Innovation 2018 by Daily Journal

Artist uses drone to capture landscape Perham students enters 2018-19 year with new school Becks look to bring new beer scene to Fergus Falls September 2018

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2018

INNOVATION

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TABLE OF CONTENTS STORIES

Dining Car 423 turns train station into restaurant............... 3 Students welcomed back to new Perham High School ....... 4 Comstock constructs Fergus Falls with values...................... 6 Duet Design looks to bring Hatchery Row............................ 8 Artist Eischen uses drone to soar to new heights................ 10 Becks look to bring new beer scene to Fergus Falls............. 14 Country Inn and Suites: Remodeled hospitality................... 16 LB Connect empowers for independent living..................... 18

COLUMNS Amy Baldwin, City of Fergus Falls.......................................... 2 Sue Wilken, Downtown Riverfront Council........................... 12 Rebecca Petersen, Greater Fergus Falls................................. 20

INNOVATION 2018 | PAGE 1

INNOVATION 2018 Daily Journal media

Mitzi Moe | Publisher Zach Stich | Editor Mary Sieling | Assistant advertising manager Deb Erickson | Creative Director Connie Knapp | Audience Development Manager Dee Forkey | Bookkeeper ÂŠ 2018 Daily Journal Media On the cover: Jared Eischen, a drone photographer based out of Fargo, North Dakota, has incorporated the innovative technology into his work. Cover photo by Emily Carlson.

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PAGE 2 | INNOVATION 2018

Downtown riverfront improvements design underway

he City of Fergus Falls has begun the design development process for Phase 1 improvements to the Downtown Riverfront. This project is intended to begin the transformation of the Fergus Falls riverfront into a community asset that: strengthens downtown businesses and attracts new investments; creates a vibrant gathering place with multiple uses; and continues to attract visitors to our community. This will build upon work completed in the 2017

Downtown & Riverfront Master Plan. It is anticipated that construction of the riverfront improvements will occur in 2019-20. AMY The BALDWIN broader City of DownFergus Falls town & Riverfront Master Plan, approved by the City Council in December 2017, laid out the following vision: Fergus Falls seeks to

transform our downtown and riverfront into a vibrant gathering place that integrates our unique river, downtown, outdoor recreation activities, heritage, and civic pride. Through the implementation of the master plan, we seek to transform our downtown and riverfront into a place that: • Celebrates the unique character of Fergus Falls’ downtown, Otter Tail River, natural landscape, and heritage. • Provides views and access to the river and its

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key features for people of all ages and abilities. • Creates attractive opportunities for riverfront dining, entertainment, arts, and civic destinations. • Supports a wide variety of outdoor recreation activities. • Offers desirable housing options for all stages of life. • Draws visitors to Fergus Falls’ downtown and river environment. • Attracts new investment, redevelopment, and tax base to the community.

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The Phase 1 improvements are focused on the riverfront area on the north side of the Otter Tail River between Union Avenue and Mill Street. Key components of the project include a river balcony with a multiuse gathering space and market area, an accessible multiuse trail, a riverfront amphitheater, and improvements to the existing parking lots to provide better circulation and more efficient layouts. Visit www.fergusfallsriverfront.com to

learn more about the Phase 1 improvements and to sign up for email updates. There is also a link to an online survey seeking input on the proposed improvements. An open house for additional community feedback will be held on Oct. 24. Watch for more information on the City of Fergus Falls website and on the city’s Facebook page! Amy Baldwin is the community development director for the city of Fergus Falls.

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FRANCES STEVENSON | DAILY JOURNAL

DINING CAR EATING: The Restaurant Dining Car #423 was named after the way some railroads named their cars. According to Craig Gantner, some railroads came up with fancy names for their dining cars but the passenger railroad that ran through Fergus Falls simply gave their rail cars numbers, leading to the name Dining Car #423.

ALL ABOARD

Train station serves up fine dining By Frances Stevenson The Daily Journal

Craig and Anna Gantner bring an old world feel to Cascade Street with their converted railroad station restaurant, Dining Car 423. Dining Car 423 resembles a dining car, designed from photos of old railroad dining cars. This includes several stainedglass windows made to replicate, windows found on a dining car that had been being used as a chicken coop.

“I had found a picture on the internet, he had a chicken coop made out of an old dining car,” Craig said. “And there was an old stained-glass window and arch and he had a pretty good picture of it so I just took the colors and went over to Flamingo Glass and they were able to reproduce it.” Craig and Anna wanted to find a way to connect people to the history of the railroad and an old way of traveling and eating. According to Craig, train travel and dining were more elegant than today’s highway of fast food and long-distance travel. The Gantners hope to bring some of that elegance back to dining. “We’re trying to keep the railroad theme because it's very difficult to find anything like this, most have been either torn down or redone already,” Craig said. “It’s pretty much in the original state which means a lot of the woodwork was already here. SEE STATION 15

FRANCES STEVENSON | DAILY JOURNAL

RE-IMAGING DINING: The Gantners wanted to change the way people see dining on the road. Dining while traveling used to be an elegant event on dining cars, the Gantners wanted to bring some of that back.

