Busy, busy, busy, whew it was a long weekend, more excitement this weekend

What a weekend that was. I hope we never have a scheduled weekend like that again. Wannigan Days, Relay For Life and the Chisago Lakes Triathlon, all at the same time. Other than the storms that pushed through early Saturday morning, the Relay For Life had beautiful weather. People came out in droves to support each other and to stand up against cancer. God bless all of the people that worked so hard on the Relay. Talk about unselfish, these people are the epitome of unselfish. Maybe it is the intense feelings that run rampant during the relay, but there is something special going there. Something out of the ordinary. There is an aura in the air that is so hard to explain other than it is life changing. Thank you for supporting the Relay For Life, and for the organizers - a huge thank you for all you do! Wannigan Days had sort of an odd twist this year. Because of the bridge construction, some of the regular events Taylors Falls and St. Croix Falls share, were nixed this year. The annual tug-o-war wa cancelled, and the parade which used to begin in St. Croix Falls and meander across the bridge and finish in Taylors Falls was also cancelled. Each city did end up having their own parade, so residents were treated to abbreviated parades. Other than those two items, it was business (or should I say fun) as usual for Wannigan Days.

There seemed to be tons of people out and about, especially Saturday afternoon. Temps were very warm, just what you would expect for a parade or parades. Thanks to all of the great people on both sides of the river for making Wannigan Days another great event despite a little road construction. The Chisago Lakes Triathlon was the third event taking place this busy weekend. If you have never been out to watch the race, you would be blown away at just how many people come to our area to race. There were 1,335 people that raced on Sunday and 279 kids that raced on Saturday. That is amazing. Pretty impressive growth considering we didn’t have 800 race in our first traithlon six years ago. I had a full day on Sunday. (Why is he always talking about himself?) I had to take swimming pictures then hop on my motorcycle and be a drafting judge for three hours and finally run the water station outside of our house. I encountered a few firsts this year. I had to call 911 for the first time. A man was putting his water bottle back on his bike when he inadvertently swerved and hit the woman racing next to him. She went head over handle bars and was hurt fairly badly. Her bike was a mess and she was bleeding in three places. Thankfully Barb Barnes and Jon Alvin happened to be passing by. They stayed with the woman until the ambulance arrived. The second first I had was back at our water station. Our station is in the Sahara Desert.

Meaning, there are no trees or shade for miles and the runners are really laboring by the time they reach our station. We had two families helping us and we, like other stations, had been busting our tails for hours. We were at a point where the racers were few and far between, when one racer approached us. I had gotten our group a couple of beers to celebrate a job well done. The runner stopped to work some cramps out and noticed we had beer. I offered one to him which he gladly accepted. He throughly enjoyed the beer, thanked us and off he went. I guarantee he will talk about the Chisago Lakes Triathlon for years. Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers that made the triathlon a huge success once again. Everywhere you looked there was a volunteer. None of them were standing around either, they all had a mission and they completed it flawlessly. Thanks to Tangi and Lori from the Chisago Lakes Chamber of Commerce.

They worked so hard on the race, before the race and after the race. I would call them and thank them, but they are probably still sleeping. This is a tough time for many families right now. The economy is down, many people have lost their jobs and foreclosures are at an all time high. If you happen to fall into that category, my heart goes out to you. No one chooses to struggle. No one elects to lose their job. It just happens. We as a society need to lean on our faith and trust that there is a reason for all of this. I do not mean to be preachy, but our faith is the one thing no one anywhere can take away from us. If you happen to be in the process of a foreclosure or recently been foreclosed on and really wanted to keep your home, I might have some help. We are looking for homeowners who truly desire to keep their homes. If your home was or is being foreclosed on, and you did not see the legal notice in any editions of the Chisago County Press, you might have a case to win your house back. If you know someone who is going through this or if you are, please contact us.  We would love nothing more than to help you. All you have to do is submit your name, contact information, address of your property and a copy of the published notice or the name of the paper the notice was published in and the dates it ran. Please send it to Foreclosures - County Press, PO Box 748, Lindstrom, MN 55045. I promise you, there is 100 percent confidentiality. To read more, go to our website and click on the “Foreclosed?” tile. We need to slow it down and maybe dial it back to one celebration per week. So for this weekend, let’s focus on Center City Days.  

Center City Days begins today and runs through Sunday. We have a two page spread with all of the events and details in this edition of the County Press. Friday has the popular Kiddie Parade which begins at 5:30 at the Chisago Lake Church. Bring your child dressed as their favorite character and let them be the star of the parade. Following the parade, their is a community potluck picnic at Water Tower Park. For those of you who don’t know where that is, just turn on Mobeck and then take a right on Center Avenue to the park. The firemen will be hosting community Bingo beginning at 7 in the fire hall. On Saturday the day begins with a 5K run at 8:30 a.m. that will take runners through the streets of Center City. At 9:15, the kids will get their chance as they enter the Kids Run. Both adults and children should meet at the fire hall prior to the races. There wil be a craft fair along with kids games and an inflatable castle all day on Saturday. Also on Saturday, there is a waterball competition over by Marine Dock and Lift. Sunday you can enjoy pancakes at the fire hall, stroll over to a great classic car show and then enjoy a community ice cream social capped off with a treasure hunt in Lorens Park out on the point. Come on out and support Center City, they do so much for the rest of us, we can show our support back