WEM Partners in Education (PIE) took on an exciting new project this year - a Fun Run for the elementary students and a Color Run for the middle school students! Due to weather, both events were held on the last day of school, Wednesday, May 27.

WEM PIE members, Lisa Cofield, Katy Montgomery, Patty Salmon and Rhiannon Swanson along with...

To see more on this story pick up the June 11, 2026 print edition of the LifeEnterprise. 

Le Sueur County Sheriff Brett Mason has released fraud statistics for the 2025 calendar year.

Sheriff Mason said there were 105 referrals for 2025 and 75 cases with discrepancies. They had eight types of fraud reported, with household composition leading the list with 35 in custody (closure of cases), 28 cases of household composition, 22 cases of unreported income, and 13 residence cases.

Rene Erwin Greenwald, age 82, of Waterville, passed away on Saturday, April 11, 2026, at Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato from heart failure.

The 61st Annual Waterville Bullhead Days Celebration will begin with the coronation of Miss Waterville 2026 on Friday, June 5 at 7 p.m. in the Waterville Fire Hall. Admission is five dollars for this 69th Miss Waterville and Junior Miss Pageant.

Miss Waterville 2025 Kayla Bronk and her attendants Abby Crosby, Alenka Jans, and Jaelyn Wilmes will preside over their last pageant.

Three straight wins during a rainy Sunday night lifted the WEM girls flag football team into the 2026 High School Girls Flag Football State Tournament.

The Buccaneers shutout Fit Academy, 18-0 in their opening game. In the semifinals they defeated Farmington, 34-6. In the championship, the Bucs edged an undefeated NRHEG, 26,25, when sophomore Paetyn Judd returned an interception for a touchdown with less than 90 seconds to play.

WEM will open State Tournament play Monday, June 8 at 2 p.m. against Centennial at TCO Stadium. The...

For more than six decades, the second full weekend in June is dedicated to the annual Waterville Bullhead Days celebration. This year is the earliest the event can be held, with dates set for Friday, June 5 through Sunday, June 7.

There are two new events being featured on Saturday. They include the Barney 5K Fun Walk/Run and Paradise City Wrestling.

For years there had been a fun run and bike race. This is being brought back this year as only a 5K run/walk.

In their first Section 2A Track and Field Meet as a co-op team, the JWP//WEM Bulldogs finished 3rd among 24 entered.

The Bulldogs scored 68 team points finishing behind champion Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial-Nicollet (93.5) and Maple River. The top ten teams included Sibley East (62), St. Clair/Immanuel Lutheran (51.75), Mankato Loyola/Cleveland (48), USC (36.75), Minnesota Valley Lutheran (36), Glencoe-Silver Lake (27), and Windom Area (26).

For decades, the Waterville Lions Club has been a huge sponsor and supporter of not only Bullhead Days but many clubs, organizations, and individuals through hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations.

In appreciation for their work and dedication to the community and to the annual yearly celebration, the Waterville Lions were bestowed the honor of 2026 Bullhead Days Grand Marshals.

The Waterville Bullhead Days Committee listed a number of reasons why the Lions Club were selected as grand marshals.

For the past four years, WEM senior Robynn Schwichtenberg has been a varsity player for the Buccaneer softball team.

She has been recognized through the conference a couple of times with All-Gopher Conference honors.

Now Schwichtenberg has been recognized at a much higher level, being named to the Class A All Star Game. She was one of 22 players in the small school division selected to play in this series of games which will be held Sunday, June 7 at Caswell Park in North Mankato.

With three individual championship and three relay titles, the JWP/WEM girls track and field team pulled away to win the Section 2A, South Sub-Section meet Thursday, May 21 at St. James.

WEM senior Addison Condon won two championships, WEM eighth grader Rachel Mielke won one, and the 400-meter, 800-meter, and 1,600-meter relays each won events, helping the Bulldogs score 116 points.

The WEM flag football team recently finished their regular season with a 4-2 division record and a 5-3 overall record.

They will begin playoff action Sunday, May 31 in Waterville at 6:30 p.m. against FIT Academy. Other first round games include Farmington vs. Austin, with the winner playing WEM, NRHEG, the No. 1 seed and undefeated Panthers vs. Lakeville South, and Lakeville North vs. Fairmont.

The winning teams will play at 7:30 p.m. and the championship is set for 8:30 p.m. The winner will advance to the State Tournament.

The City of Morristown will be holding the 41st annual Morristown Dam Days celebration starting Wednesday, May 27 and running through Sunday, May 31.

The first event of the weekend was the Miss Morristown and Little Miss Pageant, which was held Wednesday, May 27.

When Dennis and Iny Schmidtke received the call they were selected as the 2026 Morristown Dam Days Grand Marshals they were shocked and honored.

“We are thrilled to death to be honored,” Dennis said. “We are overwhelmed and were not expecting this. Both of us find it easier to give things than to receive them.”

WEM junior Alix Velzke had a week to remember while playing three games for the Buccaneer softball team.

She was the winning pitcher in two of her team’s three games, including four hitless innings pitched against Medford. At the plate she was 6-for-9 with four runs scored, six RBI, two walks, three doubles, a triple, and a home run.

WEM opened the week with a 6-2 loss to Randolph Thursday, May 14. The following afternoon the Bucs defeated Medford, 11-1, in five innings. Saturday in their regular season finale, WEM downed Waseca, 7-4.

Elysian, Kilkenny, Morristown, and Waterville have scheduled Memorial Day Ceremonies for Monday, May 25, 2026.

Elysian Ceremony The Elysian American Legion Post 311 Honor Guard will start with stops at Greenland Cemetery (7 a.m.), German Lake Cemetery (7:20 a.m.), St. Peter (Bell) cemetery (7:55 a.m.), Cannonville Cemetery (8:20 a.m.), and the Waterville Veterans Memorial (8:45 a.m.). The Elysian Ceremony will take place at 9:30 a.m. at the Elysian Veterans Memorial at Sunset Park.

WEM junior Gavin Atherton won the Section 2A True Team 200-meter and 400-meter Championships Tuesday, May 5 helping the JWP/ WEM Bulldogs place 3rd among the 14 teams.

Atherton was timed in 22.72 which edged out Oilver Schull of St. Clair (22.75), and Lucas Proehl of Maple River (22.97). Atherton ran the 400-meter dash in 51.51, which was almost a second faster than St. Clair’s Wyatt Lein. Atherton also placed third in the 100-meter dash (11.27).