— How will 2024 be remembered in the Alexandria area?
It’s been a big year for businesses – new ones opening their doors, existing businesses expanding or those relocating.
It’s been a bad year for crime – a suspect arrested in a stabbing death, heartbreaking allegations of child abuse, armed robbery, embezzlement and fraud.
It was a tragic year – fatalities, accidents and a deadly fire.
And it was a big turnout –
and time to say goodbye to four local government officials who have decided to step down and not seek re-election.
It’s also been a busy year for Echo Press. Our online stories received a total of more than 8.4 million views in 2024.
As in previous years, the Echo Press editorial team went through the stories and determined a list of “Top 5” stories for 2024.
1. Trade, trade, trade
In April, there was news that a
will move to Viking Plaza Mall and was the most read story of 2024. The store will be located in the space once occupied by Herberger’s. It occupies more than 24,000 square feet. TJ Maxx’s grand opening is scheduled for spring 2025 and, according to mall management, “brings a new retail experience to the community.” Other business activities in the shopping center — new public toilets with improved equipment and the opening of a new restaurant,
D. Mike’s Resort Bar and Grill.
Rendering provided by Katie Botker, Infinite Design Consulting
In October, the story “Out with the barn,
,” showed how much local readers are interested in the new Comfort Story opening near the Holiday Inn. Many readers said they will miss the Barn. It used to be a popular bar and wedding venue before it closed. The story also placed on our Top 10 list and drew hundreds of comments on our Facebook page Construction on the 8,700-square-foot Kwik Trip store is slated to begin this summer.
in July
held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate its new $16.3 million, 73,000-square-foot facility in Alexandria. Located at 2800 Nevada St., Massman now has seven locations in four states and 430 employees working in roughly 300,000 square feet. Massman Companies, Inc. is a strategic collection of leading packaging equipment manufacturers with a unique ability to combine a wide range of packaging technologies.
Other popular business stories:
Further details of the new rooftop bar were announced in July,
which will be located in the narrow place between
and
along Broadway at Fifth Avenue.
Drawing contributed / Jillian Reiner, Widseth
New ice cream shop,
The Up North Ice Cream Company
opened its doors at 406 Third Ave. E. and offers 32 flavors of homemade ice cream, malts, shakes, cakes and more.
in April,
opened in a new location — 303 30th Avenue West in the building once occupied by Burger King. Rancho Viejo operated out of the old Wendy’s restaurant at 607 Twin Boulevard in South Alexandria.
New restaurant –
– opened at 4820 State Highway 29 South in October. The building previously housed Tennessee Roadhouse and El Loro Mexican Grill.
in April,
Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center
sold for $14 million, according to the Finance&Commerce website. The sale price was listed at $14,159,250 and included a $250,000 deposit. The buyer is SAI Realty Holdings LLC of Connecticut. The seller is Regency Midwest Ventures Limited Partnership in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The $14 million transaction appears to be the most expensive single resort sale since the Minnesota Department of Revenue began posting sales reports online a decade ago, according to Finance&Commerce.
in December
announced that it was changing its business model. At the heart of the transformation is the desire to reach the younger generation. Dealers will now be known as TS Ambassadors. “We chose the term Ambassador because it perfectly reflects what our vendors do,” Jill Blashack Strahan, founder and CEO of Tastefully Simple, said in a press release. “They love our products so much that they instinctively want to share them with family and friends.”
Douglas County has seen a number of high-profile crime stories this year.
in October
a former Alexandria-area YMCA daycare worker, has been charged with malicious punishment of a child, a felony, after she allegedly broke the 4-month-old’s arm and collarbone.
Resident of Brandon
was charged with defrauding an Alexandria business of more than $500,000. The charges were dropped after Poepping died on August 19.
in August
were charged with crimes for allegedly stealing more than 240 signs from people’s yards.
was arrested for allegedly robbing the Bremer Bank on May 2. He was apprehended in West Fargo.
was charged in November with embezzlement from public schools for allegedly embezzling more than $40,000 from Alexandria Public Schools.
was charged with felony second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing his adult niece to death. The stabbing took place in Alexandria on November 24, 2023.
