Outstanding Becker County Seniors awarded at county fair

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – It’s official. Sonia Anderson and Roger Lee are the 2023 Outstanding Becker County seniors after they were awarded their commemorative plaques at the Becker County Fair on Thursday afternoon.

The county’s outstanding senior awards were presented by Mahube-Otwa and recognizes a man and woman whose volunteerism, dedicated time and talents have made a positive impact on the community over the past year.

Lisa Stroschein, Becker County senior coordinator for Mahube-Otwa, said Becker County has been awarding an outstanding senior at the county fair every year since 1973 because the program was part of the Minnesota State Fair until last year.

“The nominations can come from anyone and anywhere in the community,” said Stroschein. “Sometimes businesses, sometimes friends and family, the form is not really daunting. It used to be daunting, we’ve changed it, we’ve made it simpler. And I think it shows because we’ve had a surplus of nominations this year, and that’s just great.”

Stroschein presented the awards under the Big Tent and she read portions of Sonia Anderson’s nomination letter as an introduction before bringing her up to the stage to present her with a commemorative plaque.

“This wonderful lady is described as just awesome and always positive,” said Stroschein, during the ceremony. “She always has a smile on her face. She spends time by visiting individuals and helping at her church, as well as, giving people rides to appointments. She is also a member of the Becker County Senior Council, Miss Sonia Anderson.”

Anderson is a member of the Becker County Senior Council and, Stroschein said, she is just a positive person who always has a smile on her face.

Roger Lee, she said, has been inspiring enough with his volunteerism that he was nominated twice, by two different people.

“The male winner has so much volunteer experience that he was nominated twice, by two different people,” she said. “His volunteerism includes many hours of time devoted to his church, time and energy spent with the Fuller Housing program, and last, but certainly not least, his unwavering devoting to the Sons of Norway, as well as, the curling club. It’s said that if there is a community event, Roger Lee will be there.”

The Becker County outstanding seniors than posed for photographs with family, friends and other nominees. Following the ceremony, free pie and ice cream was served to the attendees.

Stroschein said it’s easy to run this award in Becker County because volunteerism seems to be a core belief for lakes area residents.

“We’re just blessed with so many wonderful volunteers in our community,” she said. “It makes our jobs easy.”

Nominations for the 2024 Outstanding Becker County Senior award will begin in the spring.

Lake Park woman win 1st chocolate chip cookie baking contest at Becker County Fair; 53 entries in inaugural competition

When Project 412, a lakes area creative arts nonprofit, announced they were going to hold a chocolate chip cookie contest at the Becker County Fair this year, they thought they would get about 20 tasty submissions, they received a total of 53 plates of cookie entries.

Brooke Wenzel, a cookie contest judge, said the judges did have some criteria they were using to compare the bite size treats.

“How easy the recipes were to understand, what the taste was,” said Wenzel. “The appearance, how they would do with a big crowd of people, and there were some clear winners.

She also said the best part about the hot weather was the gooiness factor it brought to all of the cookie entries.

“The beauty of this weather is that a lot of the cookies tasted like they were just pulled out of the oven,” she said. “So a lot of them were very melty and gooey. But, it’s all in a day’s work, so this is a real fun work day for me.”

The blue ribbon winner of the 1st chocolate chip cookie contest was Alysha Baer of Lake Park who said she did have a secret ingredient, but she didn’t think it was much of a secret.

“It’s nothing special,” said Baer. “I mean, there’s some (vanilla) pudding mix in it, so that might have made it special.”

The top three finishers received a cash award, along with a custom apron and a wooden stir spoon.

Finishing in 2nd place was Deeann Pease of Detroit Lakes and the 3rd place finisher was Gary Hager of Detroit Lakes.

The competition organizers said they will definitely be holding another baking competition next year, but may pivot to a different dessert item.

Wadena man injured in pedestrian-vehicle strike in Todd County

A Wadena man was struck by a passing vehicle while walking along Highway 10 in Todd County on Tuesday night.

According to the Minnesota State Patrol, on July 25 at 10:49 p.m., emergency dispatchers received a report of a pedestrian-vehicle crash at mile marker 107 on Highway 10.

