On Nov. 22, two days before Thanksgiving, the four-lane Highway 14 expansion between New Ulm and Nicollet opened to the public. This stretch of highway cost $84 million and took two nearly two years to complete. It was also the last piece needed to complete the four-lane corridor from Rochester to New Ulm.

The entire Highway 14 four-lane expansion project represented multiple decades of lobbying for roadway improvements and involved dozens to communities along the roadway. Most of the early expansions were made on the eastern edge of the state near Rochester.

Before the official re-opening of the New Ulm/Nicollet stretch, a special ribbon cutting ceremony was held on the Courtland interchange bridge, Nov. 22. Though it was a cold and windy day, a large crowd attended the ceremony, included dozens of politicians and stakeholders who had a hand in the roadway expansion. The event included speeches from Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, 1st District Congressman Brad Finstad, MN Sen. Nick Fentz of North Mankato, MN Sen. Gary Dahms of Redwood Falls, MN Rep. Paul Torkelson of Hanska; Mayors of New Ulm, Courtland and Nicollet; members of the Highway 14 Partnership and several Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) officials.

MnDOT District 7 engineer Greg Ous said the completion of the roadway was reason to celebrate, but it was also a day to remember those lost on Highway 14. The Highway 14 corridor was long considered a safety hazard. Over the years, the two-lane designed led to many fatal accidents. The primary reason for expanding the roadway to four-lanes was safety purposes.

Kathleen Backer became New Ulm’s first female mayor of New Ulm after taking the oath of office Jan 3, 2023.

Ous said the completion of the New Ulm/Nicollet stretch was a closure for MnDOT staff and many others who dreamed of a four-lane highway from New Ulm to Rochester.

Everyone who spoke during the ribbon cutting acknowledge safety was the top priority in the roadway improvements. Nearly everyone present knew someone who was lost along the roadway. It was emphasized that the project was only possible through the cooperation of all the communities along Highway 14.

Highway 14 Partnership President Kevin Raney said leadership played a big part in making the project a reality.

Highway 14 from New Ulm opened to traffic later that evening. It was the first time vehicles could travel Highway to Nicollet since April 2022 and for the first time on a four-lane road.

2. New Ulm’s first woman mayor

The offense is set to spike the ball while the defense prepares to block. This drama played out hundreds of time during New Ulm’s first Spikin’ in the Street competition. Over 600 tons of sand were poured on Minnesota Street to allowed for a day of tournaments featuring 44 teams.

In 2022, then New Ulm Mayor Terry Sveine announced he would not seek a new term, leading to five candidates filing to run for the position. Kathleen Backer was ultimately elected mayor on Nov. 8, 2022. After taking the oath of office during the first city council meeting in 2023, Backer became the first woman mayor in New Ulm history.

Over the last year, Backer has enthusiastically served her role as mayor, attending city council and commission meetings and representing New Ulm at important events. Backer was on hand to welcome a delegation from Ulm and Neu Ulm, Germany during Oktoberfest; was present for the Highway 14 ribbon cutting ceremony and even participated in the Fasching tradition in which The Narren kidnap the mayor.

“I was never intended to be the first woman mayor,” Backer said in an interview after becoming mayor. She never did something simply to be the first, she said. “I’ve done what I’ve done because I believed I was qualified and I had something to offer.”

Backer was raised in New Ulm and graduated from high school in 1964. She would later attend Mankato State University as a non-traditional student. By the time she enrolled in a college class, she was already married with three children.

Backer would eventually become curator and manager at Brown County Historical Society in 1981 and in 1984, was promoted to BCHS executive Director. From 1983 to 1989, she served on the District 88 school board.

In 1989 she moved to Rockford, IL to serve as Executive Director of Midway Village Museum. She returned to New Ulm in 1998 and began working for Farm America. Later she worked as a consultant for nonprofits. In 2017, she returned to the BCHS as executive director, only stepping down after being elected New Ulm’s mayor.

