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Vikings are coming
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Workers erect bleachers around the Minnesota State University football practice fields Monday in preparation for Minnesota Vikings training camp, which begins Friday morning. Shane Frederick
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Mankato prepares for another training camp
MANKATO — Everything was new for Chester Taylor and the Minnesota Vikings a year ago.
New team. New players. New coach.
The group practically needed to get to training camp just to learn each other’s names.
“We know what to expect now,” said Taylor, the Vikings’ top running back.
The Vikings report for their 42nd training camp in Mankato on Wednesday. Camp officially kicks off Friday with two public practices — 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. — at Minnesota State University and a team introduction at Blakeslee Stadium at 5:30 p.m.
“We all know each other a lot better,” said Taylor, who was promoting a sweepstakes through Alltel, the title sponsor of training camp. “For a lot of us, it was our first year playing in Minnesota ... and there was a first-year coach (Brad Childress). It’s our second year. I feel like we’re much closer.”
Despite all of the newness, Taylor, who spent the previous four seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, rushed for 1,214 yards, the fourth-highest total in franchise history, and quickly became one of the faces of the franchise.
Now, he’s promoting an Alltel Road Trip where 150 fans can win a pair of tickets to the Vikings Aug. 30 preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys.
The winners of the VIP package will be picked up by a luxury bus at stops in Mankato, Rochester and Mason City, Iowa.
Fans can register online at www.alltel.com/vikingstrainingcamp between now and Aug. 15, the final day of training camp.
Camp will be open for 15 days during that same span. Besides the public practices, including a joint practice with the Kansas City Chiefs on Aug. 3, the Vikings Village will be open on practice days, and autograph sessions and interactive games will be featured.
The village is being constructed behind Blakeslee Stadium. Holes were drilled for banners to hang on the back of the stands, and bleachers and tents were erected around the MSU practice fields. A small Viking ship was also constructed for the village.
“It’s a big puzzle piece,” said Vikings marketing partnerships coordinator Scott Erdahl, who was overseeing the project Monday. “We’ll get it done.”
As for Taylor, he said he was impressed by Mankato’s efforts a year ago during his first stay at Minnesota State and looking forward to this year’s camp.
“It’s a pretty good facility, compared to what we had in Baltimore,” Taylor said, “as far as the university, the weight room, the dorms. It felt like college life all over again.”
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The results are in.
Every year, we at The Free Press poll our readership. We want to know where you eat, where you take in a show, where you take the fam’ when they’re in town to show off the Mankato area to outsiders, and so on.
From Nov. 25 through Dec. 18, readers voted for their favorites in four categories: Activities and Entertainment; Food and Drinks; Services; and Shopping. You certainly had your opinions, and we like that.
Here are the 2009 Readers’ Choice Award winners in Activities and Entertainment. -
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The results are in.
Every year, we at The Free Press poll our readership. We want to know where you eat, where you take in a show, where you take the fam’ when they’re in town to show off the Mankato area to outsiders, and so on.
From Nov. 25 through Dec. 18, readers voted for their favorites in four categories: Activities and Entertainment; Food and Drinks; Services; and Shopping. You certainly had your opinions, and we like that.
Here are the 2009 Readers’ Choice Award winners in Shopping.
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