JANUARY
Luke Krueger, Mavis Schwanke, Gloriann Heikes and Dean Bertram hold up the 2020 Hutchinson Community Awards they received during the Hutchinson Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism's annual banquet. The event, which takes place in January, is an opportunity for members to come together for fun and networking.
The 2020 Hutchinson Community Award winners were, from left, Young Leader of the Year Luke Krueger, Volunteer of the Year Mavis Schwanke, Teacher of the Year Gloriann Heikes, and Business Person of the Year Dean Bertram.
- Flying cars may be a reality sooner than we think thanks to Hutchinson native Isaac Smithee. He and a group of other students at South Dakota State University received an $80,000 grant from NASA to develop a drone “taxi” capable of shuttling people and cargo.
- The City Council approved an agreement with the Minnesota Wing of the Civil Air Patrol to make Hutchinson Municipal Airport the site for its new statewide training facility.
- Allis-Chalmers has always had a home in Hutchinson thanks to the annual Orange Spectacular, but now it officially has a home. The Upper Midwest A-C Club built a new headquarters conveniently located next the McLeod County Fairgrounds. An A-C museum is also planed at the location.
FEBRUARY
Pam and Steve Ahlgren of Darwin stand near the bow of the Holland America Westerdam cruise ship that in February was stuck at sea for two weeks as they were denied entry by multiple ports for fear of COVID-19 contamination.
- Corey Stearns of Hutchinson was the recipient of the 2020 Wirt Award. The longtime local arts advocate and artist was recognized for his commitment to building community through the arts. Local potter Tom Wirt was honored in 2019 as the first recipient and namesake of the award.
- When Hutchinson native Michael Kahl and his wife Chelsi had their first born child, they named him Hutch to commemorate the town in which Kahl grew up. “Hutchinson turned me into the person I am today,” Kahl said.
MARCH
Hutchinson Public Library is just one of the city's many sites working to slow the spread of COVID-19. All Pioneerland libraries were closed by the end of the day March 18.
- Hutchinson and McLeod County shut down as coronavirus reached the U.S. Gov. Tim Walz asked Minnesotans to make profound sacrifices and issued a stay-at-home order that started Friday, March 27. Schools and businesses around the state shut down as people were encouraged to stay home.
APRIL
David Wegscheid created the Legacy Wall sign for the McLeod County Historical Society and Museum. It will be part of a display that salutes the history of farming and agriculture. The centerpiece will be the Wegscheid mural of Les Kouba's painting "Corn Pickin' in the 1930's."
- If you drove by Hutchinson High School between 8 and 8:20 p.m. Monday in the spring, you may have noticed the lights were on at S.R. Knutson Field. The high school was part of the nationwide #BeTheLight movement, which honored 2020 graduates and the sacrifices they made during the pandemic.
- After years of planning, work on the $11.58 million renovations of Main Street/State Highway 15 began, and the road through downtown Hutchinson was closed April 13 as construction began.
- The term “distance learning” became a familiar phrase as Hutchinson schools took on the task of teaching students digitally while they sheltered at home. Middle school shop teacher Rich Buchholz went the extra mile by sending home shop kits so students could complete the annual tradition of building a bench.
- When cost overages occurred in building the McLeod County Historical Museum's new wing, Brian Haines, executive director, came up with a fundraiser: Create a legacy wall with an agricultural theme. To add to the presentation, David Wegscheid was commissioned to paint an 8-by-12 mural of Les Kouba's painting “Corn Pickin' in the 1930's.” The project is a salute to the importance of agriculture in McLeod County.
Keith and Lisa Kamrath, right, donated this monument of a World War II soldier to Veterans Memorial Park. Their son, Jon Kamrath, sculpted the bronze statue. Dave Skoog, left, is a veteran and member of the McLeod County Veterans Memorial Park Board, one of the bodies that approved the statue.
MAY
- The 2020 graduates of Hutchinson High School and New Century Academy had a commencement ceremony this year, but it didn't look like anything the schools had done before. They hosted drive-in commencements in the schools’ parking lots.
- The Heart of Minnesota Animal Shelter moved out of the McLeod County Fairgrounds and found a new home west of Hutchinson at the intersection of 180th Street and Vale Avenue. The property, an old dairy operation, includes a house, barn and 10 acres of land.
- As health care workers stockpiled PPE for the pandemic, the Hutchinson High School robotics team put its skills to good use. The Tigerbots created 3D-printed face shields and distributed them to local hospitals and long-term care facilities.
JUNE
Lydia Gross throws candy from the top of a vehicle as she passed by school staff during Hutchinson High School’s drive-in graduation ceremony. Schools throughout the state had to get creative with their commencements due to COVID-19 restrictions.
- The $21 million expansion to Hutchinson Health opened for patients June 2. Construction of the 18,000-square-foot addition began in spring 2019.
- After what felt like an endless procession of canceled summer events, there was some good news. The 78th Hutchinson Jaycees Water Carnival held a few events, but it wasn’t like past years with a week of festivities. This year featured a disc golf tournament, virtual Teddy Bear Concert and online interviews with the Water Carnival Royal Family.
JULY
- COVID-19 restrictions hit many businesses hard economically, but especially restaurants and bars. For those reasons, the owners of Zellas in downtown Hutchinson closed the restaurant indefinitely. “No matter our heartbreak, the lives and health of our fellow citizens are more important,” said a statement from the owners, Sara and Brian Pollmann.