PAGE 4 | INNOVATION 2018

New school Perham school district creates state-of-the-art facility By Frances Stevenson The Daily Journal

Perham High School opened its newly crafted doors to approximately 500 students on Sept. 4 for the first day of the school year, introducing students to their new high school. The almost $30 million project was built this last year preparing for the 2018-19 school year. The school district decided to construct a new school for several reasons including growing enrollment, lack of a gym and fitness

center, old design and age of the previous high school. “The district and the school board specifically started having the conversation about the future of the school district and our facilities and a couple areas that needed attention,” Superintendent of Perham-Dent school district, Mitch Anderson said. “In that the $45 million we were able to construct a new preschool wing in our elementary school, add a classroom addition for fourth grade, a small gymnasium at the elementary school, a lot of remodel work at the middle school, and the

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BRAND NEW: The new Perham High School sits full of approximately 500 students during their first week of school in the brand new, state-of-the-art high school.

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rest of it was dumped into the high school here.” The new school is state of the art according to Anderson, and incorporates small and large group settings for different learning styles. Anderson said they wanted to create different spaces for different learning environments, including different class sizes, study groups and even combined classes. “Our old high school was built in 1916, its 102 years old, its got some additions, its got some remodels, it’s going to reach the point where it’s going to reach the end of its life, especially the way we provide education today,” Anderson said. “This building, the design of it, it was set up for flexibility, small group, large group settings, not knowing what education is going to looking like in five, 10 years.” The building incorporates high-efficiency designs to save energy and power including motion sensing lights, sunlight sensing lights, and outlets that sense motion and turn off non-essential applicenses. To solve the problem of no gym space in the previous high school,

the new high school has a three-station gym, a fitness room, wrestling room and full-locker rooms. “We used the Perham Area Community Center as our Phy-Ed space,” Anderson said. “For 25-30 years our kids would actually run across the street and use their gym spaces for Phy Ed, they would use their weight room, they would use their wrestling. Now in this building we have our own three-station gymnasium, so all our Phy Ed is in the building.” The new high school is located on the same campus as the elementary and middle schools, allowing some flow between the middle school and high schools for music and gym usage. According to Anderson this was another draw for building a new high school as it makes things easier for parents who have students in both the elementary and middle schools or high school. The old high school will likely be turned into a space for the boys and girls club and other social service programs for Perham. Another aspect to the new facility is the attached

alternative learning and shop building. The alternative learning facility hosts students who are not able to learn in traditional environments, some of which spend all their time in alternative learning and some of which split their time. The metal and wood shop is state of the art with several attached classrooms, a new laser printer and 3D printer and big open spaces for students to work on metal and woodworking. These career-tech programs, as the metal and wood shop classes are called, also incorporate local businesses that partner with the school to provide designs and programs they work with so students have real-life experience. “We’ve got a lot of kids that can leave here with some college credits under their belt before they walk the stage and they might go to a tech school for a year and come back and have an honest living job that they can walk into,” Anderson said. Perham’s Yellow Jacket mascot sits above the grand main entrance to the new school welcoming students daily.

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SUPERINTENDENT: Superintendent Mitch Anderson stands in front of the new gymnasium facility.

FRANCES STEVENSON | DAILY JOURNAL

GYMNASIUM: The new Perham High School includes a brand new three station gym, a fitness room and a wrestling room.

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PAGE 6 | INNOVATION 2018

Comstock constructs Fergus Falls with values By Frances Stevenson The Daily Journal

Comstock is a fourth-generation company founded in 1924. It opened its Fergus Falls location in 2000, having served the community long before that helping build some of Fergus Falls’ biggest projects. “We were established in 1924, we’re a fourth-generation contractor, one of the unique things about a fourth-generation company, only 3 percent of U.S. businesses are fourth generation,” director of business development Jason Flack said. “We do pretty much all of North Dakota, a good portion of Minne-

sota, and we do go into South Dakota some too for some work.” Comstock is not only a general contractor but does construction management, design building, project planning and development. They also self-perform work that many other companies might contract out such as civil (or earthwork), concrete, steel, precast and carpentry. “We do a little bit of everything, we do all kinds of commercial use: schools, hospitals, jails, retail,” Flack said. “Personally I’ve been with Comstock for almost 16 FRANCES STEVENSON | DAILY JOURNAL years.” After many years of employing COMMUNITY CENTER: One of Comstock’s major products in Fergus Falls has been on the Fergus Falls Community Arena, Fergus Falls employees and doing completed in 2012.

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projects in Fergus Falls, Comstock decided to open a location in Fergus Falls to work out of. Currently, Comstock has 17 local employees, not including two that just retired this year. Many Comstock employees are unique having been with the company for 10 or more years, in fact, 54 percent of employees have been with the company for 10 or more years and 39 percent have been with the company for 15 or more years. “Comstock core values are: dedication, valuing reputation, doing the right thing, and being a team player,” Flack said. “We hire people and I guess fire people based on our core values.” They have also worked on and are working on several large construction projects including the new library, the Wash N’ Go, the Community Arena, an over-the-counter 60-bed drug dependency facility, Bell State Bank, Cafe 116, Socials and many more. Flack said they try to buy local materials for their jobs as much as pos-

sible and hire local subcontractors when working in a community. According to Flack, there are many great local subcontractors that Comstock works with to finish local projects. “Wahpeton is only 23 miles away, one of the main driving factors for having an office here was having employees who were from the Fergus area and its kind of nice for them to have their own office and their own shop,” Flack said. Currently, Comstock is working on a few projects including the ongoing library project of which they are the general contractors on. They also do some work for design and build, meaning they design the structures as well before starting as general contractors, an example of this being Wash N’ Go. They have done some work on the school district buildings leading up to the start of the school year, and one of their upcoming projects will be to begin some work on the city water plant.

