Author: Stuart Sudak

The Eden Prairie Community Center recreation pool and spa are temporarily closed through Sept. 5 for annual maintenance. Work includes draining the pool and spa, inspecting and cleaning the pool deck surface pumps, supply lines, filtration and safety equipment, and making any necessary fixes. According to the city, the Community Center management team chose dates (Aug. 22-Sept. 5) for the work that statistically has low attendance. There is no scheduled lesson programming during this time. The pool and spa will reopen on Sept. 6.

Eden Prairie Police provided an incident update Tuesday on the man who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound Monday evening at Scheels in Eden Prairie Center mall. According to a preliminary investigation, a 19-year-old man asked a store employee to view a semi-automatic handgun in the gun department. When the employee handed the unloaded weapon to the man, he fled across the store toward the archery area while loading the handgun. The man then fired a single shot. Though it’s early in the investigation, it is believed the man brought his own ammunition into the store. Police were called to…

The slate of candidates running for Eden Prairie mayor and two City Council seats in the Nov. 8 election is set. In the mayor’s race, incumbent Ron Case will face challenger Tracey Schowalter. For the council, incumbent Mark Freiberg, Greg Lehman, incumbent Kathy Nelson, and Micah Olson will face off for two open seats. Both the mayor and the council seats have four-year terms. All six candidates (listed in alphabetical order) gave their reasons for running in the non-partisan races. Mayor Ron Case, who was first elected mayor in 2018 after serving 6-1/2 terms as a council member, said he…

Dennis Lee Moberg, 74, of Eden Prairie, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on March 10. A gathering of family and friends will celebrate his life on Saturday, Aug. 27, at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, 13600 Technology Drive, Eden Prairie. People can gather at 10:30 a.m. with a service beginning at 11 a.m. Lunch and fellowship will follow.  The original obituary for Dennis appeared on March 22. 

The slate for candidates running for local races in the Nov. 8 general election appears set now that the filing period ended Tuesday. For Eden Prairie School Board, six candidates are running for four open seats, and two candidates have filed to run in a special election for another seat. All four seats have a four-year term, while the special election will fill the final two years of the seat currently held by Francesca Pagan-Umar. Filing for the four board seats are: Incumbent Steve Bartz won a special election last November to fill the seat that opened when Veronica Stoltz…

Eden Prairie resident Reid Johnson serves as an impromptu tour guide as he walks the grounds of the city’s new bike park playground he helped shepherd into reality. Located seasonally from May to October in one of the Round Lake Park hockey rinks, the bike skills course has nine features for riders of all ages and levels to explore, including ramps, beams, and rumble strips. “There’s so much activity at Round Lake with swimming, the splash pad, the park, you always see families walking or biking around,” Johnson said. “This should be another stopping point.” Johnson, an avid biker who…

A fire on Friday morning caused significant damage to a home in the 6600 block of Barberry Lane in Eden Prairie. Fire Chief Scott Gerber said the call came in at 7:23 a.m. of smoke coming from the rambler-style house. When Eden Prairie firefighters arrived, the house’s first floor was fully engulfed by fire. They put the fire out with help from the Minnetonka, Hopkins, Chanhassen, and Excelsior fire departments. No residents or firefighters were hurt in the fire. The fire chief noted that “somebody” was home at the time of the fire, alerting authorities. Gerber said Friday afternoon that…

Garry Bjorklund, a Minnesota Olympic running standout who won the first Grandma’s Marathon in 1977, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after being involved in a wrong-way crash in Eden Prairie on Monday night. According to a search warrant affidavit filed Tuesday in Hennepin District Court requesting Bjorklund’s blood for testing, the incident occurred at about 6 p.m. in front of the Green Acres Event Center in the 14000 block of Pioneer Trail. Bjorklund, 71, of Fort Collins, Colo., was driving west along Pioneer Trail in his 2016 Ford Explorer when his vehicle veered into the eastbound lane, striking…

Voters in Tuesday’s primary election narrowed the candidates to be Hennepin County’s next attorney and sheriff. According to unofficial results from the Secretary of State website, Mary Moriarty and Martha Holton Dimick garnered the most votes among seven candidates vying to replace longtime Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. And, according to unofficial results, Dawanna Witt and Joseph Banks received the most votes among the three candidates vying to replace Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson. The top two candidates in each race move on to the Nov. 8 general election. With all 397 county precincts reporting for Hennepin County attorney, Moriarty…

The weather certainly wasn’t picture-perfect, but that didn’t deter many from coming to Round Lake Park for Saturday’s Eden Prairie Lions Club Corn Feed. Despite the threat of rain, the Lions Club was open for business, cooking and selling thousands of ears of corn. All profits from the Corn Feed will go to local causes and organizations. “The event was a great success; we had a nice crowd all day enjoying our sweet corn!,” said Lions Club member Gregg Fletcher, who organizes the annual event. “The morning rain tapered off just in time (about 11 a.m.), so the people came…