First things first – come one, come all to the Murder on the Yellowstone Trail mystery dinner at the Rock on October 28th and 29th, 5pm! Tickets – $45 for a meal and a show ($35 for students) – are available at granitefallsarts.org/ murder-mystery-dinner, as well as at the Volstead House Museum, the Rock, and the Bluenose Gopher. Attendees are encouraged to come in costume to this joint fundraiser for the Arts Council and the Granite Falls Historical Society – either 1920s-style or Halloween attire will suit. There will be prizes for best-dressed, as well as a 1920s photo booth. This writer can attest: reading the proposed menu made her quite hungry. Our resident artist Leah Cook has had, yet again, a busy week. She shared one of its highlights: “While driving through town, Carol from the Mercantile spotted a kids’ ATV/ buggy someone put out with the trash and turned around to get me the address. The owner and I weren’t able to fit it into my car, so I was able to get a neighbor-favor from a retired professional truck driver with a pick-up, who scooped it up and dropped it at the ag welding class. That was a score all the way around.” Why was Leah thrilled to find a child-size ATV on the side of the road? Its smallish wheels will make a great base for a Wonder Box – the movable, magical pieces of physical art she’s teaming up with YME students to create and then install around town. In addition to supervising teens flying drones over the river, singing alto with the Building Bridges choir, and more, Leah’s been actively scrounging. If you have any of the below items to donate, she’d love to hear from you! Leah says, “People can call or text me at 207-3166776 or pass word on to me through anyone. I’ll work out whether it matches what we need and make any arrangements.” Here’s what she needs: - More Wonder Box bases. Wheelbarrows, little garden wagons, skateboards, broken mowers: anything with wheels or skis and a low center of gravity!

I hope you aren’t tired of reading about Medicare Open Enrollment yet! It really is an important time and there’s so much information that I could probably fill a page and still wish I had more space. Each year I meet with people who have never participated before and so I’d like to share what happens at the appointment.

The Prairie Five Meals program of Prairie Five Community Action Council, Inc. has been awarded a community impact grant from the United Way of Southwest Minnesota (UWSWMN) of $8,000. These funds will help offset the cost of providing meals to the older adult population thereby promoting healthy and independent living through improved nutrition and reduced social isolation. This work aligns with UWSWMN’s hunger priority area.

Each week, the Advocate Tribune will share a photograph from our archives for you to “guess who”. To submit your guesses, send us a message by email to jstolen-jacobson@cherryroad.com or message our Facebook page. We will publish the answers the next week.

My wife and I made a trip up north to see Michael Bolton at the Grand Casino Mille Lacs in Onamia on Saturday. We witnessed all the fall colors along the way. Some areas were very vibrant still, but other areas have seen their peak for the season. Across much of central and west central Minnesota, the DNR shows that the colors are at 50% to 70% peak, with again, some locations already at the peak. The best spot to see the fall colors right now are a few pockets in extreme western and southern Minnesota.