Reversing a reputation

What a difference a year makes.

The property across the street from the Blooming Prairie High School baseball field that drew unflattering comparisons to “The Sandlot” has new owners – and with them, an improved reputation.

Frank and Giselle Spartz moved their family into the home in October, long after the last strike of the season had been called.

They relocated from Austin, where both parents work at Hormel; Giselle Spartz’s boss, however, lives in Blooming Prairie.

“He had talked about it, just at work,” she said.

The back story

“It” was the years-long feud between the former homeowners and the school district.

Jon and Randi Peterson bought the property in 2022; by May 2023, they complained that athletes and spectators at the practice fields just south of their home were trespassing, littering and foregoing the portable toilets to use their yard.

The next year, Peterson and his father Tom began a campaign to eliminate parking on Steele County Road 46, which passes between the property and the BPHS baseball diamond. It had long been the place for fans to park and watch a game from the comfort of their vehicle.

The Petersons said it presented a safety hazard, narrowing the two-lane road to about a lane-and-a-half, and restricting visibility of any pedestrians.

Because it is a county road, Tom Peterson took the fight to the Steele County Board of Commissioners, which in April 2025 banned parking on the road.

But the real furor began about a month later, when Jon and Tom Peterson once again complained that players and fans were trespassing on the property – this time, to retrieve errant baseballs that made their way over the backstop and the first-baseline fence, over the county road and into Petersons’ yard.

Players, coaches and fans said Tom Peterson, specifically, “stood guard” at the edge of the property and refused to give the balls back.

Peterson claimed they did not keep the balls, which he said numbered up to 120 in a week, with “unknown shaggers trespassing onto private property and threatening little children playing in their yard.”

The story went viral; Jon and Randi Peterson sold their home and moved away in July, after what Tom Peterson called a “hideous and unfair smear campaign” by people he believed were disgruntled about the parking ban.

New owners

Enter the Spartzes, who had lived in Austin for six years, but were looking for some acreage and, preferably, a home in Blooming Prairie.

“When we toured it is when we were told that it was the same house that we had heard about,” Giselle Spartz said, “which I guess didn’t really deter us from buying it, of course, because we’re here now.”

The property is on a large lot with a big yard; they had heard good things about the school district, and “all of a sudden, this house came up, and it was the best of both worlds,” she said.

When they bought the home, “we told our son, Mateo, ‘see? We’re right across the street from a baseball field.’”

Mateo’s response, Spartz said, was, “‘oh, perfect. I can set up a lemonade stand.’ He’d been wanting to do that for more than a year, but we lived on kind of a busy street in Austin.”

The couple settled into their new home over the winter, welcoming a third child in February.

New reactions

Last week, Giselle’s mother was in town, helping with the new baby.

“She said, ‘oh, it looks like they’re going to have a game,’ and my son must have heard her,” Spartz said. “He went into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of lemonade packets and was like, ‘come on, Mom, hurry up. Let’s set up a lemonade stand.’ And I thought, ‘oh gosh, you’re holding me to it.’”

She told Mateo they could set up a stand for an hour or so, and offer free lemonade.

“He said, ‘sure, that way if somebody doesn’t have money, they can still have lemonade, right?’ So we set up the free lemonade stand,” Spartz said.

“It worked out perfect, because my son has wanted to have a lemonade stand, and given the whole situation with the house, it’s just inviting for people who may be on the fence about what our reaction is going to be,” she said.

“We’re baseball fans; my son does T-ball, and I’m sure he’s going to want to do baseball when he grows up,” Spartz said. “We just want to create that positive environment for everyone.”

The response has been overwhelming.

“Once the first person saw our sign that my son made – well, I wrote it and he drew a bunch of smiling faces on the sign – she came over and gave him a dollar,” Spartz said.

With a cup of lemonade and a thank you from Mateo, the woman walked back across the street to watch the game.

“She must have told whoever was at the field, and all of a sudden people started coming over and saying hi and talking to us, grabbing lemonade and giving us donations – we got to meet so many people,” Spartz said.

Three days later, Mateo bought a larger cooler, “so he doesn’t have to run into the house to refill” as often.

“With the donations he got last time, he’s been able to upscale his little operation – and it’ll be free lemonade again,” his mom said.

New reputation

There were definitely foul balls that came their way, she said of that first game.

“We stayed on our side of the street by the lemonade stand, because we have two other little ones,” Spartz said of their family, “but Mateo was watching (the game) and he had his baseball glove out, too.”

He chased after some strays, she said, “and threw a few back” across the road.

The JV team came to the stand while the varsity team was playing, Spartz said, “and he was loving that, and was cheering them on after he served them, and was just so excited.”

There is no promise Mateo will be out at every game, she said, because “summers get busy for everyone, but as long as our schedules allow it, and he’s willing and wanting to do it, we’ll support him.

“It’s just so good for him to be out there, and not be shy, and talk to people,” she said.

Mateo is finishing preschool in Austin, but will be enrolled in kindergarten in the fall in Blooming Prairie.

“We’ve been so welcomed into this community,” his mother said, “even before people knew where we lived. Everyone’s friendly and introducing themselves and just so nice.”

Giselle is from Faribault; Frank is from Iona, “but Blooming Prairie will be home for our kids, for sure.

“We’re super excited about being here in our house, and just our life here.”