The sun came back! (VIDEOS)

The month has gotten wet and gloomy, but today, we see near full sunshine after 4 p.m. in Jaguar Country! I was going to get videos posted here and more updates, but instead, I encourage you to get outside! Take the Vikings game with you, if you can, on a device! Final score: Minnesota Vikings 23, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16. The Vikings are 3-0 to start the season, which no one saw coming.

And for some local news...
Between Thursday morning and today, the city of Brooten received a little over 3 inches of rain. The sunshine today was a welcome change!

One week ago, Turkey Fest in Swift Falls took place without rainfall. Organizers were grateful for that.

Here's a short video showing some of the activities of Turkey Fest on September 19:


More to come with updates on Monday morning.

Coming this weekend at Sunburg!
I don't always have time to do extra promotion of all local events, but here's one I wanted to give a shout out to for an event that was advertised on page 3 of last week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. Hope Lutheran Church of Sunburg invites everyone to their Vintage Wedding fall bazaar on Saturday, October 3 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. They have much to see on this day, and a great luncheon will be served simultaneously in their spacious fellowship hall. The Hope Lutheran bazaar includes a bakery shoppe (lefse and other Scandinavian goodies), garden produce, jams, jellies, salsa, freezer meals plus crafts, cards, napkins and a book sale. The quilt raffle takes place at 1 p.m. to conclude the event (winner need not be present). The luncheon includes 2 kinds of soup, ham and turkey sandwiches, macaroni salad, Rommegrot and a wide variety of homemade pies.

Speaking of sports...
On Monday night: the No. 11-ranked B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team will host Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in a non-conference border battle. It is also the team's Suicide Prevention Awareness Night. The Fighting Saints (4-7) will bring a young squad to town that has just 3 seniors.

I see that the B-B-E Jaguars football team currently sits in a three-way tie for second place in the Mid-Northwest Gold District standings. Also in second are Benson (2-2 overall) and West Central Area (2-2 overall). Both of those teams have won 2 straight games after starting the season 0-2.

As for B-B-E, halfway through the regular season, the Jaguars have the third-best defense in the district. They give up 17 points a game, and WCA has a 17-ppg defensive average. No. 4-ranked Upsala/Swanville Area has allowed 5.5 points per game. WCA does not meet U/SA until Week 8, when they travel to Swanville on Tuesday, October 20.

Here's a video featuring the final touchdown scored at Browerville last Friday:


That catch at the end by Noah DeRoo was exciting!

Saints split Saturday games

After surging past Lake Henry in a come-from-behind 9-4 win to start back-to-back games on Saturday, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team traveled to New Munich in the afternoon where they battled in an 11-inning game. The Saints led 5-2 late in the top of the 10th inning before falling 6-5 in a walk-off loss. After regulation innings, the score was a 2-2 tie.

Elrosa now holds an 8-4 overall record. Next: the Saints host Norway Lake-Sunburg on Friday, June 12 at 8 p.m. in an exhibition game.

In other news...
The Brooten city council meets in regular session tomorrow night. The agenda summary can be found at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's editor's blog: BrootenCouncilAgenda.

By the way - I did about one week's worth of garden planting in one day - today.

Also, while cleaning my 1999 Buick, I found a missing camera chip. It seems that back in late April, while using the Buick, I left a card reader with a video chip and also a camera card in the car. I got Spring Concert pictures uploaded tonight. Finally! From April 14. Click here: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/B-B-E-Area-Fine-Arts-2026.

Bonanza Valley Days is coming fast! Here's a link to see information on BVD grand parade registration: BVDGrandParade2026.

Monday night update:
For anyone keeping track, the city of Brooten received 1.2 inches of rain in an early-morning downpour today, according to my rain guage. A farmer from North Fork Township told me they received about 7/10ths of an inch of rain. This all occurred at around 8 a.m. In another rain shower, which did not affect Brooten, the city of Elrosa got dumped on with a high level of rain on Sunday night, although I haven't heard exact rain totals.

