April Granneman, back right, Angela Helgeson and Jack, Luke and Matthew enjoy the Fire Rescue Day Parade as it goes by on Windrose Curve in Elko New Market on Saturday, Sept. 12. The parade of emergency vehicles and vehicles carrying the Lonsdale American Legion and the Lakeville High School Band, made its way through many of the neighborhoods, delighting area residents. For more see an upcoming print issue of The New Prague Times. (Patrick Fisher Photo)

As we all know this entire year has been one where we’ve had to make changes and see people get creative due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve especially been seeing how the pandemic has been affecting sports. For the professional sports it’s meant stadiums of very few if any fans. High school sports has been vastly different.

To observe the 19th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the New Prague Fire Department was flying a US flag from its ladder truck on Friday, Sept. 11. (Photo courtesy of Jordan Stocker)

New Prague Area Schools began its hybrid learning classes for the school year of 2020-21 on Thursday, Sept. 3, with half of their 4,103 students showing up as part of the program. The other half of the kindergarten through 12th grade students came to classes on Friday, Sept. 4. On both days the students who weren’t in school were participating in distance learning. NPAS’ program is due to changes brought from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The New Prague boys’ and girls’ soccer teams did not allow a goal in sweeping Tri City United Tusday, Sept. 1 in New Prague.
The Trojan boys defeated the Titans, 8-0.
The Trojan girls defeated the Titans, 7-0.
More on these wins in next week’s edition of The Times.
Both teams have a busy upcoming week. They will play at Delano Thursday, Sept. 10, play at....
To see more on this story pick up the September 10, 2020 print edition of The New Prague Times.

A public hearing was held Tuesday, Sept. 1 at the Le Sueur County Board Room to make a decision regarding the auditor/treasurer position.
The board notified the public of their intent to make this position an appointed position last month.
After publishing their intent in the legal county newspaper, a public hearing needed to be held.
There were neither written comments nor public comment during the meeting.
The board approved the resolution which will make the county auditor/ treasurer position an appointed position. This will take effect Oct. 2, 2020.

St. Patrick won three games this past weekend before dropping their final game of the Class C State Tournament Monday, Sept. 7.
The Irish had their best finish in team history, finishing second in the tournament, losing only one game to Fairmont, 12-0 in seven innings at Springfield.
Union Hill also advanced to the final weekend of play, but were defeated by Young America, 6-0 Saturday, Sept. 5.
Here is a look at the St. Patrick and Union Hill games, courtesy of mnbaseball.org.
Young America 6, Union Hill 0

Since moving to a new location earlier this year, the farmers market in Lonsdale has seen an increase in business.
“We’ve gotten a lot more traffic compared to last year,” said Cakes by Brenda owner Brenda Hergenroder.
Hergenroder, who is in her first year as organizer of the farmers market, said that last year the market was held in the Lonsdale American Legion parking lot.
When the former organizer and the American Legion decided not to continue the market this year, Hergenroder stepped in to see that Lonsdale continued to have a market.

From left, Tim Price of Faith, Recovery & Music, Deb Bodensteiner of The Well, Jim Reeder of Downtown Sound music store and music teacher Rick Hanzel were at the local Youth Ministry Teen & Youth Center on Thursday, Sept. 10, for a presentation of four acoustic guitars that teens and children can use to learn to play. Price, through his ministry of Faith, Recovery & Music, raised donations for the guitars. Reeder helped put together the packages, which included guitar stands and other articles and Hanzel donated his time in adjusting the instruments.

Bonita J. Nelson, age 70. Died unexpectedly on September 5, 2020
Bonnie was born November 29, 1949 in Minneapolis, MN, to Lyle and Lila (Waller) Melcher. She was raised in Minneapolis and graduated from West High School in 1967. Shortly after graduation Bonnie married the love of her life Leon Nelson. They lived in Minneapolis for 8 years, moved to Lonsdale in 1977, where they raised their two children, and finally moving to New Prague in 2011. Bonnie loved going to the casino and had a love for Elvis Presley. Her greatest love of all was time with her family.

Viskocil, Bettylou, Age 78, of Bloomington, passed away September 4, 2020. Preceded in death by parents. Survived by sons, Todd and Jay; sister, Marilyn Green. Mass of Christian Burial Friday September 11th 11am at Nativity of Mary Catholic Church, 9900 Lyndale Ave S, Bloomington. Visitation at the church beginning at 9:30 am. 
www.GILLBROTHERS.com, Bloomington       952-888-7771

Donald “Donny” Frank Moravec, 78, of New Prague, formally of Montgomery, passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by family. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020, at 11 a.m. at Schoenbauer Funeral Home in Montgomery with visitation held two hours prior.

Diane M. Schmidt, age 67 of New Prague, died on Saturday, September 5, 2020 at Mayo Health Systems in New Prague after a battle with cancer.  Funeral service will be on Tuesday, September 15, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. at St. John Lutheran Church, Belle Plaine, MN.  Visitation will be on Monday, September 14, 2020, 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. at the Kolden Funeral Home in Belle Plaine, MN. Burial will follow the funeral service at Oakwood Cemetery, Belle Plaine, MN.  Pastor Mark Johnson will officiate the services.

Harvey James Edel, of Kilkenny, MN, 89, died peacefully on September 6, 2020, at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, MN.
Funeral services will be held on Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. Visitation will be from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. with Mass to follow at 11:30 a.m. at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Montgomery. Father Tom Niehaus will officiate.
Burial will be held at Trebon Cemetery in Shieldsville Township, Kilkenny, MN.
  The family will be honoring his legacy as a farmer by having a drive-by around his farmstead before the burial.

Dorothy M. Barten, age 84, of New Prague, died peacefully with her husband at her side on Friday, September 4, 2020 at Mala Strana Rehabilitation Center and Assisted Living.  Dorothy was born on May 1, 1936 in Green Isle, Minnesota to Fred and Lydia (Dreier) Hebeisen.  She attended parochial school in Green Isle and graduated from Arlington-Green Isle High School.  Dorothy worked for Pillsbury for a few years before marrying the love of her life, John J.

A group of about 20 people offer prayers at New Prague High School on Sunday, Aug. 30, for the upcoming school year. The New Prague School District reached out to area churches to come and offer prayers at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
New Prague area churches that participated included Hillspring, Highpoint and NewDay. Other schools where there were prayer circles included New Prague Middle School and Falcon Ridge Elementary School.