WELCOME — Condolences to the family of Marion Bunge of Welcome who passed away last week. She

will be missed.

Congratulations to the Rode family from rural Welcome who were

recognized as the 2021 University of Minnesota Farm Family from

Martin County. Wendell and Helen’s daughter, Leah, and son-in-law, David Mulder, will continue

the tradition as owners of the family

farm. The family, including son, Brian, and niece, Kendra, along with Leah, will join Wendell

and Helen at a ceremony during Farmfest on Aug. 5. Farm families are chosen, one per county, by

the local

University of MN Extension Committee based on a commitment to

their community and for supporting agriculture. Wendell’s parents

were Rudolph and Clarena Rode who purchased the farm in 1958.

Wendell and Helen farmed there from 1982 to 2018 and have been very active in Welcome and

Martin County on numerous councils

and boards and received several awards. For further information, the university’s farm family

website is https://z.umn.edu/farm-familiesyear.

The Farmfest website is https://www.ideagroup.com/farmfest.

Thank you to all that participated in the Welcome Festival this year. The Welcome Legion and

Welcome Fire Department thank all those

who attended their meal fundraisers. Some have asked about next

year. Hopefully, a committee will be formed from those interested in

volunteering to plan next year’s festival. Think about joining that

committee because a successful festival needs many helping hands and ideas.