Author: Stuart Sudak

World War II veteran Harlan Riedesel marvels at how much time has passed between his first airplane flight and his most recent one. Riedesel’s maiden plane voyage took off on Oct. 6, 1935, his 14th birthday. He traveled from Sioux Falls, S.D., to Kansas City in a Ford Trimotor transport aircraft. His latest flight took off Monday, Aug. 30, just 38 days before his 100th birthday. It was a short excursion over Lake Minnetonka from Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie. “Eighty-six years later,” Riedesel said. “That’s quite a span.” Dream Flights Thanks to a non-profit organization called Dream Flights,…

For 14 years, the Elizabeth Fries Ellet Interpretive Trail (EFEIT) has served as an outdoor science and history lab. The nearly mile-long trail in the Richard T. Anderson Conservation Area in Eden Prairie shines a light on the historical habitat with seven signs that dot its path. Now, Vicki Pellar Price, a longtime Eden Prairie resident who shepherded the trail to reality in 2007 as director of Writers Rising Up, is taking her efforts a step further. (The mission of the non-profit Writers Rising Up is to promote writers who portray place, natural habitat, and wetlands in their work.) Price and author…

SouthWest Transit, which serves Eden Prairie, Chanhassen and Chaska, will provide bus service to the Minnesota State Fair this year. The fair runs from Thursday, Aug. 26, to Monday, Sept. 6. People can catch a ride each day to the fair at SouthWest Station, 13500 Technology Drive, Eden Prairie, and SouthWest Village, 650 SouthWest Village Drive, Chanhassen. Rides are also available from East Creek Station, 2120 Chestnut St. N., Chaska, on Saturday and Sunday.  Unlike in the past, there will be no SouthWest Transit service to the fair this year from Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie. Hours are 7:30 a.m.-11:30…

Calista Swensen’s garden is thriving in what seems like an improbable setting. Tucked away on the side of a large industrial building at 7550 Corporate Way in Eden Prairie, the 4,800-square-foot garden is hard to spot from the road. The 16-year-old Eden Prairie High School junior joked that she has a connection with the building owner. Her father, Brett Swensen, owns Modern Office Furniture, one of the businesses housed there. But, stroll amid the bucolic green symmetry of what Swensen calls the People’s Patchwork Community Garden, and its commerce-focused neighbors are forgotten. It’s quiet here among the plants. No wonder…

Eden Prairie siblings Sasha and Nico Allen are making their mark by digging into the past. The budding historians earned two of the top three honors among Minnesota students participating last month in the 2021 National History Day Contest. Sasha, 15, and Nico, 13, the children of Scott and Juliana Allen, were among 60 Minnesota students who competed in the annual competition. Held virtually this year because of the pandemic, it usually takes place in Washington, D.C. According to its website, the contest encourages middle school and high school students to do original research on historical topics. Students presented exhibits, papers,…

When it came to uncovering Eden Prairie’s past, Ernie Shuldhiess was quite the detective. Sifting through old newspaper articles on 200 rolls of microfilm, the longtime Eden Prairie resident unearthed a treasure trove of historic anecdotes chronicling the city’s early days. The result of his labor? Two books authored by Shuldhiess on Eden Prairie history. His first, Eden Prairie Book of Days, features a short nugget of Eden Prairie history for each of the 365 days of the year. Shuldhiess once described it as a whimsical account of Eden Prairie’s history told in a light, coffee table style. The second,…

Instead of flowers, Spencer Conrad’s family asked that people honor him by donating to the Minnesota Fire Initiative (MnFire). Former Eden Prairie Fire Chief George Esbensen and several of his firefighting colleagues formed the statewide advocacy organization in 2016. The 501 (c)(3) non-profit MnFire provides firefighters with the tools, training, and support they need to prioritize and protect their health from cancer, emotional trauma, and cardiac disease. According to MnFire, those three are affecting firefighters at rates about double those of the general population.  Through its efforts, MnFire aims to reverse those trends. Esbensen serves as president of the MnFire board.…

When doctors could do nothing more to fight his cancer, it was time for former Eden Prairie Fire Chief Spencer Conrad to come home. But, the retired firefighter didn’t make the May 13 trip alone. Conrad’s firefighting brothers and sisters escorted Conrad from the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis to his Eden Prairie house. The Eden Prairie Fire Department planned the convoy to pay tribute to Conrad, who served his hometown as a volunteer firefighter for 28 years, 12 as fire chief from 1990-2002. Initially, his wife Janet asked for one Eden Prairie fire truck to accompany him.…

One year after George Floyd’s murder, the question of what happens next on police reforms in Minneapolis remains largely unresolved. Tom Heffelfinger, a former U.S. attorney for Minnesota who served from 1991-93 and again from 2001-06, has followed the legal maneuverings arising from Floyd’s murder on May 25, 2020. Floyd’s death under the knee of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin sparked global protests and a call for reforms combating misconduct, excessive force, and racial bias in policing. Those efforts include the proposed federal George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, winding its way through Congress. “It’s been an interesting year…

From Adisa Preston’s perspective, racial injustices involving police can happen anywhere. As an African-American, the 18-year-old Eden Prairie High School senior said that’s “something you automatically know.” From afar, Preston saw it happen in Louisville when plainclothes officers killed Breonna Taylor in March 2020 and Atlanta when police killed Rayshard Brooks in June 2020. But it is Eden Prairie’s close proximity to the deaths of George Floyd and Daunte Wright that gives her the most pause. “It hurts more when you realize this is in your own backyard,” Preston said. “That could have been you, or it could have been…