As you step through Schmidt’s Meat Market’s doorway under the “Willkommen” sign, the old-time smokehouse aroma quickens your taste buds. You walk past a wall displaying numerous awards, and your eyes feast upon the beef jerky, specialty sausages, fresh meat cuts, and other mouth-watering morsels.
Brian Fowler is a storyteller—and not only with a camera. He shuts off his cell phone, which has a ring tone of James Brown’s line “I feel good,” and begins to answer a question about where he grew up with a description of his great-great-grandfather’s 1868 homestead claim. During the interview, he throws out a jaw-dropping line about getting a call from the White House to shoot photos of then-President George W. Bush. Fowler veers right past that explanation to talk about employees, friends—such as Free Press photographer John Cross—and wife Karen and three daughters, who work with him.
General Growth Properties began building River Hills Mall more than 20 years ago. Today, the retail behemoth annually receives 8.5 million visitors, who often want more and so spill over into Greater Mankato’s many retail nooks and crannies. About 75 percent of Mall visits each year come from people that live more than 30 miles away, and that includes 850,000 visits from consumer-hungry northern Iowans seeking tax-free clothing.
Certified life coach business owner, House of Hope development director, North Mankato city council member, landlord, and community leader goes full throttle to help others improve.
From day one in 1989 through today, the reputation, future, and survival—literally everything, involving printing presses to profits to people—of 285-employee Corporate Graphics Commercial of North Mankato has rested solely on its being able to adapt to and fulfill rapidly changing customer needs.
“It’s the Black Angus of pork, well known for superior quality,” said Jim Compart, president of Compart Family Farms in Nicollet, referring to the custom meat his family’s hogs produce. Our Compart Duroc branded pork is served at ‘white tablecloth’ restaurants like the Radisson in Minneapolis and Caesar’s Palace and Bellagio in Las Vegas.
You could make a classic movie about his life. In it, he could be like tough-and-rough Riff of the Jets in West Side Story or maybe combative Billy riding a chopper to New Orleans in Easy Rider.
Years later, a physician said he should have died. In 1980, then 25-year-old Tim Lipetzky was an electrician working inside a Lakefield hospital when he felt an ache arcing through his stomach. He told a registered nurse about the pain, but would wave it off before leaving that night.
Stepping through the door of the Jarraff Industries office on the north side of St. Peter, the reporter first sees a four-foot-high stuffed giraffe. Too big to be a child’s toy, the giraffe wears a kerchief proclaiming the name of the business. It doesn’t take much imagination to make the connection between the long-necked animal and the tree-cutting equipment George Boyum began producing 35 years ago.