ZACH STICH | DAILY JOURNAL

BUILDING THE LIBRARY: Comstock employees work on the Fergus Falls Public Library. The library is one of many buildings that the contractor has them their imprint on.

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HATCHERY ROW VISIONING STUDY: Joan Vorderbruggen and Darryl Booker, architect at Duet Design, have put together a visioning study for the Hatchery Row buildings and surrounding area in Battle Lake. The study envisions a large renovation to the area while maintaining the historical and architectural integrity that is present.

BIG CITY IDEAS, SMALL TOWN APPLICATION Hatchery Row envisions possibilities while remembering the past By Emily Carlson The Daily Journal

Have you ever driven by a worn down building and thought to yourself, ‘I wonder if that building could be used again one day?’ Taking those types of thoughts, the team at Duet Design took on the task of envisioning what the Hatchery Row buildings could be, without forgetting what they were. City clerk of Battle Lake, Val Martin began working for the city about three years ago. Martin knew from the first day on the job, as she

was taken around the town for a tour, that the Hatchery Row buildings would be something the city might want to tackle and found many community members that felt the same way. The buildings, located behind The Market, are for the most part unused. Industrial and noticeably worn down, the set of structures starkly contrast the rest of the town which has become more developed in recent years. Martin wanted to take advantage of this crucial time. “We want to capitalize on this momentum. … I think the timing is perfect. I think

had somebody looked at this five years ago, it probably wouldn’t have worked,” Martin said. She began the process by bringing together a group of people to simply get some ideas compiled in the spring of 2017. This is where Duet Design came in. Joan Vorderbruggen and Darryl Booker, architects at Duet Design, were at that meeting and they brought up the possibility of doing a visioning study. “A visioning study is putting together ideas. Usually, they’re big ideas of what something could possibly be—not what we’re prescribing necessarily, but just what the potential is here,” Vorderbruggen said. While charging with a focus on the Hatchery Row buildings alone, Duet

Design included some surrounding area in their visioning study to knit the elements of the downtown together. There are options to purchase agreements with the building owners. Including the areas surrounding the main buildings simply serves the purpose of a broader vision for the town and what possibilities lie ahead. After applying for a grant through the Blandin Foundation and working with the Battle Lake Economic Development Authority, the process could begin. Maintaining a consistent atmosphere within the town was key for Duet Design. Vorderbruggen worked as the lead of the project and said, “How do you keep this sort of small-scale agriculture in-

dustrial feel? Not by putting anything in there that is out of scale with the rest of town, but maintaining that little bit gritty, cool feel.” Understanding what the buildings were originally used for assisted Vorderbruggen in completing the visioning study. Built in the mid-1900s, the structures have been owned by multiple people and used for various functions. The railroad used to run nearby the buildings and close to the nearby grain elevator. After the railroad was removed, the buildings have been left virtually alone. Located on the north side of Henning Street, the buildings are now right next to Battle Lake’s business area. Looking at other similar sized towns that have under-

gone redevelopments and listening to the Hatchery Row Committee members’ ideas that were gathered at a brainstorming meeting in October 2017, there were many places to take inspiration from. The book, “City Comforts,” which has been used by many for “creating spaces and places that address the human comfort factor in cities,” according to a presentation by Duet Design, was referenced. Ideas brought forth in the book included— bumping into people, knowing where you are, safety and security, creative place-making and transportation and traffic calming. From these broad inspirations, Duet Designs presented their vision study for the committee on Dec. 6, 2017, and to the City Council

INNOVATION 2018 | PAGE 9

on June 12, 2018. Duet Design also formed their vision with the help of the Battle Lakeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Business Retention and Expansion Strategies report completed by the University of Minnesota, which narrowed down some key aspects of the town that are doing well and others that could use improvement. Piggybacking off both the positives and negatives, the vision study includes the idea of creating a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;foodieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; destination, as Battle Lake had a higher than average score for retail in terms of places to eat. The overall atmosphere of the shopping area was also higher than average. However, results showed that parking in Battle Lake was rated lower than average. Duet Design addressed this by recommending des-

ignated parking, bicycle lanes racks, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;better pedestrian routes within the downtown,â&#x20AC;? according to their final-study summary. Vorderbruggen said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had people on our committee who were really interested in making this an even more walkable community than it is and continuing with the bicycle-friendly nature that we have.â&#x20AC;? Vorderbruggen sees this part of the design as particularly innovative, especially for the town. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to have to slow down if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re driving, and a good design is really going to try and encourage people to just walk and hang out.â&#x20AC;? One of the most notable visions was the idea for a co-working or a multipurpose space. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Battle Lake, unlike other small com-

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DESIGN: The plan laid out by Duet Design is meant to show the potential that they see in the area. Plans include a area for retail, apartments and multi-purpose co-working spaces. munities, doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any empty storefronts. We could use some empty

storefronts,â&#x20AC;? Martin said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This added space and the added area is just going to

be another opportunity for additional businesses.â&#x20AC;? Often seen in larger cities, â&#x20AC;&#x2039;the

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co-working sâ&#x20AC;&#x2039;pace would have multiple positive benefits for the area. These include allowing â&#x20AC;&#x153;people who are able to work remotely to live where they can enjoy a high quality of lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2039;" and make "it easier for start-up businesses due to the lower overhead,â&#x20AC;? and many more, according to Duet Designâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s findings. Though work on the buildings has not startedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; although there are potential developerâ&#x20AC;&#x2039;s â&#x20AC;&#x2039;currently interestedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to see the innovation within the Hatchery Row visioning study. For what used to be a large industrial and agricultural focused area, the vision study for Hatchery Row shows what can happen when someone looks to push the boundaries while maintaining a sense of familiarity.

