Annual meeting set for April 18

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Kevin Wallevand will be the featured speaker at next Tuesday’s Ottertail Chamber of Commerce annual meeting. The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Thumper Pond in Ottertail and is open to the public. 

A native of Vining, Wallevand is a reporter for WDAY in Fargo, N.D. He has received a number of prestigious awards over the years. He won his first Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts for his documentary, “The Quilt: Hope from the Heartland.” The documentary, filmed in early fall of 1996, follows a quilt made by volunteer quilters at a country church in Kragness, Minn., to a refugee camp in Angola, where it was received by land mine victims. Wallevand travelled from Kragness to the Angola refugee camp to film the documentary.

In addition to the featured speaker, Ottertail Chamber of Commerce President Ron Grobeck said the night will be an opportunity to look back at the accomplishments of the past year and unveil a new celebrity called “Mr. Popper,” who will promote the organization’s new high capacity popcorn machine. 

“It should be a really, really fun meeting,” said Grobeck. 

The meeting is open to the public and those who would like to come and just listen to Wallevand can do so for no cost. The cost for the meal will be $20 and the cost for a yearly membership to the Ottertail Chamber of Commerce will be $30, which also includes one free meal at the annual meeting. 

Those who would like to attend the meal are asked to call Grobeck at (402) 250-8860.