Backer said wanted to be mayor because of how proud she was of the community. She often says it is a privilege to be New Ulm’s Mayor. Backer is aware that in New Ulm, the mayor does not get a vote on the city council, but wanted to serve as a representative of New Ulm.

3. The National Festival of American Turners comes to New Ulm

The 56th National Festival of American Turners was held in New Ulm. The event, known as Turnfest, is held every four years since 1851 by a rotating list of Turner societies. This was the first year New Ulm’s Turner Hall hosted the festival.

Turnfest is a mixture of cultural and athletic events, following the original mission of the Turners. Cultural events included quilting, oil paintings, photography, essays and musical submission. Athletic events included gymnastics, pickleball, track and field, 5K run, model drill and swimming events.

Since the festival was held in New Ulm, the Turners had an opportunity to held a new athletic competition: water ninja.

New Ulm is one of only two cities in the United States with a water ninja obstacle course. The ninja cross is located at the New Ulm Rec. Center. Turner athletes were able hold races with obstacles both above and underwater.

Turnerfest was held from July 25 to July 29. Over 25 Turner delegations from across the nation came to New Ulm for the festival.

4. Farmers Co-op of Hanksa dissolves

In March, members of the Farmers Co-operative of Hanska (FCH) voted 130-1 to dissolve. As a result of the vote, FCH began the process of liquidating and selling all its assets. The decision to dissolve was unanimously recommended by the FCH board.

FCH was founded in 1923 and would have celebrated its centennial this year, but mounting debt forced the coop board to take action.

Board president Matt Suess said the board looked into every option to save the coop but debt made it unsustainable. FCH fell into significant debt following the June 2021 grain elevator explosion of their grain elevator. The explosion forced the coop to cancel trains and the elevator rebuilt took longer than anticipated with higher cost for materials. The explosion also caused the coop to be dropped by an insurer. No other insurer wanted to cover the coop.

After the vote, Central Region COOP (CRC) and New Vision worked with the board to buy up assets. The plan was for CRC to take over FHC’s agronomy, energy and grain business. New Vision planned to purchase the feed assets in Mankato and Courtland.

5. Prince Sculpture comes to Minnesota Music Hall of Fame

In March, it was announced a 15-foot-tall Prince themed guitar sculpture would be installed outside the entrance of the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame. The sculpture was created as part of the Mankato City Art Walking Sculpture Tour. The sculpture artist, Jefferson Davis, created the piece to honor the late musican Prince, who was a Minnesota native. After the sculptures term on the Art Walking Sculpture Tour, it would be relocated to the MMHF. Prince was inducted into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame in 2007. The MMHF recently received a donation of Prince memorabilia from the Prince Legacy Foundation and this included the sculpture.

MMHF hoped the sculpture would increase tourism; especially placed outside the Hall of Fame off Broadway. People traveling through town were likely to notice a 15-foot purple guitar.

6. Former Mayor Robert Beussman

Former Mayor Robert “Bob” Beussman died on March 6, 2023. Beussman had served the city as Mayor for 10 years, but was also worked as a New Ulm elementary school for 33 years. He retired from teaching in 2000. During his time as Mayor, Beussman was a strong ambassador for the city. In addition to mayor, he served as President of the Highway 14 Coalition. Beussman believed the expansion of Highway 14 was important to the future of the community. For years he pushed the state to expand Highway 14 to a four-lane. Beussman lived to see the start of the Highway 14 expansion from Nicollet to New Ulm, but died eight months before the project was complete.

During the ceremony celebrating the re-opening of Highway 14, current Highway 14 Partnership President Kevin Raney said “Bob didn’t rest in peace. He’s been pushing for this in heaven and can now rest in peace.”

7. Westridge Place opens

For New Ulm and most of Minnesota, child care shortages have been an ongoing problem for years. Child care shortage has been cited as a top concern of New Ulm officials for over half a decade. Two years ago, The New ULm Economic Development Authority (EDA) took a step to alleviating the problem through the purchase of a building to launch a pod-model day care.

