Get your wrestling extravaganza tickets now; we have a great 'Summer Camp' section

We are quickly coming up on the Chisago Lakes Wrestling Extravaganza. This is the third year the booster club has held the event, and each year it continues to grow. The first year it was held at the Chisago City Community Center which was filled to the point that people were eating their dinner in the coat room. The second year, they moved it to Lent Town Hall and it was the perfect size venue for the event.

Lent Town Hall is the site of this year’s banquet as well. What is a wrestling extravaganza? It is a great dinner for 350 supporters of the wrestling program, that includes drinks and dancing afterwards. Along with wonderful food, there are cash prizes drawn, 50 to be exact. Those prizes range anywhere from $50 to a grand prize of $5,000. Along with the cash prizes, there will be raffles for firearms, jerseys, game tickets, jewelery, Coach purses and more. Remember, there are only 350 tickets sold, so your odds of winning are pretty darn good. The extravaganza will take place April 14. To get your tickets, call Joe Virga at 651-257-1000 or 651-335-1126. Tickets may be purchased at the door. I would personally like to thank all of the people who called and wrote me to show their support of the paper. Words can not express how sincerely it touches me to hear and read such nice words.

I appreciate each and every reader no matter what their opinion is of me or the paper. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Speaking of the paper, you may have noticed that we began our early renewal campaign once again. On page two, you will see a coupon for renewing your subscription to the Press. Simply cut out the coupon and send it in along with your payment and we promise you won’t miss a single issue of the Chisago County Press. We have a special gift for our readers this year. Instead of giving away something to our new subscribers, we are offering a really cool t-shirt to our existing subscribers if they refer a new subscriber to us.

All you have to do is make sure the new subscriber mentions your name when subscribing, and we will be sure to get you a t-shirt out promptly. Keeping in the paper mode, make sure to take a close look at this edition of the Press. Inside, we will have our yearly Camps section. It is filled with ideas for summer camps as well as day camps and even camps for families. Gone are the days of kids being “sent away” to summer camp. Nowadays, kids actually beg to go to camp. They have re-defined camps and made them so much fun for kids of all ages. Take a look at the paper with your children and see if there is a camp that would pique their interest. My son and I decided to go to the Chisago Lakes Variety Show on Thursday evening.


He is 12 so I was a little worried that I would lose him when the singing began. I was shocked when the show was over and he told me how much fun he had. The show itself was wonderful. Charlie Wilcox, who has written for the Press, was the emcee and did a fabulous job. He mixed a lot of high brow humor (it is Charlie we are talking about) with a little bit of physical comedy. He even took a few shots on teachers and even his principal. The show features a few sets from the Jazz Band which did a great job all night. There was dancing by Kim Merry and Marissa Johnston, that was really neat. The night featured a few musical solos by Madeleine Hallberg (piano), Margaret Gerty (violin), and Johnathan Wawrzaszek (piano). Holy smokes people, these kids have so much talent. I seriously could sit and listen to these kids play for hours on end. There was singing-a-plenty at the show as well. Karen Holt, Rebekah Meyer, and Diane Hawkinson did a great rendition of “New Girls in Town”. Kayla Mack, with the help from Joey Eikens, Beau Hawkinson, Avery Turner and Al Vrudny did a great job singing “Dixon’s Girl”. Much to the crowd’s pleasure (the younger crowd, myself included) Danny Kimlinger and Mike Serbus (with mixmaster) Eric Barnes proceeded to belt out a really cool rap song.

The stage chorus did a fantastic job all night, but the favorite song had to be “I got the moves like Jangor”. The chorus played off a popular song called “I got the moves like Jagger” and twisted them to poke a little fun at their physical education teacher Herb Jangor. There was a really neat clogging presentation by Hayley Turner. The flagline did a cool routine that involved throwing their flags all over the place. Finally, the duo of JP Paulus and Diane Hawkinson had the crowd in stitches during their magic show. Congratulations to all who participated in, and those who worked behind the scenes, it was a great show! March is coming to an end but it’s not too late to donate! The food shelf has until April 5, to get all donations collected and counted towards the Minnesota Food Share. March is very important for food shelves.

Brinks and Lindstrom foods have pre-packed donation bags that can be purchased for the food pantry. The bags are filled with items that are in need. There are $5 and $10 bags. It’s a terrific way to help out the food pantry! And there are food collection bins at the US Bank and Central Bank in Chisago City as well.