LAURA ADELMANN TAD JOHNSON ANDREW MILLER
Swing vote cast for Farmington liquor store 2A District 57B candidates profiled 2A Relay For Life runs in Apple Valley 5A
dakotacountytribune.biz dakotacountytribune.biz
date 12, ##, 2012 2009 JULY
Volume 30, Number # VOLUME 33, NUMBER 20
Dakota County Tribune Since 1884
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Pahl’s Market has grown where it was planted Family-run Apple Valley market celebrates 30 years
by Andrew Miller
DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
From humble beginnings, Pahl’s Market has taken root in Apple Valley to become a destination business for locally grown flowers and produce. The family-run market at Galaxie Avenue and County Road 46 along the city’s southern border is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Gary Pahl, who owns the operation with his wife, Jane, and his brother, Brian, remembers the early days of Pahl’s Market – sweet corn, watermelons and tomatoes being sold out of the back of a semitrailer with a hand-painted Pahl’s Market logo on its side. There wasn’t a lot of traffic passing by in the market’s early days in Apple Valley. “Everything around us was cornfields and there wasn’t a house until you hit County Road 42,” Gary Pahl recounted. “There was a time before they made this a main thoroughfare that v e r y f e w
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INSIDE BIZ FORUM
The nation’s Affordable Care Act will be reformed, but it will not be repealed as some have predicted. DAVE 4A DURENBERGER FORUM
Tougher penalities for dangerous hits in high school hockey is the right direction for safety and the sport. DON 4A HEINZMAN NEWS
Photo submitted
Gary Pahl (right), who runs Pahl’s Market with his wife Jane (center) and his brother Brian (left), remembers the early days of the market in Apple Valley – sweet corn, watermelons and tomatoes being sold out of the back of a semitrailer with a hand-painted logo on its side. In the early 1980s, Gary recounted, “everything around us was cornfields and there wasn’t a house until you hit County Road 42.” cars drove by.” The Pahls started selling flowers at their Apple Valley store in the late 1980s, and in the mid-1990s built their first greenhouse. Now, many families make trips to Pahl’s part of annual rituals such as the market’s spring opening, the delivery of the first sweet corn batch in July, picking out pumpkins in October and selecting a Christmas tree in December. Pahl’s Market is a business that di-
versified and grew as demand for its products increased. While many people are familiar with Pahl’s retail operation with pansies, petunias, begonias and much more under three acres of greenhouse glass, the vegetable business is larger than one might think. The farming operation – spanning five generations of the Pahl family – now includes about 1,100 acres of vegetables, with farm fields in Eagan, Apple Valley, Rosemount, Lakeville
and throughout rural Dakota County. The farming operation supplies about 50 grocery store companies in 15 states, and clients include such super-
State Rep. Doug Wardlow, R-Eagan, will face challenger Laurie Halverson in this November’s election. DOUG 5A WARDLOW DAKOTA ARTS this week news
StageStats: production 0 of the MAG: classic fairy 1.00 0.0020 taleSymbol ofBWA: “Cinderella” Width: 1.4690 1.0200 andSymbol herHeight: Prince Flexo Width: 0.0000 Charming will come to Eagan. 28A CINDERELLA
Code Type: UPC Version A Customer: 3242-ECM Publishers Order #: P34915-017 P.O. #: Ordered By: Polarity: Positive Up Date Run: 05/29/2002
See Pahl’s, Page 5A 8
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General 952-894-1111 Distribution 952-846-2070 Advertising 952-846-2011
City to investigate Farmington salary histories Council Member Jason Bartholomay asks council to consider investigation action
by Laura Adelmann
DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
After the Dakota County Tribune reported the salary history of some Farmington department heads in a July 5 story, the city will investigate how salary increases and promotions were made
in the past 15 years. City Council Member Jason Bartholomay asked the council at its July 2 meeting if it should direct City Administrator Dave McKnight and City Attorney Joel Jamnik to conduct an investigation.
Council Member Christy Jo Fogarty said she trusts that McKnight and Jamnik are looking into the information. “Are you guys looking into more detail than what has been reported?” Council Member Julie May asked.
“This is not the place to discuss it,” McKnight said. “Just asking if you’re still looking into some of the issues that were raised,” May said. McKnight, sitting back from his microphone, quietly said that was the direc-
tion he was hearing from the City Council. “You are hearing correctly,” Farmington Mayor Todd Larson said. The Dakota County Tribune’s July 5 story reported that Farmington Human Resources Director Brenda
Wendlandt’s salary has nearly tripled since she started with the city as a coordinator in 1997. She received two promotions, along with significant pay increases, without City See Salaries, Page 5A