Members from Bolten & Menk, Inc., and city staff were on hand at city hall the afternoon of Tuesday, May 27, to answers residents’ questions about the 2025 Street and Utilities Improvement Project (SUIP).
The 2025 SUIP, like previous ones, will be a total overhaul of most of the infrastructure between County State Aide Highway (CSAH) 26/Lexington Avenue NW and just beyond Vine Avenue between Highway 13/4th Street NW and City Ditch 22 to the west.

The Montgomery American Legion Auxiliary Unit 79 sponsors an Americanism Essay
contest every year for all students in grades 3-12, including home-schooled and special needs students. The contest is divided into six different grade level classes.
Essay lengths correspond to the student’s grade level, ranging from a minimum of 150 words to a maximum of 500 words.
Essays are judged on the local level and then sent on to state for judging, then to division, and finally to national.

The Arts and Heritage Center in Montgomery is home to approximately 50 quilts and a handful of barn quilts currently.
Quilter Anne Pexa has brought together a double fistful of quilts she has worked on from start to finish, about 40 quilts on loan that she did the longarm stitching on, and a handful of painted barn quilts from her husband, Scott Pexa.
It certainly is the quilters delight with a series of colors and patterns in wide variety, including a lot of fabrics that were produced in Minnesota and some from Australia, where Anne Pexa was from.

Tri-City United High School graduated over 150 students on the evening of Friday, May 30. 
People overfilled the high school gymnasium, spilling into the halls. Some chose to sit in the auditorium, which a live stream of the ceremony was presented.
A full story will follow in the June 6 Messenger. Don't forget to pick up a copy of the May 29 Messenger at a newsstand, which features a special graduate section with full class picture and indiviual pictures.
Congratulations to the TCU Class of 2025!

Graduation — It’s another season of parents sending their young ones off on a new segment in their life.
Most Holy Redeemer Catholic School held their eighth grade graduation last Tuesday, May 20, in the church. A mass was said for the three graduates at 6 p.m.
“Be more concerned about giving than receiving, whether that be at home to serve your family or in high school trying to help other young men and women to try and be what God wants them to be,” Fr. Timothy Sandquist said in his sermon.

Tri-City United Montgomery Elementary K-8 Parent-Teacher Organization’s End of Year Celebration on Friday, May 16, was thwarted by cool, cloudy and light rainy conditions — none of which hampered the spirits of the kids participating. The adults managed to have some fun too.

A religious service will be held in honor of soldiers who died in service at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, May 26, Memorial Day.
Following the service, at 9:30 a.m., the Montgomery American Legion Post #79 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #5340 will host a memorial program at the American Legion ballroom. The community is invited to attend the ceremony to pay respects to fallen soldiers of this community.

Four members of the Tri-City United High School Business Professionals of America (BPA) team competed in Orlando, Fla., at the BPA National Leadership Conference from May 7-11. The theme this year for the conference was “Capture the Moment.”

Most Holy Redeemer Catholic School’s (MHRCS) children used to have to go across the street to get to their playground, but not anymore. Volunteers and donations made a new playground set possible.
“We have been working hard raising funds for the past few years, especially the last two years working the MN Twins games in concessions. We also had a grant from the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence,” said MHRCS Principal Kari Marsh. “Our hard work finally paid off last fall when we purchased the playground.”

Children and their parents enjoyed a very sunny, comfortable Tuesday afternoon on May 6 for Tri-City United Early Childhood Family Education’s Vehicle Fair. Dozens of families showed up to get familiarized with different vehicles and the people operating them that they may see around but don’t get up close with.

The Southwest Division of the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP) named Tri-City United High School Assistant Principal David Ruehs the 2025 Assistant Principal of the Year at their spring business meeting on April 30.

Northern Natural Gas (NNG) is abandoning approximately 1.7 miles of 16 inch steel natural gas pipeline north of Montgomery this summer and putting in a replacement line next to an existing line.
The section being abandoned starts at the intersection of 330th Street and 151st Avenue (Le Sueur County Road 144), and runs southwest to 340th Street and County Ditch 22 or east of the Montgomery Wastewater Treatment Plant. The current pipeline rests alongside properties on the north end of North Ridge Drive NW before crossing under Highway 13.

The Kolacky Queen candidates are set for 2025’s Kolacky Queen’s Pageant, which will be held Friday, July 25, going into the Kolacky Day celebration weekend.
On Saturday morning at St. John Lutheran Church in Montgomery, eight hopefuls attended an orientation on what to expect before, during, and after the pageant and the year ahead should they become Kolacky royalty.
The girls vying to become the Kolacky Queen are Kaytlyn Miller, Emily Kuchinka, Lucy Fleek, Jules Rotter, Dakota Meadows, Haley Stevens, Olivia Westerman and Kylie Anderson.

April is National Volunteer Month and volunteer drivers for the Meals on Wheels program in Montgomery were celebrated on Friday, April 25, at Park Manor in Montgomery. They gathered for a meal complete with a Caesar salad, fruit and pizza, from Pizzeria 201, and beverages, cookies and snacks provided by Lutheran Social Services.

With a new book on the New York Times Best Sellers list, Kate Swenson spoke at the Montgomery Public Library on April 15 about the subject matter near and dear to her heart.
Swenson’s new book, “Autism Out Loud,” was released April 1. For the week of April 20, it sits at number 10 on the New York Times Best Seller list under Nonfiction (print and e-book combined). In addition to her, it was co-authored by Carrie Cariello and Adrian Wood.
The small crowd who came to listen to Swenson talk consisted mainly of parents of autistic children.

The two-vehicle crash on Thursday, April 10, at the intersection of Le Sueur County Roads 3 and 28 appears to be because of a failure to stop, according to the Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Office incident report.
A 911 call came in at 4:18 p.m. for the crash. The incident report states that Aiden Stravens, 21, of Elko New Market, was driving south in his 2019 Mazda 3 on Le Sueur County Road 3 and either failed to yield to the right-of-way or stop at the stop sign at County Road 28.