Jon Dell is performing live music at Bluenose Gopher Public House on Wednesday, November 16th starting at 6 pm. The performance will be his first time being featured at Bluenose. Dell grew up in Nebraska. He attended college there, studying theater and music. Dell stayed around the Lincoln, Neb. area for a few years after graduating college, playing bass with a couple of local bands. He now currently resides in Brooklyn, New York after following his sweetheart there about eight years ago. Though he has never been to Granite Falls specifically, Dell has been through Minnesota a few times with various bands. Mankato was about as far into Minnesota as he’s been so far. When asked how he ended up with Granite Falls on his tour roster, Dell said, “Luke [Hendrickson] reached out to me through this network of singer-songwriters that we’ve kind of built all over the country. He set up several shows for me in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and one of the places that he said I should definitely go play was Bluenose Gopher Public House. So, Luke set up the show for me, but through looking at the website, I’ve seen several people that I know who have also played there. It must be a good spot. I’m looking forward to it.” Dell’s favorite part of creating music is connecting with the people listening. “The thing I love most about it is finding things that I connect with people all over the country. Being a folk singer, it’s a pretty stripped down show. It’s just me on an acoustic guitar singing my songs and telling the stories of how I came up with them. If I’m in a loud, noisy bar I like to find the one person who’s paying attention and just try to connect with them,” Dell said. He also explained that once he starts getting a couple of people engaged that he’s connecting with, usually other people then start following along.

Community leaders, tourism advocates and cultural-heritage enthusiasts are invited to attend a public presentation unveiling the Yellowstone Trail Cultural Heritage Tourism Master Plan on Thursday, Nov. 17 at the Montevideo Public Library at 2 p.m.. “There’s been a lot of work put into this by stakeholders all across the Yellowstone Trail in Minnesota,” said Chippewa County Historical Society Director Celeste Suter. “We hope individuals will come out and check out the plan to learn about how our communities can leverage this historic, unique brand.” Last year the Renville County Historical Society, in partnership eith the Yellowstone Trail Alliance of Western Minnesota, received a Cultural Heritage Partnership (Legacy) grant from the Minnesota Historical Society to develop a state-wide Yellowstone Trail Master Plan. The $54,000 grant arrived on April 26, 2021, one day after the 100th anniversary of death of southwest Minnesota legacy and trail champion, Michael J. Dowling. Stakeholders elected to hire historian and museum consultant, Jim Roe, to facilitate the plan, which began development last fall. With the completion of the plan over the summer, the plan is ready to be presented to the public. Interested individuals are invited to see the plan, which will be presented at three different locations along the trail, including Montevideo, Bird Island and a yet to be determined location in either Glencoe or Norwood Young America.

“Can farmers be happier and more profitable working with, instead of against, Mother Nature, or as I prefer to call it: God’s creation?” This was the question asked by rural Sacred Heart farmer Phil Smith, who’s family farm served as the host site for last month’s annual Soil Health Field Day organized by the Renville County Soil and Water Conservation District’s (SWCD) .

Recently, students in the 5th grade class at Bert Raney Elementary participated in a project that provided a lesson on kindness and empathy during their Social-Emotional Learning time. The “Kindness Rocks” program began when teacher Jamie Golberg was invited to a Minnesota River Rocks group on Facebook over the summer. “There, people in the community were posting their painted rocks with all of these fun designs on them and others were then posting the rocks they had found in the community. My son’s daycare often would find rocks on their walks during the day and post their rock finds on this page too. One summer day my family and my nephews walked to the school park and on our way the kids found some rocks. They were so excited to find and then re-hide for someone else to find. I thought to myself this would be really fun to bring this to school and do a student project in the Fall,” Golberg says.

We knew the wintry weather would come sooner or later. Be safe! Weather history: On this date in 1943 records show that a “severe ice storm hit the Twin Cities” along with heavy snow in other parts of the region. One person reportedly died in when a “trolley car slid off the tracks and hit a pole.” Weather facts: Did you know that the weight of the ice from ice storms can bring down power lines poles and even steel frames of electricity towers? Forecast: Some much-needed moisture is headed our way for the midweek through Friday. We could see some snow along the way as well for Thursday into Friday along with much colder air.