At tonight's B-B-E school board meeting, the filing dates were approved for the Fall 2026 school board elections. The filing period for four seats opens on July 14 and ends on July 28. Additional details will be published in the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Natural gas leak...and rain

A natural gas leak occurred mid-afternoon on Thursday in Brooten. The area affected is the Park Street and Western Avenue intersection neighborhood. Please stay away from this area! You are not helping by driving by as a gawker. Additional information is posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper: BrootenNaturalGasLeak.

On a brighter note, it's raining! It was raining quite heavily at about 4 p.m. today. We need it.

Here's a video featuring the end of Elrosa's game against Spring Hill:


The Saints won 10-4 over their neighboring division rivals.

On Friday, the Elrosa Saints are set to host Starbuck in an exhibition game. First pitch is set for 7:30 p.m.

The Mexico Querido restaurant website can be found by clicking here: MexicoQueridoBelgradeWeb. I have them featured on The Voice website: MexicoQueridoBelgrade.

Have you paid your property taxes? For small businesses, this is especially a big deal to do. Don't forget! Friday, May 15 is the due date in Stearns County.

Baseball Jaguars sweep Ashby

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team improved to 4-4 overall on Saturday with two wins at Ashby. In game one, an 8-0 win, Lance Radermacher pitched all 7 innings and held the Arrows to one hit. He fired 7 strikeouts with just one walk. In game two, a 12-0 five inning win, Noah Jensen started and got the win in 3 innings on the mound. He gave up 3 hits with 5 strikeouts and 3 walks. Walker Winter was closer in the last 2 innings, and he gave up no hits with no walks and 3 strikeouts.

The Brooten city council meets in regular session on Monday (tonight) at 7 p.m. The meeting agenda summary is found at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's editor's blog: https://lifeinbonanzavalley.blogspot.com/2026/04/brooten-city-council-agend-for-april-27.html.

A steady rainfall across the Bonanza Valley area caused all outdoor activities today to be cancelled.

Mid-Week Lenten worship in Brooten (VIDEO) + Padua news

While you're stuck at home today during the blizzard, you don't have + to miss church worship. At the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website, a video was just posted from Trinity Lutheran in Brooten from Wednesday, March 11. Worship that night was the second-to-last Mid-Week Lenten worship for the Trinity and West Lake Johanna Lutheran parish.

Click: TrinityLentenWorship.

Snowfall totals across the past 15 hours or so, at least for the town of Brooten, appears to have been only about 6 inches. The large snow system tracked farther south than was predicted, which is good for those weary of winter.

News out of Padua regarding Saint Patrick's Day weekend activities:
The St. Patrick's Day parade in Padua for today has been cancelled due to the weather and the tough road conditions. The Padua Pub is still open for those who are able to travel, but of course, your own discretion is advised. Tread lightly out there! Here's additional information...click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice website to read more: PaduaStPatricksNews.

I spoke with Dave Rooney by telephone right around the time the parade was scheduled to be held today. Dave was thrilled to report that the Padua Pub had a "packed house" on Saturday evening for their St. Patrick's Day festivities. The Rooneys want to thank everyone for their support, and they look forward to seeing you on Tuesday for the final hurrah of St. Patrick's Day in Padua.

Live music begins at Lincoln's Seafood and Steakhouse (VIDEOS*)

Lincoln's in Brooten featured their first live music performance since the bar and restaurant re-opened for the first time since 2017.

On Saturday, December 27, the Tanner Stark Band performed at the Main Theater stage at Lincoln's. Although the foggy weather made for poor travel conditions, those who were fortunate enough to attend the concert had a great time.

Here's a link you can click through to watch a video of the Tanner Stark Band performing that night in Brooten: TannerStarkBandLincolns.

Coming tonight: the Belgrade VFW hosts a pork chop and steak fry. They serve from 5 to 7:30 p.m., and the event also features a meat raffle. I hope to see you there!

