Maple Grove Gazette - May 30, 2026

Maple Grove's Only Newspaper of Record — Vol. 1 No. 7—Edited by Mr. Ellison, Town Archivist & Historian

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

This editor is pleased to report that spring has, at last, committed. The gardens of Maple Grove are up—some with more conviction than others—and the strawberries have arrived in earnest, which by long local custom means that for the next three weeks roughly half the town will smell faintly of jam and the other half will be waiting to be handed a jar.

It is also, this editor must note, aN election year, and the mayoral race has overtaken both the weather and the strawberries as the chief topic of conversation at the café, the hardware store, THE DINER, and—to the visible discomfort of at least one member of the clergy—the fellowship hall. The town has, with characteristic thoroughness, divided itself into camps. Lawn signs have appeared. Words have been exchanged. A debate was held. The Maple Grove Police Department has been called upon more than once to remind residents that civic disagreement and personal property damage are, in the eyes of the law, two different things.

This editor, as is his long-standing policy in matters of active controversy, takes no position whatsoever. He reports the record. He draws no conclusions. He has, for the duration of the campaign season, stopped attending coffee hour.

📋 COMMUNITY NOTICES

MAYORAL DEBATE — MAPLE GROVE COLLEGE AUDITORIUM

The two candidates for mayor met Thursday evening in the main auditorium of Maple Grove College for the season's first public debate, moderated by Professor Jack Donovan of the college faculty, who is said to have prepared a great many thoughtful questions and managed to ask nearly three of them.

The format called for two-minute responses. This editor is told the format did not survive the opening remarks. Professor Donovan is widely credited with keeping the proceedings civil, a feat he accomplished chiefly by speaking very calmly into a microphone that the candidates could not turn off. Attendance was high. Opinions, by all accounts, were not changed.

FIRST METHODIST CHURCH — A WORD ON FELLOWSHIP

Pastor Elliot wishes the congregation of First Methodist to know that the doors remain open to all—including, this editor quotes, "those who have, this season, found themselves seated rather farther from their usual pew than is customary."

The Gazette understands, without wishing to inflame the matter further, that the congregation has divided along the same lines as the town—Charlene and her circle firmly behind one candidate, and a considerable portion of the remaining membership behind the other. Pastor Elliot has asked that politics be left in the parking lot. He has, this editor is told, asked this four times. Coffee hour continues, for now, under what one attendee described as "a fragile truce and two separate urns."

MAPLE GROVE GARDEN CLUB — A POINT OF ORDER

The Garden Club reminds members that the spring growing season is well underway and offers its usual standing invitation to those uncertain about what, exactly, is coming up in their beds. The reminder follows a report—submitted with what this editor would describe as great delicacy by Mrs. Hanover—that one member appears to be cultivating an entire raised bed of common weeds under the impression that they are salad greens. The member in question maintains that they are heritage greens, that they were planted on purpose, and that Mrs. Hanover should mind her own rows. The Garden Club takes no position. Neither does this editor, though he notes the weeds in the bed are described as "thriving."

🏛️ HISTORICAL NOTE

This is not the first mayoral race to divide the town along the center aisle. In 1971, a contested election split the First Methodist choir so thoroughly that the sopranos and altos sang from opposite ends of the loft for the better part of a year, a period the church bulletin of the era referred to only as "the difficulty." Order was restored, the archive records, not by reconciliation but by the arrival of a new hymnal nobody had strong feelings about.

This editor has also located, in the town fair records of 1984, the minutes of a Preserves & Pickles Committee meeting that ended in a formal protest over a disqualified entry of strawberry jam. The protesting party's letter, preserved in full, contains the line: "A jam that runs is not a jam. It is a sauce, and it knows it." The authorship is unsigned. This editor declines to speculate.

✉️ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Gazette prints letters as received, lightly corrected for spelling, and entirely uncorrected for tone.

To the Editor—

I am told it is my civic duty to choose between two candidates for mayor. I have heard them both speak. I have read their campaign statements. I attended the debate. I would now like to formally decline voting for either.

One of them cannot finish a sentence. The other finishes far too many.

I arrived at the debate with three questions. What is the actual figure budgeted for road maintenance this year, and how much of it is left? Who is responsible, by name, the next time the culvert on Beech Lane backs up—because it will. And what, precisely, does either man intend to do that the last administration did not? Professor Donovan, to his credit, tried to get them there. Neither candidate answered. One of them spent four minutes explaining why the question was a good one.

A person who cannot give a straight answer in a quiet auditorium will not give you one in a crisis. I have no further questions, because I now have my answer.

Vote as you like. I will be watching what gets done, not what gets said.

— Mildred

This editor offers Mildred's correspondence without comment, as is the Gazette's policy, and notes for the record only that the Beech Lane culvert did back up twice last spring.

🔍 Fellow Sleuths Worth Following

Two picks this week, fellow sleuths, and I'll be honest—when I saw the second title, I laughed out loud, because the universe clearly read this week's Gazette before I did. Pull up a chair and a jar of something that holds its shape.

🎿 Biathlon and Betrayal—Nina Hunt

👉 Meet Nina and grab the book →

🍓 Petals, Preserves, and Peril—Neela Snow

👉 Meet Neela and grab the book →

✍️ Behind the Scenes

I'm still elbow-deep in Hotter than Coffee, and I'll be straight with you: this revision turned out to be a much bigger job than I bargained for. I'd rather take the extra time and get the bones right than rush a book back into your hands half-fixed—so it's taking longer, and I've made my peace with that. Foundations first. The fun stuff comes after, and I promise it's coming.

Willow 🌿

Meet Willow

Author, School Board member, and gluten-free baker. I write the Jenna McGregor mysteries from my home in Michigan, fueled by coffee and Peloton PRs.

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