Keep Christmas Well

In the final moments of Charles Dickens’ classic, “A Christmas Carol”, the narrator tells us this of Ebenezer Scrooge, “and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive po...

Christmas comes to Clearwater

Christmas came to Clearwater a couple weekends ago, with the city celebrating several holiday events to kick off the holiday season.Over at the Clearwater American Legion, kids gathered for the Legion Auxiliary’...

Mike+You=Cure donates to American Cancer Society

Becker resident Mike Garland and his crew with Mike+You=Cure collected and donated a significant amount of food to the American Cancer Society Richard M. Schulze Family Hope Lodge Minneapolis last week. An estim...

FFB hosts huge crowd for Santa

Monday night, the Farm Friends Barn once again hosted its Santa at the Barn event and despite an earlier postponement due to weather, the crowd was enormous and enthusiastic.The line was literally out the barn d...

Snake River hosts Christmas celebration

Snake River Free Mission Church hosted an All Church Christmas Celebration Sunday, Deccmber 21. Children and adults from the congregation participated in the telling of the Christmas story and the arrival of Jes...

Ron Koren reflects on his time as CL Fire Chief

With the new year fast approaching, it seems natural to consider the story of Father Time and Clear Lake Fire Chief Ron Koren’s retirement announcement. Though Koren does not resemble the grizzled old man with a...

Pizza Depot spreads joy with santa visit

Santa has already been to many places throughout the communities the Patriot covers; for breakfasts, for tree lightings, for fundraisers and more. On Sat., Dec. 13, Santa came to Pizza Depot in Becker for joy.Co...

Clear Lake Fire Chief Ron Koren retires

Clear Lake Fire Chief Ron Koren had already floated the idea of retirement to members of the council a month earlier, but during Monday’s regular City Council meeting on Dec. 15, 2025, he made it official. With ...

2 Big Lakers facing felony charges for drugs, child endangerment

Two individuals from Big Lake are facing felony drug charges after law enforcement executed a search warrant at their residence and allegedly discovered fentanyl and cocaine in locations accessible to a child, a...

K-9 and SCSO visit Refuge Rangers