And now it's Sunday after church...
Last night, during and after I attended the VFW pork chop/steak fry in Belgrade, I watched the Valley City State University women's basketball team in a home game against the University of Providence of Montana. B-B-E's Tiyana Schwinghammer, a junior, is a current VCSU starter. In what was a low-scoring game through the middle of the third quarter, the Vikings battled back from down 16 points in the first half. They trailed 35-27 at halftime. With just over 3 minutes left in the third quarter, a steal and breakaway layup by Schwinghammer forced the game's first tie at 36-36. The Vikings ultimately lost 67-65. With 8 seconds to go, Schwinghammer knocked down a downtown three-pointer under pressure to force a 65-65 tie. The Argos then scored at the buzzer on a point-blank shot under the basket to erase a possible overtime session. The Providence player released her shot inside the right block with 1.3 seconds on the clock.

Here's the Trinity Lutheran choir in Brooten performing this morning at worship:


The last portion of Christmas-related coverage for 2025 will be published in the January 8 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Jaguars win blowout game at Sauk Rapids-Rice (VIDEO)

In their first game of the Granite City Breakdown Classic, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team routed Sauk Rapids-Rice 82-24 to improve to 6-2 overall. Sophomore Macey Roering earned Player of the Game honors given by Breakdown staff.

The Jaguars led 46-14 at halftime after jumping out to an early 15-5 lead. With 8:15 left, Mya Worms sank two bonus free throws for a 24-10 lead. With 6:30 left, Teagan Dingmann drained a corner three-pointer to extend it to a 31-10 lead.

Here's a video recorded in about the middle of the 1st half:


The Storm got a free throw for the first point scored in the second half. After each team scored 4 points for a 51-19 score, the Jaguars went on an 18-0 run that pushed the margin in range of the Mercy Rule. A three-pointer by sophomore Makenna Roelike with 9:40 left expanded B-B-E's lead to 69-19. From that point on, running time was used. In the final minutes, Coach Anderson emptied the entire bench.

The Jaguars shot 39 percent on field goals with 19-for-32 marks at the free throw line. Macey Roering led a quartet of Jaguars in double figures that included Reese Kampsen (12), Kacey Fischer (11) and Mya Worms (11). Kacey Fischer also had 7 rebounds, and junior Kamie Fischer led the team with 6 steals.

Tomorrow: the Jaguars travel back to the Granite City Classic, and the JV team plays the St. Cloud Crush at the Sartell Community Center with an 11:30 a.m. tip-off. The St. Cloud Crush is a basketball co-op between St. Cloud Apollo and St. Cloud Tech. What is wild, and honestly mind-blowing, is that those two high schools are unable to support their own girls' basketball program. I digress! The varsity Jaguars play at Sartell-St. Stephen high school at 1:45 p.m. against New Life Academy of Woodbury.

In their game today in the Granite City Classic, New Life Academy throttled Ashby 87-55 to improve to 7-3 overall; the Arrows are 6-5.

The Elrosa Bar and Lounge has live music starting at 8 p.m. with Josh Kehr. The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper appreciates the support of their business throughout the year!

Crazy! Crazy!
Can you BELIEVE it! This was wild: at Casey's in Sauk Rapids tonight, I filled up our Chrysler minivan with 87 octane E10 gasoline for $2.25 a gallon! Wow! All across the St. Cloud Metropolitan area, a full-blown gas war is underway. This is happening right now! I am loving lower energy prices. How about you? Take a moment and think about the importance of having federal decision-makers putting an emphasis on lowering energy prices. For me, as a small business owner, I greatly appreciate lower gas prices. For you, as a sports fan, I want you to appreciate the fact that lower gas prices is a huge benefit to my ability to operate the newspaper's sports department.

Also coming on Saturday: the Tanner Stark Band is performing at Lincoln's in Brooten. For additional details, you can refer to the December 11, 18 and 25 issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice, which included large advertisements for this event. I also have information posted at the newspaper website: TannerStarkBandBrooten.

