Wadena woman signs up for sign rental franchise

BY FRANK LEE Wadena Pioneer Journal

WADENA — Call it a sign of the times.

Monica Merickel of Wadena was looking for something to supplement her family’s income not too long ago when she heard of Sign Gypsies, a yard greeting rental company with more than 800 locations nationwide.

“It originated in Texas, and it kind of took off during COVID when you couldn’t have birthday parties and gatherings,” she said of social distancing during the pandemic.

Merickel is director of marketing for Pemberton Law Firm, which has a branch in Wadena. The 41-year-old is married to Jason, co-owner of Merickel Lumber in Wadena, and together they have two children.

“I saw some of my friends had rented Sign Gypsies for their child’s birthday as a grand way to say happy birthday because nobody was hosting birthday parties and whatnot,” she said of the pandemic. “And when I saw that, I thought that’s great.”

Life is made up of special moments and Sign Gypsies turns those moments into memories by celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, gender reveals, birth announcements, prom-posals, corporate events, holidays, game weekends, thank yous and any other occasion one would like.

“People honk as they drive by … and it brings joy to people. And I had never seen anything like it before, so I started looking into it for our local area,” Merickel said.

Sign Gypsies will design and install custom yard greetings with “industryleading innovation, creativity and white-glove customer service,” according to the rental company’s website. But she said she could not find a local franchise when she wanted to celebrate her family’s birthdays.

“I just looked in further and realized it was a franchise opportunity, so I figured it would be a great addition to the area,”

Merickel said. “When I started, I was the seventh franchisee in the state. My territory is from Perham over to Staples and then down to the BerthaHewitt area.” but the company’s culture of being customer-centric, innovators and collaborating with franchisees serve it well in expanding the opportunities for customers to celebrate, according to company officials. signs I get hired to do.”

Founded in 2014 and franchising since 2019, Sign Gypsies Yard Greetings continues its rapid growth trajectory across 47 states, 800-plus locations and internationally.

“One of my favorite ones that got a lot of views and shares was one for the last day of school. I put up at the elementary, ‘Parents, tag, you’re it’ … meaning, like, teachers were done for the year — ‘Parents, tag, you’re it’ — the children are yours for the summer,” Merickel said.

Sign Gypsies is a yard greeting rental service that helps to spread “joy, inspire and connect,” according to Merickel’s Facebook page for the Wadena-area franchise.

Merickel generally stakes each individual letter of a sign she is hired to create into the ground. The resulting sign she creates from the combination of letters is on display for 24 hours before she takes down the letters to reuse for other signs she is hired to create for about $100 a sign.

Merickel said she is not involved with her husband’s lumber business but has taken on a lot of leadership-type positions where she felt confident in becoming a Sign Gypsies franchisee.

“I think anything new makes you nervous right away, but I didn’t feel like it was something that was going to deter me from trying it,” she said of becoming a franchisee. “I guess for me it was more of a fun side business.”

The company’s top greetings are birthdays,

“And the company is helping customers welcome home more than babies. Adoption days, those returning home from serving in the military and visiting family can all be greeted with custom yard displays,” according to a news release.

Merickel said, “They make all of their signs at a warehouse in Texas. The way they get paid is, once you are approved (as a franchisee) you have access to the website of the signs — every letter is an individual sign. … But they don’t get a cut of any of the

“If a strong wind comes and knocks over a sign, and I lose like four of the letter A in something like ‘Happy birthday, Anna,’ I could order more (of the letter signs). And then that’s how they make their money because I’ve ordered more signs from them,” she said of the business model.

Merickel said she has been hired to do signs for birthdays, anniversaries, bridal showers, baby showers, graduation, hockey tournaments or advertise an event like lemonade stands and garage sales,

“I think it’s just a big way to make people feel special,” Merickel said.

FRANK LEE is the features writer for the Wadena Pioneer Journal. He may be reached at 218-631-6470 or at flee@wadenapj.com.

Wadena Acupuncture

“It was another therapeutic aspect that I wanted to incorporate,” Dykhoff said. “Tanning can increase vitamin D levels, and helps with psoriasis and other skin issues.”

Dykhoff also hopes to add a spray tan station as well to accommodate clients who want the summer glow but without the ultraviolet light.

In addition to Dykhoff, massage therapists Missy Ament and Keara Kern work under the Rejuvenating Massage brand as independent massage therapists. For Ament, being her own boss alongside having flexibility to work while raising a family was something she strives for in addition to helping her clients with their overall health and well-being. After graduating from M-State for massage therapy Ament got her start working in Perham at Sorellas. She joined Dykhoff at Rejuvenating Massage eight years ago.

“Nikki is friends with my daughter and because I’ve known her for so long I was really excited to work with her,” said Ament, who also struggles with fibromyalgia.

