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The Jay C. Hormel Nature Center is hosting a blood drive for the American Red Cross this coming Monday.

Please call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter Hormel NC to schedule an appointment. Times range from 1-6 p.m.

The American Red Cross is in dire need of donors and blood, as a lot of blood drives have been cancelled of late. The blood drive will be held in the Ruby Rupner Auditorium. The American Red Cross team is taking all precautions necessary to have a safe, healthy, and successful drive. Please consider coming out and donating. Every person who donates is eligible for a $5 amazon gift card and will also take home a bottle of the Nature Center’s fresh maple syrup!

Online learning  opportunities at JCHNC Facebook page

Check the Nature Center’s Facebook page regularly for stay-at-home or do-with-your-family activities. The friendly, outgoing staff would much rather be working face to face with the public, but their creativity is still shining as they work from home. One of their latest activities is a nature photo contest. You can read the details on how to participate on their Facebook page. Have fun!

Parks mostly ‘open’

At this time, the city’s playgrounds, skateboard park, off-leash dog park, athletic fields and courts, and disc golf courses will remain open and available to the public. However, volleyball and soccer nets will not be installed, nor will bases, and athletic fields will not be striped or marked. The park’s restrooms will not be opened until a later date. Please note that park staff does not clean/sanitize all playground equipment, so common sense should dictate when considering allowing your children to use such. Remember to practice physical distancing guidelines and all other recommended sanitation protocols, and if you are displaying any COVID-19 symptoms, please stay home.

Municipal Pool season?

We, along with the majority of municipalities in the state of Minnesota, are in a holding pattern on this one. Minneapolis pulled the plug, so to speak, early on (within the past week).

Due to the sheer volume and related logistics of operating their large system, they need more prep, hiring, and training time than do smaller communities. We’ll likely need to make a determination by the first week of May if we are to open by the planned opening date. Then, we’d hope to still have the needed aquatics staff available for us to hire.    

Gardening plots

Yes! We’re still renting them to the public this year. The ground conditions got nearly to the point of permitting the maintenance crew to rototill, but with the addition of rain and return to cooler weather, we’re not quite there as of the writing of this article. This may disrupt the pattern for those who wish to have their potatoes planted by Good Friday, but weather and ground conditions still hinder such work for most gardeners. Also, as of the same date, there were well over 75 percent of the remaining plots still available for renting.