{"id":16923,"date":"2026-02-06T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=16923"},"modified":"2026-02-06T06:10:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:10:55","slug":"thief-river-falls-then-now-1926-2016-2-6-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/thief-river-falls-then-now-1926-2016-2-6-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Thief River Falls: Then & Now, 1926\u20132016 2\/6\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thief River Falls, Pennington County (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>)<\/strong> \u2014 This time capsule highlights local headlines from 1926 through 2016.<\/p>\n

1926: Prices rise, and a winter trip<\/h2>\n

Gasoline increased here to 24.1 cents per gallon.<\/p>\n

You can compare past prices using the BLS inflation calculator<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More than 100 local men and women rode a special train to Crookston.<\/p>\n

They went to attend the Winter Shows.<\/p>\n

Learn more about Crookston\u2019s Winter Shows history at University of Minnesota Crookston<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I.T. Simley, superintendent of Thief River Falls Public Schools, was elected to a sixth term.<\/p>\n

School district information is available at Thief River Falls Public Schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1976: A chase crash and a farm fire<\/h2>\n

A Thief River Falls Police Department squad car was totaled after a collision.<\/p>\n

The crash happened during a high-speed chase.<\/p>\n

A fire also destroyed the repair shop on the Donavon Dyrdal farm east of town.<\/p>\n

Julie Dobias of the Black River 4-H Club won the senior division of a county public speaking contest.<\/p>\n

Learn more about public speaking in 4-H at University of Minnesota Extension<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1986: Sno-Fest crowns royalty<\/h2>\n

Chad Ekeberg and Dawn Engelstad were crowned king and queen of Sno-Fest activities.<\/p>\n

Norma Hanson of Goodridge was elected chairman of the expanded Region I dairy association.<\/p>\n

Mr. and Mrs. Gene Nelson of Viking earned an award trophy for herd gains.<\/p>\n

Related dairy organization records are listed by the Minnesota Historical Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Thief
Thief River Falls: Then & Now, 1926\u20132016 2\/6\/26<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1996: Snofest and school honors<\/h2>\n

Paul Gorsorowski and Maren Thorson were crowned Snofest King and Queen for 1996.<\/p>\n

This marked a fourth straight year with the same class winning the competition.<\/p>\n

A Celebrate Health Fair event was held at the Thief River Falls City Auditorium.<\/p>\n

Honorees included Dr. Jim Langland, Dr. Penny Langland, Art Heinze, and Elaine Anderson.<\/p>\n

Sixth grader Sarah Willis won the School District 564 spelling bee at Franklin Middle School.<\/p>\n

Runner-up Anders Brown finished second.<\/p>\n

2006: Sports award, local primary, and I-500<\/h2>\n

Deb Jacobson received a special merit award for her work in women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the Special Merit Award at NGWSD-MN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A primary to select candidates for a county commissioner race was set for Feb. 14.<\/p>\n

Pennington County election contacts are listed at Minnesota Secretary of State<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Red Lake Nation\u2019s I-500 snowmobile race was set to begin Feb. 10 at Seven Clans Casino<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Background on the I-500 is available at Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2016: Council vacancy and visiting artists<\/h2>\n

The Thief River Falls City Council sought candidates for a vacant at-large seat.<\/p>\n

The opening followed the death of Ken Schmalz.<\/p>\n

City council information is available at trfmn.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Snofest royalty for 2016 at Lincoln High School were juniors Allison Okeson and Caleb Richardson.<\/p>\n

School notices are available at Lincoln High School<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Northwest Minnesota Arts Council planned a weeklong residency by Quebec music group Le Vent du Nord<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the council at northwestminnesotaartscouncil.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thief River Falls, Pennington County (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 This time capsule highlights local headlines from 1926 through 2016. 1926: Prices rise, and a winter trip Gasoline increased here to 24.1 cents per gallon. You can compare past prices using the BLS inflation calculator. More than 100 local men and women rode a special train to Crookston.… Continue reading Thief River Falls: Then & Now, 1926\u20132016 2\/6\/26<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[12580,12581,12570,9380,772,12569,827,12571,2999,12567,12566,153,777,824,10639,12568,8732,825,778],"class_list":["post-16923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-1926-2016","tag-2-6-26","tag-4-h-public-speaking","tag-city-council","tag-crime","tag-crookston-winter-shows","tag-falls","tag-i-500-snowmobile-race","tag-lincoln-high-school","tag-local-headlines","tag-minnesota-history","tag-now","tag-pennington-county","tag-river","tag-seven-clans-casino","tag-snofest","tag-then","tag-thief","tag-thief-river-falls","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16928,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16923\/revisions\/16928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}