The website for Lincoln's in Brooten is: https://www.lincolnsseafoodsteak.com.

Area girls' basketball scores on December 26:
Willmar 72, Redwood Valley 30
New London-Spicer 76, Hutchinson 41
Goodhue 63, Royalton 55

Area boys' basketball scores on December 26:
Dawson-Boyd 87, Hope Academy 49
Holdingford 91, Spectrum 60
DeLaSalle 91, Alexandria 88
Albany 59, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 34

Today is Thanksgiving

As you read this, I hope you have your health to be thankful for. If not, then you are in our prayers.

Here's a video from last night featuring the sermon and other Bible messages and music at Trinity Lutheran in Brooten:


Have a terrific day for Thanksgiving! Beyond updating the Bonanza Valley Voice website, I'm taking the day off. On Friday, I will catch up on wrestling coverage from the Early Invite in Melrose.

For Thanksgiving-related news provided by the American Farm Bureau Federation, click here: https://shorturl.at/b4kYQ.

And now it's Black Friday, November 28...
It's time to gear up for showing your support for our local small businesses. Don't forget to support the Belgrade Hardware Store, which is a strong supporter of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. Click over to the newspaper website to see some Small Business Saturday coverage: SmallBusinessSaturday.

So much happening! Much to digest - much to do (VIDEO)

First, Lincoln's Bar and Restaurant is open in Brooten. They are serving food through 9 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday this weekend. Their bar is open until 10 p.m. each night. Click here to read more at the Bonanza Valley Voice website: https://shorturl.at/hQT7O.

Also! The Pope County Fair is underway in Glenwood. The Birch Coulee Ranch Rodeo runs this evening in the grandstand. Their full schedule was published in the July 24 and 31 issues of the newspaper.

Here's the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's community calendar found online: https://shorturl.at/VAz01.

And on Friday...
The Pope County Fair is in is second full day of activities today. Here's a link to watch a video from Thursday night at the fair: https://shorturl.at/DstRt. They had a terrific day on Thursday.

Here's a video featuring part of the Babe Ruth state tournament medals ceremony at New York Mills last Sunday:


Can you believe it? In just 10 days, the preseason begins for varsity fall sports!

Let's talk about Friday, August 1...
The Pope County Fair had one of their best days of activities in recent memory with strong crowds coming to Glenwood. To get a glimpse of one of the activities, click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://shorturl.at/z5wYM.

I won't make it to Elrosa tonight for either of the Region 8C amateur baseball games. I expect they had terrific crowds with such nice weather. Remember! The Elrosa Saints face Regal tomorrow (Saturday) at 11 a.m. in the first day of the Saturday schedule of the Region 8C tournament. The remaining games after tonight at regions will all be played in Spring Hill.

It was Brooten's turn...it could have been worse! (VIDEO)

Severe straight line winds battered the Brooten area (and perhaps more) on Monday night. Just before 8 p.m., a storm passed over Brooten that delivered heavy rainfall and 50 to 70 miles per hour straight line winds.

It was bad news!

Here's a video featuring wind on the western side of Brooten at 7:59 p.m. tonight:


The video should be processed and ready to view just after 9:00 tonight.

I'm heading to Belgrade to see how they fared. I heard that it was not good! Update: it was not as bad as the initial report I got. However, danger existed on both Lowery Avenue and Washburn Avenue with downed power lines. They were being guarded by Belgrade Fire Department members.

Bonanza Valley Days grand parade and Babe Ruth baseball heading to state (VIDEOS)

As reported in the July 10 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper, Brooten Electric LLC was the grand marshal of the BVD grand parade on Sunday. Brooten Electric, LLC, is owned by two B-B-E graduates: Adam Imdieke (Class of 2001) and Adam Heinze (Class of 2013).

Here's a rough video on a hand-held camera of the Brooten Electric parade unit:


It was a simply outstanding day that we had to wrap up the BVD "Feeling Alive in 2025" yesterday. Day IV included a pancake feed, Catholic Mass, the grand parade and then the Miss Brooten pageant.

