This week, as Americans gather for their Thanksgiving feast, they will have plenty to be thankful for.
We can be thankful for our family, who love and support us in our daily lives, who are there for us when we need help, and who, in turn, receive love and support from us when they need it.
We can be thankful for the farmers who spend long hours to grow crops and raise livestock, who make the food that we feast on at Thanksgiving and every other day of the week.

The last few months have seemed to go by in a blur at the newspaper. It seems like it was just a short time ago when we were preparing for the school year and fall sports to begin and elections to take place, and now they’re all over, we’ve already jumped into the winter sports season and are preparing for the holiday season.

With all the election news last week, it might have slipped your mind that last week, November 5-9, was Winter Weather Awareness Week. That said, with the weather we’ve had since election day, no doubt, you are aware that winter weather is here.

Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and Nov. 11 became a national holiday beginning in 1938. Unlike Memorial Day, Veterans Day pays tribute to all American veterans—living or dead—but especially gives thanks to living veterans who served their country honorably during war or peacetime.

After months of campaigning and weeks of annoying negative advertising, election day arrives on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Since last spring, we’ve seen candidates tell us why we should vote for them, and even more commercials and print ads telling us why voting for their opponent is a bad thing. The barrage of negative messages can’t end soon enough.

Since first starting as editor of the Le Sueur New Prague Times News-Herald in 1988, I have covered close to 30 elections. Some of these were major elections and others included just local races. The way elections are covered has changed a great deal during that time, but some things have remained unchanged.

We are less than three weeks from Election Day, and in this week’s issue of The New Prague Times we are presenting our Voter’s Guide, with information on the candidates for local races for the Minnesota Legislature, county boards, city councils and school board.

“Journalism Matters - Now more than ever.”
That is the theme for National Newspaper Week, which is being celebrated October 7-13. The New Prague Times joins newspapers across the nation in celebrating the free press and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which keeps the news media from government interference.

We are now a little more than one month from the November General Election. No doubt, people are starting to tire of the constant media barrage of commercials on the television, radio or even on the internet and social media. Candidates are out there trying to make their case as to why they should be elected to office, or why their opponent should not. Special interest groups, through Political Action Committees, are also getting into the act and stating their case for or against certain candidates.

Another Dozinky is now in the books. It was a fun and busy time for my editor Chuck Kajer and myself as we hurried to cover many of the activities that go with New Prague’s harvest festival. I very much appreciate Chuck stepping up to get a few photos for me as my camera had technical difficulties for some time. This was the 34th year of Dozinky and next year will be the 35th annual festival. I was in my mid-teens when the festival started.

The 2018 Dozinky Festival was blessed with good weather and great crowds.

The downtown area was filled Friday evening and Saturday with large crowds as thousands of people headed to New Prague to celebrate the harvest, the community and its ethnic and agricultural heritage. The music coming from the Main Street Stage, the Beer Garden and the Czech Heritage Village filled the air, as did the aroma of fresh-made foods, whether it was gyros, cheese curds, pork burgers or the many Czech favorites such as pork, dumplings and sauerkraut.

New Prague will pull out all the stops this weekend as it celebrates the 34th Annual Dozinky Festival.
The Czech Harvest Festival has become one of the highlight of the year for many in the community. It gives local residents a chance to celebrate the community’s ethnic and agricultural roots, as well as the progress the community has made in the 34 years since the first celebration started.

This weekend sees the biggest event of the year in New Prague… The annual Dozinky Festival.
Dozinky has been around for 34 years now. I’ve been to all but a few of the early ones. I think the first one I was around for was in 1988, which would have been the fourth one. I was working in Le Sueur and I remember bringing my young family to the event. Josh would have been two years old and the thing I remember most was him stopping in front of each band that was playing and dancing to the music.

Just like this year, it was a beautiful, sunny September Tuesday morning on September 11, 2001. People were going about their business, schools were in session and life was peaceful.
Then everything changed.

Social media has become an important tool for many, but there is a disturbing trend that turns a lot of people off about it, and that is the anonymity and immediacy of the medium.
People sometimes put whatever unfiltered thoughts enter their mind immediately onto social media, without thinking. A motorcycle crash that happened Saturday evening in New Prague is a prime example.

August is nearly done and for me the month marks when I began working for The New Prague Times 19 years ago. I was 31 years old and in my first month at The Times I was part of two sections, the previews for New Prague High School’s fall sports and Dozinky, the city’s Czech harvest festival. Add to that my weekly duties of covering the city council meetings, sports, school activities and other events happening around the area and my plate was full.