Donald “Don” Lawrence Kelm, age 87, of Waterville, passed away while working in his beloved woodshop on Wednesday, June 10, 2026.

Joan “Jody” Marie Gregor, age 94, of Waterville, died on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, at Field Crest Care Center in Hayfield.  

Sharon Elizabeth (Schramm) Kelm of Waterville, age 79, passed away at her home on June 13, 2026.

Sharon was born on April 22, 1947, in Northfield, Minnesota, to Rueben Schramm and Emma (Keso) Schramm. She attended Kilkenny Grade School and graduated from Montgomery High School in 1965.

    Le Sueur County took a step to pump the brakes on data centers being built in the county. At the Board of Commissioners meeting on May 26, the county unanimously passed a one-year moratorium on data center construction.
    The moratorium covers unincorporated areas of Le Sueur County. Cities within the county can still make their own decisions.
    “If a city wants to have a data center, we don’t have any control over that at all,” Commissioner David Preisler said. “If they want to, they’re not affected by this ordinance. They’ve got their own planning and zoning.”

Outstanding weather, great events, huge crowds highlight weekend festival

Thousands of bullheads (12,000+) were served, the rain and clouds stayed away for most of the weekend, the temperatures were warm but not bad, queens were crowned, the food stands were outstanding, and fun was had by all.

The 2026 Waterville Bullhead Days Celebration held June 5 through June 7, which is in its 61st-year.

One of the highlight events of the weekend was the Friday night crowning of Miss Waterville and Junior Miss Waterville.

WEM Partners in Education (PIE) took on an exciting new project this year - a Fun Run for the elementary students and a Color Run for the middle school students! Due to weather, both events were held on the last day of school, Wednesday, May 27.

WEM PIE members, Lisa Cofield, Katy Montgomery, Patty Salmon and Rhiannon Swanson along with...

To see more on this story pick up the June 11, 2026 print edition of the LifeEnterprise. 

Le Sueur County Sheriff Brett Mason has released fraud statistics for the 2025 calendar year.

Sheriff Mason said there were 105 referrals for 2025 and 75 cases with discrepancies. They had eight types of fraud reported, with household composition leading the list with 35 in custody (closure of cases), 28 cases of household composition, 22 cases of unreported income, and 13 residence cases.

A number of WEM softball players have moved their way into the local record books following a successful 2026 spring season.

Senior/graduate Robyn Schwichtenberg, junior Alix Velzke, sophomore Brooklyn Novak, and eighth grader Kalyn Novak are now each included in the school records in either individual season or career season statistics.

The first two wins of the season for the Waterville Indians amateur baseball team were important ones with both being played against 13-60 League opponents.

The Indians celebrated Waterville Bullhead Days Saturday with a 11-5 win over Blue Earth. The following day they traveled to Albert Lea and shutout the newest team in the league by a score of 3-0.

Nolan Grose and Ben Boran each had three hits and a home run. Josh Cook and Dalton Grose added two hits each.

Rene Erwin Greenwald, age 82, of Waterville, passed away on Saturday, April 11, 2026, at Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato from heart failure.

Three straight wins during a rainy Sunday night lifted the WEM girls flag football team into the 2026 High School Girls Flag Football State Tournament.

The Buccaneers shutout Fit Academy, 18-0 in their opening game. In the semifinals they defeated Farmington, 34-6. In the championship, the Bucs edged an undefeated NRHEG, 26,25, when sophomore Paetyn Judd returned an interception for a touchdown with less than 90 seconds to play.

WEM will open State Tournament play Monday, June 8 at 2 p.m. against Centennial at TCO Stadium. The...

In their first Section 2A Track and Field Meet as a co-op team, the JWP//WEM Bulldogs finished 3rd among 24 entered.

The Bulldogs scored 68 team points finishing behind champion Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial-Nicollet (93.5) and Maple River. The top ten teams included Sibley East (62), St. Clair/Immanuel Lutheran (51.75), Mankato Loyola/Cleveland (48), USC (36.75), Minnesota Valley Lutheran (36), Glencoe-Silver Lake (27), and Windom Area (26).

The 61st Annual Waterville Bullhead Days Celebration will begin with the coronation of Miss Waterville 2026 on Friday, June 5 at 7 p.m. in the Waterville Fire Hall. Admission is five dollars for this 69th Miss Waterville and Junior Miss Pageant.

Miss Waterville 2025 Kayla Bronk and her attendants Abby Crosby, Alenka Jans, and Jaelyn Wilmes will preside over their last pageant.

For more than six decades, the second full weekend in June is dedicated to the annual Waterville Bullhead Days celebration. This year is the earliest the event can be held, with dates set for Friday, June 5 through Sunday, June 7.

There are two new events being featured on Saturday. They include the Barney 5K Fun Walk/Run and Paradise City Wrestling.

For years there had been a fun run and bike race. This is being brought back this year as only a 5K run/walk.

For decades, the Waterville Lions Club has been a huge sponsor and supporter of not only Bullhead Days but many clubs, organizations, and individuals through hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations.

In appreciation for their work and dedication to the community and to the annual yearly celebration, the Waterville Lions were bestowed the honor of 2026 Bullhead Days Grand Marshals.

The Waterville Bullhead Days Committee listed a number of reasons why the Lions Club were selected as grand marshals.

For the past four years, WEM senior Robynn Schwichtenberg has been a varsity player for the Buccaneer softball team.

She has been recognized through the conference a couple of times with All-Gopher Conference honors.

Now Schwichtenberg has been recognized at a much higher level, being named to the Class A All Star Game. She was one of 22 players in the small school division selected to play in this series of games which will be held Sunday, June 7 at Caswell Park in North Mankato.