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Many of history’s greatest inventions have been the result of accidents. Penicillin, the microwave, potato chips and even Leslie Grant’s award-winning “Sweet Garden Crunchers” pickle recipe.

She has been called quirky, unforgettable, a scene stealer, and even “one of the great moms of American fiction,” but to Shannon Olson, she’s just Flo.

It was a moment that seemed to drag on forever, as Jim Dircks waited for auctioneer John Barber to call out that one magic word every bidder waits anxiously for.

“Sold!” the auctioneer’s voice finally boomed.

From his perch on the fourth floor of the Hazeltine Gates building in northern Chaska, Julius “Jules” Smith looks out on a city vastly different from the one he grew up in.

By Chuck Friedbauer

“Sometimes the bear bites you, sometimes you bite the bear.”

As a coach and teacher at Chaska Middle School East for 31 years, Scott Berg used that slogan to motivate his students through various hardships. It now fits personally, as he battles against the effects of a stroke he suffered one year ago.

Ralph Rapson's Red Cedar House.

Celebrated Minnesota architect Ralph Rapson, 93, died on March 29.

An improbable smile spreads across baby Emma Kissock’s face, and it’s enough to melt the coldest heart. Nearly a year old, Emma has plenty of reasons not to smile, but despite it all, she remains an insufferably happy baby.

“She doesn’t have a care in the world,” said mom Robin Kissock, a 1994 CHS grad. “She’s so happy-go-lucky.”

Barbara Bach is looking for love. But rather than put an ad in the paper or sign up with an online service, Bach is using her business’s sandwich board sign to try and catch the eye of a passing motorist.

In addition to advertising her self-proclaimed “best malts in the county,” the chatty redhead’s sign reads “Looking for a great relationship. Inquire within.”

By Mollee Francisco 

In many respects, Audrey Stumpf, 15, is a normal teenager. She goes to Chaska’s Pioneer Ridge Freshman Center, wears makeup, talks a mile a minute, and earns a few bucks as a lifeguard at the community center.

By Mollee Francisco 

Robyn Swenson knows she’s got a couple of great kids. At the moment she needed help the most, when no adult was around to lend a hand, Swenson’s 8-year-old twins stepped up to the plate and, with some quick, critical thinking, saved her life.