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SOARING TO NEW HEIGHTS

EMILY CARLSON | DAILY JOURNAL

DRONE PHOTOGRAPHER: Jared Eischen catches his drone as it comes down to land. Eischen graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a degree in video production. Now a licensed drone pilot, he uses his drone to enhance and further his photography and video production.

Artist Eischen uses drone to capture vibrant colors of the Midwest By Emily Carlson The Daily Journal

Displaying his first gallery of drone photography at M State in Fergus Falls, Jared Eischen’s work shows off the vibrant colors of the Midwest from a unique perspective. Eischen knew from a young

age that he wanted to produce videos. “I grew up doing a lot of video stuff and photo stuff, so I wanted to do something in that area. But I didn’t really know it would amount to this much.” Graduating from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 2017, Eischen majored in video production and minored in mass

communications. He now works full time at Scheels in Fargo and does freelance photography and videography. Along with his landscape photography, he also does portraiture, event and wedding photography. While he knew video work would be in his future, photography was not always the plan. The first uses of his drone were for video but he quickly realized that “Video is harder to show people,” Eischen said. He then decided to focus more on taking pho-

tos with the drone. This led him to get a DSLR camera and from there, his photography took off. After using his drone for about a year, Eischen realized that he would need to obtain a license if he wanted to produce images and video for commercial purposes. He began the process of getting a remote pilot’s part 107 license. Gaining one of these requires one to take a knowledge test consisting of about 50 questions. Questions cover topics such as airspace, weather and mapping.

It is essentially a “dumbed down pilot’s license,” Eischen said. Eischen spent about one month studying before taking the exam and managed to score a 92 percent, even though only 75 percent is required. “The weather is probably the hardest part I thought to figure out,” Eischen said. “You have to know how to read a weather report given out by your closest airport.” Eischen has used a drone for about two years. “I think as someone who has been doing it

INNOVATION 2018 | PAGE 11

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GRAIN BINS AT SUNSET: One of Jared Eischen’s photos taken by a drone, “Grain Bins at Sunset,” was on display at M State Community and Technical College as a part of his series, “Colors of the Midwest.” for a lot longer than most people,” Eischen said. “I’ve honed some of my skills a little bit more and I know what I am doing a little bit more.” In a time where drone photography is on the rise, this will hopefully help Eischen continue to stand out in a sea of high-flying photos. “It’s grown a crazy amount since I started.” Eischen said, “It’s not as exclusive as it used to be.” Looking at his series, “Colors of the Midwest” displayed at the Charles Beck Gallery at M State in Fergus Falls, a collection of colorful photos line the walls. Eischen grew up in

Willmar and often spent his summers on the lake with his family. The series shows off scenes throughout Minnesota and North Dakota. “I wanted to show the colors and landscape that Minnesota has to offer,” Eischen said. Using a drone in photography is a unique way to show people a different perspective. “It gives you a scene that not many people have seen yet,” Eischen said. Often going to great lengths to capture an image, he has gone through some interesting experiences in his time as a photographer. Instances such as a car breaking down,

freezing temperatures and getting stuck in the classic Midwest winter snow are just some of the obstacles he has had to overcome to produce the photos shown in the gallery. Though he does consistently like to shoot photos during the famous “golden hour” of the day. Eischen said, “I’m a sucker for sunsets.” While a majority of the photos are taken with a drone camera in his collection, “probably a good 60 to 70 percent,” Eischen said, there are others that were taken with just a DSLR camera. Other times Eischen will SEE EISCHEN 13

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Downtown Riverfront Council works toward downtown revitalization

he Fergus Falls Downtown Riverfront Council is a 3-yearold nonprofit corporation organized by concerned men and women who saw the need to promote the beautiful asset we have, namely the Otter Tail River. Other city leaders have said that their communities would grow gangbusters if they had such a beautiful river in their town. Often taken for granted, it is one of Fergus Falls’ greatest assets. The FFDRC strives to bring the river to the forefront and capitalize on its ability to draw people into town, specifically downtown. FFDRC’s mission is to make the community better by creating a vibrant and prosperous downtown and riverfront area, enhancing the stability and growth of the city.

The young organization already has several major accomplishments under its belt. In 2015, FFRDC encouraged the city to create a master plan for SUE downtown WILKEN and the Downtown riverfront, Riverfront Council providing an outline for future development that promotes the riverfront area and attracts people to the downtown business district. In conjunction with the City of Fergus Falls, FFDRC worked to eliminate the blight caused by the abandoned dairy site, a 29-acre parcel of land fronting the Otter Tail River, adjacent to downtown. A grant proposal ~ Celebrating ~

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was written which resulted in a $600,000 award to acquire the property. Demolition of the buildings and site cleanup will take place at the closing of the sale the end of this year. Parkways, trails, and riverside real estate sales will follow. Redevelopment will generate income and a growing tax base for the city. In 2017, FFRDC introduced Mayor to Mayor events to draw attention locally to the downtown and riverfront areas and provide an opportunity for citizens of Fergus Falls to hear what other communities are doing, and how we can learn from their experiences. The most recent Mayor-to-Mayor event highlighted the mayor of Bemidji, and a representative from Greater Bemidji, a highly successful nonprofit supporting

economic development in Bemidji. Shortly after this event, the City Council approved the establishment of Greater Fergus Falls, a similar nonprofit to expand economic development in Fergus Falls. Recently, FFDRC completed the Downtown Chow Down which featured eight participating downtown restaurants and encouraged citizens from Fergus Falls and the surrounding area to dine at our local restaurants. The project, which will be repeated next summer, was a huge success with participating restaurants reporting an overall increase in sales. Other projects that are in the works include “Light the City”, which involves lighting historic buildings, the riverwalk, and the falls. In conjunction with Shop,

