WILLMAR—For three years running, Minnesota has led the nation in voter turnout, with 79.6% of eligible voters casting ballots in the last general election.
That still leaves one in five eligible voters not exercising their right to have a say in our democracy.
That figure explains why Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon and Simone Frierson, voter outreach director for the office, gathered Wednesday morning at the Midtown Plaza in Willmar with representatives from a variety of organizations.
WILLMAR—On Friday, November 12, 2021, the Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission (EDC) was awarded a $76,000 Small Business Partnership Grant by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). The goal of this grant is to fund programs that promote the growth and success of entrepreneurs and small businesses in Minnesota; a great fit for the EDC’s new Elevate Business Academy.
Elevate Business Academy is the first and only Community Business
PRINSBURG, MN, November 8, 2021: On Tuesday, November 2nd, the Prinsburg City Council held a community broadband meeting at the Prinsburg Community Center to complete the next step towards a fiber-to-the home broadband project in partnership with Arvig. Over 40 people were in attendance, including community members and business owners, City representatives, Arvig Enterprises, Inc., and Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission Broadband Committee members.
Access to high-speed
HUTCHINSON—More than two decades of helping entrepreneurs get started in southwest Minnesota has taught Scott Marquardt many lessons, but perhaps none so important as these.
This place grows them, and they like it here.
How else to explain the Douglass brothers, Carl, Brian and Sean, and their commitment to Douglass Innovations in northern Kandiyohi County? They turn dreams into finished products on a 24-hour cycle taking advantage of advanced 3D printer technology.
“They could do this anywhere,”
WILLMAR—The Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar’s Economic Development Commission began training the second Elevate class of entrepreneurs and local business owners Sept. 16.
The 12-week Elevate course offers hands-on training in business planning and management while providing business education and coaching specifically tailored to underserved minority entrepreneurs in the county.
The EDC partnered with the Southwest Initiative Foundation in 2017 to design and implement a Business Retention
NEW LONDON—Set among rolling hills covered in prairie grass and oak trees, Bethesda North Pointe, in rural New London, is the newest senior living community in Kandiyohi County.
Construction of the $21 million project began in the fall of 2019 and the facility is set to begin welcoming new residents this fall—just as Bethesda launches its year-long 125th anniversary celebration.
Founded in 1897, Bethesda operates its flagship, multi-faceted senior care facility complex in Willmar, as well as
WILLMAR—Two public hearings will be held at the Nov. 1 Willmar City Council meeting in regard to an expansion project at the Willmar Poultry Innovations facility near the Willmar Wastewater Treatment Plant on the western outskirts of Willmar.
The public hearings are mandated before the council can consider selling and rezoning the property Willmar Poultry is interested in buying.
The land in question wraps around the current poultry facility located on Kandiyohi County Road 116/75th Street, next
The Highway 23 Coalition has a vision of a four-lane corridor from the far southwest corner of the state near Luverne all the way up to Hinckley, just before drivers reach the popular North Shore. It is a vision that will require a lot of time, effort and money to make a reality, but it is a job the coalition seems willing to take on.
“We want the whole corridor, and we are not going to stop until we get it,” said Donna Boonstra, coalition chair.
In Minnesota, there isn’t a complete four-lane
NEW LONDON—For a town known as “the city on the pond,” it’s only appropriate that a business called Lucky Duck landed in New London.
Located in the former Mill Pond Mercantile building in downtown New London, the 7,500-square-foot Lucky Duck is filled floor to ceiling with shelves of games, toys, puzzles, books and opportunities for hands-on play. There’s also hand-dipped ice cream, popcorn and old-fashioned sweet treats in the two-story toy store with a mission of fun.
“We want it
WILLMAR—Giving customers “revolutionary solutions” to help them “feed the world” was the driving force that engineers at Nova-Tech Engineering in Willmar used to develop an all-in-one piece of equipment that performs multiple tasks to prepare fresh shrimp for market.
The automated platform, called ShrimpWorks, has the potential to dramatically change how fresh shrimp are processed here in west central Minnesota’s burgeoning shrimp industry and in countries around the world — including
