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My son and I decided to purchase tickets to the first annual Wrestling Fundraiser last Friday. Earlier in the week I spoke with Joe Virga, one of the founders of the event, and he told me that the outlook was grim. They were over 100 tickets short of selling all 350 tickets to the event.

Keep in mind that these tickets were $100 per couple, which is quite a hefty donation for any person. Feeling like I should do my part, I purchased tickets the afternoon of the fundraiser. When we pulled up to the Chisago City Community Center, I could not believe the number of cars that were already there.

Once inside, the line for the food had to be 250 people deep and growing. Dr. Virga gave an emotional speech on how in the last couple of days, the community had really stepped up to the plate and bought more tickets. Around an hour into the event, there was an announcement that all 350 tickets had been sold. Unbelievable. There had to be 600 people packed into the Community Center, and they all were having a great time. The food was wonderful (Eichten's catered the event), the drinks were flowing, and everyone was buying raffle tickets to win various things.

Having my son's last 4th grade football game at 7:30 in the morning the next day, we were forced to leave at around 8:30 or so. By that time they had already given out 100 prizes ranging from designer purses to $400 cash.

Thank you to the community for turning out and supporting the Chisago Lakes wrestling program. With all of the school shortfalls (state wide), an outside fundraiser for a sport can be seen as nothing short of amazing. I can not speak for the wrestling program, but I guarantee they thank you from the bottom of their hearts.

The search for a new balloon director of the Celebration of the Lakes is still on. While there have been a few inquiries, we have yet to find that special someone. If you love hot air balloons, and are good at coordinating, we would love to talk with you. Like I wrote earlier, we have the luxury of having John Schmidt, the current coordinator, train the person who accepts this position. It's really a great chance to meet new people, and most importantly, a great chance to get active in our community.

If you think you might be the person we are looking for, please call the Chisago Lakes Chamber of Commerce at 651-257-1177. Trust me folks, this is a fun, rewarding position, and the right person will have a blast.

I had a really nice meeting with Lindstrom City Administrator John Olinger and Chisago County HRA/EDA Director Chris Eng and Tangi Schaapveld, the Executive Director of the Chisago Lakes Chamber of Commerce, last week.

The meeting was called by Eng, who wanted us to know that he was applying for a grant from the State of Minnesota. The grant will be strictly used for promoting the great businesses of downtown Lindstrom before and during the construction of the split pairs.

I know there has been many, many upset people who will be affected by the construction, and I totally see their point, but you have to trust me when I say, the City of Lindstrom without question, wishes no damage either financially, or emotionally upon any business.

The County, the City of Lindstrom, the Chamber of Commerce really want to help out the businesses. They, along with the County Press, are working hard to figure out ways to promote business during the construction phase. If you have any ideas on how to promote the businesses of downtown Lindstrom during the construction, please drop me a line. This whole ordeal is going to be rough on all of us, but believe me, there are people working hard for you and I.

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