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7 Second Avenue Sauk Rapids, MN 56379
“Minnesota’s Oldest Weekly Newspaper” Vol. 161, No. 49
Sauk Rapids, Benton County, Minnesota 56379
A continuation of the Frontiersman, The Free Press, Sauk Rapids Sentinel and St. Cloud Sentinel.
A beard of plenty Mescall devoted to facial follicles
by NATASHA BARBER STAFF WRITER
RICE — Dennis Mescall is quite ordinary. Mescall lives in a splitlevel house in the city of Rice with his wife Andrea, two sons, Preston, 8, and Jackson, 2, and dogs. Each workday morning, this Becker graduate wakes up and prepares to go to work as a quality inspector at Northern Metal Products in St. Cloud. He’s a normal family guy, making a living— except for his extraordinary beard. “It actually takes me longer to get ready in the morning than it does Andrea,” Mescall said, whose twoyears of beard growth had accumulated to about 14 inches long. “He gets up an hour before he needs to leave and it takes him the whole time. I get up 55 minutes before I have to go and feed and clothe two children, feed two dogs, bring them downstairs, do a load of laundry, do dishes and I’m still ready before him,” Andrea said. Mescall, who competes
in the full beard, freestyle category, is a two-time Facial Hair League (FHL) “Best in Show” Dangerous Man/ Minneapolis Beard and Mustache Club (MBMC) Winter Beard Contest winner and has competed online and across the country in over a dozen events over the last three years. He is sponsored by 2 Bits Man Men’s Grooming Products. The FHL was established to bring together American beard clubs into organized beard competitions dedicated to raising money for charity. There are multiple categories for beards of every stature and women and children are invited to participate in faux beard competitions as well. Facial hair has never been new to Mescall. In fact, it’s all he’s ever known. “Ever since I can remember, my dad has had a beard,” Mescall said. “I think the longest it ever got was almost down to his belly button. People even called him ZZ Top while I was growing up. So it’s definitely in the genes.” Mescall, himself, began cultivating his facial fields at a young age. He remembers the first facial hair sprouting
at the ripe age of thirteen. He quickly embraced the tiniest goatee (partly because of the looks of his metal-music idols) and since that time his face has only been barren once. “I was 14-years-old, about to turn 15 when I got a job at Subway in Becker. The owners made me shave my facial hair off, even though all I had was a little bit. After that initial shave, I grew my facial hair back and no one ever said anything. I had that job for about a year,” Mescall said. It took years before Mescall was passionate about his facial follicles. Through friends, and perhaps fate, Mescall became aware of the MBMC public Facebook group. He joined the group before the actual private club in doubt of its sincerity. “I didn’t think it was real,” Mescall said. “I was like, ‘yeah right, whatever, dudes hanging out and growing beards?’” But after attending his first competition at First Avenue in Minneapolis, Feb. 9, 2013, Mescall was instantly intrigued by the environment
com and at www.ci.saukrapids.mn.us. Nominations are easy to submit and consist of 2-3 sentences or up to one page of information indicating why this individual is deserving of the recognition. Nominations should be returned to the Sauk Rapids Government Center office by Monday, April 11. They can be dropped off or mailed to 250 Summit Ave. North, Sauk Rapids, MN, 56377; or emailed to rolson@ci.saukrapids.mn.us. The Citizen of the Year awards reception is Monday, April 25 at the Sauk Rapids Government Center from 4:30-6 p.m. The reception is open to the public. For more information, please call committee member, Ross Olson at 320258-5302 or go to the City of Sauk Rapids website at www.ci.sauk-rapids.mn.us.
March 17, 2016
PHOTO BY NATASHA BARBER
Dennis Mescall, of Rice, has participated in bearding competitions across the nation.
and its members. “I was not prepared. The people were all dressed up, head-to-toe, in super nice suits and playing the part. They looked good — sharply dressed with gnarly beards. I was wearing a hoodie, jeans and hadn’t even styled my beard. Needless to say I didn’t place,” Mescall said. “But the founder of the club knew my name. I had never met the guy except for on a Facebook page and he came up and said, ‘hey you’re Dennis, right?’ After meeting him and hanging out with all the people, I knew I had to do it again.” The next competition, Mescall rented a Colonel Sanders suit, styled his beard and took second place in a partial beard competition. Friendships for the Mescall family have
Mescall continued on pg. 2
An idea comes true Poirer starts clothing line
Sauk Rapids in search of Outstanding Citizen SAUK RAPIDS – The City of Sauk Rapids is accepting nominations for the 2016 Sauk Rapids Citizen of the Year. Any local citizen who has provided outstanding service to the Sauk Rapids Community is eligible to be nominated. Nominees may be active in faith-based or civic organizations, boards or commissions, community groups or business activities. Nominees may also be leaders in human service work in the community, or work diligently behind the scenes. Adults of any age will be considered for their past and present community work. Brochures can be picked up at the Sauk Rapids Government Center or at Bremer Bank located in Coborn’s in Sauk Rapids or online at www.SaukRapidsChamber.
