street (2nd Street actually – one of our little quirks) you see a nice, standard-sized rural retail store which proudly displays one of the strengths of their business – their reach… how they are “connected” beyond our City limits! (and… thanks to our County Commissioners’ vision for our future, the State’s Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grantand Federated Telephone, Big Stone County is now fully connected with the recent addition of fiber-to-premise throughout the County!)
We found out yesterday that Pro Image Partners’ Jeremy Radtke’s design has connected this Ortonville business to the Minnesota State High School Girl’s Tennis Tournament this fall! Pro Image Partners will be providing the t-shirts for 600+ people (players, parents, coaches, etc) for this fall’s banquet. Pro Image Partners has been steadily gaining the State tennis team business – starting with the Minnesota Tennis Coaches Association (through Brenda Kafka’s connections from her previous life – pre-MNbump living) and expanding to individual tennis teams such as: Columbia Heights, Eveleth-Gilbert, Fillmore Central, Hill-Murray, Holy Family Catholic School (in the Cities), Minneapolis-South, New Ulm, Park Rapids, St. James Area and Stewartville. They will also be the supplier for next Spring’s Boys State Tennis Banquet! This opportunity started with a personal connection, good on-line presence to promote their business – and obviously good quality product (and designing) in order to maintain and expand in this arena.
That is quite a reach from our little town of Ortonville located along Minnesota’s western border!
I talked with Dan Kafka about their business that arrives at Pro Image through their website to which he promptly signed into their website dashboard and shared the data with me – impressive!! I also asked how Jeremy Radtke was feeling these days since it was this younger employee’s push to get the on-line store up and running – although Dan Kafka is quite well-known around town for his “techy toys” (impressive considering his age!) – it took this “younger generation” Radtke to convince his employers there was a real opportunity with an on-line shopping store to expand their business. I wish I would have taken a picture of Dan’s face when he smiled, chuckled, and told me Jeremy was pretty happy about his accomplishments – and that Jeremy e-mails some of the latest on-line stats to him periodically to remind him how good it is working! AND, I can picture Jeremy having lots of fun with his e-mail reports to his boss!
Living the MNbump Life… beauty surrounds us, we are connected, we have available housing, great schools, great health care — with our biggest asset being our people! — Jeremy is certainly one of those people!
You’ll find graphic designer, Jeremy Radtke, in this video below! The video also shows some of Pro Image Partner’s work, their collaboration with local business, Progressive Collision & Glass Center, and showing off a wrap that was purchased from another one of our local businesses – Shores Edge Excavating!
Great app if you are in Big Stone County – next to property that looks great to hunt – and you want the owner information! This link will provide all of the public data through the County GIS system (who owns the property, size, value, …
Big Stone Lake to around Big Stone County, MNbump is beautiful this time of year. We had a Facebook follower that commented on a post that had a few fall pictures from an afternoon drive (shown below) that she enjoyed seeing photos from the area …
We need your help! There is a group of parents researching the possibility of upgrading the Ortonville Swimming Pool. They have been gathering information from other communities that have recently upgraded their community swimming pool. They have also been gathering information from additional community pools on their rates (seasonal and daily).
This group has gathered an impressive foundation of information, and they are now looking for your assistance! Are families (residents) in the area interested in upgrading the swimming pool — or, there is another option that has been considered – a natural pool. There may be an opportunity to obtain DNR funding to assist with a natural swimming pool at the pier – no chemicals, natural shade, turn the face of the city towards the lake, make the arts center more viable, provide a demonstration platform for how plants can clean polluted water, etc. For an example of a natural pool in Minneapolis, please CLICK HERE!
Please use this link to complete the survey as soon as possible – it would be much appreciated!!
To print a PDF copy of the Survey and fill it out by hand, please use this link: ortonville_pool_upgrade_survey_paper– and then drop the survey off at the EDA Office (in the Helping Hands Massage/KDIO building at 706 2nd Street SE, Ortonville) – You can also stop and pick up a copy of the survey at the EDA Office – fill it out and leave it.
We have been sharing the family-fun fall activities on our Facebook page and thought we’d share the information on a one-stop blog post! October 28th is Ortonville’s Harvest Madness – October 31st is Treat Street in Clinton – 7-75 Corn Maze Saturday & Sundays Noon …