Hoping that the proposed trail project along Aberdeen Avenue (County Road 61) would receive money from the federal economic stimulus package, the city of Jordan held off on doing the work.

Recent changes to the state’s application requirements have geared the funds for larger cities than Jordan that “provide access to transit facilities,” City Engineer Carol Caron said, according to city council minutes. “Therefore, the city’s chance of receiving stimulus funds is very slim.”

I remember when I was a little girl, and my parents put me and my brothers in the van one night, just as the sun was going down. We drove to a park – I believe it was in a town nearby the one we lived in at the time – where cars were packed into designated lots and people were walking around, many of them wearing or swinging tiny glowing bands through the air.

On a sunny day, Matt Priebe and Mickey Hapka sat under a shady tree at a picnic table in a picturesque Shakopee park. Priebe ate his lunch, and then went to his trunk for his bow and arrow.
His plan? To teach Hapka how to shoot.

From Shakopee – where Priebe of Eagan and Hapka of Minneapolis both work – cross over to the north side of the Minnesota River on Highway 101, take the first right, go through the parking lot, follow the road past the boat launch, take the gravel road under the Highway 101 and the abandoned bridge it replaced, and you will find the city of Shakopee’s archery range.

Despite Archery Park’s proximity to two highways, it’s strangely serene there. It’s a hidden treasure.

A few years after safety concerns left archers and bowhunters without a range in Shakopee, the city’s partnership with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Scott County, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Lower Minnesota River Watershed District enabled the archer’s committee of the Shakopee Downtown Partnership and the Minnesota River Valley Chapter of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association to create, maintain, and improve a place for area archers and bowhunters to practice.

As part of the Huber Park project two years ago, the range was built for $40,000 on the former site of a baseball park. Flooding wreaked havoc on the ballfield, ruining many a spring game, but since springtime isn’t prime time for archery – hunting season is – an out-of-sight place nearby the river was perfect. The targets are removed during flood season.

“It just became a natural fit,” said Mark Themig, the county parks manager who worked on the project years earlier as a city employee.

The range consists of areas for beginners and advanced shooters, as well as broadhead shooting areas for bowhunters, according to the city.

In addition to the standard static traditional range, according to the city, Archery Park will have interactive three-dimensional targets, has separate youth and adult shooting areas, eventually a handicap-accessible deer stand, and will allow for picnic tables and a canopy shelter.

“Every year, we want to add on,” said Dave Menden, a member of the deer hunter’s association that helps keep up the park.

This year, seven new targets and one fixed-up target will be added to the seven that are already at the site, placed at varying distances and tailored to different exercises.

“Eventually, we want about 25,” Menden said.

Schools with archery physical education programs utilize the park for after-school activities and competitions. It also gives the parks and recreation department, 4-H, Scouts, and other local groups a site at which they can conduct archery programs and competitions.

Children participate in classes taught by deer hunter’s association members, and the 100-member club – about 20 of whom are active at the range – hopes to hold competitions there in the future. The phy ed classes have helped increase local popularity of the sport and the park.

“Expose them to archery, generate interest, and then see where it goes,” Shakopee Recreation Supervisor Brad Eller said.

It’s affordable recreation.

“It’s free,” Eller said. “It’s there. Everybody’s invited to use it.”

Priebe and Hapka chose a quiet time to visit and a good time to learn, as did recent classes of 9- to 10- and 10- to 11-year-old children that received formal lessons later in the day.

July and August are the busy seasons at the park, because bowhunting season is within sight. And Archery Park will again be a bustling place, a “destination range” drawing from throughout the region around Shakopee, Themig said.

For more information about the Minnesota River boat launch and archery range or other Shakopee parks, go to http://www.ci.shakopee.mn.us/park_development.cfm.

Here are some photos taken at the park:

An e-mail newsletter item from state Rep. Mark Buesgens, R-Jordan:

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

During this past legislative session, one of my DFL colleagues asked me, “Representative Buesgens, why are you such an angry, white male?” At the time I just assumed he was tired of hearing me talk about how raising taxes during a recession is a bad idea. After all, there were so many tax increases up for debate this year that I did have to give a lot of speeches in defense of economic freedom.

Jordan Public Schools math and reading proficiency dropped below state-wide performances in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, according to data recently released from the Minnesota Department of Education.

The Minnesota comprehensive Assessment - II test (MCA-II), which students took in April, measures student performance according to state academic standards in reading, mathematics, and science.

This week, there was a clown in town to herald the soon-to-arrive Culpepper and Merriweather Great Combined Circus, which will perform next week under its big top near Jordan Middle School.

Here are just a few photos of Skeeter's visit to Jordan:

Following one of the deadliest Memorial Day holiday weekends ever, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) is reinforcing the need for motorists to drive belted, safe and sober during the Independence Day weekend. Last year, alcohol-related crashes accounted for five of the eight motorists killed surrounding the holiday. Another 1,819 motorists were arrested for DWI.

The Jabs Farm, located in the Louisville Swamp area, was purchased by Frederick Jabs in 1905. Some of the buildings still remain and are accessible by foot. Read more about the farm by viewing the images attached below.

There was plenty to see at the Jordan Art Festival and Pork in the Park last weekend. Watch the video below to catch some of the highlights.