The second annual Cologne Academy Spring Fling is Saturday, April 24.

The event is a fundraiser to raise money for improvements to a community playground, according to a press release.

The event is at the Cologne Academy and Cologne Community Center, 1221 South Village Parkway, Cologne.Because of high winds at last year’s Spring Fling, all the games will be inside except for the bounce houses (there will be four different bouncers for the kids).

SouthWest Transit will offer bus service to Target Field in downtown Minneapolis for all games Monday through Friday. There will be no service on weekends or on Labor Day.

“Twins fans are excited over a new season and a new ballpark,” stated SouthWest CEO Len Simich, in a press release. “This service will offer people a fast, convenient, inexpensive way to get to Target Field with ease.”

The Eden Prairie Twins Express (Route 682B) will operate the following schedule Monday through Friday, with return scheduled for 20 minutes after the last out.

The Carver-Scott Humane Society (CSHS) is making area pets into a 2011 calendar model.

Thirteen pets will be chosen with one selected for the cover and one for each month. A collage of the entrants will also be featured in the calendar.

The CSHS calendars will raise money for the homeless animals in the area.To participate, choose a color digital photo of your pet napping in a sunbeam, bounding through the snow, or enjoying one of the daily activities in your home. (No people in the photo.)

By Forrest Adams

An environmentally friendly composting site that was the focus of neighborhood odor complaints last spring and summer now sits mostly empty.

Gone from the 5 acres on University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum property are piles of decomposing food waste and grass clippings that many residents said attracted flies and gnats. Absent are the tractors turning the compost over and stirring up the material, which residents say created dust and foul odors.

The newly formed Chaska Chapter of Let’s Go Fishing will be hosting a meeting for all volunteers at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 14 at The Lodge at the Chaska Community Center.

This chapter already has signed up over 40 volunteers in a number of different areas who will assist with taking Active Older Adults (AOA’s) ages 55-plus on fishing trips on area lakes, according to a Chaska Parks and Recreation press release. There is no cost for participants who want to go fishing or ride the water on a pontoon.

The 2010 Carver County Dairy Princesses will be crowned Saturday, April 17 at the 58th Annual Carver County Dairy Day Dinner.

The dinner will be held at the New Germany Hall in New Germany, starting with a social hour at 6:30 p.m., dinner at 7:30, and the program beginning at 8:15. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door. For advance tickets, call barb Grimm at (952) 657-2476.

Athletic Park may be a little wet right now, but the Chaska Cubs amateur baseball team are planning for a long, successful summer full of fun.

The Cubs host their annual leadoff party from 4-7 p.m. on Saturday, April 10 at the Chaska American Legion in downtown Chaska.

The team will serve free hot dogs, beans, chips and apple pie ala mode.

Sign up or renew a Cubs Dugout Club membership and receive a free T-shirt and passes to the Cubs home games, which include free popcorn and beverages.

The Carver Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) has tree seedlings available for sale to landowners interested in planting trees this spring.

The trees that the SWCD sells are primarily used for reforestation, conservation and erosion control purposes, but can be used in housing developments or community beautification projects, according to an SWCD press release.

Chaska American Legion Post 57 is accepting applications for the 2010 Minnesota Boys State, to be held June 13 to 19 at Southwest Minnesota State University Marshall campus.

Minnesota American Legion Boys State is a week-long experience of learning about Minnesota government at the local county and state levels by “doing.” It is a week of intensive study and involvement, according to a press release.

The Minnesota State Horticultural Society is hosting an emerald ash borer seminar in Chaska.

“Emerald ash borer (EAB) is an insect that destroys ash trees, and it has arrived in Minnesota. EAB only kills ash trees, but in great numbers, and is expected to have a huge effect on Minnesota’s 937 million ash trees. Early detection and isolation are vital to slowing its spread,” states a press release