Photos from the Nessman benefit in Kensington on Saturday morning

Randy was in great spirits during the pancake feed on Saturday at the Kensington Community Center. As of 10:00am, almost 300 people had been served. The event ran from 7:30am to Noon.

Randy Nessman Benefit Saturday Morning in Kensington

Another reminder for everyone to attend the Randy Nessman benefit pancake feed on Saturday morning in Kensington.

The event will be at the Kensington Community Center from 7:30am to Noon, and it is sponsored by the Kensington Lions Club and First Lutheran Church.

Other upcoming community events:

• "Over the River and Through the Woods" at Roosevelt Hall December 4th - 7th.

General admission is available for all performances with tickets at the door; adult $12 & student $5. Curtain is at 7:30 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings with Dinner Theatre on Friday and Saturday, (Saturday dinner theatre is sold out). Sunday performance is a matinee with curtain at 2:00 pm. Dinner Theatre will feature a catered meatball dinner with all the fixings served by the Barrett Men’s Group from Peace Lutheran Church. Wine will be for sale ($3). For Friday night dinner theatre reservations only, call Tammy at 218-770-0212, $30.

• Festival of Trees in Hoffman.
  

Dates are December 5, 6 & 7. Santa Days and Customer Appreciation are on the 6th. The Main Street Galleria offered to help out with this event. Sounds like a good time to me!

• "Skate-It-Forward"

Bring your old skates to Hoffman Grocery before December 13th. There will be free skates and a skate exchange on Saturday, December 13th. Even if you don’t have skates to exchange, you are welcome to come and pick out a pair. More information to follow in the next 2 weeks. Please pass the word!

• Santa Days in Kensington on Saturday, December 13

A pancake breakfast will take place from 8am to Noon at the Kensington Community Center, with a free will offering. (I forgot where the funds go...my bad, I'll get that updated as soon as I find out.)

I'll get photos posted from the Nessman benefit this weekend. I hope everyone has had a joyous and blessed Thanksgiving weekend. I spent my Thursday at my mom's place near Lake Latokha by Alexandria.

Trying out some video on this blog

T.J. Clavin talking about kids watching movies in snowbanks...well, maybe the discussion didn't exactly go that way, but last Thursday's meeting of the Hoffman Commerce and Ag Club was a lively one, for sure. The big items discussed included all the upcoming December events in the Hoffman area.

Be sure to read the November 27th issue of the Hoffman Tribune to learn about some of those events. More will follow on the December 4th issue.

Wrapping up my day at the office now, heading down to Morris. My church in that town, First Lutheran, has a Thanksgiving meal and service tonight. I've been infrequently attending First Lutheran of Morris since leaving that town in 2001.

My home church is East Norway Lake Lutheran Church, of rural New London. I'm one of those hardy Norwegian Lutherans (originating from Sunburg, of all places!)

Happy Thanksgiving, may you spend blessed and quality time with your family. It is my hope that over the Thanksgiving weekend I can update more information on this blog from home (in Belgrade, in case anyone was wondering). The blog itself still isn't everything I want it to be, but hopefully in December I'll have more time to upload photos and video clips for people to check out.

Somehow I pulled it off, "only" a half dozen glitches in the November 27th Tribune

At left is a scene from the Monday night Hoffman Lions club meeting at the Senior Citizens Center.

Somehow, most likely with some welcomed Divine intervention, this week's paper was assembled and printed off without a hitch (well, with very few problems anyway!). Other than a missing section on the title to Peace Lutheran's "Luncheon and Bake Sale" ad, as well as problems with not having proper borders around some of my photos, this week's issue of the Tribune came out looking pretty good.

I finally was able to personally get some news items out of Kensington, when I stopped there Monday night for their Legion Post #268 meeting at the Community Center. You can find a photo and more information from that on Page 5 of the Nov. 27th Tribune.

Randy Nessman Benefit This Saturday Morning in Kensington

A benefit for Randy Nessman will be held on Saturday, Nov 29th, at Kensington Community Center from 7:30am to Noon. A pancake breakfast will be served by the Kensington Lions and First Lutheran church of Kensington.

Update at 7:40am Wednesday...My apologies that I haven't been getting much up this week. I just spent a good portion of my night assembling the November 27th issue of the Hoffman Tribune. It was fun, to say the least! All 10 pages are done and sent off to the printer.

Hope to see you all on Saturday morning at the Nessman benefit in Kensington.

Photos from Holiday Expo

A couple photos from Saturday's Holiday Expo will be posted. The event was held at Hoffman Square, in the John Kleinsasser Gymnasium, from 9am to 3pm.

Still can't figure out this blog format. It's a bit different than what I was used to on the old Blogger format. Grr... frustrations of technology!

67th Annual Minnesota Farmers Union State Convention Wraps up Sunday - Farm Bureau Convention Also Held This Weekend

Senator Amy Klobuchar talks about meat labeling laws, during the convention.
Senator Amy Klobuchar talking about problems on Wall Street during her keynote speech at the Farmers Union state convention.

Senator Amy Klobuchar and Wally Sparby at the MFU Convention on Saturday night, following the banquet. Wally works with Congressman Collin Peterson.

I just finished up my time at the MFU state convention in Minneapolis, MN. I'll begin assembly of the November 27th Thanksgiving issue of the Hoffman Tribune on Monday morning. I'll also be adding information to this blog from the MFU convention, as well as information I've receieved from the Minnesota Farm Bureau Convention, which also took place this weekend.

A sidebar...community event-related... Be sure to block out Saturday morning, December 6th on your calendar. At 9:00am, Santa will be in Kensington for Santa Days and other Christmas celebrations taking place. The information I have from this event shows events running from 8:00 to Noon that Saturday.

