ellendale

I tried my hand at painting with the help of the Clinks and Canvas gals who were at the Steele County Historical Society Thursday night. It was fun. There were eight tables and each one set for three painters. A small easel, paint brushes sitting on a paper towel, a mason jar filled with water and a not-so-blank canvas, plus a plastic apron...

The Steele-Waseca Co-op Electric 80th annual meeting was Tuesday, June 7, in Owatonna. According to a press release, 824 members and guests attended and that is the largest attendance since 2009. Steele-Waseca Co-op Electric services a nine-county area including Steele, Waseca, Rice, Freeborn, Dodge, Faribault, Blue Earth, Goodhue and Le Sueur...

Area towns are remembering our fallen veterans. In Owatonna, at 9:30AM Monday, May 30, the American Legion and VFW parade begins on School Street, going south on Elm Avenue to the Four Seasons Center on the Steele County Fairgrounds by 10:30AM for the Memorial Day program...

Ellendale will be the setting for free Saturday night concerts for the third year starting Memorial Day weekend and ending Labor Day weekend. Concerts will be held between the cafe and the bank near the mural. If the weather is bad, concerts will be inside the Ellendale Community Building...

Murals are paintings that will transform a blank wall into a piece of art for many to enjoy. Mostly they are found outside, but sometimes inside buildings, too. Murals may tell a story or may be about school and city pride. Murals can also be a welcoming sign...

The Ellendale School will be the setting for Garden Party Bingo on Saturday, April 30, starting at 6:30PM. There will be 40 games of bingo with one card selling for $15 or two cards for $25. Winners will get to take their pick of the prizes...

Steele County has a couple of original names for cities, which are Owatonna and Blooming Prairie. Also within the county are a number of townships that are cities and townships in other states. To find out what other states our cities were in I went to NOAA and typed in the city and it listed the information...

The winter storm for our area seems to have passed. In Ellendale, I measured both on the back steps and the driveway in the front yard. I measured about 8 inches. According to NOAA, the heaviest snowfall started about 1AM and lasted until 6AM, with visibility down to a quarter of a mile or less at times...

Steele County as we know it today was established in 1856 and named after Franklin Steele, who was a governmental contractor, according to the county's website. The county is 432 square miles. The population in 1860 was 2,863 and the 2011 Census placed the population at 36,350 According to the city of Blooming Prairie, in 1856 it was first known as Oak Glen Township...

It was a nice night to get out and celebrate National Night Out and Night To Unite that took place on Tuesday, Aug. 4. It was a night to get to know your neighbors and law enforcements and let criminals know that crime will not be tolerated...