Hennepin County to celebrate grand opening of new Webber Park Library

The Hennepin County Library system this week will celebrate the grand opening of the $10.5 million Webber Park Library in north Minneapolis.

The library, at 4440 Humboldt Av. N., will open to the public after a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 5 p.m. Thursday. The county broke ground last year on the 8,300-square-foot library, which is twice the size of the previous one and includes meeting rooms, increased access to technology and library collections.

The new library, years in the making, replaces a 34-year-old library that was demolished in 2014.

With 41 libraries, Hennepin County has the state's largest library system. It has the goal of updating each library at least once every 10 years.

KELLY SMITH

Edina City Council Member Bob Stewart was elected last month to the board of directors for Metro Cities, an association that represents cities in the Legislature.

Eagan Council Member Gary Hansen was elected the organization's next president. Plymouth Council Member Judy Johnson and Shakopee City Administrator Bill Reynolds also were elected to the board.

"There are interests that the cities from the metro area have in common," Stewart said in a news release.

Miguel Otárola

A group that organizes trips to Lake Minnetonka for veterans received a boost this month with a $2,000 grant from IBM Corp.

The Veteran 4 Veterans organization each year sponsors and funds outings for veterans to the lake and Big Island, a former veterans park. The IBM grant will help cover expenses such as fuel for the island trips, which have been privately funded for more than 30 years.

Two IBM retirees, Gerry Falkowski and Dean Ascheman, received the $2,000 grant, which will be matched by marina owner Gabriel Jabbour.

The Minnesota Veterans 4 Veterans Trust Fund was founded to oversee money received from the camp's sale, and interest from the fund supports grants for veterans projects statewide. One condition of the sale was that veterans would be able to get to the island.

Controversy trips came up recently when city leaders discussed removing the two docks at Big Island due to the cost of maintaining them. Veterans opposed the measure, saying that disabled vets would no longer be able to reach the island. After a public outcry, the City Council approved keeping the docks and funding their upkeep through private donations.

KELLY SMITH

A program will be held this week on the history of the Excelsior Amusement Park, which operated on Lake Minnetonka from 1925 to 1973.

The event, which marks the Excelsior-Lake Minnetonka Historical Society's 45th anniversary, will include a presentation by historian and author Greg Van Gompel. There will also be a dessert reception, cash bar, raffle, trivia contest and amusement park artifact displays.

The Excelsior Amusement Park included a wooden roller coaster, a carousel, a Ferris wheel and bumper cars. Another amusement park was operated by the Twin City Rapid Transit Company on Big Island in 1906 before closing in 1911.