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To the winners and finalists of the 2024 Albert Lea Tribune Readers’ Choice Awards.

Winners and finalists of our annual Readers’ Choice Awards were presented on Wednesday, and we’d like to take a quick minute to congratulate all of those who were selected for awards this year.

Whether you won an award for the first time or have consistently won the recognition for many years, you have a lot to be proud of.

The awards show that your community sees you and is thankful for the service you provide.

We encourage you to keep up the good work.

To events this weekend raising money for Honor Flights for area veterans.

Hats off to the organizers of the fundraisers this weekend to raise money for Honor Flights for veterans.

An Honor Flight takes veterans to Washington, D.C., where they are able to view the World War II memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial, as well as other sites like Arlington National Cemetery, the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Washington Monument. Following the visit, they eat lunch and are sometimes able to be visited by a Minnesota senator before heading back home.

The trip is free of charge for the veterans.

Fundraising happening this weekend for the program include a 65-mile car cruise through Freeborn County on Saturday that begins with lineup at 1 p.m. in the old clinic parking lot on Washington Avenue. The cruise will go through nine towns in Freeborn County and end back in Albert Lea at North Broadway.

After the cruise, there will be live music and food available.

A special ceremony will take place Sunday at Fountain Lake Park with the participants in the Honor Flight Trip, followed by music from the Baldy Holly Band.

Come on out and support area veterans and this wonderful opportunity available to them.

To the Six Best Days of Summer.

The Freeborn County Fair is officially here.

To everyone from the Fair Board to the 4-H’ers, people running booths and everyone in-between, we wish you a smooth and successful week ahead.

The fair offers an opportunity for people to come together and see their friends and neighbors while enjoying entertainment, good food and music.

And it also is the culmination of hours of hard work and effort of man youth in our community who have spent the last few months raising animals and preparing projects that will be presented during fair week. Good luck this week to you all.

Thanks for those who have spent countless hours into planning the fair for all of us to enjoy.

We look forward to seeing what all is in store this year and hope people will come check it out.

And remember, if you don’t want to pay admission but want to enjoy some yummy fair food, there’s free bus rides to the fair on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday thanks to a partnership with SMART Transit. The bus will pick people up at pre-determined locations.

See you at the fair!