Here's another video from the grand parade in Brooten yesterday:


Unfortunately for me, I took over 1,000 pictures across the four days of Bonanza Valley Days. This will create a challenge to go through and pick the best ones for the printed newspaper! Yikes! You think I would learn?

After tonight, my daughter's fastpitch softball summer season is over. This will free up time for more sports blogging and to focus on the newspaper. We'll see how this week goes and what comes of the July 17 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. Fingers crossed!

In sports news...
The B-B-E Babe Ruth (7th-8th grade) team qualified for their state tournament by winning the region tournament last weekend in Paynesville. This is a first for the program. They open state at Urbank at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday this week with pool play games. The state tournament playoffs run on Saturday. B-B-E's Kaden DeRoo, a 2024 graduate, is their coach.

Bonanza Valley Days is absolutely off the hook! Wall to wall excitement (VIDEO)

Good grief! What a weekend we are having in Brooten! The weather has practically been 100 percent cooperative. This is amazing.

Check out the scene in downtown Brooten tonight for the Saturday night street dance:


No time to sit on a computer!

Sunday updates:
Here's the link to share with others for seeing the BVD Grand Parade lineup: https://shorturl.at/menoq.

Here's a link to view the Miss Brooten coronation on Sunday: https://shorturl.at/E4rho.

Another update:
The Brooten city council meets on Monday night, and the agenda can be found here at the newspaper's editor's blog: https://shorturl.at/2ywwy. Also, the B-B-E school board meets on Monday night at the elementary school. It will be just the 2nd school board meeting in 10 years that I won't be attending. I'll be in Osakis on Monday night with the 11-U Jaguars fastpitch team for their playoff games.

A great day for...a garage sale!

A steady rainfall begin a little after 11 a.m. today across the area. If nothing else, it's a good day to travel to a garage sale! As luck would have it, a garage sale is taking place starting today in rural Brooten. Here's the details:

Where: 21368 102nd Avenue, Brooten, which is near the town of Grove Lake; located southeast of Grove Lake.
Days/Times: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, June 12, 13, 14; from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. all three days;
Here's a summary of what's available: working tools, flower pots, gardening tools, picture frames, bikes, plants, quilts/blankets, movies/games/puzzles, bed frames, furniture, outdoor decorations, sport equipment.

In entertainment news...
Tomorrow night! In Terrace...click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper to read about live music entertainment coming to the Terrace Mill tomorrow night, Friday...link: https://shorturl.at/nUi6g. This is a super exciting and family-friendly event! I hope you can make it.

The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper has been updated with local and regional news and more. Here's the link: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.

This is Easter weekend (VIDEOS*)

Two fun Easter events took place today in Elrosa and Brooten.

Here's what the scene looked like at the Elrosa Catholic church basement this morning:


What time or times are you going to Easter Sunday worship tomorrow? I've got 7 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. worships on my schedule. Possibly more!

Let's fast forward to Sunday...
Multiple churches held Easter morning worship services on Sunday. Off the top of my head, a few of those churches held worship services at either 6:30 a.m. or 7 a.m. that were dubbed "Sunrise" services. Trinity Lutheran Church in Brooten held worship at 7 a.m.

Here's a large portion of worship at Trinity on Sunday:


The video begins around the time that Pastor Jeanne was providing her announcements for the church. It continues until shortly after Holy Communion was provided to worshipers.

Often on Easter Sunday, I try to swing out to East Norway Lake Lutheran Church for their sunrise worship service. With my family being involved with serving breakfast at Trinity Lutheran in Brooten this morning, it kept me from making the 20-minute trek into Arctander Township.

Additional Easter Sunday worship coverage will be published in the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's April 24 issue.

Ash Wednesday Mass...and more college news (VIDEO)

The Christian season of Lent is underway, and multiple churches across the Bonanza Valley area kicked it off with Ash Wednesday worship services tonight.

