Take a look back at 2022 stories in the Echo Journal

The year 2022 saw a plethora of news topics in the Echo Journal coverage area.

We lost some longtime residents who left their mark on the area.

We saw high school students shine in athletics and fine arts activities.

We saw state legislative districts change, and we elected new and returning legislators, as well as new and returning city council and school board members.

Area events returned to “normal” after being held virtually or in a more low-key fashion because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following are month-by-month highlights from the 2022 editions of the Echo Journal.

Happy New Year, and we can’t wait to see what 2023 brings for news stories.

Dan Determan / Echo Journal File Photo

• Pequot Lakes junior Maci Martini scores her 1,000th career point in basketball Dec. 30, 2021.
• Kurt Stumpf, interim superintendent since July for the Pequot Lakes School District, is hired for the full-time position.
• Irma Cragun, longtime owner of Cragun’s Resort with her husband, Dutch, dies Jan. 10 at age 87.
• Pine River-Backus junior Ramsey Tulenchik scores her 1,000th career point in basketball Jan. 7.
• Pine River-Backus senior Connor Tulenchik earns his 200th win as a Road Crew wrestler Jan. 21.
• The Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza is held in person on the ice of Gull Lake’s Hole-in-the-Day Bay after being held virtually in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A nationwide virtual tournament also takes place a week before the Extravaganza.
• The Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals honors Pequot Lakes’ Mike O’Neil as the 2022 Middle Level Principal of the Year.

Nancy Vogt / Echo Journal File Photo

• Cass County Sheriff Tom Burch announces he won’t seek reelection after serving as sheriff for 12 years.
• The Celtic Cottage on Main Street in Pequot Lakes closes its doors after 25 years in business.
• Area state legislative districts are shuffled after redistricting occurs. Candidates announce their intentions to seek endorsements for new area Senate and House districts.
• Pequot Lakes junior Josie Harguth finishes 36th on the balance beam as a Brainerd Warrior at the Class 2A state individual gymnastics meet in St. Paul.
• Pequot Lakes sophomores Calia Chaney and Lauren Kalenberg finish 23rd and 24th to earn all-state (top 25) honors for the Brainerd Warriors alpine ski team at the state meet in Biwabik.
• The Pine River-Backus High School Knowledge Bowl team advances to the state tournament after placing third at the regional contest.

Nancy Vogt / Echo Journal File Photo

• Senior Road Crew wrestler Connor Tulenchik secures his first state championship in the Class 2A Individual Wrestling Tournament in St. Paul. Teammate Parker Zutter places fifth. Five other Road Crew wrestlers also compete in the Class 2A state individual contest: Caleb Ruhl, Owen Carlson, Corbin Knapp, Austin Staricha and Easton Miller.
• The Pequot Lakes High School robotics team advances to the world competition in Houston in April after winning the regional contest in Duluth.
• Jesse Zahn is appointed to the Nisswa City Council.
• The Pequot Lakes girls basketball team takes fifth place in the state tournament.
• After two years, COVID-19 restrictions ease and the Crosslake St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Celebration returns after being canceled at the last minute in 2020 and canceled in 2021.
• David Chanski is Breezy Point’s next city administrator/clerk.
• The Pequot Lakes boys basketball team takes sixth place in the state tournament.
• Pine River-Backus eighth grader Nesika Belleville wins the Regional Spelling Bee to advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May in Washington, D.C. Runner-up is Pequot Lakes sixth grader Brekkin Glazier. 
• Calvin Wallin receives the Minnesota Interscholastic Activities Administrators Association Distinguished Service Award for his many years of contributions to youth and high school athletics.

• Pequot Lakes High School senior Madeline Ryan is crowned Miss Nisswa. First Princess is Brooke Krivich, a Brainerd High School senior. Miss Congeniality is Alexis Shaw, a Pequot Lakes High School senior.
• Pine River-Backus High School junior Ashlee Crawford is crowned Miss Pine River. First Princess is Hannah Barchus, PR-B junior. Second Princess is Shailyn Butricks, PR-B senior. Miss Congeniality is Joselin Sexton, PR-B junior.
• Pequot Lakes High School speech team members Olivia Armstrong, Veronica Broskovetz, Steve Maschhoff and Tabitha Kibwaa qualify for the state meet.

Dan Determan / Echo Journal File Photo

• State Sen. Carrie Ruud, R-Breezy Point, announces she will retire and not seek re-election after serving in the state Senate from 2003-06 and then since 2013.
• Pequot Lakes English teacher Megan Johnson is honored as the Education Minnesota Pequot Lakes Teacher of the Year.
• Pequot Lakes High School junior Quinn Trottier is crowned Miss Pequot Lakes and Miss Congeniality. Princesses are PLHS senior Annika Schlagel and PLHS junior Brea Eckes.
• Tina Foster is the 2022 Nisswa Citizen of the Year.
• Memorial Day storms bring rain and high winds, toppling power lines and trees to cause extensive damage and multi-day power outages across the Brainerd lakes area.

