extended sports coverage for the B-B-E community brought to you by the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper in Brooten, MN. (Address: P.O. Box 250, Brooten) http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com. Please submit feedback in writing to the address posted above. **This is Minnesota's oldest varsity high school sports blog. We hope to keep it going into the future!
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Community celebration coming to Sunburg next week
Sunburg will be hosting its version of National Night Out on Tuesday, August 4. The Sunburg Fire Department and Rescue squad invites the public to come to town and help them celebrate National Night Out along with the great fundraising support they've received for their need to purchase a new fire truck.
This community appreciation gathering will be held Tuesday, August 4th from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Sunburg Fire Hall for donors and community members to check out the truck and visit with First Responders - both Fire fighters and EMS.
The annual fall ham and turkey bingo fundraiser is coming to Sunburg tonight. This is hosted by the Sunburg Fire and Rescue squad. It also features a gun raffle. All the fun begins at 7 p.m. at the fire hall/community center.
On Friday and Saturday this weekend, 15 junior high students from the Lutheran parishes of Trinity/West Lake Johanna churches and Big Grove-Crow River-Grace churches attended the ELCA Southwest Minnesota Synod youth gathering in Willmar.
Here's a video recorded last night at the last mass worship gathering of the night:
Dave Scherer, known by his stage name of Agape, is an American rapper and musician from Minnesota. His official music website is https://www.hiphopoutreach.com. In the early 2000s, Agape performed a concert at the B-B-E elementary school. How cool is that!
And now it's Monday morning...
TODAY is our last day of fall. Winter arrives tomorrow. Yikes! Much time is being devoted to the yard and garden.
For your calendar: Grace Lutheran Church in Belgrade invites everyone to their early Christmas Concert, which is on Sunday, December 7 at 2 p.m. in the church sanctuary. Music will be provided by The Porch Players. Come enjoy their music and stay for a light lunch afterwards! Everyone welcome, no cover charge. The Porch Players includes the dearly beloved Maggie Harp, who taught music and directed choir at Belgrade school District No. 736 and then B-B-E schools District No. 2364. She retired in 2007 to conclude a 37-year career in education in our local schools.
Chippewa Falls Lutheran church hosts their Syttende Mai Norwegian Smorgasbord dinner today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in scenic Terrace, Minnesota. Can you just imagine the views in Terrace today! Bright sunshine, and everything is greened up!
Here's a short web article and video featuring Sunburg's Syttende Mai celebration: https://shorturl.at/ogS0B. Here's a direct link to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's SmugMug photo gallery for the 2024 Sunburg Syttende Mai parade: https://shorturl.at/DMbY9.
Currently, Sunday morning church is in the rear-view mirror, and now it's time to go check the rain guage to see what we got for rain since Friday night. I dumped our rain gauge in Brooten on Friday afternoon, and at that time, it said that we received about 1 3/4 inches of rain between Thursday morning and Friday afternoon.
Sunday night update...
The Sunburg Community Music players performed two outdoor concerts today as part of the town's Syttende Mai celebration. You can watch the first video I recorded of them near the former Sunburg Cafe by clicking here to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website: https://shorturl.at/NVQEP.
Additional coverage of Sunburg's Syttende Mai celebration is forthcoming. I hope to get a nice spread of coverage in this upcoming issue of The Voice. Fingers crossed.
And a quick sports update...the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch teamopens the playoffs with a 4:30 p.m. game on Tuesday, May 20 in Granite Falls. Please pass the word! The Section 3A tournament is set to last through Friday, May 29. First, the Jaguars have to win their playoff opener against Benson on Tuesday. After that, they will likely face Yellow Medicine East (the host team) that same night (May 20) at about 6 p.m. in the opening round of the Section 3A double-elimination tournament.
The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team is set to host a doubleheader on Monday (tomorrow) at 4 p.m. in Elrosa. The opponent will be Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. I don't know how things will shake out with the weather. The rain is supposed to pick up at around 4 p.m. on Monday.
Circling back to last week...
Here's one of 5 video clips I got from last week's Class of 2025 awards/scholarship banquet:
The video begins with Nancy Young speaking about the Austin Young scholarship. Austin Young was a member of the Class of 2019. This year, the Austin Young scholarship was awarded to Kora Martinez.
For B-B-E's Class of 2025, we have 56 students who will graduate this coming week. The graduation ceremony will be at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 23.
MONDAY sports update...
The Sub-Section 5A-West track and field meet has been postponed to Thursday of this week, May 22. It begins at 3 p.m. at the Litchfield high school athletic campus.
There's so much to unpack from the day that was Sunday, May 21, 2023 and all the fun I had for what was just a few hours spent in the town of Sunburg tonight. You won't really get to read much about this until you get the May 25 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. Right now I have to get my attention fully on the Class of 2023 graduation section that will make up the center four pages of the upcoming newspaper issue. It is 90 percent complete. The press deadline is screaming at me, and I have to make sure I'm still on course to make it to the Sub-Section 5A-West track and field meet in Maple Lake on Tuesday.
What a fun and exciting time in Sunburg! The Sunburg Fire Department hosted a street dance tonight. It's still happening as I write this, actually, and here's a video recorded shortly after sundown...
It was exciting to hear that the Mason Dixon Line band has the choice to either perform in St. Paul tonight or in Sunburg. They picked Sunburg. (Wise choice!)
Playoff update (baseball) and Country Corners Market nursery
New York Mills defeated K-M-S 13-3 in the final game of the Section 6A baseball championship series on Friday at Minnewaska Area. The Eagles have now advanced to the state tournament for at least the last three playoffs: 2019, 2021 and 2022.
