Town Tigers Advance to Regions
Scott County Commissioner Candidates Express Views Before Primary Page 6
B.P. Woman to Watch Sister Compete at Olympics
Page 17
Page 17
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIRST YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, AUGUST 1, 2012
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 31
Police Hope Event Will Better Relations With Residents
National Night Out is Tuesday at Heritage Park
When a crime occurs in Belle Plaine, police hope residents will provide them any available information that will help them catch the bad guys. All too often, however, the relationships between city police and residents do encourage communication. With that in mind, police are hosting National Night Out Tuesday (Aug. 7, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.) at Heritage Park (500 Orchard Street E.). First Presbyterian Church of Belle Plaine is also hosting a get-together for parishioners and area residents. The event will include free hot dogs, popcorn and cotton candy. There will be bounce houses and other fun activities
that include bike inspections, fire department water contests and a relay for kids wearing firefighter turnout gear. A North Memorial Hospital air ambulance is also scheduled to be on display at the park. The family-friendly discourages alcohol in the park. Anyone bringing alcohol is asked to cover it up, said Officer Terry Steir. National Night Out is about building better relationships between citizens and the city police officers. Officers will be on hand to answer questions about their work, why they do what they do and what they need to know when people see something wrong. It’s also meant to put a face on officers and dispel myths. “People generally tend to see us in an enforcement capacity or when we deliver messages about death or injuries
to a loved one,” said Police Chief Tom Stolee. “This night gives us an opportunity to meet citizens during a positive event where we can get to know and talk to individuals in a positive setting.” The gathering is also intended to help neighbors get to know each other so that they can help each other out when someone forgets to close a garage door at night or leaves the window of a car parked in a driveway open. Steir said the five summertime burglaries under investigation involve people who’ve left a door open or unlocked. Thefts of cars almost always involve unlocked vehicles, he said. Steir said residents should not hesitate to call police when they suspect a crime has been com- Larry Wigfield, left, and Don Atkins are looking forward to displaying this 1876 steam engine mitted. “There are people who (nicknamed Sunflower) at this week’s Scott-Carver Threshers Festival and State/National Plowing contests.
National Night Out (continued on page 4)
Scott-Carver Threshers to Debut Newest Oldest Attraction 136-Year-Old Steam Engine is One of Only Two of Its Kind Known to Exist
by Dan Ruud The Scott-Carver Threshers Association is in the business of preserving agricultural history and now has in its possession one of the granddaddies of agricultural preservation. That would be “Sunflower,” a 136-year-old steam engine that has survived two world wars. No, the farming machine was not shipped overseas for the war efforts, but it did survive the potential of being scrapped to support those causes, especially World War II. Now, Sunflower is one of just two Aultman-Taylor Eureka steam engines of its type known Area auctioneers Samantha Ediger-Johnson, Dave Will and Joe Fahey Sr. were among the to still exist. The other is on display in the Henry Ford Musevolunteers overseeing the Scott County Fair 4-H Auction Saturday. um in Dearborn, Mich., where it has remained for years. The two steam engines hold a common bond. They were both Scott County Fair Manager Luce said. during the five days. Jim Luce said this past week’s The fair’s other focus this Also, the weather cooperated owned for periods of time by the late “Steam Engine” Joe fair accumulated roughly year, bringing popular bands to for the most part. $5,000 more in parking revenue the beer garden, also generated “It was pretty warm and sticky Rynda, grandfather of Bonnie than in 2011, which means that considerable interest. Included on Wednesday and we had a Wigfield, who inherited Sunapproximately 25,000 people were Rum Runners Thurs- shower on Thursday, but other made their rounds at one time day night, Rocket Club Friday than that, I had no complaints or another during the five-day night, GB Leighton Saturday about Mother Nature,” Luce event. night and The Whitesidewalls said. All in all, Luce said he was Sunday