Terrace Mill, Curdfest, so much to promote

I'll start with sports.

On Thursday this week, the B-B-E Jaguars Babe Ruth 16-U baseball team earned a doubleheader sweep against Eden Valley-Watkins in Belgrade. The team consists of a large portion of this spring's Section 6A runner-up varsity baseball squad.

Bonanza Valley Days, State Clay Trap, etc.

ANNOUNCING! The BVD Men's 3-on-3 tournament in Brooten is on Friday, July 10.

Men’s 3-on-3 registration info can be e-mailed back if you request it by contacting Chris Anderson: canderson@bbejaguars.org. Please be signed up by 5 p.m. on Friday, July 10 so the tournament can begin at 6 p.m. that evening. Location: B-B-E elementary gyms, Brooten (they are air-conditioned!)

Other updates to follow here.

At Cenex Glenwood, E-85 fuel is $2.75/gallon! Outrageous. Such raw greed, or ignorance, or both. At Coop's Corner in Belgrade, E-85 fuel is $1.40/gallon.

On Tuesday this week...
The B-B-E Clay Trapshooting team concluded their season at the state meet in Alexandria. B-B-E sophomore Dylan Koob finished the regular season as the individual conference champion. Other coverage of the team was published in this week's newspaper, and more ink comes their way next week.

Youth fastpitch softball has been dominating my week. Eventually I will write about it. 

LOTS of travel and softball is coming Friday and Saturday.  No rest until Sunday!!

The Keg stays in Elrosa (*UPDATES)

The Spring Hill Chargers will have to wait until the division playoffs for a chance to regain possession of The Keg. In today's 2026 Battle for the Keg Part II, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team traveled to Chargers Stadium and picked up a 2-1 win. They led 2-0 after the first inning after runs were scored by Jackson Peter and Ethan Mueller. Peter drew a leadoff walk and then scored on Mueller's RBI-double. Mueller then scored on a base knock RBI by Luke Dingmann.

More to come after further review of the box score.

Elrosa's Ashton Dingmann started and pitched 5 2/3 innings with 4 hits, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. Ethan Mueller was closer, and he gave up just 1 hit with no walks and 8 strikeouts.

Spring Hill starter Ethan Meyer pitched a strong game with a line of 8 2/3 innings, 6 hits, 7 walks and 9 strikeouts. Austin Schoenberg doubled and then scored on Reagan Nelson's RBI-fly in the 6th inning for Spring Hill's lone run.

Next: the Saints travel to Raymond for an exhibition game at 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 20. They host New London-Spicer the next day for a Father's Day contest to complete the non-league weekend.

Updates for Monday:
The newspaper office will be closed until 1 p.m. on Monday, June 15. I will be at the University of Minnesota-Morris with Willow for a West Central Wildcats AAU shooting clinic.

Tuesday morning...the B-B-E Clay Trapshooting team is heading to Alexandria for the state meet. They start at 10 a.m. In other news: E-85 fuel has dropped to $1.39 a gallon at Coop's Corner. For 87 octane E-10 fuel, the price dropped from $3.89/gallon to $3.69/gallon at Coop's this morning. Just yesterday, E-85 at Cenex in Morris was $2.09 a gallon.

Saints play twice this weekend

The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team hosts Norway Lake-Sunburg tonight in an exhibition game at 8 p.m. They host a golf tournament at Prairie View Community in Brooten tomorrow. On Sunday, the Saints travel to Spring Hill for Part II of the Battle for the Keg series of 2026. First pitch at Chargers Stadium is at 1:30 p.m.

UPDATE: in a rain-shortened game, the Saints defeated the Lakers of the south by a 4-0 score in 5 innings. It was an odd night where scattered thunderstorms and rain showers passed over the area. It was hit-or-miss but enough to wreck a nice night for baseball!

In other news...
The Redhead Creamery's 8th annual Curd Fest is coming soon! It's just one week away. Click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website to learn more and to find out how to get advanced tickets: RedheadCurdFest2026.

