Cleaning Up Downtown Owatonna

Members of the Owatonna ALC, both staff and students, spent a recent day cleaning up downtown Owatonna. The Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism thanks them for their work. Businesses that sponsored a lunch for the workers includes RE/MAX Venture, Carla's Candies and Sweets, Wintrust Mortgage, Elks Lodge, Owatonna Eagles American Legion and Vern Wilker and the Steele County Pork Producers.

In their "Tuesday Talk" e-newsletter, the Owatonna chamber announces the flower basket program is up and running for the summer. The chamber is still accepting donations and hopes to put up a few more flower baskets.

News from chamber members:

• Little Theatre of Owatonna announces that Austin VonRuden, Payton Jorgensen and Matthew Bueltel are the winners of the 2019 Leta Alexander Scholarships.
• LTO also announced their lineup of productions for the 2019-2020 season. Check out the list here.
• Manke's Outdoor Equipment and Appliance received an award from Toro.
• The Owatonna Foundation announces nontraditional scholarships.
• The Steele County Historical Society will host a bus tour at the end of June.

"Tuesday Talk" also reports that Made in Owatonna was a great success, stating the goal was "to expose students to great job opportunities in Owatonna (and Steele County). We survey students who attend the event on attitudes and feelings before and after the of tours and presenters." Students reported they learned a lot and felt positive about the opportunities locally.

The Owatonna Economic Development Authority and MainStreet are hosting a program on updating your business inside and out. The HOW Behind the WOW will be held at Torey's Restaurant in downtown Owatonna June 18 at 5:30 pm. Review "Tuesday Talk" for more details on this and other activities.