Good Earth Village resumes Lunch and Learn events
Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, November 14, 2024. Reprinted with permission and gratitude.
By Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy
Nate wants to make dust, and Richard wants to make music.
That means that Rhonda makes lunch.
“Nate Johnson is our new program director who joined us last winter, and he has a program he gives called ‘Making Your Own Pixie Dust.’ It’s about his experience working at the Disney parks because he originally worked at Disneyland and at Disney World, and he’s going to be speaking at our next Lunch and Learn about how to apply the Disney way of doing things into our own work lives,” explained Good Earth Village’s (GEV) hospitality and re treat coordinator, Tyler Anderson, himself a former Disney and Uni versal Studios employee, inviting the public to join GEV for a Lunch and Learn event on Tues day, Nov. 19 – with GEV foodservice director Rhonda Musel waving her wand to bring on the Good Earth good eats.
Johnson spent six years as a Disney employee, working in several Disney parks, including Pandora: The World of Avatar, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Blizzard Beach Waterpark, and Disneyland California. He highlighted, “My background before coming to Good Earth was six years at Disney, and I have developed a presentation, ‘Making Your Own Pixie Dust,’ about developing and growth of the business practices of Disney and how to apply them to Good Earth Village today. I worked at Walt Disney World in Florida and at Disneyland in California, and I think people would be interested in learning about this…a lot of people know about Disney, and I think they’d be interested in at tending because it’s my perspective on what makes Disney special and how I apply that to working here at Good Earth, making my own pixie dust, bringing the pixie dust up to Minnesota. I’m excited to share what I learned at Disney, bringing the changes to Good Earth. We’re definitely growing as a camp and as a year-round re treat.”
Once news of Johnson’s pixie dust has been spread from one end of the camp to the other, it’s time to sing with Richard Bruxvoort Colligan as the snow falls – wet and clumpy, or dry and dusty – in anticipation of Christmas. GEV will welcome his return on Dec. 17 as he shares music leadership in what the camp’s staff described as “nothing quite like singing with people who love to sing…join music leader Richard Bruxvoort Colligan for this half-hootenanny, half-concert among the beautiful Good Earth winter woods.” “Richard Bruxvoort Colligan is a touring musician serving Olive Branch Church ELCA in Rochester. His latest recording is ‘You Were My Midwife,’ a collection of community songs based on the psalms. His favorite things are laughter, naps, autumn, “The Beatles,” purple, gentle wind, and mango lassi. He lives in Strawberry Point, Iowa, with his wife, Trish, son Sam, and dog Winnie. Richard’s lyric voice and acoustic guitar will lead us in singing favorite tunes together, plus some songs to just relax and listen to. There’s sure to be laughter, stories, and good company.”
Lunch and Learn events begin at 11:00 a.m. with social hour, then lunch and a guest speaker, with most concluding by 1:15 to 1:30 p.m. if attendees linger to ask questions or chat. Registration is requested to allow Musel to work her kitchen magic. Also, GEV recently held its annual Good Gifts Gala, the camp’s biggest fundraising event held at the Rochester International Event Center. The Lutheran camp hosts the gala each October to garner monies to support its summer camp programs, its community outreach and its re treat opportunities for people of all ages.
Good Earth Village is located at 25303 Old Town Dr., Spring Valley. To register for Lunch and Learn events or to find more information on the camp itself, log onto the GEV website at www.goodearthvillage.org, or call 507-346-2494.
Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325
Spring Valley to hold Christmas toy drive Dec. 7
Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, November 14, 2024. Reprinted with permission and gratitude.
By Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy
Skinny though he may be, Santa’s real name is Mark.
At least in Spring Valley, of course…beyond, it’s “Yes, sir,”
“On December 7, we have a toy drop-off drive-through at the Dollar General from 9:00 to 1:00. It’s something that we started last year,” shared Spring Valley Toys for Tots coordinator Mark Cummings, anticipating standing outside the local dollar store to watch motorists drive up to donate toys to the United States Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program, an initiative in which Cummings firmly believes, even more than he believes in Santa himself, because he agrees wholeheartedly with the project’s motto that “Every Child Deserves a Little Christ mas.”
The Toys for Tots website outlined the official Toys for Tots Foundation mission, stating, “The mission of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is to assist the U.S. Marine Corps in providing a tangible sign of hope to economically disadvantaged children at Christmas. This assistance includes providing day-to-day leadership and oversight of the program, raising funds to provide toys to supplement the collections of local Toys for Tots chapters….”
