MANKATO — Twelve photo contest winners have been selected to be in Mankato’s 2025 calendar with the first-place choice featuring the silos mural.
Teri Michels, of Mankato, won the highest honors with “Dawning of the Day,” which will be featured on the calendar’s cover and as the calendar’s May photo.
The winning photo captures the well-known mural on the Ardent Mills silos bathed in morning light. The company recently announced it will be closing in Mankato by mid-January and Ardent Mills is in discussions with city leaders on how to protect the artwork.
Amber Masloski, of Mankato, is the second-place winner. Her photo “Double Gates” will be used on the cover of the fall/winter edition of “City News” and as the calendar’s October photo.
Both photos are enlarged and framed, including an engraved plaque that credits the photographer, and will be placed in the Intergovernmental Center, 10 Civic Center Plaza.
Other photographers with works to be featured in the calendar are: January — Rivers Nelson, of Mankato, “Carnegie”; February — Parie Buffington, of Eagle Lake, “Silo Summer Sunrise”; March — Cynthia Shirk, of Mankato, “Hubbard House”; April — Adleigh Nelson, of Mankato, “Dancer”; June — Conner Blaukat, of Mankato, “Along the River”; July — Charles Berg, of Mankato, “Flag”; August — Drew Campbell, of Mankato, “Bog Walk Dreaming”; September — Warren Michels, of Mankato, “Angles of the Court House”; November — Mark McMillan, Mankato, of “Mankato Cloudscape”; and December — Barb Lindsay, of Mankato, “Winter View.”
Mankato’s annual photo contest encourages involvement from residents and visitors and showcases Mankato’s quality of life, spaces and places. This year’s theme was “Angles of Mankato.” Survey responses from the community selected the top 12 photos and top two winners.
The first-place winner received a $100 gift certificate to the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center. Framed, enlarged versions of the first- and second-place photographs will be on display in the Intergovernmental Center.