Well before the century turned, a German immigrant family tended vegetables along what would become Mankato’s Madison Avenue, planting spacious gardens overlooking the city and river valley. Those German gardeners would be amazed at what grows there now all year long.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Ron Peterson, manager of the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing plant in New Ulm, ignores that ancient axiom. He’s on a determined mission to revitalize what’s always been one of 3M’s most successful plants.
There’s nothing more affectionate than a purring kitten settled in your lap, nothing more appealing than a frisky puppy who wants to play. America is a nation of pet-lovers. But, ah, there’s a downside. Pets, uhm, even the best-groomed pets, sometimes create unpleasant odors. So do swine herds, turkey flocks and the mess that’s left after you clean a stringer of walleyes.
Can a former Wall Street lawyer find happiness running a small Minnesota business? That may sound like the story line for a television series, but it’s real life for Herb Kahler, the lawyer who owns and operates Crown Fixtures, Inc., in Winnebago. “We’re happy to be back in Minnesota,” said Kahler, who left Wall Street to join a large conglomerate, then became something of a roving executive for the company. His assignments included a 14 year stint with one of the company’s subsidiaries in Minneapolis. Now he’s back as a go-it-alone entrepreneur.
Sixty percent of American workers say they lack adequate training to properly do their jobs.
That can be fixed, according to Bill Russell and Jeanne T. Doheny. They train employees of companies in which you’d feel comfortable owning stock, companies all the way from Minneapolis to the Pacific Rim, even some companies whose names you might not recognize.
Al and Rae Ann Arneson seek their vision of the future where others rarely look – in the past.
They’ve dusted off historic labels and rescued long-lost recipes, freshening the tastes of thousands. Their searches led to 1919 Root Beer, Buddy’s Orange, Buddy’s Grape and Ulmer beers. Now they’re returning Hauenstein beer to New Ulm, where it was brewed until the company folded in 1972. “We’re bringing products back from years gone by, good products,” Al said. “We’re bringing back memories.” Rae Ann adds that “what’s fun about the products we sell is that good memories get better over the years. We’re making good memories better.”
Every Spring, Southern Minnesota Construction’s massive equipment snorts out of hibernation, eager to rearrange earth, rock and asphalt into long ribbons of roads. It’s happened every Spring since 1914. But that’s no longer the beginning of SMC’s year, and when freezing temperatures force the graders and pavers back into storage, that no longer signals the close of a year’s business.
If you think the Internet is a passing electronic fad, pay attention to the experience of Joe Farnham. Farnham, president of Emerald Travel Management (ETM) in Mankato, put ETM on the Internet last December. (That’s the modern equivalent of putting it “on the map.”) Within a month, new customers from as far away as Georgia and Connecticut began booking flights through ETM. It’s opened corporate doors where he’d never thought of knocking, and it’s put ETM where he wants it to be: “Staying ahead of the curve in this industry.”
