Author: Joanna Werch Takes

On most Sunday evenings at the Eden Prairie Community Center, you’ll find black curtains covering the windows of the recreational pool and a door attendant sitting outside the entrance. These are some of the accommodations for the Women-Only Swimming Program. The current version of the program launched shortly after Labor Day in 2022, according to Nick Remmes, the City of Eden Prairie’s aquatics recreation supervisor. An earlier, more structured, women’s swimming program had been running in 2018 and 2019, “and then COVID kind of got in the way,” Remmes said.  “When we relaunched it, we took a lot of the…

Melissa Redzuan wears her “work crown” when she makes appearances as a Lifetime Queen of the Global United Pageant. It’s a phrase the Eden Prairie resident adopted from her youngest daughter, Amiia Razman’s, reaction when Redzuan first won a crown in the 2019 pageant. “I told her, ‘Mommy worked hard because Mommy helped the community,’” Redzuan said. Community service is weighted as 50% of the criteria in judging the Heart of Global United award, which was Redzuan’s original title in the Minnesota-based pageant. (An essay question contributes 30% of the score, and a personality photo the remaining 20%.) The nearly…

After 32 years at Eden Prairie Center, Great Mandarin Chinese Restaurant posted a notice on Facebook earlier this month that the restaurant will be closing after a last day of service on Dec. 31, 2022. The Dec. 19 Facebook post stated, “As many of you know, the pandemic changed a lot of things for all of us. It was a real challenge to make the food you love available to you while also protecting our health and yours. On top of that, supply chain made food costs higher, staffing shortages meant our family-owned restaurant had to work harder, and we…

Sixty pheasants, nine geese, and 1-1/4 deer. Those are some of the statistics – and the ingredients – that went into the making of the Eden Prairie Lions’ 49th annual Wild Game Dinner. Held annually on the first Monday in December, this year’s Dec. 5 event raised $1,745 for donation to local charities supporting the sheltering and adoption of animals, including the Tribal Partnership Program of Secondhand Hounds and the Eden Prairie Outdoor Center. Steve Wilson, a Lions Club member and co-chair of the event, donated many of the pheasants from his and his friends’ South Dakota hunts. The wild…

A crowd of 3,500 people attended an event headlined by national personal finance personality Dave Ramsey at Grace Church in Eden Prairie earlier this month. The Nov. 10 “Building Wealth Live” presentation was the Upper Midwest stop on a tour of the event described on the Ramsey Solutions website as teaching “how to build wealth – and keep it.” Ramsey’s keynote speech addressed that topic by citing The National Study of Millionaires. “Typical millionaires put money in their 401(k) and paid off their house,” Ramsey said. “It’s boring as crud.” Ramsey, a radio host and author, peppered his speech with…

Visual artist Meena Subramanian finds inspiration along the trails of Staring Lake Park for many of her pieces, which are showcased online at meenasartroom.weebly.com. “Each day is a different scene; the scenery is spectacular,” she said. “I just love all the trees and all the seasons, especially fall. It’s just gorgeous, you know?” Subramanian lives close enough to Staring Lake Park that “no matter what season it is, I’m walking the dog around the lake,” she said. While there, she’ll take pictures with her cell phone of scenes that she’ll later try to capture in art or collect items, like…

When Eden Prairie resident Dan Little took a swing at making wooden bats, it was a hit. He’s now made approximately 200 of the bats, which he sells through his website apexbats.com. Both of Little’s kids, 12- and 14-year-old boys, play baseball, and Dan has found whittling to be a way to keep his hands busy while sitting at their practices. He originally picked up woodworking from building with the scraps from his mom’s woodshop when he was a kid, and now enjoys not only whittling, but carving, woodturning, and more. A couple of years ago, he wanted to set…

EPLN contributor Joanna Werch Takes snapped these photos during her neighborhood’s Night to Unite on Tuesday. She lives on Grant Drive. More than 150 neighborhoods in Eden Prairie participated. The annual summer event celebrates and strengthens the commitment to a safe community. For more, see our earlier coverage of Night to Unite.

Miss Minnesota 2022 received her crown on June 17 at Grace Church in Eden Prairie. Rachel Evangelisto, formerly Miss Winona, is the first Indigenous woman to receive the state title. She will go on to compete in the Miss America pageant in December. The statewide pageant took place at its Eden Prairie location for the second year; prior to the cancelled 2020 event, the Miss Minnesota pageant was held at Eden Prairie High School for at least 10 years. The 21 contestants in the 2022 event began practices, which included learning choreography for group performances, on the Monday prior to…

Eden Prairie residents Barry and Joni Butzow’s horse Zozos finished 10th in last weekend’s Kentucky Derby – after spending part of the race running in third and fourth place positions. Assigned a post position (placement in the starting gate) of 19 out of the field of 20 three-year-old horses in the week before the race, Zozos’s starting position was just ahead of the eventual winner, Rich Strike. Given a post position of number 20 and entered into the race the day before the Derby as a replacement for scratched horse Ethereal Road, Rich Strike seemed to come out of nowhere…