Good morning, St. Cloud.

St. Cloud’s 17th annual Pride Week runs Sept.

14 to Sept. 19 at Lake George and expects about 6,000 attendees. The event features 120 vendors, food trucks, a Puppy Parade, a raffle for a rainbow quilt, and three community awards (for business, community and healthcare winners) to honor local supporters.

Girl Scouts Lakes and Pines in Waite Park will add two new treats — Sparkables, an allergy-friendly oatmeal cookie, and Patch Pals, a blueberry muffin-flavored dog treat — for the 2027 cookie season.

Both treats will be available online starting Jan. 12.

A new survey shows Minnesotans rank eighth happiest, with high scores for sleep quality, volunteer rates and sports participation — the study compared fifty states on physical health, work environment and community life.

On Saturday, Sept. 12, St. Cloud hosts the Hispanic Heritage Celebration from 3 to 7 p.m. with live music, food trucks, and a kids’ zone + the St. Mary’s Block Party offers games, bingo, and a beer garden from 5 to 10 p.m., both free to attend.

Motorists should slow down on rural roads during harvest season because data shows 455 farm equipment crashes from 2022 to 2024 with eight deaths and 180 injuries; officials urge giving extra room and using headlights until it is safe to pass.

On Wednesday, Niron Magnetics installed the first steel beam at its Sartell magnet plant built to produce magnets without rare earth metals, with CEO Jonathan Rowntree and Mayor Ryan Fitzthum at the ceremony.

The facility will operate by late 2027 or early 2028 & Honda invested in the project.

Central Minnesota singer Justin Ploof will drop new music every six weeks and perform with Mason Dixon Line at the Sauk Rapids Fire Relief Association Fundraiser tomorrow at Rollie's in Sauk Rapids, with the show starting at 6:30 p.m. and the Oak Ridge Boys set to follow at 9 p.m.

FLIPP returns to downtown for a hard-driving rock show this Saturday at the Red Carpet Nightclub (doors open at 8:30 p.m. with a 9:00 p.m. start) alongside All the Pretty Horses and guest Venus de Mars; advance tickets cost $20 and door tickets cost $25.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources survey shows a nearly 20% jump in pheasant numbers with 90 birds per 100 miles statewide and 130 in west central and southwest areas, offering stronger hunting prospects; the season will open at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, Oct.

10.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources launched its Fall Color Map on Wednesday morning, showing early changes in far northwest counties with leaves at 10 to 25 percent.

The map also shows that the St. Cloud area is set for peak fall colors in early to mid-October as weather influences foliage.