A preliminary crash report indicates that 37-year-old Luke Simon Parker of Wadena was walking west along Highway 10 when he was struck by a 2003 Chevrolet Malibu, driven by 31-year-old Tyler James Rosekrans of Sebeka, Minn.,

Parker suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to Lakewood Health in Staples for treatment.

Rosekrans suffered no injuries during the crash.

Road conditions were wet at the time of the incident and alcohol is not believed to have played a factor into the crash.

Missoula Children’s Theatre presents King Arthur’s Quest at the Historic Holmes Theatre July 28-29

Missoula Children’s Theatre will perform King Arthur’s Quest this Friday and Saturday at the Historic Holmes Theatre in Detroit Lakes

The travelling children’s theatre production travels around the country and spends a week at each destination with area kids. The kids then learn a play or musical and perform it at on an area stage at the end of the week.

Kel Hunter, a traveling actor/director for Missoula Children’s Theatre, said every week is a new experience.

“It’s just one week, that’s how we do it, every week,” said Hunter. “Next week we’ll be in a different town and the week after that, a different one. Last week, we were just in Pipestone, Minnesota.”

Quinn Rollar, also a traveling actor/director from the children’s theatre, said the attendance for the theatre camps can vary between about a dozen kids to more than 60 depending on the location, but, no matter what town they are in, the kids who come out seem to really love the experience.

“It really is a pleasure to see these kids really light-up, especially when we add music,” said Rollar. “For some reason, that seems to be the things that really engages them. So seeing these kids, who at our auditions, may not have been speaking the loudest … seeing them come alive with this music of, especially our show ‘Kind Arthur’s Quest,’ it’s so fun and bouncy, they just light up with joy. It’s so much fun.”

Rollar added many of the areas they travel to don’t have a large community theatre, so for many, it’s their first experience on a stage.

“It’s so incredibly emotionally fulfilling to watch these kids, many of whom have never had a theatre experience, or any form of true arts exposure,” said Rollar. “So, it’s really wonderful to be their first exposure to the arts and what it means to be on stage and perform.”

Hunter said both he and Rollar were blown away by the kids attending this week’s camp in Detroit Lakes because they were rehearsing off-book after two days, which is something that typically takes longer for most kids to realize they need to commit their parts to memory.

“(Memorization) is something that isn’t normally a question until Thursday,” said Hunter. “And we closed our books, and I’ll be darned if they didn’t do all the lines, cue-to-cue, and they nailed them. So, they called my bluff.”

Lakes area kids will be performing King Arthur’s Quest at the Historic Holmes Theatre in Detroit Lakes on Friday, July 28 at 7 p.m. and on Saturday, July 29 at 10:30 a.m.

The directors also both agreed that even though they don’t sell floral bouquets at the performance that shouldn’t stop parents of these child actors from cleaning out their area florists before Friday because these kids deserve it.

Frazee man injured in Hawley Highway 10 crash 

A Frazee man was injured during a two-vehicle crash on Highway 10 in Hawley on Thursday morning.

According to the Minnesota State Patrol, on July 27 at 8:57 a.m., emergency dispatchers received a report of a two-vehicle crash with possible injuries at the intersection of Highway 10 and County Road 31 in Hawley.

A preliminary crash report indicates that a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado, driven by 42-year-old Matt Dahmen Nelson of Fargo, was stopped at the intersection traffic signal while eastbound on Highway 10 when it was rearended by a 2006 Honda Pilot, driven by 33-year-old Douglas William Collins of Frazee.

Airbags deployed in Collins’ vehicle and he was transported to Sanford Hospital in Fargo with non-life-threatening injuries.

Both drivers were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the collision and law enforcement believes alcohol did not play a factor in the crash.

Rochester man arrested in Grand Forks County for luring and solicitation

A Rochester, Minnesota man has been arrested in Grand Forks County on luring and solicitation charges.

The Sheriff’s Office says 27-year-old Daniel Henke initiated a text message conversation with a deputy, whom he believed to be a 15-year-old girl and had a sexually explicit conversation. He then drove from Des Moines, IA to Grand Forks where he rented a hotel room where he planned to bring the girl. Henke was taken into custody without incident at a restaurant in Emerado where he believed he was going to meet the girl.

He was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of luring a minor by computer or other electronic means, and solicitation of a minor.

Story by Tasha Carvell / KFGO

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