Month: March 2025

The Crookston APP (After Prom Party) will host a free-will fundraiser breakfast on Sunday, March 9th, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Crookston Masonic Lodge, 112 W. Roberts St. Menu includes waffles, French toast, gluten-free pancakes, sausage, and juice.  Crookston Masonic will apply for a Minnesota Masonic Charities grant to match all funds raised.  All proceeds will benefit the After Prom Party.  Please come and join students and parents.

The 2025 Blast to Bede after-prom party for juniors and seniors of Crookston High School will be held on April 26^th, 2025 at Northern Air and will end the night at Crookston High School.  For over 40 years, the parents of the junior and senior class members have organized this safe, fun, and chaperoned event. The after-prom party will feature music, entertainment, games, food, refreshments, and many great prizes for those who attend. 

Unlike years past, we will use these donations to cover the cost of the event at Northern Air and prizes for our students. Our focus this year will transition from many small gifts throughout the night to aiming to increase our larger prices at the end of the night for our students as requested by the post-prom evaluation from 2024.  

 Photo from last years After Prom party.  Students just finished the escape room.

The post The Crookston After Prom Party Fundraiser is this Sunday, March 9, at the Crookston Masonic Lodge first appeared on KROX.

The Crookston Figure Skating Club is bringing you its annual Dreams of Ice program. This year, the skaters will be “Gliding into the Galaxy” with the help of the Crookston Parks and Recs Department. “The theme this year is Gliding into the Galaxy, so everything is themed space, planets, moon, and stars, anything related to the galaxy,” says Club Director Katie Morgan. “All of our songs are related to that as well. The backdrop is really fun this year, and we will have all the planets, and we will also have a space shuttle.”

Mark your calendar for this year’s Dreams on Ice show and come out to the Crookston Sports Center to support area skaters. “The dates are March 8 and 9,” says Morgan. “Saturday, March 8, will be at 6:00 p.m. and then Sunday, March 9, is at 2:00 p.m. Admissions is $10 for adults, $5 for any senior and students, any pre-school and under are free.”

For the skaters who are involved in the show, the Club is offering Family wristbands for the performances. Some families have multiple skaters in various age groups. “We have skaters anywhere aged from two, which is the youngest skaters in our Moms, Pops, and Tots classes up to about age 16 this year,” says Morgan. “We have about 75 skaters taking part in the show.”

What a great way to spend a few hours of your weekend.  It is always fun to watch, and the kids love to have an audience. “It’s a great weekend if you know any skaters; Crookston Floral does do flowers and gifts for the skaters, “says Morgan. “They will deliver them right to the arena. We like to see a full crowd.”

Tickets will be available for pre-sale on Thursday, March 6, and Friday, March 7, which makes entrance into the show quicker. “Our doors open one hour each day, prior to the show, “says Morgan. “It’s really fun for the skaters to have a full arena so we really encourage everyone to come out and watch.”

The post “Gliding into the Galaxy” Dreams on Ice Program is March 8 and 9 first appeared on KROX.

The Crookston Fire Department has added a sharp-looking new Fire and Rescue vehicle to their fleet. Of course, the pick-up serves a very important purpose for Crookston and the surrounding communities and is a little different than the truck it takes the place of. “It is a 2024 Ford F150,” says Crookston Fire Fighter Garett Bengtson. “This one does have a slightly larger cab, which will allow us to get more personnel into that vehicle to respond to a scene if something comes up.”

The pick-up will be utilized in multiple ways and the crew is happy to have it as part of their fleet. “We haul tools, dirty gear, air packs from fire scenes, and stuff like that,” says Bengtson. “We also use it in the winter, so we don’t bring out the engine as often. With the lower temperatures, not having the water freeze inside valves is important maintenance-wise for us.” Most important is the manpower the truck allows by getting additional bodies in emphasized Bengtson. 

The Fire Station has possessed the truck for a couple of months as they have worked on outfitting it for duty. “It has a new siren installed and a new radio installed, and we were able to reuse the light bar, so that was something we were able to save some money on,” says Bengtson. “The previous pick-up that we had, the red one, that’s actually going to be utilized by the Parks Department now so you will continue to see that around the city.”

The city has been retiring a truck to the Parks Department for quite some time. Watch for the new White 2024 Ford F150 Fire and Rescue vehicle in town. The new truck was budgeted for in 2023. The Fire Department wants to thank the public for their continued support of Emergency Services.

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Tuesday, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) wrote a letter demanding answers about the reported closure and sale of the Edward J. Devitt U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Fergus Falls. This courthouse serves as the only federal court outside of Minnesota’s largest metropolitan areas and houses critical law enforcement offices. In a letter to General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Stephen Ehikian and James C. Duff, Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the Senators raised concerns that shutting it down would restrict access to justice and disrupt public safety in western Minnesota. 

“In addition to serving as the only federal courthouse outside Minnesota’s largest metropolitan areas of Minneapolis-St. Paul and Duluth, the building is home to U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Probation Office.  Each of the occupants of the Devitt Building provide essential services, including law enforcement and public safety, for the entire Western Minnesota region and along the northern border with Canada.  With an abrupt and unplanned closure, these essential services will be disrupted, putting communities at risk,” wrote the Senators.

In the letter, they also raised concerns that GSA has not followed its own requirements for public engagement and proper planning before offloading federal property. They demanded transparency on whether the federal government intends to close the building and what steps, if any, are being taken to ensure continued access to justice and public safety services in the region.

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The University of Minnesota Crookston was ranked the #1 Best Value College in Minnesota by both Niche and SmartAsset for 2025 following studies identifying schools based on tuition and net price, student living costs, scholarship and grant offerings, student retention and graduation rates, and starting salary for new graduates. U of M Crookston’s Best Value ranking with SmartAsset also rose above North Dakota colleges and universities derived from their college education value index, among other categories.

“We’re very pleased to share the news of this #1 ranking as more and more students are choosing the University of Minnesota Crookston,” said Chancellor Mary Holz-Clause. “In comparing other colleges and universities, our value shines through as well as the fact we have the best of both worlds – a small supportive campus and the big University of Minnesota degree.”

The post University of Minnesota Crookston ranked #1 Best Value College in MN by both Niche and SmartAsset for 2025 first appeared on KROX.