St. James, MN area
2025 President: Gary Lipinski
January-February 2026 Chapter News
Post Holiday greetings to everyone from the Prairieland Chapter!
I hope everyone had a joyful holiday season spent with family and friends and safe travels as well. We have all likely had to contend with some real Minnesota winter road conditions this season. I take notice when the forecasters predict rain turning to snow, flash-freezing, or blizzard conditions. We’ve contended with them all so far in and around St. James, New Ulm, and the location of our club Christmas party, Hanska. The party was postponed due to, you guessed it, a snowstorm.
The organizing committee made a good call when they postponed the event for two weeks. When the party was originally scheduled, MPR News was predicting “total snowfall will be several inches to even a half foot along the Minnesota-Iowa border” with frigid air to follow. The prediction was correct. But it eventually all melted away before Christmas.
In any event, when we had the party on December 14th at the Hanska Community Center, it was a lively and well-attended event, with 28 members attending. The organizers went all out to decorate, plan games, and arrange for delicious broasted chicken for all. Many thanks to our President, Garry Lipinski and his wife Barb, Jan Jose and Bonnie Lilleodden for their efforts. My apologies for anyone I failed to mention. Everyone brought a dish to pass, which made for lots of delicious and interesting sides to try. One of my favorites was a traditional rice pudding dish called Risgrynsgröt.
At Garry’s invitation, several members recounted their project cars for the year. Norm Kopp built a 1904 Brennan with an assist on the suspension from Tom Anderson. Tom and John Keech are working and collaborating on an all wooden bodied 1915 omnibus. Tom is working on a 1920 3.5 hp (hit and miss) Galloway engine that he got from Russ Rogotzke. Jim Lilleodden has his 1928 Oakland ready to rock the roads. Mike Kleinow has a ‘71 Torino he’s working on that used to be a street racing car. He also did a little “shopping” in his grove and came up with a 1920 horse-drawn road grader that is functioning and being refurbished. It was very interesting to hear about everyone’s hard work, collaboration and labors of love. We were also very happy to welcome a new member, Gary Anderson and his ‘70 Buick and ‘51 Chevy.
The party also included a short meeting where the board was elected for the coming year;
President: Garry Lipinski
Vice-President: Richard Carlson
Secretary: Bonnie Lilleodden
Treasurer: Jan Jose
Officers: Roger Knudson, Jim Jose, Tom Anderson.
Many thanks to the Board for their continued service to the Prairieland Chapter.
Garry presented Bonnie and Jan with plaques in appreciation for all their efforts and contributions to the club. After a recap of the many adventures, road trips, and events the club held and attended over the summer, we enjoyed a terrific potluck, cute Christmas limericks by Bonnie, a holiday themed door prize drawing, conversation, and dessert to wrap up a lovely evening.
As a final note, the Board met in early January to start planning for spring and to arrange for winter meetings starting in mid to late January. I am looking forward to seeing everyone then.
All the best to everyone over the winter and we look forward to seeing you on the road this spring!