NEW ULM — A special 120th anniversary celebration was held in German Park, Thursday to honor New Ulm’s Public Utilities.

To celebrate the event, kids games and food trucks were invited to the park. Nick Stadick provided musical entertainment on concertina. At dusk, audiences were treated to a free screening of the movie “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile.”

NUPU’s Energy Service Representative Derek Nelson said it rare in Minnesota to have a municipal public utility that is 120 years old. He said In 1903, there were only a handful of Minnesota cities with public power.

New Ulm had a privately owned power company before 1903, but the they only supplied power to streetlights in the downtown and only turned the lights on some of the time.

Nelson said he did the math on the cost of this private power and confirmed the community was being over charged.

“That’s when the city council at that time decided to start their own power plant,” he said.

New Ulm Public Utilities began with electricity and later expanded into gas power. The public utilities building continue to expand over the last 12 decades, but parts of the original power plant remain.

Audiences had to wait until after 9 p.m. for it be dark enough for the movie. Around the time the film began, street lights in the park came on as reminder of what NUPU has provided the city for 120 years.