Bonnie Amistadi and Jace Denman host the Monday, May 18th edition of Bonnie & Friends, delivering a cozy post-weekend wrap-up filled with personal highlights, critical weather warnings, and local construction updates. The show unpacks a rare El Niño-driven wildfire surge across Minnesota and features an intriguing look at “That’s the Dream Farm” in Glyndon. Plus, Ag Director Bridget Riedel joins the studio to break down why a looming frost poses a massive threat to regional crops and exposes a shocking real estate scam targeting American farmland.
Key Moments
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Unseasonably Chilly with Rain and Frost Alerts: Jace and chief meteorologist Dean Wysocki warn listeners that despite hitting May 18th, temperatures are struggling to leave the 40s. While the metro area only caught 13 hundredths of an inch of rain over the weekend, the real concern is a clearing sky on Tuesday night that will trigger widespread frost and freeze warnings across the region.
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Minnesota Wildfire Outbreaks: The show reports a devastating outbreak of fires over the weekend in Central Minnesota, specifically affecting the Brainerd Lakes, Cross Lake, and Two Harbors areas. Spurred by hot, dry conditions and fierce spring winds, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) was forced to deploy water-scooping planes to combat the blazes, which destroyed at least 30 structures.
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The Looming Agricultural Frost Threat: Ag Director Bridget Riedel joins the morning show to emphasize the critical steps home gardeners and farmers must take ahead of Tuesday night’s frost. While early grass crops like wheat and barley can tolerate the freeze, and un-emerged corn remains safe, sprouted soybeans and highly sensitive tomato plants could face total destruction if left uncovered.
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The “Rat” Farmland Real Estate Scam: Bridget exposes a highly sophisticated, acute scam currently infiltrating the real estate industry: seller impersonation fraud. She details the story of Colorado farmer Casey Kimbrell, who discovered a fraudulent realtor had listed a parcel of his cropland under his name, arranging for the entire payout to wire into a scammer’s bank account. The threat hits close to home, as North Dakota is currently the number three state for high-volume farmland transitioning ownership.
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Cuba’s Drastic Agricultural Collapse: In international ag news, Cuba is enduring a catastrophic food production crisis due to a rigid U.S. energy blockade. Starved of fuel shipments from Venezuela for three consecutive months, Cuban tractors have ground to a halt, forcing farmers to revert entirely to primitive animal and human labor to plant crops, while dairy operators are forced to milk by hand without any access to refrigeration.
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“That’s the Dream Farm” in Glyndon: Kayla Klonowski joins the program to share the unique vision behind her local business, That’s the Dream Farm, in rural Glyndon. Designed to help clients reconnect with nature and learn healthy boundary setting, the farm is launching its “Poses on the Prairie” sunset yoga series this Tuesday, alongside a summer “Garden Fridays” volunteer initiative that rewards helpers with fresh vegetables and continuous batches of eggs.
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Metro Traffic and Construction Disruption: Bonnie updates commuters to expect an array of slowdowns across the metro. Interstate 94 will feature lane closures for the next three weeks as crews construct a new message board near the Red River Bridge, while downtown Fargo sees the intersection of 15th Street and 32nd Avenue South shut down for underground utility work.
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The “Four of an Eight” Clubhouse Legend: In a lively sports breakdown, Dean shares his favorite moment from the weekend—winning the “putter’s poker” pot out at the beautiful Pebble Lake golf course. Trailing into the final hole, Dean sandbagged his chips to draw a critical four of diamonds for a straight flush, devastating local competitor Dave, who unluckily flipped over a blind four-of-a-kind in eights.