This year The U of M Extension Discovery Area was THE spot to be, with a flight simulator, Aquatic, Wind and Lego Robotics. The kids were amazed and parents fascinated by the intricate workings. Freebies were plentiful and it seemed like everyone connected with exhibitors that had solutions, ideas or something fun to do.

GREAT Theatre stunned the crowd with amazing performances from their production of ‘THE WIZ’, the Juggler in the Yellow Hat got the crowd going with tricks and spell-binding bowling pin handling, and the Martial Arts demo was a thrill.

Unfortunately, NO CAPTURE of The MIX 94.9 $5000 Fugitive! But the good news is, we inducted over 500 new Bounty Hunters who swear they will apprehend the villain.

Check out the pictures of all the fun!

Ricky Woods

Last weekend, my family decided we were fed up with working and chores and we were going to have some fun. We found it at 101 Market in Otsego.

If giant bouncy pumpkins, pedal cart races, a petting zoo, a corn maze, potato slingers, a haunted mortuary, a corn pit and animal train rides sound like fun – this is the place for you. (And if you need help in the maze, we’ve got it figured out.)

Warner Lake Beach is the perfect spot for chillaxin’ in the sun- a pristine swimming lake and soft beach sand makes it the perfect summer fun stop for the Shasta Beach Tour with The MIX Entourage! Listen for the days and times we’re hitting Warner Lake Beach with free ice-cold refreshing Shasta sodas for you and your family.

Did Ty James and The MIX Entourage give you free Shasta at Warner Lake Beach? Look for your pics here! Thanks for coming out and grabbing your free Shasta! Keep listening for more Shasta Beach stops! Click here to see our video and more pix from our first stop at Warner Lake Beach!

Just page thru the gallery, right click and save it to your desktop! Use it for your FB profile or just share it with your friends!

ST. CLOUD – Emergency crews have rescued a total of eight people from the swollen Sauk River in St. Cloud.

St. Cloud Fire Department Battalion Chief Jerry Raymond says the group was tubing down the river when they got into trouble.

The Sauk River is very high right now, and is at flood stage due to the recent heavy rains.

The incident began around 3:00 p.m. and by 3:30 p.m. everyone had been pulled to safety.

Last Saturday morning we took 100 MIX 94.9 listeners to Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 for a premiere party at Parkwood 18. We also conjured up a few Potter-heads with costumes for a contest- Check out the pix and the video of the contest and party.
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Holy HANNA! Is St. Cloud becoming a mecca for Hollywood celebutantes? Minnesota native and Net’s star Kris Humphries hopes so- not only has he lured his luscious girl Kim Kardashian back to our sleepy little burg for another serving of 5 Guys Burgers And Fries, but he’s also brought her along to a basketball clinic he’s hosting for the St. Cloud Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

It’s the fifth year of Humphrie’s clinic, but it’s the first year it’s required police barricades. Kim was a gracious guest, signing autographs for the kids and a few onlookers, but she didn’t offer a peep to the press or the crowds that had gathered.

The E! film crew of Keeping Up With The Kardashians WAS on-hand and was filming, but they offered no insight as how the footage would be used. Our newsman Jim Maurice and Weekend Diva Lynn made it past security for a picture or two, both of Kim and the great kids participating in the clinic.

You can get more about the clinic and hear an interview here.

Those Five Guys Burger And Fries must be pretty good! Kim Kardashian and beau Kris Humphries stopped by for another quick bite- Humphries is in town hosting a basketball clinic, and as promised on The Morning MIX earlier today, we sent our intern out for photos, and a burger.

The friendly community of Rockville rolled out the red carpet for Central Minnesota during Rockfest this weekend- The theme for this year was ‘Clowning Around Rodeo Style’ and that meant Charlie The Clown, a milking contest, and a kid’s tractor pull (biggest crowd of the day!) were just some of the fun you’d encounter.

MIX 94.9′s Peter K and the MIX Entourage rolled in for the fun and found everyone from visiting State Representative Steve Gottwalt and the cutest little Dairy Princess to wild kid candy grabbers at the all day event. The MIX Paparazzi caught all the action in this huge collection of photos and the video below.

Thunderstorms and tornado activity ripped through the St. Cloud metro area this evening.

Stearns County Emergency Management Director Marv Klug says there have been no reports of serious injuries so far.  The Stearns County Sheriff’s Department is also reporting no injuries so far.  But, there’s widespread damage throughout the county.

Klug says the towns around St. Cloud are returning to normal as of 9:00 p.m.  However, street crews are still clearing debris in St. Cloud.  It appears the hospital neighborhood was among the hardest hit.  Klug says from Hester Park to 22nd Avenue, and from the downtown area northward, has a lot of tree damage.  There are some reports of structural damage, but those reports are not widespread.  Red Cross volunteers are going house to house right now getting a more specific estimate of the damaged areas.

Klug is asking the public to stay home — emergency crews are having trouble making their way around all the gawkers.

Klug says there was a confirmed tornado touchdown near Rockville.  Residents in that area report hearing a train-like sound.

The damage in the St. Cloud metro area was most likely caused by straight-line winds.  Several reports from listeners of street flooding, large hail, downed trees, and power outages.

Xcel Energy is reporting about 19,000 customers in the Central Minnesota area are without power at about 8:00 p.m.

East Central Energy reports about 6,300 of their customers are without power at 8:30 p.m.  They estimate 24-26 hours before power can be fully restored to all of their customers.

There were reports of flooding on Highway 10 in east St. Cloud, which backed up traffic during the storm, the State Patrol says by 8:00 p.m. the flood waters had receded and traffic was flowing once again.

