Month: November 2020

The Annual Ecumenical Thanksgiving Dinner has been held in Crookston for more than 40 years and will be held Thursday, November 26.  The meal will be served to go beginning at 11:30 a.m. until about 1 p.m.

Lester Wilkens said six families started offering the meal more than 40 years ago, and about 6-8 families continue that tradition today. “In excess of 40 years,” said Wilkens. “There were six families that started it, and there is a group of 6-8 families continuing it. The originals have all stepped down, and rightfully so, some younger ones have picked it up. It’s great. It’s the advantage of a small town. Everybody pitches in. It’s a good community thing, and that’s all we can do. Especially this year, when a lot of people can’t go see their families. And it’s too much to go make a turkey for one or two people.”

Wilkens said people should drive up like they’re dropping their kids off at Cathedral school to get their food. “We’re going to take and do the drive-thru just like they did for the Cathedral Fall Festival,” said Wilkens. “We’re going to enter on the west lot and drive through where the kids are dropped off for school in front of the Cathedral. Somebody will be there to take the numbers that you need. We’ll call them in and bring them right out to you.”

They are taking pre-orders for the meal, or people can just show up said, Wilkens. “If they call ahead, they can call my house number at 281-5727,” said Wilkens. “And the day of, you could call my cell number at 289-1956 and/or just show up. We’ve got a rough number already and are expanding the amount of food we need as I speak. All the turkeys are being cooked this afternoon up at the Cathedral, so we’ll have those ready to go. If you don’t get a chance to call in, please come up anyway because we’ll have enough. We’re bringing in extra.”

Wilkens emphasized that people should show up even if they hadn’t called ahead. “It’s going to be mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, turkey, green beans, and pumpkin pie,” said Wilkens. “Like I said, come one, come all. Right now, we’ve got a good count of over 200, and we’re increasing it. We’re getting another turkey this afternoon. We’re going to add that to the group, and then we’re going to add some more potatoes to the mix, too, so we’ll have enough. Don’t be shy about coming; just come. If you happen to not have called, come anyway. We’ll probably start serving; we’re going to try at 11:30. We tried to put a start on it at that time, so people can still get home and enjoy their meal.”

As it’s always been, the meal is free to everyone said, Wilkens. “There has never been a necessary charge for the meal,” said Wilkens. “We’ve been blessed with people in the area donating. If you don’t have it, don’t worry about it. It’s a free meal. It never was intended to be charged for, but if people wish to donate, we do accept donations.”

The Board of Trustees has announced that Sanford Health and longtime CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft have mutually agreed to part ways.

The Board of Trustees recognized Krabbenhoft’s contributions to the organization over his long tenure. Krabbenhoft assumed the role of president and CEO in 1996 and built the organization from a community hospital into the largest rural non-profit health system in the country, now spanning 26 states and 10 countries. “Kelby’s impact on the organization and the communities it serves will be felt for generations to come,” said Brent Teiken, Board Chair.

The Board of Trustees has appointed Bill Gassen president and CEO of Sanford Health. Bill has been with the organization since 2012, most recently serving as chief administrative officer. His appointment is effective immediately. “Bill is the right person to lead Sanford Health through these unprecedented times because of his substantial experience with many aspects of the organization and his deep commitment to our workforce,” said Teiken. “We’re extremely optimistic about having his steady hand at the wheel in partnership with our existing leadership team.”

“I’m honored to have the opportunity to work on behalf of the Sanford family and help lead this organization and its life-changing work. Our system’s priorities will be focused on taking care of our people, our patients and the communities we serve,” said Gassen.
Gassen began his career at Sanford Health in 2012 as corporate counsel and transitioned to human resources two years later as vice president of human resource integration. He later served as chief human resources officer before his promotion to chief administrative officer. Gassen and his wife, Jill, have five children.

The executive leadership team of Executive Vice President Micah Aberson, Chief Medical Officer Allison Suttle, Chief Operating Officer Matt Hocks, Chief of Staff Nathan Peterson and Chief Finance Officer Bill Marlette, will continue to assist with the duties of overseeing the organization.

The Crookston Park Board met Monday evening to discuss winter programs and COVID-19. However, due to Governor Tim Walz’s order to pause those activities last week, they are unlikely to resume until after the board meets again in December, so the discussion turned to outdoor winter activities.