Also, at the newspaper's website, you can watch the senior farewell address given by Class of 2026 members Bree Radermacher and Josie Bucketine during the graduation ceremony on May 22.

At the state baseball tournament...
In the Class 1A state quarterfinals on Thursday, Brandon-Evansville fell 7-0 to South Ridge in an afternoon game played at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud. The Chargers rebounded nicely with a 13-6 consolation bracket semifinal win on Friday at Cold Spring over Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton. In the state consolation title game, Brandon-Evansville won 6-0 against Ogilvie.

Sports of All Sorts

I'm always the curious type, and a crowd of vehicles grabs my attention any time of the day. I noticed a bunch of vehicles at the elementary parking lot today and noticed who was there based on the vehicles, and I got curious! As it turns out, today is Day Two of the Community Education's "Sports of All Sorts" activities. This is explained from the Summer Community Ed brochure:
"Sports of All Sorts" is a "sampler" series designed for young beginning athletes. Students 4 years old to just completed 1st grade are invited to learn basic skills in multiple sports. These programs focus on fun, cooperative play to build motor skills, social skills, and an interest in physical activity. We’ll sample fundamentals of various sports such as soccer, flag football, basketball, tee-ball and other team building games and activities.

I rate this is a wonderful summer activity sponsored by B-B-E Community Ed. I also like looking at the bigger picture: how does this unique activity for kids in the 4 to 7 year old range reflect against the larger picture of worsening mental and physical health (on a nationwide level) of our youth? Kudos to the staff for organizing this for some of our community's youngest children!

As for other sports, I have not been able to catch up on American Legion baseball. Tonight, the B-B-E 17-U fastpitch team hosts a league game at 6 p.m. at the elementary diamond.

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.

High school graduation Senior Address

If you missed it, or if you want to see it again, the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper includes a video with the Senior Address provided by Isaac Johnson. To watch it, you can click here: BBEgraduationSeniorAddress.

I am finally getting caught up from what was a manic month of May. I have been "behind the 8 ball" on coverage for Elrosa Saints, city council, graduation and the Memorial Day programs. I hope that is all resolved by the time the June 11 issue is published.

I really enjoyed a nice, lengthy conversation with Martin and Pam Jenniges tonight while taking in an ice cream shake from the Jenniges Chuckwagon, which is open 3 days a week at the Jenniges Meats parking lot on the west side of Brooten. Martin gave me some really neat trivia. On this day, June 4, going back 49 years ago, Martin's older brother Dan married his wife, Linda. Their wedding dance was at the Brooten Pavilion.

The hours for Jenniges Chuckwagon are as follows: Monday, Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, a nationally-renowned food critic recently stopped at the Backyard Burger in Brooten. His review on TikTok had over 97,000 views as of yesterday. Think about that! Are you kidding me! That's amazing. This food reviewer has a TikTok account with over 722,000 followers.

State tournament fastpitch scores this week:
BOLD 4, Southland 1 (Class 1A state quarterfinals)
United South Central 5, BOLD 3 (Class 1A state semifinals)
West Lutheran 3, Barnum 2 (Class 1A state quarterfinals)
West Lutheran 4, Red Lake Falls 0 (Class 1A state semifinals)
BOLD 10, Red Lake Falls 1 (Class 1A state third-place game played today in North Mankato)

In the Class 2A state tournament, Jackson County Central defeated St. Cloud Cathedral 11-1 in six innings this afternoon in North Mankato in the third-place game. The Crusaders had defeated Kimball Area 11-2 in the Section 6AA championship on May 28 at St. Ben's.

**Friday night: the Saints vs. Lake Henry game is postponed until tomorrow. They will face the Lakers in Elrosa at 11 a.m., Saturday, June 6. Upon completion of that game, they pack up their gear and head to New Munich to play out the afternoon.