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Chisago County (yes the County) lost an icon this week.  Mike Robinson has passed away.  For those of you who don’t recognize the name or it sounds somewhat familiar, Mike dutifully served as County Commissioner for 21 years.  He represents the north part of Chisago County, and south along the west side of North Branch. His home was Rush City.  

When I started here, Mike and I got off on the wrong foot.  We didn’t see eye to eye on a few topics and Mike was never one to not tell you how he was feeling.  His stoic face made you think he was ready for trouble; but in reality he was a great and funny guy.  Even when he was joking around, it would take me a minute to figure out he was pulling my leg.  We had a meeting of the minds over a beer at a winter,  outdoor event many years ago and have had a great relationship ever since.  

Mike has done much for the county and ALWAYS had his constituents’ best interests in mind.  He fought tooth and nail for them and he will definitely be irreplaceable.

If you are looking for something fun to do, I have an idea.  Have you ever been to the Chisago County History Center in Lindstrom?  Before you say the words in your head “That sounds boring”, wait.  It is not like it sounds.  It is one of the coolest places around and it is jam-packed with incredible items from all eras of our county.  I mean jam-packed.  What I like about it is that it’s hands-on for the most part.  You can read books, look at old toys, view thousands of photos...you can spend an entire day in the History Center.  How cool is it to see photos of downtown Lindstrom, Chisago City, Shafer, Taylors Falls, North Branch, Harris, Almelund and more?  If you haven’t been, you are doing yourself a disservice.  It is located at 12795 Lake Blvd, Lindstrom,55045 and is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

That was an amazing weekend of pro football.  Yes the Packers lost, but that wasn’t even close to the best game.  Every game went to the wire with the KC and Buffalo game scoring touchdowns every 30 seconds.

The one thing I did notice was the majority of quarterbacks in the playoffs are young.  Gives us purple fans hope that a new regime will have the vision to find a young (fearless) quarterback to lead them to the promised land - or at the very least a playoff win.  Now it’s the wait and see game for a GM and coach.

If you get a chance, please remember to donate to the local food shelf.  ALL of your donations stay local and you are helping your neighbors.  The food pantries are located at 10586 Liberty Lane in Chisago City and 6381 Main St. in North Branch.

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