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News from the week of April 19, 2000 Headlight Herald - Serving Tracy, Minnesota, since 1880

 

New bakery owners set Thursday grand opening

Ray Hay's Monday began at 1 a.m., getting dough ready for the daily baking. But at 2:30 p.m., Hay was still smiling as he prepared to put another batch of goodies into the oven at the Tracy Bakery.

“I love what I do,” he said. “If I didn't, I wouldn't be here.”

Hay and his wife, Robin, are planning a grand opening at the Tracy Bakery Thursday, April 20. The Hays are purchasing the Downtown Tracy business from longtime owners Mike and Sue Fritz, who recently accepted positions with HyVee in Marshall.

Both of the Hays are longtime employees at the Tracy Bakery. Ray joined the bakery in the summer of 1983. Robin has worked at the bakery “off and on” for about 12 years. Both have been involved in all aspects of the bakery's operation.

“I've had a greater teacher,” Ray said. “Everything I know, I've learned from Mike. He's the one who got me going.”


Sleet settles dust

Warmer soil temps needed before corn planting

Rain, sleet, ice, and snow combined to create miserable weather conditions last weekend. But no one complained too much. The storm system also brought about a half-inch of precipitation to throughout the area.

“It (the moisture) was badly needed and was very much welcome,” commented Mike McCarvel of the Lyon County Extension Service.

The weekend storm continued a pattern of colder than normal temperatures for early April. Soil temperatures need to heat up before farmers can begin planting their crops.

McCarvel said that soil temperatures were in the low 40s prior to this weekend's weather. Producers like to have temperatures approaching 50 degrees before planting corn.


Grandparents are great!

Generation gap? there wasn't one at Tracy Area Elementary School Friday, where Very Important Person (VIP) Grandparents Day was held. A total of 350 people registered. Guests visited children's classrooms, shared a school lunch, and attended a musical program in the school gym.


Bleacher law saves existing Pavilion seats

Legislation signed into law by Governor Jesse Ventura Tuesday means that bleachers in the Tracy Prairie Pavilion won't need extensive renovations after all.

"This is extremely good news for us," said City Administrator Audrey Koopman. The bill, passed by wide margins in both the Minnesota House and Senate, exempts the Pavilion's retractable bleachers from new bleacher standards that were due to go into effect January 1, 2001. City of Tracy officials had received estimates ranging from $105,000 to $136,000 to bring Pavilion standards up to the new code. Most of the Pavilion's seating would have needed replacement, because its retractable design cannot be modified.


Spanish students reflect on memorable trip to Europe

Eight Tracy Area High School Spanish students have a planeload of memories and fistfuls of photographs to sort through. The students returned recently from a two-week study trip to Spain.

The group, accompanied by instructor Pam Marsh, was gone March 23 through April 6. After a week of site seeing, the students each spent a week living with a family in the Elda-Petrer.

Students on the trip were: Tonya Beebout, Stacy Christensen, Shannon Fuhrmann, Debbie Gabel, Mike Grunden, Julie Gifford, Sarah Zwach, and Katie Miller.


Oh, what a wonderful `Wizard' it was

By S. Thane Windbag

Headlight-Herald drama critic

“Now, I know I'm not in Kansas anymore!” Dorothy exclaimed, gazing at the surreal landscape.

Dorothy (Emily Miller) might also have been tempted to declare that she wasn't in Tracy anymore.

No wonder.

When the curtain opened on the Tracy Community Children's Choir's production of Wizard of Oz last weekend, the audience felt that they, too, were in the Wonderful Land of Oz, not ensconced an uncomfortable chair in a school gymnasium.

How was the show?

Breathtakingly spectacular.

• • •

The challenges faced in staging Wizard of Oz were many. Creating the make-believe world of Oz was one task. Meeting audience expectations was another. Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion are perhaps America's most recognizable fictional characters. How does one give new life to a familiar story? How can local grade schoolers compete with Hollywood?

Some Oz attendees dutifully bought tickets expecting some cute kids in costumes, but not much else. But like Dorothy arriving in Kansas, the audience was in for a surprise.

Thanks to marvelous sets and props, ingeniously clever special effects, and astonishingly inspired performances from the children, this Wizard production enthralled from prelude to curtain call.