The pod model day care is a new concept in Minnesota that allows up to four in-home day care providers to operate out of the same building. Instead of a single day care center operating out of the building, four independent day care businesses can run from the same location.

The EDA purchased and renovated a building at 1314 Westridge Road with the intention of leasing space to in-home childcare providers. As of December 2023, three of the four spaces are occupied with day care providers, with a fourth planning to start in February.

The new pod-model day care building will not solve the day care shortage, but it is a step in the right direction. This model allowed multiple licensed providers to continue operating.

It is hoped Westridge Place could serve as a model for other communities. State House Rep. Paul Torkelson and State Sen. Gary Dahms visited Westridge Place and agreed it could work in other communities struggling with day care shortages.

Westridge Place could also serve an a national model. New Ulm Mayor Kathleen Backer said she spoke with U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar and the Senator indicated child care was a priority on the federal level and expressed interest in touring Westridge Place.

8. Spikin’ in the Street

In August, the first Spikin’ in the Street Volleyball Tournament was held on Minnesota Street between Center and 1st North Street. The event required 600 tons of sand to be laid in the street to create multiple sand volleyball courts. The entire block was closed off to vehicle traffic for the weekend while the city through a volleyball themed block party.

In total, 44 teams entered the competition. The teams were separated into three brackets, the A bracket featured the best, the B bracket had the regular players, and the C bracket starred the amateur and rec teams. Four volleyball courts stretched end-to-end along Minnesota Street as competitors worked to win their matches.

Many establishments facing Minnesota Street remained open through the tournament, seeing increased activity. The tournament was heavily attended with spectators seated along every foot of sidewalk.

Before the tournament, there were concerns the event would be canceled due to rain, but the storms held off until after cleanup of the sand started on Sunday.

The success of the event ensured a Spikin’ in the Street would become another New Ulm summer tradition.

9. Superintendent Bertrang retires, Superintendent Koster hired

In late 2022, District 88 Superintendent Jeff Bertrang announced his retirement after 10 years with the district. At the start of 2023, District 88 began seeking Bertrangs replacement with the process taking a couple months. From an initial pool of 12 candidates, the District 88 School Board agreed to interview five candidates. In addition to the school board, a community board interviewed the candidates to provide a recommendation. Early in the process, Sean Koster was identified as a top candidate. After a second interview on March 23, the board agreed to hire Koster and offered him a contract. He officially took over as Supt. on July 1, 2023. Before coming to New Ulm, Koster served for 15 years as the Superintendent at Beacon Academy Charter School in Plymouth. Koster said as New Ulm Supt. he has three goal to bolster New Ulm: communication, consistency and climate. Koster said he hopes to continue New Ulm’s tradition of superintendents with long tenures this tradition and push New Ulm Schools further into success, achievement, and student pride.

10. George’s Ballroom

Earlier this year, the county board and New Ulm City Council reached a development agreement with Coldwell Banker Commercial Fisher Group of Mankato to demolish the historic George’s Ballroom and create a mixed-use space for commercial and residential use with underground and above ground parking.

The ballroom opened in 1947 and was a popular venue for years, hosting performers like Lawrence Welk, The Andrews Sisters, Glenn Miller and The Six Fat Dutchmen. The building closed in 1991 due to declining interest in big bands and ballroom dancing.

Acquired by Brown County in a tax foreclosure case, the building was sold at auction. A new owner planned to renovate the building but that didn’t happen. It re-opened for a short time and closed again. Tax-forfeited again in 2019, the Brown County board of commissioners authorized demolition in September 2019.

With news of the pending demolition, many New Ulm residents began to share memories of the dance hall. A special street dance was held in front of the building in October to commemorate the structure.

Mitigation work is being planned to preserved and salvage parts of the ballroom after demolotion. Plans include salvaging the George’s Ballroom exterior signage and either incorporating it into the new building design of displaying it some place in the city.

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