Sandy streets ready for Spikin’

May 01, 2024

Aug 5, 2023

Jason Kuester directs the truck as it dumps sand onto Minnesota Street for Spikin in the Street Friday. Trucks dumped 800 tons of sand in preparation for the event.

NEW ULM– Sand was poured on the downtown streets as Spikin’ in the Street prepares for day-long activities Saturday, rain or shine.

The preparation started with the placement of bio rolls around the volleyball area. The bio rolls stop the sand from entering the storm drains, while allowing water to pass through.

Chamber president Sarah Warmka explained the current situation for weather conditions potentially affecting the event, and the precautions they have taken to avoid cancellation.

“The event is rain or shine unless it lightning’s, then we can’t play,” she said. “Because of the rain, what we’re doing instead of the sand coming all the way up to the sidewalks we’re creating a barrier reusing this bio roll. It’ll be three feet out from both sidewalks. The water can come in the sand it’ll just filter out. It can go right through these bio rolls and sand will stay in the water comes out and then it can go down to the gutters.”

Competition will be split into three brackets. The A bracket will feature the best of the best, the B bracket will have teams in the middle ground, and the C bracket will have the rec and amateur teams. Play will begin at 7:30 a.m. and run till 11 p.m.

Jason Kuester smoothes over a dumped load of sand as prep work gets underway for Spikin in the Street. The event runs from 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Forty-four teams in total have registered for the competition. Teams have entered from far and near, including South Dakota, the Twin Cities, Mankato, and Sleepy Eye.

The dumping of the sand started at around 1 p.m. Ground Zero Services delivered the sand from their base in Courtland after laying down the bio rolls and sealing the gate valves and manholes. Ground Zero’s owner Jason Kuester laid out the process behind this unique endeavor.

“We loaded it into our semis and brought it in here,” he said. “The sand we’re using is the same sand we’re using in a lot of the concrete projects around the area. [We used] quad axle trucks, those dump with the high box. The other ones [we used] are belly dumps, they dump out the bottom.”

Even with the potential inclement weather, Kuester believes the event will still be a positive for New Ulm.

“It’s going to be great for downtown. All the businesses down here, more people in town. You got to sometimes think outside the box and and do projects like this so the community sees what else can happen. Bring all the tourism to our town and all of the businesses down here are gonna do great.”

Prep work continued into the evening hours to get the nets and lights set up for Spikin in the Street. Poles holding the net will be attached to blue drums full of water to ensure play is not disrupted.

The sand used by the company is typical volleyball sand Ground Zero provides to courts across Southern Minnesota. Kuester said there is no risk to the road surface and clean-up will make sure it looks as good as it did before the event.

“We’re gonna bring our PE loaders in here,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of skid loaders we’ll be using, we got a sweeper and some power brooms on our equipment. Once we get it all scooped, the payloader will load it onto the trucks again and haul it back out here. We’ll be sweeping, cleaning the street, and blowing the sidewalks to make sure it looks nice.”

Music will also play all day, with a covered stage ensuring those festivities will not be dampened. Dain’s Dutchmen will play from 12-3 p.m., The Misfits will be on from 4-7, and Schell’s Angels will cap off the night from 8-11.

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