• Crosslake Community School graduates its largest class ever at 48 students.
• Lake Shore celebrates its 75th anniversary of being incorporated as a city with a public picnic event at Fritz Loven Park.
• Pequot Lakes sophomore Calia Chaney wins the 800-meter run at the Class 2A state track and field meet to become the state champion. She places third in the 1600-meter run. 
• The Pequot Lakes girls 4x100 relay team of Julia Keiffer, Riya Johnson, Josie Taylor and Joselyn Rinio finishes fifth in the state finals. The same group places ninth in the 4x200 relay. 

Nancy Vogt / Echo Journal File Photo

• Senior Cruz Megazzini finishes sixth in the high jump at state, also competing in the 400 dash. Charles Schiessl competes in the hurdles at state.
• Pine River-Backus golfer Joe Zaczkowski ties for 60th, Cate Travis ties for 38th and Hannah Barchus is 77th at the Class 1A state golf tournament.
• The Pequot Lakes girls golf team places third in the Class 2A state tournament. Genevieve Birkeland takes fourth and Morgan Krieger ties for ninth individually.
• The Pequot Lakes boys golf team takes seventh in the Class 2A state tournament. Tyler Seeling places 18th and Anthony Armstrong 29th individually.
• John and Lottie Teune, rural Pine River, are the Cass County Farm Family of the Year.
• After more than 40 years in business, the Wallin Berry Farm is likely getting out of the strawberry business.

Contributed

• Pequot Lakes speech team members Tabitha Kibwaa, Steve Maschhoff and Olivia Armstrong compete in the National Speech and Debate National Tournament in Louisville, Kentucky, after qualifying in March at a tournament in Moorhead.

• A Pequot Lakes High School trap shooting squad places fourth in the nation at the USA Clay Target League National Championship. The squad includes Cooper Johnson, Jaden Anderson, Maddie Pettit, Mitchell Morrison and Annika Wiczek.

• Dean and Briana Visser, who own Benvelle Equestrian Center in Pequot Lakes, receive the 2022 Crow Wing County Farm Family of the Year award.

Contributed

• Both the reigning Miss Pequot Lakes Quinn Trottier and Miss Pine River Ashlee Crawford receive second crowns as homecoming queens. Also crowned are homecoming kings Leo Bolz-Andolshek (Pequot Lakes) and Cole Burrell (Pine River-Backus).
• A tentative contract agreement is reached days after a Pequot Lakes School union that includes custodians, paraeducators, secretaries, food service and nurses files an intent to strike.
• Jay and Jacki Kline, owners of Kline Funeral Home, receive the Pine River Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Award.
• Troy Gregory, Pine River-Backus Community Education director and Pine River City Council member, is recognized with the Community Educators of Excellence Award from Region 8 of the Minnesota Community Education Association.
• Eveland’s, Inc./Scamp Trailers, a Backus business, receives the Cass County Economic Development Corporation Legacy Business Award.
• Dave Guenther is named the Ideal Community Service Organization’s Volunteer of the Year for 2023.
• Dick Houston, Pine River, longtime owner of Houston Ford and the youngest Ford dealer ever at age 27, dies Oct. 31 at age 83.

Contributed

• Tim Holmes, a Nisswa resident and a former Nisswa police sergeant and firefighter, receives the 2022 Fire Officer of the Year award for a population over 10,000 from the Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association.
• Longtime Pequot Lakes Fire Chief Tom Nelson retires after 19 years as chief and 26.5 years as a firefighter.
• Pequot Lakes’ Calia Chaney finishes 10th in the Class 2A state girls cross-country meet, while teammate Eli Hall places 13th in the state boys meet.
• The Pequot Lakes volleyball team finishes second in the Class 2A state meet.
• The Pine River-Backus volleyball team plays two matches in the Class 1A state tournament.
• Tractor Supply Company opens in the prominent building space in Pine River that ALCO previously occupied.
• Bob Spizzo, CEO of Breezy Point Resort, is honored with the Brainerd Lakes Chamber’s Business Legacy Award.

Nancy Vogt / Echo Journal File Photo

• The Pequot Lakes Chamber names its 2023 Service in Excellence Award winners: Lonesome Cottage Furniture Company, Business of the Year; Tyler Gardner, Citizen of the Year; Nancy Ryan, School Staff of the Year; Shari Monahan, Employee of the Year; and Jenni Gonczy, Volunteer of the Year.
• Cullen Kratochvil, a Pequot Lakes senior linebacker and tight end, is the only area player named to the Minnesota Football Coaches Association All-Star game held Dec. 10 at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, home of the Minnesota Vikings.
• An unprecedented and historic winter storm slams the lakes area with more than a foot of wet, heavy snow that causes thousands of power outages and prompts schools to turn to e-learning days for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nancy Vogt, editor, may be reached at 218-855-5877 or nancy.vogt@pineandlakes.com. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@PEJ_Nancy.