Harvest Festival this Saturday

Jim Daddies Harvest Festival will be held this Saturday on the east end of the 700 block of Main Street in Baldwin.

The festival, sponsored by Jim Daddies BBQ Sauce and BBQ UniverCity, will be from noon until 6:00 p.m. rain or shine. It will feature the music of Howard Luedtke and Patchouli with a reunion of members from the Onyx/Second Wind/Bottom Line bands.

The cost of admission is $10 (or half price with a non-perishable food shelf donation). The proceeds will be divided between the Baldwin Parks fund and Tapestries of Life Mexican Orphanage. In addition, the ticket will enter you in a drawing for a grill and other prizes.

The Festival is the brainchild of former Baldwin resident Robert Dull, who currently works for Pearlygate Network, which assists artists in production.

Tapestries of Life is a U.S. based organization that takes seriously the Christian mandate to take care of widows and orphans. In order to accomplish this mandate, Tapestries of Life is focusing on two large initiatives.

The first vision is to build an orphanage in Guadalupe Mexico, which will be the largest orphanage in all of Latin America. When completed the orphanage will house over 400 children and the government promised to fill it within 24 hours of when it's doors open with a small percentage of the over 7000 children that are living on the street in that area alone. This orphanage is being built by churches in America, Canada, Scotland and all over the world.

"Lisa (Dull) Seaman and her husband Quinn are working on the orphange," Dull noted. "They hope to be open in about a year."

The second part of the vision is meeting the immediate daily needs of today by providing much needed food to the poor of Mexico. Many of these items are provided by donations specifically for this ministry or by the work teams involved in the distribution.

The festival opens with Howard "Guitar" Luedtke, a versatile musician who performs regularly at rock, blues and jazz festivals all over Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Bruce Hecksel and Julie Patchouli recorded their first jam session together on January 6, 1993 in a church in Chicago. With Bruce playing an acoustic guitar and Julie on a 5 gallon pail they discovered their desire to create music together out of anything and everything around them. That desire fueled their relationship as it grew out of this musical love they shared and keeps them grounded in the music they create still to this day.

The song Patchouli was the first instrumental piece they wrote together.

Bruce attended college and grad school for music and theology. Julie studied ethnobotany (the study of cultures and plants) and environmental science. Together they blend the idea of cultures, music, environment and theology into the positive vibrations of Patchouli music.

Patchouli's deeply rooted musical base combined with advanced studies in yoga, meditation and other healing disciplines work together to make music with a remarkable capacity to inspire and uplift the human spirit.

New flooring store in Baldwin

Colleen Smith, picctured above, and her husband Dean own Baldwin Design & Full Specctrum Flooring, a new store at Baldwin Retail.

Colleen Smith, who along with her husband Dean owns Baldwin Design & Full Spectrum Flooring, admits that the housing slow-down has probably affected their business. But she added that their store, at Baldwin Retail on Gracie Drive in the mall on the southwest quadrant of the I-94/USH 63 interchange, has been staying busy with remodelings and commercial and church work in the area.

The new store opened in February and it carries hundreds and hundreds of floor covering products in tile, hardwood, carpet, laminates and vinyl from a variety of companies, said Colleen. Colleen is the store manager and Dean, a Glenwood City native, is the chief installer.

Colleen said that what sets their store apart is that their installers are in-house. We follow the product "from beginning to end," she explained.

Dean has 25 years experience in installing floor coverings, most out of the Twin Cities. Colleen manages the store and has previous managerial experience. They employ a salesman, Matt Multhauf, also a Glenwood City native, who has been selling in the Twin Cities for the past
10 years.

The Smiths decided to start a local store, near where they live. Their home is almost equal distance from Hammond, River Falls, Spring Valley and Baldwin.

Serious crash sends two to hospital

A t-bone crash between two vehicles at the intersection of CTHs BB and N southeast of Baldwin early Friday evening resulted in the occupants of the two vehicles being sent to the hospital, including one in critical condition.

According to rescue workers on the scene, the occupant of one of the vehicles was taken to Baldwin Area Medical Center with critical injuries and then flown by air ambulance to Regions Medical Center in St. Paul. That individual remains in critical condition.

The individual in the other vehicle was taken to BAMC and from there was sent by ground ambulance to Regions for further treatment of injuries. That person is in stable condition.

Agencies responding to the scene in addition to Baldwin Area EMS were Baldwin Police Department, St. Croix County Sheriff's Department and United Fire and Rescue.

Lowered speed limits approved; Main Street will be done by school start

New speed limits for a road bordering Baldwin's southeast side were approved by the Baldwin Village Board at last Wednesday's regular monthly meeting.

In addition, Village Engineer Mike Stoffel of Ayres Associates told Board members that the Main Street utility and repaving project is going well. When questioned whether the work will be finished by the start of school, Stoffel said "they should be pretty well completed by then." A pay
request for $141,519 to Albrightson Excavating was approved by the board.

At the recommendation of Village Police Chief Jim Widiker, the Board set new speed limits on 220th Avenue, on Baldwin's east side, south of Maple Street (70th Avenue). From Maple Street south to Cedar Street, the new speed limit will be 25 miles per hour. From Cedar Street south to 55th Avenue the speed limit will be 45 miles an hour. Chief Widiker said the amount of traffic has greatly increased on 220th Street with the opening of Cedar Street to it. Traffic has also increased on 220th due to the construction on USH 63.