Dakota County
Tribune
Farmington | Rosemount and the surrounding areas www.dakotacountytribune.com
Farmington Year in Review 2014
NEWS Hope Lutheran to build Farmington church hopes to break ground on five acres off Highway 3 in spring 2015. Page 2A
OPINION Armful of Love spreads joy Columnist shows how every gift from 360 Communities’ Armful of Love has a story behind it. Page 4A
THISWEEKEND
December 25, 2014 • Volume 129 • Number 43
Parks, monuments help shape 2014 by Andy Rogers SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
A relatively quiet election season, a new Whitetail Woods Regional Park, and a positive economic outlook helped define 2014 in Farmington. Three candidates ran for two open seats on the Farmington City Council in November in one of the least contested elections in recent history. Incumbent Jason Bartholomay, a therapist and Marine veteran, was reelected. Tim Pitcher, a retired medical engineer, won the other seat receiving nearly the same amount of votes as Bartholomay. He will fill Christy Jo Fogarty seat, who decided not to run after 12 years on the council. David McMillen, a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission and delivery specialist finished third. Mike Slavik was also reelected as county commissioner in District 1, covering Farmington and the surrounding rural area. State Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, was reelected for his sixth term
The Farmington Area Veterans Memorial was officially Whitetail Woods Regional Park opened up in Empire dedicated during a ceremony in 2014. (File photo) Township north of Farmington in the fall. (Photo by winning with more than when he offered space at Andy Rogers) 63 percent of the vote. He Farmington High School of Highway 3 and south of was in September at Ramsaid his focus will continue for the Legislature’s po- 170th Street West on Sta- bling River Park. tential special session to tion Trail. to be on jobs and energy. The focal point of the Garofalo caused a na- address flood relief. The Opening day proved to memorial is a massive blue tional stir earlier in the special session never ma- be a success as more than pearl granite slab in the year after posting the com- terialized when the State 3000 people attended. The shape of a folded flag repment “Let’s be honest, 70% Capitol was being reno- camper cabin reservations resenting the flags that are of teams in NBA could vated. for the winter season near- given to families at milifold tomorrow + nobody ly sold out in a single day. tary funerals. The granite would notice a difference New park tablet is etched with the Whitetail Wood Re- Memorial w/ possible exception of names of 15 Farmington increase in streetcrime� on gional Park opened its After years of fund- area service personnel who Twitter in March. He apol- gates in the fall filled with raising, design and work, died during war time. ogized stating it is best to hiking trails, 100-person the Farmington Area Vetrefer to people as individu- picnic facility, a natural erans Memorial was of- City news als as opposed to groups play area, amphitheater ficially dedicated in 2014. Perhaps the most imand many in the NBA are and three popular camper Conceived by World War portant duty of a city cabins. The park is located II veteran Howard Miller council is to set the budget. positive role models. Garofalo also garnered in Empire Township in and spearheaded by Leon attention for Farmington north of Farmington east Orr, the official ceremony See FARMINGTON, 7A
Rosemount Year in Review 2014 New Year’s with Louie The Ames Center in Burnsville is ringing in the new year with a performance by famed Minnesota comic Louie Anderson. Page 17A
SPORTS Farmington hockey adjusts The Farmington boys hockey team is ranked 18th in Class AA after 5-2 start. The team’s only losses have come against top 10 teams. Page 10A
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PUBLIC NOTICE The Dakota County Tribune is an official newspaper of the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District. Public notices are published online at SunThisweek.com.
INDEX Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 10A Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 13A Announcements . . . . 16A
Rosemount hears the sounds of much progress City continued to build toward the future
faculty members have dug deep into issues that will have an impact on Rosemount’s ability to maintain our quality of life by Tad Johnson as we grow and face new SUN THISWEEK challenges,� Droste said. DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE The students studied The sounds of eco20 aspects of the nomic developcommunity this ment and housfall and a similar ing activity were number of projects heard throughout are expected from the past year in spring semester the city of Rosestudents. mount. Droste said the New houses project is an imcontinue to be sold Bill Droste portant step toin the east central ward achieving the portion of the city, community’s suctwo downtown cess. area senior housHe said the inforing projects are mation will help in the works, loguide the developcal businesses are ment of the city’s growing in number Comprehensive and at their curPlan – the docurent sites, and the Mark ment that guides city broke ground DeBettignies future housing, on a new activity commercial and center and opened civic development. new playfields. He said it will It’s all aimed at provide informabuilding a better tion about how to Rosemount, which reach out to new Mayor Bill Droste residents and share said is best exema sense of commuplified by a part- Shaun nity with groups nership forged in Nelson who are not tradi2014 with the Unitionally involved in versity of Minnecivic life. sota. It will also help city In January, university leaders “tie our increasstudents will present the ingly diverse hometown results of the research they together,� Droste said. conducted this fall for the The project comes at Resilient Communities a time when Rosemount Project (http://rcp.umn. is having some of the few edu). Twin Cities single-family The effort had students housing developments. studying aspects of the Home builder D.R. city’s housing, recreation, Horton’s 60-plus unit demographics, natural re- Prestwick Place developsources and energy use. ment has been filling up “Dozens of university students supervised by See ROSEMOUNT, 11A
Thisweekend . . .16A, 17A
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Children got to try their hands at playing a variety of instruments Tuesday, June 24, during Groth Music’s Meet the Instruments program at the Dakota County branch Robert Trail Library in Rosemount. The event was part of the weeklong ArtBlast festival organized by the Rosemount Area Arts Council. (Photo by Tad Johnson)
Arts-minded folks rejoiced in 2014 ArtBlast, One Tile and One Book events bring community together by Tad Johnson SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
For those interested in leisurely pursuits, 2014 was a great year. The Rosemount Area Arts Council was behind most of the magic as the nonprofit, all-volunteer organization expanded its offerings and propelled two huge projects forward. It took less than six months for the hardest working group in show business to pull together a slate full of arts activities from June 23 to 29 appropriately called ArtBlast. Though the centerpiece Bluegrass Americana Music Festival had diminished attendance due to some untimely rain, other events had strong attendance, including the launch of the One Tile One Rosemount community art project. Beginning this past summer, RAAC has been offering a chance for commu-
The Rosemount Leprechaun Days Grand Parade was held Saturday, July 19, under ideal weather conditions as an estimated 100 parade entries made their way through the streets of Rosemount. Huge crowds lined the route from Chili Avenue to 145th Street to Cameo Avenue. (Photo by Tad Johnson) nity members to personalize the 9,200 tiles that will form a mosaic painting, called “Journey,� to be installed inside the lobby of the Robert Trail Library – a branch of the Dakota County system. See ARTS, 8A
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