afternoon. As for the food vendors, Luce pleased with the 2012 fair, “We were quite pleased with said most of those he talked to which attracted its biggest the turnouts for those bands,” said they had better sales than crowd Saturday night. said Luce, adding that another last year. The next in line of this area’s “The demolition derby was positive was that the earlysummer festivals is the 49th For Scott County Fair packed. We had to declare it 1900s Ferris wheel donated to annual Scott-Carver Threshers sold out at about 7:15 when a the fair by Ames Construction Old-Time Harvest Steam and and 4-H Results, see few people were still in line,” had ticket sales of about 1,400 Gas Engine Festival. It will take www.belleplaineherald.com place this Friday through Sunday on the Threshers grounds located adjacent to the Scott County Fairgrounds in St. Lawrence Township. Festival hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission for people ages 12 years and up is $8 for the entire weekend. Children under 12 are admitted free. Primitive camping is available on the grounds. Daily events include a pancake breakfast from 7-11 a.m., craft and flea market throughout the day, parade at 1 p.m. and dyno testing in the tractor area. This year's featured tractor is Oliver. There will be a sanctioned kiddie tractor pull for ages 4-11 at 2 p.m. Sunday. There will be live music in the pavilion during much of the festival and food and beverages will be sold from opening to closing all Dave Peterson took aim at a calf during an event that was part of the ranch rodeo competition three days. Some of the site attractions inFriday night in the north ring at the Scott County Fairgrounds.
Fair Attracts About 25,000 People
flower several years ago. Bonnie and her husband Larry kept the machine on their property in rural Carver before moving to a townhouse in Norwood Young America. “I don’t think the townhouse people would have been too happy to have this (steam engine) on our lawn, so we had to find a home for it,” said Larry, 75, who suffered a heart attack prior to moving from the country to the townhouse in NYA. Because of Sunflower’s rarity, the Wigfields had no difficulty finding a new home for it. In fact, the offerings were several years in the makings, most notably from Don Atkins of the Scott-Carver Threshers Association. “We planned to give it to Le Sueur (County Pioneer Power Association) but Don worked on us for four years to get it here. He really wanted it here and as long as they display it, they can keep it,” Larry said.
The 10-horsepower machine got its nickname Sunflower from the fact that a gear on the engine looks like a sunflower. It doesn’t appear that Sunflower will be leaving the Scott-Carver Threshers anytime soon. “I would say its one of the biggest crowd-pleasers and drawing cards that we’ve ever had,” said Don, adding that Sunflower is probably the oldest machine the Scott-Carver Threshers Association has ever come into possession of. The machine, which is currently being stored in Building 1 on the association’s ground, will be on display at the Gazebo throughout this weekend’s Old-Time Harvest and Steam Engine Festival. It will also be displayed during the 2012 Minnesota State and National Plowing matches at the Scott-Carver
Threshers
(continued on page 4)
Old-Time Harvest Festival This Weekend clude vintage farm equipment, cars and trucks, mule team wagon rides, 1850 log house, operating blacksmith shop, operating printing press/print shop, 1962 round roof barn with animals, old East Union Store, an 1888 one-room school house and Memorial Garden. There will also be numerous demonstrations throughout the
weekend, including an operating lath and shingle mill, plowing with antique tractors, corn shredding, threshing with steam engines, log sawing with steam engines and gas engine demos, leather crafting, broom making, potato digging, quilting,
Harvest Festival
(continued on page 6)
Belle Plaine and The Sioux Uprising This month, August 17th, marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Dakota War which was mainly concentrated in our Minnesota River Valley. It resulted in over 500 deaths including many new settlers who had come to homestead in the valley. One hundred and fifty years have passed since that tragic summer but its memory lingers with many families whose ancestors were involved in that
trying period. The fighting did not reach Belle Plaine, but many refugees passed through trying to reach the safety of Fort Snelling. During the next few weeks the Herald will present a series of stories of how Belle Plaine and neighboring communities survived the conflict.