Here's a short video clip from St. Donatus Catholic Church in Brooten tonight:


The video was recorded during Communion, which was near the end of worship at St. Donatus. Ash Wednesday worship services were also held at Grace Lutheran Church in Belgrade and at Trinity Lutheran Church in Brooten.

In college basketball news...
The Northland Technical and Community College Pioneers women's basketball team has earned the No. 5 seed in the NJCAA Division III National Tournament that begins on March 12 in Rochester, MN. The Pioneers (21-5) were given an At-Large bid to nationals after finishing as runners-up in the North Plains B District Tournament held this past weekend in Thief River Falls. Tiyana Schwinghammer, a B-B-E Class of 2023 graduate, is a sophomore on the Northland team. In the national tournament opener, Northland is paired up with the No. 12-seeded Montgomery County Mustangs, who are 25-2 overall. Their junior college is located in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.

Tip-off for the national tournament opener is at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12 at the Rochester Regional Sports Center. From Jaguar Country, that's roughly a 200-mile trek. Yikes!

Sunday catch-up day

Today! All day, through around 8:45 p.m...before they close at 9...RJ's Mini Mart of Brooten has a chicken wings special going plus a "BOHO" pizza offer for Super Bowl Sunday. You can buy any pizza and get one of equal or lesser value at half off! This deal also applies to single pizza slices. Also, a half dozen chicken wings are available for just $5.

Extensive Valentine's Day advertising was published in the February 6 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. It will be repeated again this week, and the Padua Pub's Valentine's Day specials will also be featured in the upcoming issue.

In sports news...
It doesn't appear that the Section 5A wrestling seedings have been posted. I am sure of this: Section 5A is completely loaded/stacked to the hilt! In the latest Guillotine state rankings, four teams in Section 5A are in the Top 7! This includes Minneota (No. 4), Canby (No. 5) and Paynesville Area (No. 7). Another is ranked No. 11 (Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg). The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is grouped with 8 other teams in the Lean and Mean category.

In a result I did not get in time for the press last week, the regular season finished for the wrestling team at Long Prairie last Tuesday (February 4) with a 37-24 loss to Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville.

Back in catching-up mode, website updates and Santa Day!

The Brooten community hosted a marvelous Santa Day on Saturday this weekend. Before I get to that...

Click your attention over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website to watch a short video from the Norway Lake Lutheran Historical Association's Advent worship service held one week ago at the old log church in Arctander Township: https://shorturl.at/GYMBA. Other updates have been posted in the last couple of days to the newspaper website, and I still have to get updates to the community calendar. Also! You can visit the newspaper's website and watch the video of the Santa Day lighted Christmas parade held last night in downtown Brooten.

Also, the meeting agenda for the Brooten city council meeting has been posted at my editor's blog: https://lifeinbonanzavalley.blogspot.com.

Almost two weeks ago, the B-B-E high school's Boxscore Sports podcasters interviewed head coach Austin Rambow. I thought it was an outstanding interview, and I really enjoyed hearing Coach Rambow's comments on being a three-sport athlete.

Here's that Boxscore Sports podcast:


Coming up: the boys' basketball team has a huge, huge Sub-Section 6A-South contest on Tuesday night with Benson coming to town.

Tense situation in Brooten turns up empty

Law enforcement from multiple jurisdictions responded to a home on Highway 55 in Brooten this morning, Tuesday, November 26. This included Belgrade-Brooten Police Chief Casey Jansky plus the Minnesota State Patrol and multiple officers with the Stearns County Sheriff's Office. Per newspaper sources, an armed, male individual had barricaded himself inside the house. (That source was incorrect! Police initially received possible bad information.)

Due to the home being within just a couple blocks of the elementary school, B-B-E elementary put the building into a "soft lockdown" at about 10:35 a.m. while the situation unfolded. By 11:45 a.m., the police squad vehicles left the area after the suspect was safely brought into custody.