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Move ‘N Groove, FFRDC invited KVLY television to interview various merchants regarding Shop, Move ‘N Groove along with Downtown Chow Down. An FFRDC representative stated, “The direct result of the tv interview was people coming to the FFRDC booth to get free Chow Down coupons. One visitor reported she loves to come to Fergus Falls to shop because it is such a beautiful city! Exactly what we want to hear.” Not a group to keep to itself, FFRDC collaborates with other agencies and nonprofits for the overall benefit of the community. Collaborating organizations include AC4TA, Greater Fergus Falls, the City of Fergus Falls and Chamber of Commerce, and more. “It’s all about making Fergus Falls a vibrant city where people

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want to come to live, work and play”. Upcoming events include the Christmas tree lighting event on Dec. 1 which will coincide with the Holiday Art Crawl and its various events. The Christmas tree lighting will include carriage rides, musical performances throughout the city, and of course tree lighting. It promises to be a fun-filled celebration for everyone. FFRDC also plans to launch an public relations campaign to humanize local businesses to raise awareness that local business is really about people. It will be a campaign to encourage citizens to shop local. FFDRC is working for Fergus Falls and believes our city will grow and thrive. Sue Wilken is a member of the Downtown Riverfront Council

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EISCHEN: Artist uses drone photography to show the world in a new perspective in whichever location he is in Continued from page A1

take multiple photos and stitch them together in Photoshop to create one cohesive image. This works well for images that cover a wide area that wouldn’t be able to fit within one lens view. Looking toward the future, Eischen isn’t sure if he would ever have drone photography as his full-time career. Eischen said, “I think maybe if it got big enough and I got good enough it would be kind of cool to do my own stuff. But I don’t know enough about the business or financial part of it.” While the photos in this collection were all taken around the Midwest, he isn’t limiting himself to just one area. “It just happened to be in the Midwest because I just happened to be living here,” Eischen said, “If I moved out to New York or something I would be shooting the same stuff, just a different location.” Either way, Eischen will be continuing to show the world a new perspective of whichever location he is in.

EMILY CARLSON | DAILY JOURNAL

TAKING FLIGHT: Jared Eischen obtained his remote pilot’s part 107 license once he started using his drone for commercial purposes. Gaining a remote pilot’s license requires one to take a knowledge test about 50 questions long. Questions cover topics such as airspace, weather and mapping. Eischen received his licenses about one year ago after studying for about a month.

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PAGE 14 | INNOVATION 2018

Becks bringing a new beer scene to Fergus Falls By Emily Carlson The Daily Journal

Starting a brewery wasn’t always the plan for Andy and Klara Beck, but when Scott Wagnild and Jeff Zachmann began talking about what they could do with a building Jeff was using for some of his own projects, the idea of a brewery emerged remembering they knew someone with experience in brewing. Andy had been home brewing as a hobby for about seven years. After getting his master’s in laboratory sciences, Andy began working on some medical research. He realized that this path may not be the one he wanted to take. “I was looking for jobs that I could transfer my lab sciences background to,” Andy said. “It was a good transition.” Now owners and investors, Scott and Kathy Wagnild along with Jeff and Becky Zachmann are supporting Andy and Klara in the process of opening a brewery along the river in Fergus Falls. Looking at how the process of making beer works, Andy explained homebrewing and brewing on a large-scale is virtually the same. To begin, “It's kinda

Home home Home sweet sweet home

like making tea,” Andy said, “you take grain, barley or wheat, or you could do rice or corn. Then you add hot water, about 150 degrees.” Next is to boil that down to increase the sugar content. “That’s your starting gravity. Depending on what your starting gravity is, that’s how strong your beer is going to be,” Andy said. Brewers can add various ingredients in at this point to flavor the beer such as hops and spices. Lastly, the brewer adds yeast after the liquid has cooled down and leaves it to ferment for two weeks. The process of brewing has not changed much since its installation. “It’s the same process from 2000 years ago. They didn’t know what they were doing back then but it’s the same basic concept,” Andy said. “Actually women back then were the brewers.” Not only will a brewery add a new business to the area, Andy hopes to bring a type of beer to the area. “There’s over 70 styles of beer but you’ve probably only seen about five of them,” Andy said. “So we’d like to do a lot of German styles.” Showing off the local economy and food is also important. I’d like to work with the local community and farmers

EMILY CARLSON | DAILY JOURNAL

CRAFT BREWERY: Andy and Klara Beck (pictured), along with Scott and Kathy Wagnild and Jeff and Becky Zachmann, are working to open a new craft brewery along the river in Fergus Falls. to get some cool local ingredients.” Regarding what the interior design of the brewery will be, Klara is making sure that theirs will not look like any other brewery. “There’s a look that a lot of breweries go for and it’s honestly for ease,” Klara said. “Since we are doing something a little different where our tap room is actually separate from the brew-

ing side of things, we have a little more flexibility to make it maybe a more warmer, more homey space.” Plans for a beer garden with a large outdoor patio overlooking the river will help expand the space even more. There will also be plenty of windows to let in light to the building. Kathy described the vision of the space as, “Nordic mid-century.” Craft breweries are on the rise.

