Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) recently approved seven grants totaling $120,490 to support asset-based collaborative approaches to meeting the needs of children birth to age five and their families. 2019 Early Childhood Grant award recipients: • $19,296 to Faribault Public Schools to create Early Learning Centers at the Jefferson Elementary and Faribault … [Read more...]
Sesquicentennial farm applications due March 1
Minnesota Farm Bureau’s Sesquicentennial Farm program will honor Minnesota families who have owned their farms for at least 150 years. Since the Sesquicentennial Farm program began in 2008, over 225 farms have been recognized. The Sesquicentennial Farm program recognizes family farms according to the following qualifications: 1) The farm must be at least 150 years old this … [Read more...]
Canton preps for “The Big One”
Residents of coastal California have long been worried about “The Big One,” referring to the fears that a major earthquake will eventually cause catastrophic damage to the population there. In the small Minnesota town of Canton, residents are preparing for a different type of “big one.” Every August, Canton holds their annual “Day Off” celebration, and every fifth year, an … [Read more...]
Find a home at Homespun Harmony
Marsha LaFreniere has a passion for knitting and crocheting that she recently translated into Harmony’s newest storefront on Main Avenue, Homespun Harmony. Originally from Albert Lea, LaFreniere spent 10 years in the Air Force, where she moved around a lot. She met her husband in Rochester and they looked for a place to set down roots. That place was Harmony and a country home … [Read more...]
The Parkway Market & Coffeehouse has the right formula
“We are like a natural foods store that also has pop rocks and some of these weird things that no other natural foods store would have,” says Caleb Lauritsen-Norby of The Parkway Market & Coffeehouse of Lanesboro, Minn., “But that mix works,” he states. Caleb and his partner Blake Lauritsen-Norby purchased the business a couple years ago and opened The Parkway Market … [Read more...]
Ostrander Care & Rehab feels like home
There’s been a nursing facility in Ostrander for approximately 50 years, but the staff there can tell you that it’s not “business as usual.” Janice Howe, administrator of Ostrander Care & Rehab explains, “We are a family-owned company, the owners are Grant and Andrea Thayer, out of Batavia, Ill. They own five facilities in Wisconsin, and then this facility. And Grant was … [Read more...]
An innovative family business puts the customer first
Norman A. Kopperud probably wouldn’t recognize Norman’s Electric Service (NES), the business he started in 1946. “Our dad was a visionary,” Glen Kopperud said. “But even he wouldn’t have predicted how different his business is today. Technology and electronic advances have played a huge role in dramatically changing our work. What he would recognize though, is that we’re still … [Read more...]
Mabel Smokehouse is cookin’ up awesome food
When Darrell Peterson was asked what he liked best about the restaurant business, he didn’t hesitate and immediately said the people are. “I love the customers,” Peterson said. “It’s fun to cook for them and see them enjoy a good meal. The very best thing is when they come back and tell their friends and family about it!” That’s what has been happening since Peterson opened … [Read more...]
Semcac is changing lives, one person at a time
“We are helping to change lives one person at a time,” said Wayne Stenberg, Executive Director of the Semcac office in Rushford. He states, “In 1966 the Economic Opportunity Act was established and passed by the federal government. Their mission was to fight America’s war on poverty. Senator Walter Mondale awarded the organization their first $30,000 grant to help those in … [Read more...]
MinnWest Bank: Ag roots, tech growth
People in the Spring Valley and Wykoff areas have probably noticed that Security State Bank is now MinnWest Bank. The merger official happened on September 21, 2018. Market President Dwayne Ostrem recently sat down for an interview to explain what this change means to customers. Ostrem explained that the Security banks in Spring Valley and Wykoff were branches of Security … [Read more...]