Here's the message sent out by B-B-E schools for parents this morning:
This morning, approximately 10:35 a.m., we received a notice of police activity near our Elementary School in Brooten. We immediately went into a "Soft Lockdown". A lockdown of this type suggests that students stay in the building and carry on normal activity. We do not go outside during this type of lockdown. Law Enforcement has intervened and the situation is under control. We will continue in Soft Lock Down until Law Enforcement lets us know otherwise.

Additional updates will be posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website at this web article: https://shorturl.at/R4UCR. The web article was updated with correct information.

And a big shout out to our local law enforcement personnel for the work they do every day of the week to protect our small town communities!

Bonanza Valley Days grand parade lineup! (VIDEO ADDED**)

This link can get you to the full list for the grand parade lineup: https://shorturl.at/mlmTm.

Share widely!

The Miss Brooten coronation was held on Sunday afternoon. Video is uploading. More to come.

**Here's the link to see the end of coronation: https://shorturl.at/qlzv2.

Brooten has much to be proud of. Some of this was based on pure luck, as a severe storm system that could have demolished our Saturday night fun passed by the town near midnight without causing problems beyond a brief period of high winds. The system was unstable, and it made sense to me for law enforcement and others to clear out the street dance and ask that people go indoors. Today, Sunday, the high reached into the upper 80s and made it "hot" for the parade. It felt good to me!

Here's a four-minute video where you can take in views from the Brooten Fire Department chicken BBQ on Friday night:


For the record: on Saturday morning across what was about a five-hour period, the Brooten area received 1 and 4/10ths of an inch of much-needed rain according to rain gauges at both my house in western Brooten and at the golf course in eastern Brooten. The rain hampered multiple activities in the morning, but ultimately, no BVD events were scrubbed. This is remarkable! The B-B-E wresting club was able to pull off their BVD Walk/Run in the rain. The 10-team BVD sand volleyball tournament also took place, and both of those events started on time. The six-team BVD men's softball tournament started about a couple hours late, but that also went off without a hitch. This is all rather incredible and a testament to the resolve of the organizers and those who participated! Bravo!!

I've been getting caught up on some SmugMug photo uploading. Here's the link to show the Summer Sports 2024 folder at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's online photo gallery: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/Summer-Sports-2024.

Monday night update...
I've got the grand parade video posted online...you can watch Sunday's parade by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/tE2Tm. And here's the Belgrade city council meeting agenda: https://lifeinbonanzavalley.blogspot.com/2024/07/belgrade-city-council-meeting-agenda.html.

Just one more day to prepare for BVD 2024!

It's late Tuesday night, and we now have just 24 hours left to prepare for the start of Bonanza Valley Days in Brooten. The four-day celebration begins on Thursday. Tonight, Boyce Fischer is trekking around town in the city's John Deere lawn tractor while spraying for mosquitoes, a task that began a couple nights ago and will continue for a couple more nights.

Fun fact: on June 17, a web article with the BVD poster images was added to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website...and then it was shared to Facebook where it's received over 2,700 user views! Plus 500 user engagements. This is tremendous! Also, another BVD article was posted at the newspaper's website on June 30...that article has over 1,280 user views and around 150 user engagements. A June 13 web article on Bonanza Valley Days at The Voice website currently has over 1,500 views!

Here's a BVD food article posted at the newspaper's website (short link): https://shorturl.at/4g3j4.

I hope you're taking time this week to acclimate yourself to the heat!

In baseball news...the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team will host a doubleheader this Friday, July 12. The doubleheader features Roscoe at 6 p.m. and then Meire Grove at 8:30 p.m. to conclude the regular season. Yes, town team baseball playoffs are just around the corner!

And some incredible breaking news!
B-B-E's Luke Dingmann has earned the prestigious Hengstler-Ranweiler Award from the West Central Tribune newspaper. He is the 2024 male recipient of this award, which has been given out each year since 1961 (for male athletes). In football, where he rewrote the entire quarterback record book at B-B-E, he passed for a career total of 5,103 yards! Wow!