“People are trying to get more local,” Andy said. “They’ve realized closer beer is better beer.” He furthered that one of the reasons for the increased popularity is due to the Surly Bill. Signed into law by Minnesota Gov. Dayton, this bill allows breweries to sell their own beer on-site rather than having to sell at another location. There is even a shift in how breweries are perceived. Andy said. “It’s

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INNOVATION 2018 | PAGE 15

not thought of as a bar, it’s thought of as a community space.” Relating the craft brew scene to Fergus Falls, “There’s just a shift in retail all together,” Klara said, “People are making their purchases closer to home or online and here is something you can do close to home.” Klara is a part of the Greater Fergus Falls Corporation and sees this brewery as just one of the answers the group is looking for. “This is exactly the kind of thing we talk about at each meeting. How can we bring new, exciting businesses to town and help our other businesses thrive.”

This brewery will able an excited new addition to the area. Scott said, “There’s nothing like this here. We’ll be the first one.” Klara is confident in how it will fit into the community. “I think we are fitting in really nicely with the vision that a lot of people have for Fergus Falls,” Klara said. But no matter what your taste in beer is, Andy is positive that there will be something for everyone. “That’s the cool thing with beer. Anyone can find a different beer that they like because there’s so many different styles,” Andy said. “It makes brewing exciting cause you never know what’s going to happen.”

EMILY CARLSON | DAILY JOURNAL

NEW BUSINESS: Klara Beck is looking to transform this building into a new brewery with a “Nordic mid-century style.”

STATION: ‘I wanted to bring something to Fergus Falls that isn’t way out of bounds but just on the edge...’ Continued from page A1

You can make it interesting to come to the place and then still make it interesting to learn about history.” Executive Chef Eric Marbut and Sue Chef Michael Coroni, both graduates of Le Cordon Bleu, enjoy coming up with new and unique recipes. The Dining Car has a set menu with Mediterranean items, Tex-Mex, and local items but they also constantly have new items allowing patrons to find new flavors on the regular. “We’re going to have our special items that won’t change very much, the beauty about working here and the menu that we’ve got, is that we can make that menu live and breathe,” Marbut said. “The most important thing is 99 percent of the

food we make is housemade.” One element of the menu that is standard according to Marbut is that they often have fish on Fridays but the recipe changes every week. Dining Car participated in the Downtown Chow Down, entering their unique Chicken and Waffles recipe. “I wanted to bring something to Fergus Falls that isn’t way out of bounds but just on the edge where its just tempting enough to go ahead and order it, we did the chicken and waffles,” Marbut said, speaking about the Downtown Chow Down. Craig and Anna are currently working on the construction of the back portion of the Dining Car building, hoping to expand their dining space

and add a bar area. Currently, the internal seating seats 18, plus added patio space. The new bar area will have more of a casual dining experience. The bar will have craft beers, many Minnesota produced along with craft cocktails and prohibition and old-school cocktails according to Craig. “We’re going to do some craft cocktails as well, we’ve got some recipes from the 20s, the prohibition and speakeasy type drinks,” Craig said. “There are some old cocktails recipes that people have forgotten and they’re actually kind of good.” Whether looking for a place to dine while on the road or just a night out, FRANCES STEVENSON | DAILY JOURNAL Dining Car 423 brings history and fine dining to the DESIGN: The interior of the restaurant is designed to look like the interior of a original dining car, designed off of photos the Gantners found on the internet. table.

PAGE 16 | INNOVATION 2018

Remodeled hospitality

Country Inn and Suites by Radisson gets a new look By Sarah Huffman The Daily Journal

SARAH HUFFMAN | DAILY JOURNAL

BRAND NEW: A room at County Inn and Suites by Radisson in Fergus Falls. The hotel went under a remodel this past year.

The Country Inn and Suites seizes the opportunity to show the town of Fergus Falls their commitment to its people and local businesses this year. At a time where the city seems to be losing many of its important large businesses, what used to be the Best Western saw a chance to invest in the community by becoming a Country Inn and Suites by Radisson. The process for this

change was started back in 2016 when Ruhr Development, which oversees the hotel, along with 13 other hotels, decided that the building was in need of a renovation. It was then decided that it would also be beneficial to switch brands from Best Western to Country Inn and Suites. Having discussed this transition, Ruhr sought out Country Inn and Suites, which was then able to complete an inspection to explore what changes would need to be made to bring the

hotel up to their standards and criteria. Then in December of 2016, Ruhr Development was able to officially sign on as a Country Inn and Suites hotel. The renovation of the hotel began in November of 2017 just after Thanksgiving, though they had hoped to start in April of that year. Fortunately, the entire renovation only took seven months to complete. This was an astounding feat, as they completely remodeled all 96 of their rooms, carpeting and walls, and updated

INNOVATION 2018 | PAGE 17

parts of the Bigwood Event Center that is also attached to the hotel. Specifically, each room was stripped down to the cement floor and studs on the walls. New carpets, tiling, furniture and fixtures were put into every room in addition to the walls being redone and the old wallpaper replaced with a fresh coat of paint. Interestingly enough, the Country Inn and Suites decided to donate all of the old appliances, fixtures and furniture to local charities as well as an orphanage all the way in Mexico. General manager Mike Trudeau also mentioned that it would be difficult to find two rooms within the entire hotel that have the same room layout. This is due to the fact that the complex wasn’t built from the ground up as a Country Inn and Suites, but as a different hotel. In fact, the original building has been changed numerous times since its beginning as a Holiday Inn in 1972. Because of this history, the Country Inn and Suites team and contractors had to customise each room’s layout. During the actual renovation, “The contractors were very good about respecting the fact that we were still up and running, which helped a lot,” Trudeau said. He even said that in his 35 years of experience in the business and at least 12 renovation projects, this was the smoothest SEE INN 19

SARAH HUFFMAN | DAILY JOURNAL

TAKING THE PLUNGE: The remodeled extended into the Bigwood Event Center. The center has been a highly sought after spot for several community gatherings, weddings and expos.