Parks and Recreation Director Scott Riopelle said there had been a few requests for additional outdoor rinks this winter. The weather isn’t conducive to making ice, nor does the city have additional boards for rinks. Riopelle added that well Walz’s order encouraged outdoor recreation during the restrictions, it limited even outdoor rinks to one family group at a time, limiting the effectiveness of those options. Instead, the board decided to move the skate trail from Ray Ecklund Complex to Castle Park and add a second trail in the Woods Addition, which more than one family group can utilize together because they are more spread out. “We will still have a rink at Alexander Park,” said Riopelle. “We will not be having the warming house open. We will have the lights on a timer and a bench for people to put their skates on. It could be a while before we have that because the weather isn’t conducive to making ice. The Park Board also determined we’d possibly put in one or two skating trails. One of the sites we’re looking at is Castle Park. The other would be Wildwood Park. Those can be a little bit longer and fun for people to skate.”

Riopelle said temperatures would need to drop before significant progress can be made on any outdoor skating options. “We’re going to have to have enough cold weather, and right now, the weather is not cool enough,” said Riopelle. “I think in the next week it’s not supposed to be either. What are we talking about, the 30s-40s for this weekend? We need to get some weather that’s down in the low teens; maybe single-digits would be nice to get us to start building. We are watering the current Alexander one, but it’s like we hadn’t touched it when I was there this morning. Over the weekend, anything we had started with melted away, but we’re soaking the ground. Once we can get the ground frozen, it starts to build a little quicker once we get the right weather.”

The trails will likely need some snowfall to accumulate to be used as natural banking and walls along the trail’s path. “We’d like to have a little snow so we can bank the outside, so we don’t have to put up walls,” said Riopelle. “We don’t want to have to build anything to lay it down. When we did the Central Park trails and the one we had at Ray Ecklund Complex last year, we moved the snow away. Then, once we get a little water on it, it freezes some of that snow on the side and creates a wall for us. That’s very helpful in keeping the water contained.”

Riopelle said told the committee he believes when the restrictions are lifted, they’ll be able to pick back up with programs and other activities but that he thought hockey would likely not begin games again until at least January to allow for resetting the season with conditioning and practice. “All activities at either site are now canceled at minimum until December 18,” said Riopelle. “Let’s say we can start on the 18th. Youth teams won’t be able to practice for about four weeks before that. So, it’s really very difficult for them to hold a game. Could we hold a game? Sure, we could, but it’s not optimal. We need to get the kids back on their skates. Get them conditioned a little bit before we get them back in games. I think that possibly Minnesota will phase it back in for hockey as well.  They may have a phase with two weeks of practice before you can play games. The high school will probably do similar things.”

Finally, Riopelle said a couple of people had approached him about creating a memorial to John Lyczewski, who passed away on November 19. The Park Board was supportive of the effort, and Riopelle said Lyczewski was well-known at the rink, including by officials from across the state because he’d always visit them in the locker room. “Long-time hockey person in Crookston passed away this past week,” said Riopelle. “I’ve had a person or so come forward and ask if we couldn’t do some sort of memorial on the wall for him and put some sort of plaque up. We’re hoping we can get some people to come forward with some dollars to do something of that sort. John never missed a game at that place and was well known to many of the old-time hockey people in Crookston. They all knew him, and we’d like to do something for the guy and his family.”

Crookston Rotary Club members, with an assist from the Crookston Fire Department/Firefighters Association and donations by Otter Tail Power Company, recently readied the big evergreen tree downtown at the Main Street Courtyard for the Rotary’s upcoming Tree Lighting event on Small Business Saturday, November 28, which will be held at 5:30 p.m. with free hot cocoa and goodies to go.

With the City of Crookston’s blessing, the courtyard will stay lit for the holiday season. Pictured are Crookston firefighters Garett Bengtson and Bob Magsam, who is the Rotary’s 2020-21 President, stringing lights. The other photo includes help from Highland Elementary third-grader Violet Bengtson.

RiverView Health is pleased to welcome Todd Sekundiak, MD, to its medical staff. Dr. Sekundiak is an orthopaedic surgeon specializing in adult joint reconstruction using minimally invasive techniques.

Dr. Sekundiak has a practice at Sanford Health, Fargo. He is a native of Winnipeg, and graduated from the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine, Winnipeg. He completed orthopaedic surgery residencies at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg. Dr. Sekundiak completed two fellowships in arthroplasty, the first at the Arizona Centre for Joint Replacement in Phoenix, and the other at Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s and Central DuPage Hospitals in Chicago. He is board certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery.

RiverView Orthopaedic Surgeon and Chief Medical Officer Colin Fennell, MD, has known Dr. Sekundiak for several years and said he knows Dr. Sekundiak will bring “an incredible combination of surgical knowledge and talent with a wonderful personality to Crookston.

“Dr. Sekundiak is a national leader in total hip and total knee replacement and a regional leader in the management of complex revision problems of hips and knees…He brings decades of experience in joint replacement to Crookston and plans to have a full practice that can be medically managed here (Crookston). We look forward to having him join our staff.’’

Call 218.281.9595 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Sekundiak.