“I learned through my work that regular massage therapy sessions can help with fibromyalgia, and I knew it was something that others also struggle with,” said Ament. With 17 years of experience Ament said she enjoys helping her clients, and working with everyone under the Rejuvenating Massage umbrella.

Kern is the newest addition to Rejuvenating Massage, graduating with a degree in massage therapy from M-State this past May.

“I love meeting new people and seeing how much I can help them,” said Kern, who also said she loves working with Dykoff and Ament.

“They’re incredible and they’ve really helped me learn so much about working with clients and how to gain new clients as well,” said Kern.”

Rejuvenating Massage provides a wide range of services including Swedish and Deep Tissue, Hot Stone and chair massages. Clients can also enjoy body wraps, body glows, paraffin dips, cupping and taping therapy, and even raindrop therapy.

Wadena Acupuncture joined Rejuvenating Massage four years ago. It is owned by Courtney Tumberg, who is long-time friends with Dykhoff. Tumberg said she attributes her career path to Dyhoff, who encouraged her to attend school for acupuncture. Tumberg attended Northwestern Health Science in Bloomington, Minnesota, to obtain her masters degree in Acupuncture and Chinese medicine.

“I was doing my undergrad and still not sure what I wanted to do, but Nikki was like well, if I could go into anything it would be acupuncture,” Tumberg said.

Acupuncture is an ancient Eastern medicine that involves inserting fine needles at specific points in the body to treat a wide range of health problems. Clients who suffer from health issues such as chronic pain, migraines, headaches, lower back pain, neck pain and even allergies can benefit from acupuncture. Dating back at least 2,500 years, acupuncture is a core component of traditional Chinese medicine.

“I think people in general are getting more and more open to natural medicine and trying different things,” said Tumberg, who said she does still find that some people are skeptical. “But sometimes that’s fun because they get surprised and sometimes it surprises me,” Tumberg said.

Acupuncture involves inserting very fine needles into specific points in the body to assist with the flow of energy by encouraging the body to heal itself and restore balance.

“I tell people, the most basic part of it is I’m not injecting anything, I am not doing anything special with the needles. Basically I am forcing your body to heal itself,” said Tumberg. “And it brings this blood flow to the area, triggers your nervous system, and just plays a huge role in that healing.”

Tumberg also provides cupping, including fire cupping along with massage to help her clients with a wide range of ailments including lower back pain, stress, anxiety, sports injuries and more.

Tumberg said that acupuncture is very individualized and she does a full health intake with each client.

“But everyone will have different answers even if it’s the same issue they are experiencing. Whether they sleep differently, their digestion is different, whatever it is, and those individual answers lead to a set of point selections. Every treatment plan is different for every person I see,” said Tumberg, who said the most common reason people try acupuncture is to help alleviate pain.

Bare Skin Beauty and Aesthetics

Whitney Zeise started Bare Skin Beauty and Aesthetics, a beauty and aesthetics business in Perham two years ago and recently added a location at Rejuvenating Massage six months ago.

Zeise is also a registered nurse and works in hospice for Knute Nelson.

“I went to nursing school and I noticed there was a niche here because aesthetics is getting to be a big profession and a big thing with women and I was like, there’s not one in Wadena,” said Zeise. Establishing Bare Skin and working full time as a hospice nurse, Zeise said she started out in Perham and six months ago she expanded to Wadena offering aesthetic care in both locations.

Zeise also attended M-State and after graduating in 2020 she said her vision for Bare Skin was to keep it simple with botox and fillers.

“And the more I got into it, the more I enjoyed the facial and aesthetics part,” said Zeise.

With a passion to help clients look and feel their best, Zeise offers a variety of beauty and skin services including neurotoxins and fillers, microneedling and hydrafacials and IV therapy.

“All together, my whole vision is to make clients appointments. feel more confident in their own skin,” said Zeise, who also focuses on educating clients.

“I educate a lot on what they’re going to look like after the treatments, and I know with aesthetics, people have certain things that they don’t want to look like, and knowing that our face is our trademark I spend a lot of time educating clients on their options,” Zeise said.

In addition to fillers, Zeise also offers vitamin B-12 injections to help clients with a healthy regulation of the nervous system. Vitamin B-12 helps convert carbohydrates into glucose in the body and assists with energy production and a decrease in fatigue.

Essential for healthy skin, hair and nails, B-12 helps in cell reproduction and constant renewal of the skin.

Zeise said she attributes her dedication to helping people look and feel their best from her background as a nurse and building trust with patients as well as her clients.

Rejuvenating Massage is located at 221 ½ North Jefferson Street in Wadena with Wadena Acupuncture, and Bare Skin Beauty and Aesthetics is also located within

Rejuvenating Massage. Call 218-632-2700 for more information.

NICOLE STRACEK is a reporter for the Wadena Pioneer Journal. She can be reached at 218-6312561 or at nstracek@ wadenapj.com.