The 64th Miss Waterville was crowned Friday, June 10 as part of the annual Waterville Bullhead Days Celebration.
This year’s queen is Kaitlin Rahn, daughter of Jeff and Kim Rahn. Her attendants are Milayna Watzek, daughter of Jared and Lindsey Watzek and Ashley Zimmerman, daughter of Karen Sinclair and Jeff and Laura Zimmerman.
Crowning the new royalty were 2021 Miss Waterville Grace Petersen and Attendant Kiri Kerekes.
The Miss Waterville candidates performed a talent, showed off their casual wear, and were involved in a question and answer session.

After two years of planning (and saving), we did it.
My family of four started summer break by rafting through the Grand Canyon.
It was awesome.
The wild Colorado River provided us days of rapids, laughter, excitement, physical challenges, and unforgettable family time.
After sleeping under the stars and cliff jumping, our 10-year-old daughter Ellen dubbed it as “the best trip ever!”
Our adventure began less than 24 hours after our girls’ school year ended with us on a plane heading to Las Vegas, Nevada.

The four WEM girls track and field athletes performed as well as they have all season during the June 9 and 10 Class A State Tournament at St. Michael-Albertville High School.
Senior Riley Sammon, sophomore Madison Zimbrich, freshman McKenna Schuster, and eighth grader Addison Condon put together a season-best performance in the 4 x 100-meter relay.
The quick quartet placed 12th in the one lap relay in a time of 51.72, which was a season-best by nearly a half second. They missed qualifying for the finals by 52 thundreths of a second.
Condon had one of her...

After searching for more than 10 years, David Byrne and his son Chris have finally achieved their goal of locating the Waterville Bullhead Days medallion.
“We have been doing this for at least 10 years,” David said. Chris was just a little kid (when we started looking).”
It has been a family affair throughout the years, with many family members, including David’s parents, have searched in past years only to come up empty.
And it hasn’t been because they have been in the general vicinity.

Barbara J. Everson, 73, lifelong resident of New Prague, passed away on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, at St. Francis Regional Medical Center in their hospice care unit in Shakopee, MN. She was born on September 23, 1948, in New Prague, MN, to Edward and Evelyn Kohout.

Barbara J. Everson, 73, lifelong resident of New Prague, passed away on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, at St. Francis Regional Medical Center in their hospice care unit in Shakopee, MN. She was born on September 23, 1948, in New Prague, MN, to Edward and Evelyn Kohout.

Jaden Lang, daughter of Jeff and Deb Lang, was crowned Miss Morristown 2022 during the Dam Days Queen pageant Wednesday night, June 1.
Her attendants are 1st Princess. Jenessa Baumgarten, daughter of Jason Baumgarten and Kristine Baumgarten, and 2nd Princess Jordan Green, daughter of Kyle and Kristina Green.
Lang was sponsored by the Morristown Sons of American Legion and she performed a dance routine as her talent.
Baumgarten was sponsored by Minnesota Original Brat Dogs and she presented a speech as her talent.

After the Section 2A Track and Field Meet, WEM head girls coach Mike Richards summed up his participants performance in one statement, “All the athletes that competed had a good day,”
Actually it was a very good day for the Buccaneer girls, having a relay advance to State and two individuals also advance in leading WEM to a top spot in the Section standings.

Longtime local business owners Harry “Chip” Beadell, Ron Haslip, and John Scholljegerdes have been named the grand marshals of Waterville’s 2022 Bullhead Days celebration. All three men have recently retired.
Scholljegerdes and his wife, Patricia, owned and operated Feed Store and More in town for 23 years and Sakatah Bay Resort on Lake Sakatah for 15 years. The couple sold the resort in 2020 and the mill property in December 2021 and have since retired, but remain active in the Waterville Lions Club and the Waterville Chamber.

For more than half a century, the second full weekend in June is dedicated to the annual Waterville Bullhead Days celebration.
There are a number of new events this year and some of the regular events have been super-sized for the June 10 thru 12 festival.
One of the new events is the Borderline Pulling Series Tractor Pull. This will be held Saturday, June 11 at 1 p.m. directly south of the city/county shop. There will be five different classes and possibly some local pullers involved.

Milton (Milt) Albert Kuball, 78, of Dodge Center, MN, entered the presence of his Lord and Savior on May 23, 2022. Milt passed away peacefully at Season’s Hospice House in Rochester with family by his side. Milt was born on October 9th, 1943 in Morristown, MN to Martin and Agnes (Guerke) Kuball.

Robert A. (Bob) Jacobson, age 69, of Waterville died at his home on June 4th, 2022. Bob was born on August 9th, 1952, to George and Helen (Kuckenbecker) Jacobson. He attended school in New Richland and joined the US Marine Corps serving from 1969 to 1972.
Bob owned and operated a semi truck hauling over the road and then became a heavy equipment operator/ foreman. He retired from Heselton Construction in Faribault in 2015. After retiring he enjoyed working for area farmers assisting with field work.

Gary P Mager, age 75 of Burnsville, MN died Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at home.
Gary, the son of Leon and Dorothy Mager of Waterville, was born February 24, 1947, grew up in Waterville, graduated from Waterville High School in 1965 and from the University of Minnesota with honors in 1983. Gary was employed by the State of MN Department of Human Services as I.S. Director for 20 yrs.
He is survived by wife Karen, mother Dorothy Mager; two children; Suzette Bojanowski and Melissa Mager; brother Leon Mager, four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Eleanor “Elie” Mae Stangler, age 89 of Waterville, passed away at her home on the afternoon of Sunday, June 5, 2022.

John Clifford Renken, age 93, of Fridley, passed away on May 20, 2022, two days shy of his 94th birthday. He was a devout Christian, husband, father, grandfather, outdoorsman, inventor, and army sergeant.
He was born in Green Isle, MN on May 22, 1928, graduated from Waterville MN High School and Gustavus Adolphus College and was a CPCU (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter). He lived in Waterville, MN and Fridley, MN. John served his country in both World War II and the Korean War.

Le Sueur County Sheriff Brett Mason reports Tuesday, May 24, that the investigators have determined the March 26, 2022, fire at the Funky Munky Bar in Waterville started in the plastic dumpsters, located on the exterior of the south or back side of the building, and spread to a wooden over hang above the dumpsters, and then into the roof/attic area and into the bar building itself.