DJJD Horseshoe Hunt Begins Today with a Wayne Eddy Theme
The annual Defeat of Jesse James Days Horseshoe Hunt will begins today, and organizer Tim Freeland said this hunt is a special one for him and for many people in the community.
Freeland said he had the clues and the spot where he would hide the horseshoe all set in his mind, until his friend, and the man who established KYMN radio and several time DJJD General Chair, passed away on August 17th. Freeland said when he heard, he decided to tear up the original clues and dedicate the entire hunt to Wayne. Each clue, he said, has something to do with Wayne.
The rules are relatively simple, but Freeland stressed that hunters must read the rules and regulations in the name of safety. The horseshoe is somewhere in either Northfield or Dundas, on public property. He reminded people that the Northfield School District, St. Olaf College and Carleton College are all on private property, and asked that hunters please not look there. Also, there is no digging necessary to find the horseshoe, and in some cases digging can result in disqualification. Hunters will not need a ladder, either.
Last year, in honor of the DJJD celebration’s 75th anniversary, the prize money was raised to $2000, and that has remained in place for this year as well.
In order to qualify for the full prize money, hunters must buy an official DJJD button and register it at djjd.org If the horseshoe is found by someone without a registered button, they will receive $1000.
While Freeland said he is very happy to have given this year’s hunt a Wayne Eddy theme, the honoree himself would have been over the moon.
“If only he knew! If only he knew that I was going to do this. Wayne would be tickled pink to find out that the whole hunt was featuring Wayne Eddy. He could talk about when he played Frank James for 25 years. All of the work he did. It ties in perfectly with the clues.”
(Tim Freeland, Horseshow Hunt Organizer)
A daily clue to the horseshoe’s location will be shared with the community every morning at 7:00. The clue can be found at kymnradio.net, as well as the KYMN Facebook page, the Northfield News website, and on djjd.org. Jeff Johnson of the KYMN Morning Show will read the clue as well. Whoever finds the horseshoe must immediately call Tim Freeland at 507-581-5038 to verify.
The clues will be revealed every day through Labor Day or until the horseshoe is found.
Northfield Community Education Center Receives Positive Reviews from Parents
At the last Northfield School Board meeting, Community Education Director Erin Baley gave a presentation about the last school year of the Northfield Community Education Center or NCEC. NCEC is the districts early childhood canter and is a licenced childcare facility providing preschool and other community programs. The NCEC is located in the former Greenvale Park Elementary School Building.
The NCEC completed a survey among parents this past year that showed a lot of positive feedback, here Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann:
Really showing high levels of satisfaction among parents for multiple years in a row. That survey, Jeff is on A5 point scale, right? One being, you know, not so good and five. Standing and when you talk to survey experts, if you’re consistently hitting at 4.5 or above overall, that’s excellent and the NCEC has routinely been hitting at that 4.5 or above with its parent satisfaction survey.
(Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Matt Hillmann)
This is the second year in a row that the NCEC has received this high ratting children in the Early Ventures program showing high rates of being prepared for kindergarten, 88% of students were ready for Reading in and 100% of students were ready for math. Beyond education programs the center provides a satellite food shelf location that is open for 4 hours each week. However, the program has been incredibly successful distributing about $80,000 in food. Additionally, the NCEC has launched a new program that provides drivers education in Spanish.
You can view the whole presentation here, it starts on page 16.
Dundas Set to Host Octoberfest Celebration in the Fall
After a successful celebration last year, Dundas is set to again host an Oktoberfest Celebration on September 21 from noon to 6:30. The event will take place in downtown Dundas and will include two live music acts. First up at 12:30pm is Todd ‘n’ Tina a children’s music band, followed by The Bavarian Musikmeisters a 35 piece Bavarian band which starts at 2:30pm and goes through the event. There will be several activities for children including arts and crafts, a barrel train, Several Dundas businesses will be supporting the event including food from Ruths on Stafford and Little Prarie Churchs both will be severing a variety of different German dishes. Martha’s Eats and Treats will also be serving different sweets and desserts for part of the afternoon. Drinks come from local companies as well with beer from Chapel Brewing and cider from Keepsake Cidery, drink wristbands will cost $5.
The event is still looking for volunteers here is Volunteer Coordinator, Catlin Otis said:
There’s a lot of opportunities still for anyone who wants to get a little more hands on involved in the event. There’s some advantages as well. You get a free T-shirt to free wristband, a drink ticket. So we have a lot of volunteers.
You can sign up to volunteer or learn more about the event at www.dundasoktoberfest.com
Logan Wells is the KYMN News Director. You can contact him at Logan@kymnradio.net
