The warm weekend and the hundreds of sleds have taken a toll on the trails.
Last week Chip West, Chip South, Woodlake, Lost Girl and South Inguadona were groomed.
UPDATE: Grooming all trails once this week then awaiting whatever Mother Nature does, maybe the end of the season.
Triville is now groomed to its entirety. Chip West has logging going on leaving bad conditions the east 3 miles of the old grade.
LLASC Trails update: All trails are groomed twice a week except Triville. All trails are in very good condition. Chip South and Woodlake are groomed Monday and Thursday. Lost Girl and Chip West are groomed Tuesday and Friday. Triville groomed on Wednesday.
It was so nice to see how many people showed up today for the Open Houses for Pine Company and Lazy Days, photos with Santa at Common Grounds sponsored by the Longville Women of Today, Carolers, Greg and Dawn Gilsrud serving up hot dogs and hot beverages, lighting of the downtown Christmas tree and the horse drawn wagon rides! Thanks to all who came out. Wishing you all happy holidays!
Here are some photos from today and also the upcoming Open House calendar. Although it is not listed, Brian & Connie will also be having an Open House at BC’s Corral on December 14th from 3-5 pm and would love to see you all come out for a holiday toast!!!
Longville 2019 Christmas Open Houses Poster
Hope everyone gets some time to come downtown for the 8.7.2019 Turtle Races.
WCCO will be covering this race…”kudos” for our World Record Turtle Race Town!!!
What a great day to wander downtown Longville! Hot dogs and corn (Minnesota Sweet!) served up by the Lions. Y.A.H. Club had a great display of pies, pastries, and sweets along with the chance at the Quilt Raffle, too!
Thanks to all of you that came downtown and participated! There are so many that give their time for this great community!!!
What a Day it Was !!!
With a turnout of 434 turtle racers….we had 100 more racers than last week and about 1300 visitors all total on Main Street ! It was a mass of humanity! The weather was gorgeous, the turtles were in great shape, as usual, and everyone was out for a wonderful day. These races are run by volunteers , 20 some, each week. Bless their hearts. This week, we had 4 new volunteers, youngsters from the Johnson Family. Miranda, Addison, Michaela and Taylor. And, it was a good thing these young ladies showed up, because we were down 2 of our finest !!! With a little bit of direction, they fell right into place and helped out immensely. You can imagine with that many turtles, we have to move quickly getting the turtles to the racers and then picked up and put back in their turtle boat, while the next bunch of 15 is brought out. It runs like a well oiled machine. We are blessed to have our volunteers.
Our human interest story this week is about our Longville Lions and their cotton candy tent at the races. Paul Harwig tells this story. A young lady, really young, approached the stand. Her little lips were turned down..she was crabby. Asked for a cotton candy..and as she saw Paul twirling and twirling that cotton candy..her little lips turned up and she had a huge grin on her little face !! Ah, the magic of cotton candy !! Then, a Grampa stops by and thanks Paul and the Lions for supporting Camp Olson, our local YMCA Camp. He had seen that the Lions contribute each year so that children who otherwise would not be able to attend…can go and experience the wonders of this camp. Just another day at the races…a lot of happy people. Just 3 races left. And, WCCO is coming to film the races next week …..see you there.
IWhat a day for Longville !!! When it was all said and done..we had over 620 turtle racers registered. And doing our regular figuring of 3 other folks escorting each racer…you can do the math…Longville was entertaining more than 2000 people last Wednesday !! The weather was wonderful, a little overcast turned into a gloriously sunny day with mild breezes. The crowds got warmed up with record numbers of hula hoopers and dancers..Moms and Dads, Grandmas and Grandpas out there on main street with the youngsters. Actually turtle racers come in all ages. It’s a generational thing, a family tradition. It takes a lot of volunteers each week to put on the races..and our volunteers are very committed to the work they do there. A normal number of racers in July would be around 350 racers…so you can see our volunteers were really hustling Wednesday. But they did an amazing job and at the end of the last race when the final winner was called… they all were pretty proud of themselves. Many new memories were created that day. Come see us next week and every Wednesday through August 21st. See you at the races. 
Despite the rain, 269 intrepid turtle racers converged on downtown Longville to take part in the next-to-last turtle race of the 2017 season. As the showers shifted between light sprinkles and steady rain, racers and their families donned raincoats and huddled under umbrellas, while still enjoying the games and contests.
After 263 racers competed in the regular heats, Grand Champion honors went to Aiden Barthel, age 12, of Norwood/Young America, Minnesota. The Grand Slowpoke title went to Kaden Pocklington, age 7, of Maple Grove, Minnesota.
An additional six racers competed in the Chamber Resort Race, which was won by Mara Deike, age 8, of Maple Grove, Minnesota, representing Timber Trails Resort.
The Longville Chamber would like to thank everyone who makes the turtle races possible, especially race announcer Dave Adams, his assistant Brittney Wolters, and race judges Tarike, Charlee, Katelyn and Pat. We would also like to recognize the volunteers from VFW Post 772 and Camp Olson YMCA and all the Chamber businesses that support this event.
The last turtle race of the 2017 season will be Wednesday, Aug. 23. Race registration and the contests and games open at 1 p.m. The Chamber Resort Race is held at 2 p.m., followed by the regular turtle races. Race registration is $3, which includes the rental of a turtle (or you can bring your own). Proceeds benefit community activities sponsored by the Longville Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce.
Longville Chamber of Commerce
PO Box 33 – Longville, MN 56655
Email: [email protected]