Miss Czech-Slovak Minnesota 2025-2026 Gianna Olsen from Stillwater attended the Miss Czech-Slovak US Pageant in Wilber, Neb., competing against 10 other candidates from around the country. She was given the Cultural Preservation Award by the judges.
    Olsen did a vocal solo for her talent at the event, which ran from Friday, July 31-Sunday, Aug. 2, and coincides with Wilber’s Czech Festival. 

    The Miss Czech Slovak Minnesota Pageant is looking for queen and junior ambassador candidates for its 37th annual event.
    If you are of Czech or Slovak decent and live within Minnesota, and are between the ages of 12-15 for junior ambassadors or between ages 16-23 for queen by Aug.1, you can apply through their website at missczechslovakminnesotapageant.com.
    The applications are due by Aug. 1 and a contestant meeting will be held on Aug. 9. The pageant will be held at the Park Ballroom in New Prague after the Dožínky Days on Sept. 19.

    Those looking to try a new 4th of July event this year are in luck. The City of Lonsdale announced earlier this year that it would be hosting a Founders Festival on July 3 from 3 p.m. to midnight. 
    A multitude of items will be happening over the course of the day, celebrating both the United States’ 250th anniversary and Lonsdale’s history.

Before you entered the doors to the Revival on Main, you were greeted with the clanking sounds of the horse-drawn carriage rides for Svatý Mikuláš on Sunday.

Stepping inside, you were greeted with a formal Slavic tradition of bread dipping in salt. Sounds of merriment filled the air with people conversing and various entertainment between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. that included music by Colton Tupy, and traditional dances by both the St. Paul Czech and Slovak Adult Folk Dancers and the Sokol MN Children Dancers.

New Prague High School 1967 graduate and United States Air Force Staff Sergeant Dave Bruzek is being recognized in the Montgomery American Legion Post 79’s Thank A Living Vet display through Nov. 23.

Bruzek enlisted in the U.S. Air Force months before he graduated on his 18th birthday in March.