:: Unofficial Waconia Minnesota ::

When? September 19th 2009
Time? 8am – 5pm
Where? Waconia City Park

What?

• Antique & Collector Car & Truck Show
• 3 on 3 Basketball Tournaments
• Rotary Duck Races
• Sidewalk Sales
• Food
• Fun
• Entertainment
• 5k and 10k Races

On the Gazebo Stage:
8-10: Polka with the Wendinger Band
10- 2 Music by Chopper
2-5 Traveled Ground

Rides and Games in City Square Park

On First Street:
11- 5 Ride the Mechanical Bull
Music with DJ Big Country

The Waconia Farm Store is open for business! All departments are open except paint and clothing, so if you need something, stop on by.

This is great to see after the horrific explosion earlier this month that claimed one life.

Stop on by, say hi, and help support the Farm Store as it works to get things back to normal.

Hours:
Monday-Friday 7:30-8
Saturday: 7:30-5
Sunday: 10-4

Update: The StarTribune is reporting that the person killed was Ryan Samuelson, 17, a senior at Waconia High School. Also, a video was added below.

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A propane take exploded June 10th at the Waconia Farm Store. Kare11 & KSTP are reporting that one person has been killed.

KSTP.com reports:

The incident happened at the Waconia Farm Supply, located at 801 Highway 284, shortly before 5 p.m. Several fire departments responded to help battle the fire that broke out afterwards.

Authorities say the victim was filling propane tanks when they exploded. The name of the victim has not been released.

According to OSHA records, Waconia Farm Supply was cited in February for two violations involving compressed gas.

Here are a few photos taken after the explosion.

Click though to see larger photos.

Here is a video of the scene taken from a cell phone:

If you try to visit CDP sports, and visit the old location, don’t worry, they didn’t go out of business.  Rather they moved a few blocks down to main street.  They are now located in the former John’s Appliance building.

To encourage sports fans to come in and see the new building, they are offering 35% off storewide in February.  That’s a huge discount and I’m sure there is some sports gear that you could pick up with prices like that.

October 12th was opening day for Target in Waconia and, as exciting as that was, the treat of seeing a Starbucks and Pizza Hut Express inside was even better!

I guess I hadn’t really thought to much about the mini stores that come with Target.  Sure Target has groceries, a pharmacy, clinic, photo department and a little food court, but they usually come with a few big named brands too built in.

To me, I can’t see this harming local business to much.  Pizza Hut doesn’t offer delivery or make pizzas that feed a family.  It’s all individual sized pizzas and even a few breakfast items.

Starbucks doesn’t have a drive through and probably doesn’t even open until 8am.  However, it does offer that overpriced coffee for those that crave it.

I’m just really excited for the Pizza Hut Express.  Mmmmmm

How about you?

If you’ve driven down highway 5, you can’t miss the construction of the new Walgreen store. It’s located on the corner of 284 and Hwy 5 and has been making quite a few advancements over the past few months.

The new Walgreens store won’t be open anytime soon, but at the rate they build business’ these days, a late spring or summer opening shouldn’t be that hard to meet.

Have you been out to Z’s yet to get your Christmas tree? We have!

Actually, this is only my second real Christmas tree ever and the first time I’ve ever gone to cut one. We went out on Saturday morning in the cold and snow. For newbies, Z’s was a great choice. They were friendly and told us how it’d work. We then hoped on a wagon to go out and find a tree.

Now I wasn’t to sure about cutting my own, but the saws they provided cut through that tree like a hot knife though butter. They then put it on the wagon and back to the main farm.

We were also a bit concerned about fitting it in my little Ford Focus. However, they hauled it to my car and put it in and bungeed down my trunk. They did all the work for us and we were quite impressed.

Trees are $40 for long needle, $60 for short. I don’t know how that compares as I’ve never been out to cut my own tree before, but it was the experience we paid for. And a good experience at that.

Z’s Trees also has precut Christmas trees, wreaths & roping, landscape evergreens, fireplace wood and custom log sawing.

Z’s Trees is technically in Cologne but it’s really just outside Waconia on 284. Between Highway 5 and 212.

Z’s Trees – John M Zimmerman
10850 110th Street
Cologne, MN 55322
952.466.2577
www.zstrees.com

The name brands are coming.

Kwik Trip is up and running and I’ve been there several times. Not only are the gas pumps fast, but the store has lots of goodies inside and the car wash even made a point to wash my rims.

Target should have a groundbreaking yet this fall. The 145,000 square foot store should open in October of 2008.

AmericInn is almost done too. It could be complete this October but not sure when the opening date may be.

And Walgreens may be coming to town. The city is going to review plans for a store at the intersection of 284 and 5. Personally I don’t think that’s a good location with the intersection being so busy, but something going to pop-up eventually.

Have you heard any news or rumors you’d like to share?

Sports fan in Waconia have at least two stores to get geared up at.  CDP Sports and The Sports Locker.

Both stores are located in downtown Waconia and should have everything you need for basketball, football, wrestling, volleyball, golf and much more.

I can’t say as I’ve been to either yet, but I would like to check them out.  I usually just don’t like to go and just browse so I need to find a good reason to swing by.

If you’ve been to either, let us know what you think.  If I’ve missed a store let me know.  I think there use to be a Sports Korner but for some reason, I feel as if they have gone away.

CDP Sports
141 W 1st St, Waconia, MN
(952) 442-8625

Sports Korner
1 W Main St, Waconia, MN
(952) 442-5252

I’ve had two experiences with Zen Gardens Center in the past week.

The first was when they delivered flowers for my wife. It’s a beautiful bouquet and quite nice.

The second we went and visited Zen Gardens Center. Their pumpkins were priced quite nicely, however no mums as of Saturday. The inside of the store was very nice. Very clean and lots of cool products. We looked at quite a few of the solar decorative lights and almost bought some. The prices seemed reasonable and the store is worth a checkout.

We even asked a few gardening questions and got great answers. It turns out we need manure for our garden area.

If you get a chance, I suggest checking out Zen Gardens Center. It’s a great addition to Waconia and I know we’ll be going back in the spring of not later this fall too.

Zen Gardens Center is located at the corner of Highway 5 and County Road 10. Phone 952-442-3220