Sunday night at 7:00 I'll be glued to Fox on my TV, with the "24 Redemption" show airing. There is no bigger "24" fan than me!

The following is a press release regarding the Minnesota Farm Bureau state convention.

Minnesota Farm Bureau President Addresses Members Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) Kevin Paap addressed Farm Bureau members from Minnesota during the MFBF 90th Annual Meeting on November 22 at the Northland Inn. He reviewed issues that Farm Bureau played a key role in this past year and will continue to work on in 2009. The issues include: eradication, containment and control of bovine Tuberculosis (TB); proposed water permit fee increases; greenhouse gas reduction; implementation of the farm bill; food safety; and continued importance of animal agriculture and renewable fuels. Paap urged Farm Bureau members to connect with their elected officials at the local, state and national levels before they start their work at the Capitol. He also re-emphasize the importance of Farm Bureau’s policy development process. Paap reiterated the importance of communicating with consumers about who we are, and how we raise the food, fiber and fuel they use. “We must strengthen the link between farm families and urban residents to let them know where their food comes from,” said Paap. Paap concluded by asking Farm Bureau’s members to stay rooted in Farm Bureau’s tradition while continuing to cultivate a strong and secure future for agriculture. Minnesota Farm Bureau is the largest general farm organization in the state. Members determine policy through a grassroots process involving the Farm Bureau members in 78 county Farm Bureau units in a formal, democratic process. Through this process, members make their views heard to political leaders, state government officials, special interest groups and the general public. Programs for Young Farmers & Ranchers help develop leadership abilities and improve farm management. Promotion & Education committee members work with programs such as Ag in the Classroom, and safety education for farm children. Farm Bureau is active in a variety of other programs and activities. For more information, contact your county Farm Bureau office.

"The All Star Cast" for the American Legion Country Western Show

The following performers will be entertaining the public at the Hoffman Community Center on Saturday night, November 22nd... They are unpaid...they work for thunderous applause!

• Art Johnson
• Rodney Koser
• Peggy Corey and Diane Ehlers
• Craig Torgerson
• Tammie Olson
• Orlo Thompson
• Cast & Audience will perform "God Bless America" to finish the show.

A freewill offering will be used by the Auxiliary to promote and fund the programs they sponsor. Visit the lunch bar anytime!

Photos from the activities in Hoffman will be posted on Monday. May your family have a safe and blessed weekend!

Olson Steps in as Interim News Editor/Reporter at Tribune

By Randy O. Olson, interim news reporter/editor.

I’d like to say a big “Hello” to the Hoffman-Kensington community from the news desk of the Hoffman Tribune. Readers with a good memory will remember me from the 2000 campaign trail, when I was the Democratic-Farmer-Labor endorsed candidate for House District 13A.

Since that year I’ve worked in three fields, education, agriculture, and sports/community journalism. In that time, I’ve toned down my political voice yet managed to continue my strong passion for rural Minnesota.

Refer to page 2 of the November 20th issue of the Hoffman Tribune for the rest of the story!

Time to get to the activities in town here in Hoffman and get some photos...

Saturday Will be Exciting in Hoffman

Upcoming Community Events in Hoffman

THE AMERICAN LEGION WESTERN NIGHT,
WITH 7 ARTISTS, WILL BE HELD SATURDAY EVENING(NOV. 22ND)
AT 7:00PM AT THE HOFFMAN COMMUNITY CENTER.
FREE WILL OFFERING

THE HOLIDAY EXPO WILL BE HELD AT
HOFFMAN SQUARE AND THE MAIN STREET GALLERIA
FROM 9:00AM TO 3:00PM TOMORROW, NOVEMBER 22ND.

THE MAIN STREET GALLERIA GRAND OPENING IS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22ND FROM 9:00AM - 5:00PM

I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO
SHOP LOCALLY FOR THIS HOLIDAY SEASON.
WE MUST MAINTAIN THE BUSINESSES WE HAVE.
WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE THIS A STRONG COMMUNITY!

Hoffman Commerce and Ag Meeting Held on Thursday

About 20 members of the Hoffman Commerce and Ag Club attended the Noon lunch meeting at the Dew Drop Inn on Thursday afternoon.

At the Commerce & Ag meeting...the main items discussed included a large number of upcoming events in Hoffman. This coming Saturday, November 22 the Holiday Expo and the Galleria Open House will take place. The Holiday Expo is at the John Kleinsasser gymnasium, while the Galleria Open House is...at the Galleria!

As this is only my third actual day of working in Hoffman, I am still enamored by the incredible level of activity going on in the Galleria. It's exciting to hear about the future Healthcare Mall as well.

The Hoffman Holiday Expo will take place from 9am to 3pm on Saturday, November 22nd, at the Hoffman Square and Main Street Galleria.

• Free Admission
• Gift for the first 100 customers
• Bring your friends!
• Children's area
• Door prizes
• Lunch available, served by Lincoln Church.

I've still got some glitches on this blog format to work out. but hopefully after using it for a few days I'll have things looking pretty sharp.

More updates will follow on Friday.

Horizons Meeting on Wednesday Draws Big Crowd

An estimated 70 Hoffman-area residents were on hand for the Wednesday, November 19th Horizons meeting.

And in all my interest at taking photos of everyone at the event...after taking roughly 70 photos, I failed to get a shot of the whole crowd! Gasp!

A warm meal and daycare was provided to the audience prior to the meeting. Three members of the University of Minnesota Extension staff were on hand to facilitate the meeting.

Items discussed included basic "brainstorming" ideas that were developed at study circles that took place in Hoffman over the past few months.