***TODAY (Saturday) is the last day you can purchase starter plants for your garden from Country Corners Market north of Brooten on Co. Rd. 18...they've got lots of tomatoes and green peppers left not to mention a host of other plants like cauliflower, cucumbers, celery, broccoli and more. They close at 5 p.m.!
Tonight! If you are looking for something fun to do, head on over to Sunburg to the fire hall where they will have this area's first street dance of the summer! The Mason Dixon Line band will perform from 8:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. outside the Sunburg Community Center/Fire Hall. Also, water wars between area fire departments will start at 5 p.m. The cover charge is just $10, which makes the cost to get in basically free! They will have concessions on site. Enjoy the evening responsibly!
The highlight of the day is the 3:30 p.m. parade. The full schedule was published on page 5 of this last week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper issue. The schedule was also in the April 28 and May 5 issues.
Also, Chippewa Falls Lutheran church is serving their Norwegian Smorgasbord dinner from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Terrace.
First, a reminder! The Sunburg Fire Department invites everyone to their spring ham and turkey bingo fundraiser event on Saturday, April 9 at 7 p.m. at the fire hall/community center. Sponsored by the Sunburg Fire Department and Ambulance Service. One card is just $6, while three cards are just $12. DOOR prizes! FREE coffee!
Also! Tonight The Hit List will be performing live at Heidi's Bar in busy downtown Sedan. The Belgrade V.F.W. Steak and Pork Chop Feed is tonight from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
TOMORROW! The big B-B-E speech team showcase takes place between 3 and 5 p.m. at the high school. Come one, come all! Before or after you go to that, you can take in the St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church pancake and sausage supper at their parish hall between 2:30 and 6:30 p.m.
You can see the full list of area activities at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3vpO7bB.
This weekend has been pretty much "100-miles-an-hour" since the trip to Fergus Falls on Thursday, and it hasn't slowed much even though today is Sunday. Go, go, go, go, go!
It's been about 12 hours since I returned from the Sunburg Fire Department street dance. It was, as they say, "Off the hook!". It was a really, really tremendous street dance. They had a record turnout. It was awesome!
Also today: the Sedan Fire and Rescue is hosting another always-fun meat raffle at 2 p.m. at Rooney's Bar.
In news from over in South Dakota...they reported just eight new COVID cases on Friday, June 11. Just eight in a state of 900,000 people. I need to post a blog post with our new COVID numbers from June 10. The MDH reported just one case for Belgrade for the prior week, none in Brooten and none in Elrosa.
Click here and get a sneak preview of Bonanza Valley Days 2021 = https://bit.ly/2ROANgS.
I'll get some video posted here from yesterday in Sunburg. It was a great day! The weather was outstanding. For the record, the Sunburg Fire Department served upwards of 450 at the hamburger feed that followed the grand parade. Also, The Local Pantry in Brooten supplied the potato salad for the supper, and I learned today that they used 125 pounds of it! That's awesome!
Click on the following short link and you will be re-directed to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website, where I've got the full grand parade video posted: https://bit.ly/3w9Tzhh.
In a new blog post, I'll get today's sports schedule up.
Lately the spare time has been tied up by many non-sports related events. Here's a video clip from one recent such event, a ventriloquist show at Grace Lutheran church last Wednesday:
And here's a short video clip featuring the Disney friends of Santa Claus waving their good-byes to the citizens of Sunburg on Saturday night:
Tomorrow night is a school board meeting. The following night, the only home varsity action on the schedule is a girls' basketball game against Kimball Area.
Some news out of Sunburg! This is posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website's community calendar, which you can see here (short link): https://bit.ly/2EvexOA.
Sunburg National Night Out
The community of Sunburg invites area residents to National Night Out on Tuesday, August 6. Come to Willie Reigstad baseball park from 6 to 8 p.m. and enjoy a free picnic meal (6 to 6:45 p.m.) plus other activities. At 6:45 p.m., a K-9 presentation will take place by Kandiyohi County Deputy Shawn Swanson. An emergency vehicle display will also be on hand with rigs and equipment from the Sunburg Ambulance service, the Sunburg Fire Department, Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Department and Life Link. Bring a lawn chair! This event will be held rain or shine.
Coming tonight: the B-B-E Junior American Legion baseball team continues its quest for a state tournament berth when they face No. 5-seeded Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City at 5 p.m. today at Minnewaska Area. The game will be carried on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood.
I played hooky from work this morning and spent a couple hours in the garden. I don't think it's possible to leave a garden after working the soil and be in a bad mood.
Some community-related events!
This weekend there are at least three Syttende Mai-related celebrations taking place. First is what the Padua Pub is holding on Friday, May 17. (Advertised on page 3 of last week's Bonanza Valley Voice.)
Also, on Sunday, May 19 you can take in Syttende Mai celebrations in Sunburg and also in Terrace. You can read about what's happening in Sunburg in this week's Voice and also on our website (short link): https://bit.ly/2JikgMe.
In Terrace, Chippewa Falls Lutheran church holds a Norwegian Smorgasbord dinner from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Here's a web article at the Bonanza Valley Voice website that highlights the upcoming Syttende Mai celebration in Sunburg on May 19. It was published last week on page 2 of the May 2 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice. We'll have more coverage on this full day of events in the May 9 and May 16 issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice.
The web article includes a 23-minute video clip from the grand parade on May 20, 2018 plus a link to the newspaper's SmugMug photo gallery from that day.
