Tag: Dickinson

Looking into their future: Kids help break ground for new Dickinson middle school

Connor Brandvik, 10, stands with his shovel and hard hat after helping with the groundbreaking of the new Dickinson middle school on Tuesday afternoon. Above, Josh Gustafson with Mortenson Construction laughs as battles the wind while hanging a sign for the new middle school.
Connor Brandvik, 10, stands with his shovel and hard hat after helping with the groundbreaking of the new Dickinson middle school on Tuesday afternoon. Above, Josh Gustafson with Mortenson Construction laughs as battles the wind while hanging a sign for the new middle school.

Connor Brandvik stood with head rested on the handle of his shovel Tuesday afternoon as he looked out onto a grassy fi eld where, two years from now, he’ll spend his eighth-grade school year.

The Dickinson 10-year-old was one of three children of Hagen Junior High staff selected to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Dickinson Middle School. Brandvik will be a sixth-grader at Berg Elementary School this year, but in the fall of 2017 will be among the fi rst group of students to enter the middle school.

“I personally feel really honored,” Brandvik said, still wearing his hard hat. “It just feels so good to be a part of something that’s really important.”

Staff members, Dickinson Public Schools offi cials and representatives of companies involved with the school’s construction met for the groundbreaking in what — for now — is a rural area in northwest Dickinson along under-construction 21st Street West between State Avenue and 30th Avenue West.

Within two weeks, construction will start on the school.

“It really is like field of dreams,” said Vince Reep, Dickinson Public Schools assistant superintendent. “If you build it, they will come.”
Continue reading “Looking into their future: Kids help break ground for new Dickinson middle school”

Young plans unique additions to Players

James Young, the new general manager of Players Sports Bar and Grill in Dickinson, stands in Players’ bar area Friday night. He hopes to bring more consistency to the business, as well as new flair.
James Young, the new general manager of Players Sports Bar and Grill in Dickinson, stands in Players’ bar area Friday night. He hopes to bring more consistency to the business, as well as new flair.

James Young’s earliest memories are cracking eggs in a large mixing bowl at his family’s restaurant in suburban Chicago.

Forty years and a lifetime of food service and hospitality industry jobs later, Young has brought his experiences to Dickinson as he takes over as the general manager of Players Sports Bar and Grill.

His biggest challenge, he said, is establishing a consistency throughout the food and customer service aspects of the business.

“In my opinion, there are three things that are going to make a restaurant successful … good food, reasonable prices, excellent customer service,” Young said.

That, he said, and reasons for people to keep coming back.

Continue reading “Young plans unique additions to Players”

Stop trashing our town and pick up your $#!+

No one has ever considered me a hippie environmentalist. But if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s people who treat the land like it’s one big trash can.

Growing up on the farm, it was pointed out to me from a young age that my grandpa wanted the farm to look clean. The grass was always to be kept cut and neat, machinery was parked in rows or in a shed, garbage was meant for the can and junk shouldn’t be left sitting around.

I often wish some people I encounter around Dickinson would have grown up in a similar atmosphere, where lessons about cleanliness and respect for the community and land sometimes go out the window — quite literally in one case.

Continue reading “Stop trashing our town and pick up your $#!+”

Cash Wise celebrates Dickinson store's opening

As shoppers took the first items off shelves of the new Cash Wise Foods on Wednesday morning, dozens of community members gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and official grand opening outside of Dickinson’s newest supermarket.

The store is opening in the Prairie Hills Mall in the space that for 37 years before it housed Kmart. It took nine months to turn KMart into Cash Wise.

Check out the video above to hear store director Matt Sellers’ take on the store’s opening and what Cash Wise has to offer.