THE TABLE
Elevate Community Business Academy (CBA) Spring 2022 Graduation Celebration & Dinner | 6.28.2022
Willmar, MN
Students gather, getting corsages pinned carefully onto them, faces smiling at one another as they arrive. Their families come in, staying in the background snapping pictures. It is a big night—graduation.
The students have met once a week for three hours for the last 12 weeks as part of the Elevate Community Business Academy. Sarah Swedburg, Business Development Manager
Amin Grocery | Willmar, MN
Abdiweli Yusuf | Owner
Amin Grocery, like its owner, is a busy place. Product and people are all organized into the small grocery store in downtown Willmar, but bigger things are coming. Amin Grocery will be moving to a new, larger space soon. Abdiweli Yusuf, the owner, shows off the space, clean and spacious. And while looking around the walls he pictures it; plenty of storage for the fresh produce and specialty drinks his patrons want.
In the future, even a meat market
Confirmation students from Calvary Lutheran Church in Willmar recently spent time learning a little bit about their neighbors during a tour of Somali- and Latino-owned businesses in downtown Willmar.
WILLMAR — Confirmation students at Calvary Lutheran Church in Willmar recently had the opportunity to get to know their diverse neighbors, taking a tour of different stores in downtown Willmar, eating ethnic foods, and hearing about the life of a Somali refugee who settled in Willmar with his family.
“I
Willmar’s new suit store offers options for men to be occasion-ready, no matter the event they will be attending.
WILLMAR — A new store in Willmar opened just in time to help local young men find the perfect suit or tuxedo to wear for one of the highlights of their high school years — prom.
Read the full story at the West Central Tribune
A cooperative project between Kandiyohi County and Charter Communications will bring broadband to more than 170 rural, unserved homes and small businesses in the county. Charter is investing more than $563,000, and the county has committed nearly $240,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Read the full story from the West Central Tribune
WILLMAR — Minnesota is proud of its agricultural heritage, including being the No. 1 producer of turkeys in the nation. Unfortunately, that also means the state is being hit hard by this year’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Since late March, nearly 1.4 million turkeys and chickens in Minnesota have been impacted and culled at 40 different sites — most of them commercial poultry producers and six of them in Kandiyohi County alone.
“We knew this was coming. We saw
WILLMAR—Over the past year, Kandiyohi County has been concentrating on bringing high-speed broadband to all corners of the county. The County Board has even pledged to use up to 75% of its American Rescue Plan Act coronavirus relief money to fund various broadband projects.
At the Feb. 15 County Board meeting, the commissioners approved a letter of support for a grant application being pursued by a party outside of Kandiyohi County. Vibrant Broadband from Litchfield is applying for a USDA ReConnect
WILLMAR—At their annual visit to the Kandiyohi County Board of Commissioners, District 17 Senator Andrew Lang, R-Olivia, and District 17B Representative Dave Baker, R-Willmar, were on hand to not only give an update on what is happening in St. Paul, but to also take in the concerns and priorities of the board.
“We’re here today to listen,” Baker said.
The topic the group spent the most time on during Tuesday’s meeting was broadband. Since early 2021, the county board has
WILLMAR— Despite a shortage of trained inspectors, Kandiyohi County was able to stop 230 violations of the state’s aquatic invasive species rules at boat launches of several county lakes this year. Any one of those violations, if the boats had reached the water, could have led to increased spread of aquatic invasive species, which are known to have a negative impact on the ecosystems of the lake.
“We did catch a good number of violations this year,” said Russ Hilbert, county
WILLMAR—Twenty-three homes along 30th Avenue Northwest in Dovre Township of Kandiyohi County might soon have access to high-speed broadband. A proposed Charter project would bring speeds up to 100 megabits download and 20 megabits upload to the area, which is currently considered unserved by the state.
“It is kind of isolated,” said Kandiyohi County Administrator Larry Kleindl at the Dec. 21 Kandiyohi County Board of Commissioners meeting. “We are trying to get them some broadband
