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10th annual Christmas Tree Walk
The Lyon County Historical Society Museum is bringing back a holiday favorite. Plans are well under way for the 2022 Christmas Tree Walk, scheduled to start Nov. 19 and end on New Year's Eve. The tree walk will be inside the Lyon County Museum. Here is your chance to contribute your creativity and decorate a tree to be viewed by museum visitors over the holidays and shared on the museum's website and social media.
The museum staff encourages participants to be as creative as they can be, and to share their story with their decorated tree. Thereare a number of 6 foot and over artificial trees available on a first come basis. Or people may choose to bring their own artificial tree of any size. After confirmation by Nov. 4, the tree is available to decorate Nov. 7-18. To decorate after museum hours, please let us know.
New this year: Staff is encouraging all participants to incorporate something in the tree that is patriotic or something in celebration of Marshall's 150th anniversary this year. Registration Fee: $15 registration fee
The contest: Voters will place money in boxes located at each tree to vote for their favorite(s). Voters can also vote online through the museum's gift shop. Three organizations/businesses/families with the mostmoney in their boxes will win the 2022 tree walk. All proceeds from the boxes will go to benefit the Lyon County Historical Society's mission of preserving and presenting Lyon County history.
1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes will be awarded to the top 3 trees. 1st prize is $150 in Marshall Chamber Dollars; 2nd prize is $100 in Marshall Chamber Dollars; 3rd prize is $50 in Marshall Chamber Dollars
If you have any questions, contact 507-537-6580, or by email director@lyoncomuseum.org.
SMSU to host Holocaust survivor, Fred Amram
Southwest Minnesota State University is hosting holocaust survivor, Fred Amram on Monday, Nov. 14. Amram will give a presentation in the Fine Arts Theatre at 6:30 p.m. A reception following the presentation will be held in the William Whipple Gallery.
Fred M. B. Amram is a retired award-winning professor of communication and creativity. He has authored books and articles about creativity, inventors, robotics, and communication. Amram has been the curator of exhibitions about creativity and woman inventors throughout the United States. He has provided worldwide consulting services to industry, government agencies, and educational institutions. He is also an inventor. In presenting Amram, the Patent and Trademark Office's prestigious Excellence in Education Award, the Commissioner of the PTO referred to Amram as "excellence in education personified."
Amram was born in Hannover, Germany, where he experienced the early years of the Holocaust. Even though he was a child during the Holocaust, his memory of events is surprisingly clear. And while the transition to a new language and culture was difficult, the alternatives were worse. With this outlook in mind, his adopted country truly became a land of opportunity where one could build a new life and become more than a "survivor." The loss of uncles, aunts, a grandmother, and many more relatives has motivated him to share his story and to speak against genocide everywhere.
Amram's popular memoir, "We're in America Now," became his recent transition from scholarly writing to storytelling. His coffee-table art book, "Lest We Forget," provides further insights into his experiences in Nazi Germany and in America. He is currently working on a novel.
In addition to the presentation and reception, the William Whipple Gallery will have the traveling exhibit "Lest We Forget -- a survivor's stories" on display from Oct. 24 through Nov. 28. The exhibition documents Amram's journey to the United States during World War II.
"Lest We Forget" is a touring collection of 24 3D multi-media works of art with short literary vignettes. Two artists, Sandra Brick and Holocaust survivor, Fred Amram, explore a Jewish youngster's coming-of-age, first in Holocaust Germany, and then as a refugee in the United States.
The exhibit chronicles the Holocaust, which did not begin with Kristallnacht in 1938 or with Auschwitz in 1940, starting as early as 1933, when Amram was born in a Catholic Infants Home because Jewish mothers no longer had access to public or Jewish hospitals. In the collection of multi-media works, textile artist Brick translates Amram's stories into visual art. Learn about the early days of the Holocaust and about a Jewish refugee family coming to America, absorbing a new language, and adapting to a new culture.
Partnerships and sponsors include Southwest Minnesota State University History Club, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Access Opportunity Success, Newman Club, Social Justice Club, and Communication Studies Program along with Minnesota West Community & Technical College and Marshall Senior High School.
The presentation, reception, and art exhibit are all free and open to the public.
USDA accepting applications to help cover costs of organic transitioning producers
Agricultural producers and handlers who are certified organic, along with producers and handlers who are transitioning to organic production, can now apply for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Organic and Transitional Education Certification Program (OTECP) and Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP), which help producers and handlers cover the cost of organic certification, along with other related expenses. Applications for OTECP and OCCSP are both due Oct. 31, 2022.
OTECP covers:
• Certification costs for organic producers and handlers (25% up to $250 per category).
• Eligible expenses for transitional producers, including fees for pre-certification inspections and development of an organic system plan (75% up to $750).
• Registration fees for educational events (75% up to $200).
• Soil testing (75% up to $100).
Meanwhile, OCCSP covers 50% or up to $500 per category of certification costs in 2022.
This cost share for certification is available for each of these categories: crops, wild crops, livestock, processing/handling and State organic program fees.
Producers can receive cost share through both OTECP and OCCSP. Both OTECP and OCCSP cover costs incurred from Oct. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2022. Producers have until Oct. 31, 2022 to file applications, and FSA will make payments as applications are received.
To apply, producers and handlers should contact the Farm Service Agency (FSA) at their local USDA Service Center. As part of completing the OCCSP applications, producers and handlers will need to provide documentation of their organic certification and eligible expenses. Organic producers and handlers may also apply for OCCSP through participating State agencies.
Additional details can be found on the farmers.gov website or by calling the Lyon County Farm Service Agency at 507-537-1401.