- As Gov. Tim Walz’s statewide mask mandate was set to go into effect, businesses around Hutchinson prepared by stocking up on supplies of masks to offer customers if they didn’t have one. When it came to enforcing the mandate, Hutchinson Police Chief Tom Gifferson said the goal was education first. “There’s always the anomaly out there where someone gets upset and pushes a shopping cart into an employee or something like that, but for the most part I think people understand you need to have your mask on if they are requesting you to wear a mask, or you shop elsewhere.”
The McLeod Emergency Food Shelf and Lennie Albers, executive director, hit the road in August with the new mobile outreach bus. Although the food shelf has locations in Glencoe and Hutchinson, the purpose of the bus is to better serve residents in other communities who may not be able to make it to those two locations.
AUGUST
- Following a car crash in 2018 that paralyzed Scott Schindler from the neck down, he needed help renovating his home to make it more accessible. His friend Shawn Libor, a carpenter, donated his time and took up the task of renovating Schindler’s 1950s home. "He's just a great friend. Thanks doesn't even come close to what I feel,” Schindler said of Libor.
- After more than a year of planning and renovations, Art’s Place in the former Nemitz Paint Factory building, opened its doors in downtown Hutchinson. The historic building was reimagined and is now open as an event site for hosting everything from wedding receptions and birthday parties to business meetings.
- Two tornados touched down in McLeod County. An EF0 touched down about a half mile east of Lake Marion, and an EF1 with winds of 95 mph touched down south of Biscay and moved eastward. The twisters damaged fields and hit at least six properties, but there were no injuries. “I didn’t really have any time to think about it. Just get downstairs, and within two minutes or so it was done and gone with already,” said Brian Sellnow, who was in his rural Glencoe home when the tornado tore through his property.
- After months of relatively few COVID-19 cases, an outbreak of cases originating from Seneca Foods in Glencoe caused county cases to rise significantly. The outbreak was also the cause for a mass testing event in Glencoe that conducted 791 tests of local residents.
Kiley Lickfelt is with Dolly, one of two zebras who were living at her family’s rural Hutchinson farm on County Road 7 this past summer. “It’s really a dream come true. I get to take care of them every day,” said Lickfelt.
SEPTEMBER
- Following a stroke that left him unable to perform his duties, McLeod County Sheriff Scott Rehmann announced his retirement. His final day was Sept. 22, and Chief Deputy Timothy Langenfeld was selected to replace Rehmann as the county sheriff through the current term ending early 2023. “I am thankful to the people of McLeod County for their support and friendship in my position to serve as a peace office in the community,” Rehmann wrote in his retirement announcement.
- Following a year of research and work by a marketing and branding company, not to mention a $75,500 contract, Hutchinson City Council approved the city’s new official tagline: “A City On Purpose.” The new tagline also came with a background story and updated logo to replace the previous logo from the 1990s.
OCTOBER
Dairy was the obvious theme for the 100-foot silo mural at Skyview Dairy farm, east of Hutchinson. At the top is a cow grazing in a farm pasture, a callback to the farm's roots in 1969. The bottom of the mural features dairy products such as ice cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, and of course a geyser of milk splashing across the silo. It was painted by muralist Tony Stafki and required five weeks and about 50 gallons of paint to complete.
- After 27 weeks, or 189 days, of construction, Main Street in downtown Hutchinson reopened with a flurry of traffic, pedestrians and snow. “It’s awesome that it’s open again. Seeing the traffic coming by is great, it just kind of adds life to downtown that we were missing all summer,” said Steve Kropp of State Farm Insurance.
- Hutchinson High School inducted five new members to its Wall of Honor: former coach Lowell Himle, former athlete Ryan Dolder, outstanding graduate Wendell Jahnke, fan Glen “Clancy” Kurth, and former coach Carol Wendt.
- More than 100 years after his grandfather served in World War I and was wounded in France, Paul Ackland corrected an oversight by the U.S. military. His grandfather, John Ackland, died in 1959 and had never received his Purple Heart medal. After five years of persistence, Paul successfully petitioned to have his grandfather posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
NOVEMBER
- It was an election year across the country, and there were several contested races at the local level this year. Mayor Gary Forcier and Council Member Chad Czmowski fought off challenges to win re-election, while Brandon Begnaud won his first election to fill the seat held by Steve Cook, who is retiring. At the county level, Daryl Luthens defeated incumbent Rich Pohlmeier, while Nathan Schmalz won the seat held by Ron Shimanski, who is also retiring. For Hutchinson School Board, 10 candidates competed for five seats. Keith Kamrath and Erin Knudtson each won two-year terms, while Sara Pollmann, Michael Massmann and Tiffany Barnard were elected to four-year terms.
- Much like the rest of Minnesota, Hutchinson and McLeod County saw its rate of COVID-19 cases skyrocket in November, climbing to almost 700 new cases in the first two weeks and doubling the county’s total since the start of the pandemic. The county’s deaths related to COVID-19 also climbed significantly, with health care workers issuing pleas for people to follow health guidelines. “I've lost a family member to COVID. I’ve been there when we've lost people at the hospital. We become numb to the statistics when we hear them on the nightly news every night: 230,000 people have died in this country in the last seven months,” said Jim Lyons, Hutchinson Health president.
DECEMBER
- After 184 Red Cross blood donations, it’s safe to say Hutchinson’s Willard Wendorff is not afraid of needles. Wendorff, 77, started giving blood in 1964 and has been such a regular donor that he recently reached the 23-gallon milestone. To put that into perspective. He’s not stopping there, though. He has a goal of reaching 200 donations, or about 25 gallons. “As long as the good Lord keeps me healthy enough,” Wendorff said.
- Dec. 21 was a day for celebrating at local hospitals and long-term care facilities. The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrived at Hutchinson Health and Glencoe Regional Health as health care workers received their first shots of the two-dose vaccine.
