News

Under plans for expansion and improvement, the Waterville Fish Hatchery's original block structure will remain and be remodeled. Another building will be added to the grounds.

Waterville fish hatchery due for significant upgrades, expansion, in 2026

Though the project is working its way through some extensive planning stages, excitement runs high at the Waterville State Fish Hatchery for some long-awaited upgrades due to enter the construction phase in the spring of 2026. Waterville Area Fisheries Office and State Fish Hatchery Supervisor...

Farmamerica ‘Raise A Toast’ celebrates women in agriculture

Nearly 100 women gathered at Farmamerica the evening of Jan. 17 to celebrate the central role women have always fulfilled in agriculture and to look at some ways that could change moving forward. For the organization’s second annual “Raise a Toast” event, Farmamerica staff worked with...

Ashton Jenzen, a senior at Waseca High School, placed first in the Minnesota Voice of Democracy speech contest, sponsored by the VFW. Jenzen first won the local competition in November. Earlier this month she attended a banquet for all the state finalists where she was announced as the state-wide winner. She will go on to compete against the winners from each state in Washington D.C. in March.

In Washington D.C., there will be Voice of Democracy Parade of Winners and the national champion and runners-up will be announced. The top prize for the national competition is a $35,000 scholarship.

Jenzen has competed in the Voice of Democracy speech contest all four years of high school. Last year, she won the regional competition but did not win state. This year, she says she set the goal of taking first at the state level and is gratified to have achieved it. While Waseca has had students win the regional competition in the past, there had never been a state winner in the 21-year history of the local program.

WHS Senior delivers winning speech

There are 200 Veterans of Foreign Wars posts (VFWs) in the state of Minnesota. This year marked the seventy-eighth annual “Voice of Democracy” and “Patriot’s Pen” youth scholarship competitions. Waseca High School senior Ashton Jenzen helped put Waseca on the map this year by winning the state-...

Sleigh and Cutter Festival organizer Ken Borgmann

Waseca’s Ken Borgmann

The Waseca Sleigh and Cutter Festival is celebrating 75 years of winter spectaculars in 2025. A full schedule of contests, prizes, fireworks, food and much more begins Jan. 18 and continues through March 1. Ken Borgmann, who has led the committee which organizes the Sleigh and Cutter Festival...

Members of the Waseca city council, front from left: Mark Christiansen, Daren Arndt, Jeremy Conrath; back Mayor Randy Zimmerman, James Ebertowski, Stacey Schroeder and Gary Conrath. Pioneer photo by Eli Lutgens

Waseca council holds first meeting of 2025

The Waseca City Council’s first meeting of the year was largely organizational. During the Jan. 7 meeting, the first order of business was to issue the oath of office to all council members, both continuing and newly elected. Gary Conrath was the only new member sworn in; Stacey Schroeder,...

Members of both first-grade classes at JWP were presented with free copies of "The Kindness Booth," on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. The books were donated by Capstone Press of Mankato, and presented to children by members of the Greater Mankato Area United Way. Pioneer photo by Ben Revermann

‘The Kindness Booth’ presented to local 2nd grade students

The Greater Mankato Area United Way (GMAUW) together with the Mankato based publishing company Capstone have teamed up to present area children, kindergarten through second grade with a picture book titled “The Kindness Booth.” Capstone is donating 2,000 copies of the book; The GMAUW is is...

Far right Gary Conrath takes the oath of office during the first meeting of the year.

Pioneer photo by Eli Lutgens

Gary Conrath, Waseca’s newest city council member

It was a campaign that ran a little on the quieter side, but the evening of Jan. 7, Waseca’s newest council member, Gary Conrath was sworn in to a four-year term. Conrath, who graduated from Waseca High School in 1973, has been a very active member of the Waseca community his entire life. A...

Pastor Jason Wolter with family members who attended his recent installation at Trinity Lutheran in Janesville.

Front from left: Christa Felt; Zerubbabel (Zeb) Wolter, (youngest son); Jacob Wolter (oldest son). Middle row: James Wolter Sr.; Pastor Jason Wolter and his wife Tracy; daughter-in-law Abby. Top row: Ava Wolter (niece); Jacob Wolter (nephew); Derek Wolter (brother); Beth Wolter (sister-in-law). Not pictured is the Wolters' daughter, Isabella.

Janesville’s Trinity Lutheran welcomes Pastor Wolter

Trinity Lutheran Church of Janesville installed its newest pastor, Jason Wolter, in November. Pastor Wolter was born Sept. 15, 1972: He grew up in Waconia, Minnesota, which is a suburb of the Twin Cities. “It used to be a farm town; now there are so many businesses up there I got lost in my...

From the 74th annual Sleigh and Cutter festival held in 2024.

Sleigh and Cutter celebrating three quarters of a century

Having begun in 1950, the Waseca Sleigh and Cutter festival marks its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2025. To the best of anyone’s knowledge, the festival is the longest-running event of its kind in the country. Ken Borgmann, who’s been one of the event’s organizers since the early 1990s, says...

Andrs family from left: Kati, Nathanael, Elaina, Pastor Ken, and Naomi.

Pioneer photo by Ann Staloch

Pastor Andrs says farewell for Fertile

With just enough sun to shine through the rich stained-glass windows, Pastor Ken Andrs delivers his final message with his sonorous voice. After nearly four years of ministry at First Congregational Church in Waseca, Andrs is moving on to serve as pastor of Hope Evangelical Free Church in Fertile...