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Using Remote Patient Monitoring technology, LB Connect services allow you to check vital health data and send updates to loved ones and health care providers to keep everyone connected. LB Connect offers a choice of two units: GrandCare features socialization components & internet/Wi-Fi capability and PointClickCare uses cellular service to operate in rural areas with limited internet connection.

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PAGE 18 | INNOVATION 2018

LB Connect provides liberty for independent living By Emily Carlson The Daily Journal

Rethinking and envisioning a better future for their clients, LB Homes in Fergus Falls is working with groundbreaking technology to change the way clients live out their lives. LB Homes provides senior living and care services around the Fergus Falls area. A Lutheran Brethren facility, “We are a Christ-centered organization,” Russ Rapp, marketing and business development

coordinator at LB Homes, said. Expanding over the years, the organization now offers independent living, assisted living, enhanced assisted living, home health care, transitional care, long term care and hospice care. In addition, they also utilize remote patient monitoring. “We’ve expanded from just focused on the nursing home aspect to a continual care,” Rapp said. LB Connect, formerly known as Telehealth, “provides modern remote

patient monitoring technology that empowers our participants to live independently and brings peace of mind to loved ones,” according to a brochure from LB Homes. The use of these systems began with a vision. “We started out about five, six years ago with a vision wanting to help people in the home. Keep them in their homes longer,” Carrie Miller said. “What can we do to be proactive to keep these people from being a frequent flyer to the

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PATIENT MONITORING: LB Homes in Fergus Falls utilizes LB Connect, a patient monitoring technology system with the hope to empower their clients to live independently longer.

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INNOVATION 2018 | PAGE 19

emergency room or the hospital?” These systems have helped them achieve this. Miller is the remote patient monitoring coordinator at LB Homes. The first system they began using is known as Grand Care. With a large screen, this system includes four aspects—medication management, social, sensor technology and vital sign management. The medication management reminds a client when they need to take any medication. The social aspect of the technology covers many tools such as weather, daily scripture, news and more. Sensor technology is able to send alerts to family or care providers. For example, “If mom goes out on a Monday night to put the garbage can out for Tuesday morning, if she doesn’t come back in five minutes it’s going to send a call to a family member,” Miller said. Lastly, vital sign management can keep track of various aspects such as blood pressure, weight measurements or a glucometer. While this system has its positives, Miller kept running into the problem of internet. Many clients didn’t have internet or didn’t want to pay to have it. Their new

EMILY CARLSON | DAILY JOURNAL

EMPOWERING PATIENTS: Carrie Miller (left), remote patient monitoring coordinator at LB Homes, helps her clients to personalize their system. system, Pointclickcare solves this problem by having a Verizon chip within the tablet. Though Pointclickcare uses a smaller screen, Miller is still seeing positive responses. Miller said, “People love the date, the time and the temp.” One of the most notable aspects of these systems is their ability to be customized. “I can download just about everything and personalize it for whatever hobbies you

INN: Trudeau credits team, contractors Continued from page A1

one. As for a decrease in business during construction, Trudeau said it was very minimal if any change at all. He credits his team and the contractors who stepped up and were always willing to go the extra mile. The project was completed on June 11 of this year and following the renovation, Trudeau is happy to say that they have already seen an increase in business. His hope is that by attracting more guests, that other businesses in Fergus Falls will benefit. Even throughout the construction process, Country Inn and Suites relied on many local businesses to get the job done such as Otter Tail Power, Selands and Dan Johnson Construction. Overall, Trudeau wants to see Fergus Falls look forward, notice the positive things happening, and to seek more opportunities to grow. The Country Inn and Suites is located on 925 Western Ave. For more information regarding the hotel, check out their website, countryinn.com and search for the Fergus Falls location.

like to do,” Miller said. LB Connect is set up in the clients home and is great for people with various conditions, “including CHF, diabetes and other conditions that can benefit from LB Connect,” according to their brochure. Along with this, those who use the system benefit from having assistance from many sides. “There’s technology out there to monitor some of this stuff, but really it’s the

person behind the scenes that’s keeping an eye on it,” Rapp said. Miller has been working with the companies to get the technology adjusted as problems arise. “Carrie has been really a big part of helping some of these companies who build the technology or build the programs to make it work in a usable way for the clients that we work with,” Rapp said. One aspect that she has worked on is uploading photos for a screen saver on the Pointclickcare system for those who like that feature from the GrandCare system. “I think we took this on early but thank goodness we did because we worked through a lot of issues,” Miller said. Miller and Rapp see the work LB Homes does as essential to the area they serve. “Otter Tail County percentage of seniors is above the national average,” Miller said. “What makes that age group want to stay and want to grow in this community where they grew up? What can we do to keep them here safe at home? What can we do to keep them in their home? Because we don’t have the health care providers that are going to be able to take care of them. We don’t have

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workers to take care of those beds. And that is an epidemic everywhere.” LB Homes is the only facility within 60 miles that uses these technologies. Getting these technologies into more people’s homes is the next step. “I have been working with the county and some insurance companies. We have had a long term care pay in the past,” Miller said. There are many people that they think could benefit from the system and they know it would be a popular choice. Miller said, “If Medicare would pay, we wouldn’t be able to keep up because it would be huge.” They also see their work with LB Connects as a way to show insurance companies and lawmakers that these systems are important. “Having us do the tangible work, I think it’s helping get that ball rolling faster,” Rapp said. Remote patient monitoring is all about a proactive approach. Miller said, “Let’s see what’s going on. Let’s adjust meds accordingly if things are going right.” But the most important thing that it offers is the ability to stay at home longer. Rapp said, “It empowers people to be able to stay independent.”

