Karl Oskar Days was a huge hit, Please come to Relay for Life July 20

Wow, what a great weekend we had for the 50th anniversary of Karl Oskar Days. Other than a little wind and lightning the night of the fireworks, the weather was perfect. Now that Karl Oskar Days has passed, I don’t think I will offend too many people by saying that this was a very tough year to have the 50th Karl Oskar Days. Take into account the road construction all over town and couple that with Karl Oskar Days landing on the same week as the 4th of July, you would have thought no one would have been around to celebrate. To my suprise, there were people. There were plenty of people. The parade had a great turnout, the 3 on 3 basketball tournament had a great turnout, the fireworks had a good turnout (until the lightning overtook the sky), and the arts and craft show in the park was well attended. I sit on the comittee that was responsible for the street dance this year. While setting up before hand, we were guessing how many people we thought would come to the dance that night. My guess was around 400 people. Umm, to say I was off is an understatement. Over 1,000 people came out to watch Slamabama perform. That is amazing.

The best part of all?  There were no incidents. No fights, no arrests, just a whole bunch of people having a great time. Thanks to all of the people who helped put on this year’s celebration. These folks meet all year round so we can celebrate for four days. Each and everyone of you is appreciated. I had a rough week last week. On top of a busy Karl Oskar Days week, I had a couple of friends pass away. Ron Carlson, a father of my good friend from my childhood and adulthood passed away on the 4th of July. I will miss him dearly. Ron was a great man, who always had words of wisdom for anyone who asked or didn’t ask. Chisago Lakes also lost an iconic figure last week. Lloyd Anderson passed away a few days ago. Name doesn’t sound familiar? Does the name Poik? I thought so. Poik is the flat-topped barber in Lindstrom, who cut hair for an amazing 55 years. He just retired last year at the age of 79. Poik was a character to say the least. One story that stands out in my mind, was from when we had just moved here. My dad went to Poik to get a haircut one day and there was another gentleman there as well. As my dad sat listening to their conversation he could not believe what he heard. Poik had asked the man where he is from. The man stated that he had recently moved here from the Twin Cities. As their conversation continued, Poik did some more inquiring. He asked the man “You got any kids?” and the man replied “Yes, I have three”. Poik proceeded to put down his clippers and tell the man “Go back to where you came from, we don’t need anymore kids up here.”

The man turned about ten shades of white and had no idea how to respond. Then he looked at my dad who was absolutely crying he was laughing so hard. That was Poik. Once you got to know him, he had a great sense of humor. I will miss Poik. I will miss seeing him driving his little blue truck around town, keeping an eye on the town. I will miss seeing him at all of the military services. We lost a good one folks. I hope that you have a chance to go and participate in the Chisago County Relay for Life event next week. The life changing event will be held at the Almelund Threshing Grounds on July 20 and goes through the night. Everyone has someone or knows of someone who has been touched by Cancer. This is a chance to honor those people and a chance to fight this disgusting disease. Trust me folks, you will not experience a more moving event. You can still register a team or if you just wish to come out and support the cause individually, either way, they will be thrilled to have you. Local resident MJ Savaiano has been on a trip to India with some local students. We have been keeping you intouch with the group via our website and Facebook.

MJ has been so kind to write a summary of their exciting trip. You are invited to check it out by clicking on the follow students in India link. From there, click on summary. The group has done and seen some amazing stuff in India and you can now read about all of it. We finally had to cut-off all whom have yet to pay for their sunscription. If you happen to be one of those, do not worry. Just give us a call at 651-257-5115 and we can get you back in the system without missing a single edition of the Press. I know I say this alot and I should say it even more, but here it goes. Thank you. Everyday I wake and come to this place, I thank God. I thank him for allowing me to work in my favorite community in the world. I thank him for our readers, our advertisers and of course my employees. I don’t mean to get religious here, I am just trying to make a point about gratefulness. Sometimes this place might keep me up at night fretting about things, but when I look at the big picture, it is a pretty fantastic place to work.