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How great was the Taylors Falls Lighting Festival last weekend?  If you remember last year it was a total downpour for the entire parade.  This year, the temps were good and droves of people came out. Nice job to all who put on the festival!

The lighting festivals are making their way to Lindstrom and Chisago City this weekend.  Lindstrom invites you and your family to the lighting festival Saturday evening. Beginning at 4:30 pm in All County Veterans Memorial Park, you will be treated to free hot dogs and brats with chips, hot cocoa, coffee and marshmallows for roasting in one of the many fire pits outside.  The high school brass ensemble will perform and the Santa Lucia carolers will entertain with Santa and Mrs. Claus will turn the lights on at 5:30 p.m.  You are encouraged to bring your camera for pics with Santa.  They are asking that you please bring a non-perishable food item to be donated to the local food shelf.

Chisago City will hold its annual lighting festival on Sunday in Moberg Park.  Beginning at 4:30 p.m. you will enjoy horse drawn carriage rides, Christmas caroling, refreshments, music, bonfires and of course Santa.  The lights will be turned on at 5 p.m. with Santa making a grand appearance shortly after.  They encourage your children to bring a self-addressed stamped envelope along with their letter to Santa, because Santa will write a response to them.  Much like Lindstrom, the folks at Chisago City ask that you please bring a non-perishable food item for the local food shelf.

There are a couple of great opportunities to pick up some Christmas presents this Saturday.  Chisago Lake Lutheran Church and the City of Lindstrom are both holding craft fairs and both begin at 9 a.m.  Chisago Lake Lutheran’s bazaar runs until 3 p.m. and will feature tons of great present ideas as well as baked goods, a sloppy jo lunch and raffle prizes that include MN Wild tickets, $100 gift cards and a $150 mystery box.  For those of you who don’t know where the church is, it’s located in Center City along Summit Avenue.

The Lindstrom holiday craft fair will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and feature a ton of vendors with great present ideas for your family. It’s at the community center at Lions Park.

A couple more items for this weekend:  first the Chisago Lakes Marching Band is holding a great mattress sale at the high school this Saturday. You can get some outrageous prices on name-brand mattresses, shop locally and support  the marching band uniform replacement fund.  The sale runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday, after the sale, after the craft fairs, after the lighting festival, head to the high school to a warm inviting holiday concert.  Christmas in Chisago is a wonderful concert that features the Chisago Lakes choirs and bands celebrating Christmas.  The concert begins at 7 p.m. and proceeds go to senior musicians who will pursue post-secondary music education.

This weekend;  Eichten’s Cheese Farm is holding their first ever Holiday Gift Pop-Up Market.  It’s a great opportunity to purchase some of the most delectible gifts for you and your family.  They will have tours of the cheese factory as well as cheese platter pick-ups.
 
This is located on the farm (not at the store on Highway 8) so make sure you go north through Shafer then left on 310th Street to Rainbow which is where the farm driveway is located.

Many of you may have heard the story about one of our local firefighters, Mike Gaustad.  If you have, bear with me. Mike grew up in Lindstrom with his family who lived on South Center Lake across from the high school.  I have known Mike since 1981.  Mike is one of the most free-spirited fun-loving people you will ever meet.  A complete smart-alec but hilarious at the same time.  Mike never left the Chisago Lakes area and has faithfully served on the Lindstrom Fire Department for decades.  

A few months back, Mike wasn't feeling right. He was having trouble breathing.  He had always known that he could and probably would have a rare disease his mother fought and ultimately lost-- called Interstitial Lung Disease.  This is a disease that attacks his lungs and leaves permanent irreversible scarring and inflammation. The only cure is to have lung replacement, which thank God Mike had about a month ago. Mike has been resting in an induced coma for almost two months now as the doctors try to get his body to heal, but setbacks like pneumonia and internal bleeding have hindered his recovery.  Mike is literally fighting to stay alive right now.  

So what can we as a community do?  For starters, the family is asking for prayers, as many and as often as you can spare.  There’s a GoFundMe page set up to help the family with what are sure to be astronomical medical bills.  You can log onto GoFundMe.com and type in Mike Gaustad.  

Mike is by no means out of the woods, but we can help ease the burden on him and his family.

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