1st and 2nd Shift Direct Hire Opportunities Receive one-on-one initial training, as well as future cross-training. Northern Contours encourages internal promotions.

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To apply, stop in at Northern Contours 409 South Robert Street, Fergus Falls, MN 56537 or email your resume to jfranklin@northerncontours.com 218.998-1700

PAGE 20 | INNOVATION 2018

STAVANGER LUTHERAN CHURCH An Independent Lutheran Church 7 miles Fergus Falls Falls on Road 1 1 7 miles NN ofofFergus onCounty County Road Fergus Falls – (218)736-6226 Fergus Falls – (218)736-6226 Sunday School 9:15 am • Sunday Worship 10:30 am

Handicap Accessible – Communion the 1st Sunday of the month Sr. Pastor John D. Juhl • Associate Pastor Matt Rieniets

Bethlehem Lutheran Church 102 West Junius Ave., Fergus Falls

8:30 a.m. Traditional 9:00 a.m. Sunday School 10:15 a.m. Contemporary Rev. Tom Peterson • Rev. Jake Anderson (218) 736-5614 • www.bethlehemff.org

Zion Lutheran Church “As the grains of wheat... Zion grows and serves”

Greater Fergus Falls, front and center Community conversations continue in November

here are so many ways to translate this phrase, but each one of them comes back to having a positive attitude about the community. That’s why the Fergus Falls YES button was created. In our first community conversation back in August CEO, Bruce Thom announced to a standing-room only crowd that “It’s time to get positive about Fergus Falls. This can no longer be a NO community. We’re a YES community.” Attendees left that first conversation in agreement, that if Fergus Falls wants people to come to the community to work, to raise a family, to start a business, to be involved in making the community greater, then a positive outlook is what’s necessary. As I write this from a couple of different vantage points, I liken the creation of GFF to a couple of stories. The first one comes from Duluth, where I was living for the past seven years. There

was a time when Duluth boasted a billboard back in the 1990s on the edge of town that read, “Last One to Leave, Turn Out the Lights.” That’s how bad the communiREBECCA ty’s sense of PETERSEN pride had Greater become... Fergus Falls until Mayor Don Ness came on the scene, first as a young city council member and then as mayor. The year that Ness left office, Duluth was named “The Number One Outdoor Destination in the Country.” As Ness confessed, “Of course I know that this happened because we all got out there and voted for our own community and that we were the ones to help make this happen. However, 25 years ago we did not have the sense of community pride that it takes to make our community stand out as the best.” Ness

also named Duluth the Craft beer Capitol of Minnesota.” His colleague, then Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak contested that perhaps Minneapolis should stake this claim. “Ah yes,” countered Ness.”But I/ we named it first!” I tell this story because I see those same stellar qualities in Fergus Falls’ Mayor Benjamin Schierer. When confronted with the challenge of several Fergus Falls business closings, he got a group of people together he thought could make a difference in turning around the attitude of this community. He started with a small executive committee. Then he and the executive committee hired Bruce Thom as CEO of this rapidly growing group. Finally, he created a larger and more inclusive group and appointed a total of 22 board members. This group was formed not only to complement the work of the City of Fergus Falls but to do the positive work of a changing robust attitude toward economic development. In other words, this cannot be the work of one or two people or one organization. This must be the work of many, of all of us. To that end, Greater

You are welcome at Zion

Worship at 9:00 am Communion First & second Sunday of the month Pastor Nancy Eldredge Hess, Administrative Pastor Pastor Christopher Eldredge, Pastor

202 East Summit Ave, Fergus Falls 218-736-2913 • zionff@prtel.com www.zionlutheranff.org

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Fergus Falls, while focusing on economic development will work with other partner organizations including the Chamber of Commerce, City of Fergus Falls Community Development Department and other departments, the CVB, the Downtown Council and many more. We know that our staff of two (CEO Thom and assistant Ne Tia Bauman) cannot do this alone, which is why our board of 22 will be a working board, serving as ambassadors and colleagues in the work of Greater Fergus Falls. As a board, we have been busy in our fledgling months. We have organized our incorporation, our 501 c 3 application, our marketing and communications, our office space in downtown Fergus Falls which we are sharing with similar groups, and we have been behind the scenes supporting the work of Bruce Thom who is out there 24/7 meeting with businesses and individuals. Our second public invitation for a community conversation is scheduled for Nov. 15 and we invite you to join us. We need to hear about your dreams and hopes and concerns. We need to come together as a community to solve problems and, even more importantly, to be more welcoming to the ideas and resources that others bring to our community. We will be a Greater Fergus Falls because we will embrace equity, diversity and inclusiveness. Rebecca Petersen is a member of the Greater Fergus Falls Corporation.

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