Come see the MMS Drama Performance of Looking Glass Land - an Alice in Wonderland Adventure at the Mabel Tainter Theater. Don't miss your chance to see these fantastic students in action - only 2 performances: Friday at 7pm and Saturday at 2pm.
This award-winning stage adaptation by renowned playwright James DeVita takes Lewis Carroll's original Through the Looking Glass and literally runs with it. This wild adaptation highlights and improvises on the pure, unadulterated fun of the story. The play still retains some of Carroll's deeper meanings, but what it possesses most of all is a huge helping of unabashed silliness!
Menomonie Theater Guild is proud to announce their upcoming production of the family-friendly musical Annie, set for eight performances at the Mabel Tainter Theater on the weekends of December 6-8, and 13-15, 2024.
The beloved classic comes to Menomonie, just in time to create special family memories at the holidays! With equal measures of pluck and positivity, little orphan Annie charms everyone's hearts despite a next-to-nothing start in depression-era New York City. She is determined to find the parents who abandoned her years ago on the doorstep of a New York City Orphanage, run by the cruel, embittered Miss Hannigan. With the help of the other girls in the Orphanage, Annie escapes to the wondrous world of NYC. In adventure after fun-filled adventure, Annie foils Miss Hannigan's evil machinations... and even befriends President Franklin Delano Roosevelt! She finds a new home and family in billionaire, Oliver Warbucks, his personal secretary, Grace Farrell, and a lovable mutt named Sandy.
Annie is directed for Menomonie Theater Guild by the talented directorial duo, Nell Heifner-Johnson, and Bethany Risler, with vocal music direction by Courtney Eberle and pit orchestra direction by Jay Collins.
Calling all Dunn County residents and business owners! The 5th Annual Parade of Lights is back and better than ever! We’ve partnered with Dunn County, Wisconsin and Menomonie Parks and Recreation to light up all of Dunn County! This year’s event features community voting, bigger prizes, and registrations open through November 26th! Top entries in business and residential categories can win up to $250 in Chamber Checks! Let’s make this holiday season shine!
It was a great day for Mustang Cross Country this past Saturday at the Sectional meet in Menomonie as both the girls and boys teams advanced to the 2024 WIAA State Cross Country Championship Meet in Wisconsin Rapids.
The girls continued their undefeated season with another convincing win finishing with 45 points, well ahead of second place Eau Claire Memorial (76 points) and third place Hudson (106 points).
Junior Lauren McCalla was the individual sectional champion with a time of 18:31. Freshman Bree Barfknecht finished 3rd (19:00), Junior Bennett Schmitt was 10th (19:28), Sophomore Bella Drake 11th (19:31), and Freshman Addison Schuler 20th (20:29).
Also running for the Mustangs were Juniors Kyah Barnhart (21:04) and Sara Palmer (21:25).
"The girls defended their Sectional title from last year and have now won four titles over the past 5 seasons. They continued their undefeated season, beating Eau Claire Memorial and New Richmond - both state ranked teams. It was a nice win." said coach Craig Olson. "It was great to see Lauren win a sectional title, and Bree had a tremendous finish to get third. Bella Drake was very close to her season best on our very difficult course, which was outstanding. The girls are very excited to race at State on Saturday against the best and we're looking for a top five finish."
The boys team finished 2nd at Saturday's sectional meet, very narrowly edging out River Falls. As has been the case all season, the team's strength is depth. All five of the scoring runners finished within 32 seconds of each other.
Leading the pack was Sophomore Evan Olson, who finished 10th (16:34), followed by Senior Peter Cimino in 12th place (16:36), Sophomore Owen Pelzel finished 15th (16:51), Freshman Logan Topper 16th (16:58), and Junior Luke Ray 19th (17:06).
Also running for the Mustangs were Sophomore Noah Winder (17:37) and Senior Ben Bowman (17:41).
"Pack running has been the strength of the team all season, and it came through for us again at Sectionals. The team from River Falls had an outstanding day, but we were able to come out on the lucky end of a couple of close finishes to beat them by a single point," said Coach Adam Toper. "We talk so often about how every place matters, and this will be a great example. The boys have worked awfully hard to get to this point, and now it will be a matter of putting together one more great team race to place as well as we can at the State meet."
An indication of just how deep the talent of this team is, the Mustang's number five runner Luke Ray was the best 5th man in the field by ten places. He would have been the number one runner for five of the twelve teams and would have been top three for nine of the twelve teams. The Mustangs have also been without one of their top runners, Senior Captain Grant Burns who is out with an injury.
The State Meet is Saturday, November 2nd at Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids. The girls race at 1:20 pm and the boys race at 3:10 pm.
The teams will be heading out of town along Stout Road at 9:00 am on Saturday morning. Community members wishing to send them off can meet in the Dairy State Bank parking lot shortly before 9:00 am.
The Caring Closet will be open Saturday, November 2nd from 10 am - 12 pm, and 5 pm -7 pm on Wednesday, November 6th. The Caring Closet, located at the New Life Nazarene Church basement at 1002 8th St, Menomonie, offers new and used clothing at no charge. Donations are accepted when they are open.
An easy (and inexpensive) way to help out the Foster Closet - these large bags are available at Marshall's and TJ Maxx for about $1. Picture and pattern aren't important. For Christmas they need around 300 bags! They can be drop them during open hours (first and third Sundays from 12 to 3) or make an appointment. Monetary donations are always welcome as well - venmo @wifostercloset.
Here's an interesting news piece from WCCO in the Twin Cities about a circus billboard from 1885 that was discovered when remodeling was being done at the Corral Bar in Durand. If you've never seen it in person, it is definitely worth the drive.
Menomonie Dam Construction Update!
This week, crews at the Menomonie dam site continued working from the floating barge to install the concrete piling wall.
This wall will provide permanent shoreline protection on the south bank of the lake upstream of the dam.
The photo shows the drill rig that bore the vertical holes in preparation for the concrete column placement.
On this Facebook post someone asked when this project would be done. The answer was the beginning of December.
Save the Date: The fourth annual Winterlude Market (formerly Winter Market) at Brewery Nonic will be on Dec 7. This event includes an outdoor vendor market, food truck, campfires, music, and more. If you are interested in being a vendor, apply HERE. Posted in the What's Happening in (and around Menomonie) Facebook group.
Dust off your vocal cords, dig out your noisemakers, and put on your partypants; We celebrate our sixth year of operation in Menomonie with the release of Zymurnator Doppelbock & a super special open mic!
The arcade games & pool table will be free all day. Who knows - you may even be able to challenge the brewer to a game of billiards and win a delicious glass of Zymurnator.
Arlyn Colby is the author of numerous books about Wisconsin's short line railroads. In this photo-filled presentation he'll talk specifically about the history of Dunn County short lines. He'll be available afterwards to chat, and sign books. His books will be available for purchase.
