Good morning, South Metro.
What’s inside:
Property taxes: Dakota County fund down to $1.2M, hike of 14-24% possible for 2027
Lakeville zoning: 6 backyard chickens and beehives now allowed
Al-Hadi mosque: two dozen residents spoke, most in support
History: how MN shipped 20 million tons of lake ice a year
Events: food trucks, picnics & live music, Aug 11-12th
Eagan's biggest park is a sprawling maze of lakes, woods, and trails. Roughly how big is it?
The Viking Lakes Beer Bash Is 5 Days Away
17 breweries, live bands, and concessions take over the Viking Lakes campus in Eagan this Friday, August 15th, free to walk in, ticketed to drink.
Advance tickets are still $50, but not for long, they jump to $60 at the door. Make a day of it with the Brewery Running Series' pledge-per-mile fun run on closed lake trails. All proceeds from the run benefit Save the Boundary Waters, and the run club with the most total miles will win $500.
This is your last stretch to save $10 before the gates open.
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Your Dakota County Property Taxes Could Jump Double Digits in 2027
The county's rainy-day fund is projected to fall to about $1.2 million, down from around $130 million in 2014, and now a property tax hike of roughly 14% to 24% is on the table for 2027.
Lakeville Says Yes to 6 Backyard Chickens (and Easier Bees)
The city's yearly zoning update passed August 3, and now you can keep up to six backyard chickens and get a beehive with just a simple permit.
Two Dozen Neighbors Packed City Hall for Lakeville's New Mosque
For over half an hour, residents lined up at the mic to speak on the Al-Hadi mosque, and most came to say yes, including pastors, a rabbi's neighbor, and a high schooler who said "I don't say India, I say Lakeville."
THE ICE THEY CUT FROM THE LAKES
Before refrigerators, Minnesota's lakes were gold mines.
Every winter, crews walked onto the frozen water with horses and saws and pulled up blocks of ice the size of hay bales. They stacked them in sawdust-insulated warehouses and shipped them across the country.
Then electricity came. And the whole thing melted away.
THE COLD CROP
In the 1880s, ice was the second-largest export from the United States. Only cotton shipped more.
Minnesota was perfectly built for it. Cold winters. Hundreds of lakes. Railroad lines to move the product. At its peak, the state shipped more than 20 million tons of ice per year.
The blocks were substantial. Sixteen to eighteen inches thick. Twenty-two inches square. More than 200 pounds each. Done right, the ice would last all summer.
THE RAILROAD'S HUNGER
Most of the ice went to the railroads. Refrigerator cars had been hauling meat and produce since the 1850s, but keeping them cold required a constant supply of ice. Icing stations had to be spaced along every route.
Shady Oak Lake, in what's now Hopkins, had one of the largest ice houses west of Chicago. Almost all of the ice harvested at Shady Oak supplied the railroad.
THE END
In the late 1930s, the Rural Electrification Administration brought power lines to rural Minnesota. Mechanical refrigerators followed. By 1950, 90 percent of American city homes had refrigerators. The ice business couldn't compete.
By the mid-1950s, the industry was gone. More than a century of tradition, vanished in a single generation.
WHAT REMAINS
Tim Graf is a Burnsville resident whose grandparents operated the Worthington Ice Company in southwest Minnesota into the 1940s. He helped start the ice harvest program at Richardson Nature Center in Bloomington. For more than 27 years, the center has hosted an annual Ice Harvesting Day, where visitors cut blocks from a frozen pond with vintage saws and learn how Minnesota once powered a global industry with cold water and hard work.
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➡️ Four-season porch, formal dining room & composite grilling deck
➡️ Heated in-ground pool with custom stonework & stamped concrete patio
Price: $2,950,000
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Tuesday, August 11th
Story Trail at Vermillion Grove Park (Farmington)
Follow giant picture-book pages through the park, then join Miss Aimee for a fun art or STEM activity at 9:30 a.m. Follow the story.
Wednesday, August 12th
Kick-Start Blood Drive (Eagan)
Book a donation appointment with the Eagan Kick-Start Rotary and help provide lifesaving blood for local hospital patients. Give back.
Live Music and Food Truck Fest (Apple Valley)
Enjoy a free night of food trucks and live music from The Jolly Pops and M.T. Pockets & Loose Change at Shepherd of the Valley. Come hungry.
Picnics in the Park, Lion’s Park (Rosemount)
Pack dinner and invite your friends to this relaxed 5:30 p.m. community picnic filled with sunshine, connection, and conversation. Pack a picnic.
Bruce Burniece at Crystal Lake Golf Course (Lakeville)
Hear more than 1,100 hit songs, make requests, and sing along during this free live music night at 6 p.m. Sing along.
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— Brady Greenbush
Publisher & Editor