Minnesota has new Czech Slovak ambassadors when the royalty was crowned at the annual Miss Czech Slovak MN Pageant at the American Legion Post 79 in Montgomery on Saturday. The new royalty is pictured with the night’s Czech Helpers. 

Pictured are: Czech Helpers Melanie Le Brun, Miss Congeniality and Second Princess Michelle Vlasak, Queen Heather Vikla, Czech Helper Hayden Dietz, First Princess Mary Carson and Czech Helper Alenka Jans. The royalty was crowned after interviews, parent introductions, and talent and kroj competition. 

The 2018 Dakota-Rice- Scott League baseball season is scheduled to begin play this weekend, though Mother Nature appears to have different ideas.
Six games were originally scheduled to be played Sunday, five league games and a non-league game. Three of those games have been postponed due to the prolonged winter weather. Announcements have yet to be made on the other three, but it is expected most fields will not be ready after the record-breaking mid-April snowfall.

The New Prague Adapted Softball team earned its first win of the season Wednesday, April 11, defeating Minneapolis 13-5. On Monday, April 16, the team lost to South Washington County 15-0.
The team, which also includes players from Tri-City United, Belle Plaine and Jordan schools, has a 1-2 record. They were scheduled to host South Suburban Wednesday, April 18. They play at Burnsville/Farmington /Lakeville Monday, April 23, and host St. Paul Humboldt Wednesday, April 25.

Scott Pearson and LaRae Gast are the new owners of Wayside Liquor in Montgomery. 
 
The partners in life and business purchased the liquor store on Monday, April 16, from Chuck Way and Tina Way of Montgomery and Al and Carleen Sevcik of Lonsdale, who opened the business in May 2005. 
 

Bruce Stasney is passionate about conservation.
 
He learned the importance of preserving, protecting and restoring the natural environment for the earth’s wildlife when he was a young man growing up on a farm outside of Montgomery.
 
The son of John and Rita Stasney loves to hunt and be outside. He remembers the moment in his youth when the importance of conservation took hold in his heart. 
 

What does it mean to be a person of color in a community that is predominantly white? What is it like to be white here in Montgomery? What can the community you live in do about disparities surrounding race relations and equality?
 
These are just a few of the hard-hitting questions posed upon attendees at the “It’s Time to Talk: Forums on Race” held Monday at Tri-City United High School.
“This is really an interesting and exciting event for me personally and professionally,” said Mark Preissing of the event.

Montgomery’s Arts and Heritage Center’s Heritage Breakfast on Sunday, April 15 at Hilltop Hall has been postponed due to the winter storm conditions. 
 
It has been moved to April 22, starting at 8 a.m. A special program featuring honoring the Don Rynda family will start at 10:30 a.m. Kathy Peterson of the Arts and Heritage Center said she hope neighbors can come next week to honor Don and his contributions to the community.

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Because of the severity of the winter storm, the Miss Czech Slovak MN Pageant has been moved to Saturday,  April 21. The location and times will remain the same. It will be held at the Montgomery American Legion Club. A public reception and dinner will be held prior to the 7 p.m. pageant. 
 
Pageant contestants include: Mary Carson, daughter of John and Rosalind Carson, Heather Vikla, daughter of David and Kelly Vikla, and Michelle Vlasak, daughter of Ed and Debbie Vlasak. 
 

While all the other spring Montgomery Messanger Montgomery Messanger Sports were struggling to practice and reschedule events due to the weather, the New Prague Adapted Softball team opened its 2018 schedule Monday, April 9, indoors at the Central Education Campus gym, hosting the Southern Stars of Chanhassen/Chaska/Prior Lake/Shakopee. The Trojans lost the game 16-4.

Le Sueur County Historical Society (LCHS) is pushing back in the lawsuit brought by members who are asking for access to its documents and a “democratic” board election.
 
The response from LCHS was filed in Le Sueur County District Court on March 28 in response to a lawsuit from 16 members who allege the existing board of LCHS has mismanaged the society, has murky financial dealings, and has held anti-democratic processes, which, they state are contrary to Minnesota law and LCHS bylaws. In a filing on February 21, the citizens asked for a judge to intervene.
 

My wife is into scrapbooking.
 
Scrapbookers have stuff. A lot of stuff.  If you are the husband of a scrapbooker, you will know what I am talking about. 
 
My wife has carts and totes of different kinds of paper, trinkets, embellishments, and empty binders just ready for the filling with (I admit) beautifully-designed pages. 
 
This is her hobby, and I am happy with it because if it were left up to me, our memories would be crammed into photo books, you know the way people scrapbooked a generation ago.

Caroline (Carolyn) Dvorak, 90, of Montgomery, passed away on Monday, April 9, 2018, at her home in Montgomery. Mass of Christian burial will be held on Saturday, April 21, at 10:30 a.m. at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Montgomery. Visitation will be held on Friday, April 20, from 4 to 8 p.m. at Schoenbauer Funeral Home in Montgomery. Interment will be held in Calvary Cemetery in Montgomery.
 

Students in the Tri-City United School District will make up one of their snow days by attending an extra day of school on Friday, June 1. 

The decision came at Monday’s Tri-City United School Board meeting.   

April and spring are here, according to the calendar and the position of the earth to the sun. Yet we continue to have to shovel thanks to the wintery weather we had earlier in the week that forced TCU to call another snow day on Tuesday and the continued cold days. 
 
Despite our crummy weather, there are plenty of activities happening that can keep us busy. Here are a few: 
 
• The Montgomery Library starts one of my favorite events - the annual Book Sale. It starts Saturday, April 7 and runs to Thursday, April 12.

Czech was Don Rynda’s first language.
His grandparents made sure of it.
“When I was little and my parents would be out working on the farm, my grandparents would care for me. They spoke Czech to me. It was important to them that the language was not forgotten… It wasn’t until I started country school—first grade—that I learned English,” explained Rynda. “I’m 85 now, and I can still speak it (Czech). I have my grandparents to thank for that.”

Imagine browsing through the Enchanted Depot to find customized magical solutions to all problems. Such is the world of TCU’s “Haphazardly Ever After,” that runs Friday and Saturday, April 6 and 7 at the Montgomery Middle School Auditorium. Performances are at 7 p.m. each night.