Dusting Off the Archives
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News from Verndale's Past
40 Years Ago, July 30, 1986
• It’s time once again to dust off your strawhat and sunbonnet and join the people pleasers in Verndale for the 11th annual Strawhat and Sunbonnet Day celebration. This year’s activities begin on Saturday, August 2, at 9 a.m., with arts, crafts and concessions in the park. There will be two parades—an 11 a.m. Kiddie Parade and 2 p.m. Grand Parade. Flyte Freestyle, USA, freestyle bike riders, will demonstrate their skilled acrobatic bicycle maneuvers during the parade and afterwards next to the park on First Avenue.
• Jerry Faber, chain saw artist, will show you how he turns an ordinary block of wood into a work of art with a common chain saw. He created the Sorehead statue and other works of art for the Verndale Surplus Sorehead Park.
• The Verndale City float took first place honors in the Hewitt Festival parade last Saturday. Waving to the bystanders was Miss Verndale Kim Trosen. The float also made two appearances in the Minneapolis Aquatennial parade. An invitation has been extended for Verndale to enter its float in the St. Cloud parade next summer.
• Sherri McClure, of Verndale, received the championship ribbon in the Court of Honor construction with her blue and white outfit at the 4-H Fashion Revue held at the Wadena County Fair on Friday, July 18. Carla Johnson was reserve champion. Aura Lea Unger received a blue ribbon for her colorful jacket; Angie Boyd and Barb Leonard were both named to the Court of Honor in Construction.
15 Years Ago, August 4, 2011
• On July 1, Verndale School’s new principal, Tom Riitters, began his new position. He was officially hired by the board on June 27. Previously Riitters had taught fifth grade in Brainerd for three years, taught elementary in Little Falls for six years, and for the last five years he was the dean of students and junior high activities director at Little Falls Middle School.
• Wadena County’s Farm Family of the Year is Terry and Jean Perius of Verndale. The Perius family bought the McGrady Farm in 1983. Terry farmed, but also worked off the farm for 12 years. He quit his job and they bought a dairy herd and milked for four years at his mother’s farm in Verndale. In 1992, they sold the dairy cows and the McGrady farm and bought their current farm, the Ludlow farm, which enabled them to crop farm corn, oats, wheat, sunflowers and alfalfa hay. They have three kids, Christopher, Lance and Melissa, who were involved in scouts and 4-H.
• Donna Denny of Verndale has been a fixture in the Verndale cafeteria for five years now. “After the Pirate’s Den closed down, I was just looking for something to do,” said Denny. So she contacted Vickie Thompson at the school about helping out in some way with the lunch program. She says the best part of what she does is “the kids.”
• Contractor Jeff Larson of Larson Excavating Contractors, of Holdingford, discussed Verndale’s water problems with local landowners and the Verndale City Council. Larson and the landowners disagreed on the main cause for the flooded fields and basements in Verndale. Larson is the contractor working on the City’s Sewer and Water Improvements Year 2 project. The assessment is that the majority of the excess water is coming from rain and not a watering process by the contractor that stopped over three weeks ago.
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