It has not been a good year in terms of fatal car accidents, farm accidents and house fires.
Starting in January and
A 54-year-old Alexandria woman died in a head-on crash
southwest of Alexandria. Charlene Patricia Berglin, an instructor at Alexandria Technical and Community College, died Jan. 16 as a result of a crash that occurred at the intersection of County Road 45 SW and Turning Leaf Lane SW.
House fire on February 14th
claimed the life of 20-year-old Chance GiGuere
. There were five others in the home who were taken to Alomere Health. Two of them were treated and released, while the other three were airlifted to Hennepin County Medical Center. An Alexandria police officer and a Douglas County deputy were also injured but were treated and released.
Echo Press photo file
May 7th
a 28-year-old man died in an agricultural accident
near Parkers Prairie. Kyle Laverne Olson was working on tillage equipment when a piece of machinery fell on top of him, pinning him under him. His obituary noted that Olson was born a farmer and Olson’s hobbies and activities brought him close to the land his family farmed for nearly 40 years.
Also in May
two people died in a head-on collision
near Glenwood. Isaac Carlson, 33, of Glenwood, and Nicholas Bergman, 39, of Oakdale, were both traveling on Route 28 when their vehicles collided head-on. The accident happened on May 25. Carlson served in the National Guard.
4. Election stories and resignation of local leaders
It was a long and contested campaign nationally, but Donald Trump won his second term as president, winning 49.9% of the popular vote to Kamala Harris’ 48.4%. The Electoral College vote was not as close, with Trump receiving 312 votes to Harris’ 226.
in Douglas County,
Trump’s victory was more than 2-1
. He received 66.62% of the county’s vote compared to Harris’ 31.62%. The last time the county supported a Democrat for president was Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Both Republican incumbents in the Minnesota House, Mary Franson and Tom Murphy, scored lopsided victories.
Voter turnout was strong in the region with a voter turnout of 90.33%.
Echo Press photo file
At the lowest level, four local leaders decided not to run for re-election. This included two long-time members of the Alexandria School Board, Pam Carlson with 26 years of service and Dave Anderson with 20 years of service.
of the competitive races were Tracy Capistrant and Angie Krebs. Elizabeth Paul, who ran unopposed, was also elected to the school board.
Douglas County Commissioners bid a fond farewell to Keith Englund, who represented District 1 for eight years.
takes his seat.
The
thanked Andrew Wiener for his four years representing Ward 5. Carl Kvale won the Ward 5 election over Robert Cumberbatch. Meanwhile, Mayor Bobbie Osterberg was re-elected. She defeated Robert Jensen, 4,193 votes to 2,222. Scott Allen, who ran unopposed, was also elected to the council in Ward 3.
Within a few minutes – four to be exact –
Douglas County Coordinator Heather Schlangen
she was fired by the Douglas County Board at a special meeting on Nov. 25. She was appointed to this role in August 2014 and began serving in this capacity on 29 September 2014.
The Echo Press tried to find out why Schlangen was fired. An emailed statement on Nov. 26 said: “The District Coordinator serves at the pleasure of the Board and employment may be terminated by the Board without notice. Douglas County Council decided to go in a different direction and terminated the employment of Heather Schlangen.
The Echo Press reached out to Mark Anfinson, an attorney for the Minnesota Newspaper Association, to see if the county should provide more information. Because the county said she wasn’t fired because of the disciplinary process, they didn’t have to specify why she was fired.
A lawyer told the newspaper it was remarkable that the board could unanimously fire someone in a four-minute meeting without any discussion. He said it raised doubts about whether the Open Assembly Act had been followed.
In an unexpected decision by the board of directors of the Andria Theater,
Christine Reilly, Executive Director
he was asked to resign. Reilly said she was deeply saddened by the request, unexpected and extremely disappointed.
In response to the paper, interim director Jeff Larson said the board had made a difficult decision based on a review of the circumstances. He said the board thanked Reilly for her contributions to the theater and her continued support of Andria’s work.