(USPS 482-240)
by ANNA SALDANA STAFF WRITER
RICE – Todd John Poirer knows that if you work hard enough, ideas can turn into a reality. In 2014, Poirer established the John Poirer clothing line. The idea started in 2010 when he and a group of friends came up with the idea to make t-shirts with funny slogans on them and sell them online. “Like most ideas, it fizzled out the next day and life carried on as normal,” Poirer said. “But it never truly left my mind. I finally realized I needed to follow up on it.” After spending four years PHOTO BY NATASHA BARBER Granite City’s No. 12 Tanner Skaja celebrates after scoring a experiencing countless setshorthanded, unassisted goal March 11 against the Twin City backs on starting the line, Steel. The Lumberjacks clinched the west division champion- the swimwear line was estabship with the win over the Steel. lished. “Being around water is my passion. I’m a beach bum
! s p m a h C more on page 12
as many days as possible in the summer, so it was an easy choice to do swimwear,” Poirer said. One of the decisions he had to make along the way was whether he wanted to have custom designed swimwear that would have a considerable cost to have produced by someone else or to use products from the manufacturer and sell those. “If I would’ve done all custom-designed swimwear, the size of my line would be greatly diminished, but I didn’t want my whole line to be products made by the manufacturer, so I settled for somewhere in between,” Poirer said. “I have a respectable sized line and still have some of my own custom designs involved.”
Poirer continued on pg. 6
Perkins in the Pines closes
by ANNA SALDANA STAFF WRITER
SAUK RAPIDS – When a business closes after 45 years, it’s bound to make an impact on the community. For many, Perkins in the Pines was a staple in Sauk Rapids, something that has been around as long as they can remember, so when Perkins closed its doors early last week, people noticed. “It’s going to seem odd not having the Perkins in the Pines,” said Todd Schultz, community development director for Sauk Rapids. “I grew up in this area and it’s been there almost my entire life, so it’ll be really odd.” Former Perkins employee Rob Schumann knows how important the restaurant was. “It meant a lot to the community,” Schumann said. Owner Dave Hanson has offered jobs to all of the Sauk Rapids employees at the other three area locations – Sartell, St. Cloud and Waite Park. “It was a very difficult
cult decision to ss we have made the diffi After 45 years in busine e and a third es.” With an expiring leas close “Perkins in the Pin our doors on se clo to e tim struction it is straight year of road con k Rapids we are rch for a new site in Sau this location. While we sea e been offered hav s k Rapids employee happy to say all of the Sau We would like ns. atio loc a Are ud er St. Clo positions at our three oth and every one age tomers for their patron to thank all of our loyal cus ication to our ded and rk wo ir years of hard of our employees for the restaurant. Park and Sartell. you in St. Cloud, Waite We look forward to serving Thank you!
d i i ffor us to close decision l P Per- Hanson H said. id kins in the Pines, but none of The decision to close the the employees lost their jobs. Sauk Rapids location had They are all already working three different factors. at the other three locations,” “Our lease was expir-
PHOTO BY ANNA SALDANA
A After 45 years in business, Perkins in the Pines closed its doors early last week. d (l (left) Management of Perkins in the Pines posted this note on the doors of the restaurant following its closing. “The deci cision to close that location was very difficult,” Dave Hanson sa said.
ing i for one. Second, it would be the third straight year of road construction and Golden Spike Road will be closed for the better part of the summer,
during our high volume time of the year,” Hanson said. “Perkins is also requiring new franchise agreements, which would require a lease
and the building to be up to current Perkins standards. We just couldn’t do that in the existing Sauk Rapids building.” Schultz feels that the closing was inevitable with the three factors playing together. “If it wasn’t for the road project, they may have stayed open a few more months, but it sounded like the writing was on the wall in terms of improvements they would have needed to make to the building and the cost of those improvements,” Schultz said. “It sounded like the road project was maybe the tipping point in their decision to close.” With only a handful of dining options in Sauk Rapids, the impact of the restaurant closing will be felt longterm. “We will be looking for another location in Sauk Rapids in the future,” Hanson said. “We want to have a presence here because we have for so long.”