Author: Stuart Sudak

After serving as the head baseball coach at Eden Prairie High School for 11 seasons, John Buteyn has left the district to become the activities director at Jordan Public Schools. Buteyn, who was raised in Eden Prairie but currently resides in Waconia, will be responsible for overseeing activities at both the high school and middle school in the Jordan district. He replaces Joe Perkl, who became the new EPHS director of student activities on July 1. Perkl replaced Russ Reetz, who is now the principal at White Bear Lake Area High School. A 2004 graduate of EPHS, Buteyn returned to…

Eden Prairie gathered at Round Lake Park on Tuesday to celebrate the Fourth of July with food, live music, games, and fireworks during the city’s annual Hometown Celebration. The event went smoothly, defying earlier inclement weather forecasts. “Based on the morning forecast for the day, I don’t think it could have gone any better,” said Jay Lotthammer, the city’s parks and recreation director, on Wednesday. “I was really bracing for a storm every other hour based on the weather report.” Lotthammer estimated that this year’s Hometown Celebration drew a crowd of 8,000 to 10,000 attendees, consistent with the turnout of…

Organizing the annual Eden Prairie 4th of July Hometown Celebration, which now spans two nights, requires careful planning. From picking bands and selecting a wide array of food trucks to fine-tuning the schedule, meticulous effort goes into every detail. Jay Lotthammer, the City of Eden Prairie’s parks and recreation director, explains the importance of booking bands well in advance, especially for such a popular date as the Fourth of July. “These bands are in high demand, so we have to secure them at least six months ahead to ensure we get the best ones,” he says. The culmination of all…

A man was found dead in a house fire on Sunday night in the 12000 block of Oxbow Drive near Homeward Hills Road. Eden Prairie Fire Chief Scott Gerber said on Monday that a call reporting a structure fire was received at 7:17 p.m. Sunday. Initial police and fire responders arrived to find smoke coming from the second floor of the residence. Officers attempted to enter the building based on information about a potentially trapped individual inside the home. However, their efforts to enter the building were unsuccessful. According to Gerber, the first command officer to arrive, who was one…

For a decade, a large sandstone rock, measuring approximately five feet across and four feet tall with an irregular shape, resided in the front yard of Kathie Case and her husband Ron’s Eden Prairie home off Pioneer Trail. Case, the president of the Eden Prairie Historical Society, said Ron, who has been the city’s mayor since 2019 and on the city council for many years, was told by a neighbor, Mike McGraw, that “he thinks” the lost Sacred Red Rock is behind his barn. In the 1914 book “Old Rail Fence Corners: Frontier Tales Told by Minnesota Pioneers,” early Eden…

Sheldon Peters Wolfchild attributes his journey of discovering the Sacred Red Rock in Eden Prairie to Betty Curle Baxter. Wolfchild, a documentarian who is part of the Lower Sioux Indian Community traditional elders and a member of the Mdewakanton Sioux nation, explains, “Because Betty’s family and the rock being on their property, that led me to do the research over there in Eden Prairie.” Baxter recalls attending a celebration for a woman’s 100th birthday, where the celebrant was asked about her memories from earlier years. “When asked about the Indians, (the woman celebrating her birthday) appeared puzzled and responded, ‘I…

Red Bench Bakery, located in Chaska and Excelsior, has extended its presence to Eden Prairie through a partnership with Fat Pants Brewing, 8335 Crystal View Road. The collaboration began on May 17. Operating from a food truck inside Fat Pants Brewing, Red Bench Bakery offers a streamlined selection of pastries, cookies, and specialty coffee drinks, distinct from its extensive menu at the Chaska and Excelsior locations. Customers can indulge in these treats from Wednesday to Sunday, between 7 and 11 a.m. Based in Chaska, the bakery has maintained its downtown location there for five years. In Excelsior, it has operated…

In 2013, Christine Erickson, director of children at risk ministries at Grace Church, launched the Stop the Trafficking 5K Walk/Run for Justice. Over the past decade, the Stop the Trafficking 5K, spearheaded by Grace Church, has expanded its mission beyond the city’s borders to raise awareness and funds in the fight against human trafficking. The event represents a collaborative effort between Grace Church, the City of Eden Prairie, its police department, and local churches and businesses. “It’s really grown beyond our EP community, which has been exciting,” said Erickson, who is the event director. “It’s still one of the issues…

Nathaniel Wilkins is haunted by the close call his family had in the fire and explosions that destroyed their Eden Prairie house. “Thirty seconds after Sade (and Skylynn) got out, the house blows,” said Wilkins, who was working an overnight shift as a manager at a UNFI warehouse in Hopkins at the time of the fire. The gravity of the situation becomes all too clear as he reflects on the potential tragedy that might have unfolded had his fiancee Sade Strong hesitated or ventured back inside. “She would not have survived,” he concludes. Aerial footage taken by Fox 9 the…

The peony garden on the east side of the historic Cummins-Phipps-Grill House in Eden Prairie is currently in bloom. A sizable peony bed, initially planted by Harriet Phipps in 1920, still thrives outside the city-owned historic house, situated across Pioneer Trail near Flying Cloud Airport. According to Marie Wittenberg’s book “Eden Prairie Pioneers: The History of Eden Prairie,” the peony garden was established prior to 1920, boasting 400 to 500 plants of various select and unusual peony varieties. These plants were directly obtained from Chinese growers who had originally imported them from China. The flowers were sold in Twin Cities…