McLeod County Emergency Management Director Kevin Mathews says the roof was torn off a Hutchinson animal medical center, and two semis were blown off highways.

Send your storm pictures to us. We’ll put them in our gallery.

Our MIX 94.9 Facebook friends have also posted more pics and videos on our Facebook wall. Check them out as well.

The new Sauk Rapids royalty was crowned last (Thursday) night.

The new 2nd Princess is Kelly Elness.

The First Princess is Ashley Bukowski.

And the 2011 Miss Sauk Rapids Queen is Candyce Thompson.

Even after 38 years, St. Cloud State University’s Lemonade Concert and Art Fair is still the gem of our Central Minnesota summer. Over 240 artists and craftsmen have set up a village of wonderful crafts, clothing and never-ending lanes of interesting folk-art. We sent the MIX Paparazzi out for some photos.

This year the Little Lemons Art Park was especially hopping with youngsters exploring their creative sides. The Little Lemons Art Park and the Farmer’s Market (new this year) will be going on until 6 tonight. Then at 7pm, St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis presents the Mayor’s ‘Rock-On Awards’ during the opening ceremonies of Granite City Days. The St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra performs at 8pm on the Atwood Mall.

A lot of rain in a very little span of time created havoc on the commute home Tuesday evening. Heavy rains began to fall around 3:30pm and increased in intensity and volume during the next 2 hours. So much so that St. Cloud Police barricaded several major thoroughfares along the Division corridor. Two Townsquare media employees just happened to be out in the chaos and shot these amazing photos.

Crews set up barricades to keep people out of the affected areas.

Officially they measured only half an inch at the airport (?!)- At the station we recorded about an inch, but we’ve had listeners report more:
-2″ in Sauk Rapids
-3″ at 25th Avenue
-3″ at 10th Avenue North
-4 1/2″ at 7th Avenue South

Videographer Steven Sohlstrom of FlightFlash.com documented some of the flooding.
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Where were you when the heavy rains hit? Tell us your story in the comments section below-

Last thursday night, I put the beats on hold and did a freeze frame on the latest remix madness. Taylor Swift was in town at Xcel. It was her second of two nights. Now I know Taylor writes her songs, tickles the ivory and can strum a guitar or banjo or two. She has picked up every award on the planet. But I still wasn’t convinced, so I had to peep out the country pop chanteuse for myself. All I can say is WOW!!

The production on this show was amazing. The staging, lights, set design, band, dancers, fireworks… that’s right, fireworks. Even the smell of incense wafting through the arena at perfectly timed intervals. Taylor sounded great. At times you could get a glimpse of her young clumsy awkwardness, but it was purely a body language thing and let’s not forget she hasn’t been in the game that long and she’s still a young pup.

Her banter with the audience –  a very wide demographic – was perfect and she kept the crowd pumped up at all times. Where I really give her and her production people cred is how she managed to work every inch of that arena from top to bottom and front to back. She jumped off stage ran through the sold out audience and headed to the very back where she then camped out and performed 4 consecutive numbers. One of which was “Fearless”. She played guitar and ukulele all while sitting under a tree which rotated. People who moments early were thinking they should have sprung for better seats, temporarily became the first row.

She ended the night with ”Romeo & Juliet” and sang it from a balcony which was floating high atop the audience and went completely around the full expanse of the arena. Almost every number felt like a Broadway production and was brought to life through beautiful visualization and her desire to get as close to the audience as possible.

Taylor set the bar high and proved what a pop crossover artist can do. Whether you were male or female, Young or old, this was a mass appeal show that didn’t disappoint.

Kudos to her management and production team and special thanks to the good folks at Xcel. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… The X is one of the finest places to see a concert. Easy in, easy out and great acoustics. Not something easily accomplished in the arena world.

Alright. It’s 3am. Seems like a good time to head back into the lab. I’ve got a killer show I’m working on for this weekend.

It was a perfect day for a parade and we had a great time out at the Waite Park Family Fun Fest! Thanks for coming to the parade and for sharing time with us at the festival grounds! Click through our photo gallery and look for yourself! Go ahead and copy the pictures to use on your Facebook pages- just right click with your mouse and choose ‘Save as..’ ! We’ll see you next year!

There’s probably thousands of pictures taken at Munsinger Clemens Gardens every year.  Now, for the first time, one of your snapshots could make you a winner.  The Munsinger Clemens Botanical Society is sponsoring a season long photo contest.  Pictures will be judged in two categories: Landscapes and Hardscapes.  Entries must be mailed or delivered to the Lake George Municipal Complex by September 15th. We sent the MIX Paparazzi out to get some shots- In the comments section below- tell us if our shots are winners-

We rode our way into Summer this morning with over 100 bikers including St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis and other high-falootin’ muckity-mucks with the Annual Mayor’s Bike Ride. We started in Downtown St. Cloud at City Hall and pedaled out to River’s Edge in Waite Park… Once there we downed free Root Beer Floats and gave away some prizes. Thanks to B.LE.N.D. & St. Cloud APO for inviting us for the second year! The Mayors’ Bike Ride kicks off Bike-Walk Week which is June 4th – 12th. In addition, the Caramel Roll Bike Ride (Saturday, June 11th) caps off this week of activities!

Images of the Twin Cities’ tornado have been flooding the web for the last few days. Although not as strong, nor nearly as deadly as Joplin’s event, the images are a reminder of Mother Nature’s significant force.

The National Weather Service has reported that the tornado was either a strong EF1 or an EF2 and that it cut a swath nearly fifteen miles long across 3 Metro counties. EF1 tornados can be clocked as high as 109 mph, with EF2′s at 110-137 mph.