Overseen by reserve members of the Marines — putting officers of all ranks in charge of collection and distribution of donated toys, the program allows for collection and distribution of toys to children who may otherwise not receive any thing for Christmas, even as they watch the skies for Santa’s sleigh. The regional chapters of Toys for Tots delegate to community coordinators such as Cummings, who enthusiastically take up the work of placing collection boxes in stores, banks, restaurants and more for generous hearts to fill them with new, unwrapped toys for children zero to 18 years of age. The Rochester chapter in 2023 collected 32,785 toys distributed to support the wishes of 9,742 children – numbers that make Cummings’ cheeks feel rosy. “Kids that are under public assistance usually don’t get too many toys, if any, and this gives them something to open at Christmas. Last year went real good, and we’re hoping to do good this year, too.”
Cummings pointed out that area communities such as Spring Valley and Lanesboro hold their own toy drives and are then able to distribute according to specific needs. If there is a shortage of toys, he and Toys for Tots volunteers spend donated funds to meet the needs by shopping locally. He listed that collection boxes are stationed in Spring Valley at Dollar General, Racks, First National Bank, Pizza Place and more, and in Preston, at POET Biorefining. “What we collect in Spring Valley, we usually keep in Spring Valley. We collect only toys – no clothes – and people don’t have to buy the big, expensive games that kids want us to buy, because the limit is about $35 per kid. We usually run short of things for the kids 13 to 18 years old and for the little characters… the babies and toddlers.”
The twinkle in Cummings’ eye grows brighter as the calendar advances and Christmas approaches because it’s his chance to give back to the community and witness good will as friends and neighbors take time to remember the children whose stockings and Christmas trees may do well to have a hand from elves in dis guise as people who simply care for others, that they can have the merriest of Christ mases.
For more information, log onto the Southeastern Minnesota Toys for Tots website at https://rochester-mn.toysfor tots.org/, or log onto Facebook at Semntoysfortots. First Sgt. Vince Reynolds is the local campaign coordinator in Rochester. To contact Rochester’s Toys for Tots, email rochester.mn@toysfortots.org, or call 507-251-5085.
Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325
The Spring Valley Kiwanis Club Seeking Bell Ringers for 2024 Salvation Army Red Kettle campaign
The Spring Valley Kiwanis Club is seeking volunteers to sign up as bell ringers for the 2024 Salvation Army Red Kettle campaign.
All donations received will remain in Fillmore County to support local & county-wide Salvation Army activities.
Shifts are 2 hours long, daily from 9:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. at Sunshine Foods located at 501 North Park Dr. in Spring Valley. The Red Kettle Campaign officially begins Monday November 25, and runs through Saturday, December 31st, ending at 3:00 p.m. (There are no shifts scheduled for Thanksgiving Day!)
Bells and aprons for each shift can be picked up at the service desk at Sunshine Foods.
Please take a minute, click on the link below, and sign-up for a bell ringing shift this holiday season!
SIGN-UP HERE!
Bonnie Hammon backs the Bonnie Bus into retirement
Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, November 7, 2024. Reprinted with permission and gratitude.
By Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy
“They now call it the ‘Bonnie Bus.’ It’s always going to be the ‘Bonnie Bus,’ and I don’t even know how it started…maybe one kid started that, and it’s the ‘Bonnie Bus’,” observed Bonnie Hammon, flipping the keys and as she’s used to having that weight hanging there when she’s not behind the wheel.
The Spring Valley resident hadn’t quite given up her driver’s seat yet in late September, but full retirement’s ahead as winter approaches and she’s determined that she doesn’t want to find herself on glare ice with a load of “precious cargo” buck led behind her in the Spring Val ley Rolling Hills Transit (RHT) bus she’s known to have driven around town for the past 11 years, so she’d been substituting until someone replaces her. Spring Valley’s residents expect to see – and can almost envision into reality – her running the 22-passenger rural transit bus’s route, picking up riders ranging from toddlers to senior citizens and getting them where they need to go, be it daycare to preschool for the junior set, or shopping and errands in Rochester for seniors who don’t have everyday transportation.
Hammon is known just as “Bonnie,” whom everyone knows. And she most certainly is “Bonnie,” whom everyone who ever boarded her buses loves. She can partly thank her family for their affinity for motoring the countryside as a career…and for her eventual affection to do the same. “My dad drove bus, and my mom drove station wagon for a while, taking kids who had disabilities to a school in Lanesboro. I helped on the farm, and I tried different things for a while. I started driving for HeadStart in 1984 – my son Jason was going to school – and the driver was going to quit, so his teacher talked me into getting my CDL. I drove for 29 years for Head Start, and the rest was for Rolling Hills – it’s all SEMCAC. I was always a driver, but I worked at HeadStart before that…I didn’t drive at HeadStart until 1984, but I was a volunteer before that.” She followed HeadStart from its classroom in Spring Valley to its new classroom at Ostrander’s church, then to LeRoy. She recounted, “I drove there for a while until they cut transportation.”
Fortunately, her timing was excellent in that she took the driver’s seat just when a need presented itself with HeadStart and perpetuated with RHT to provide her incredibly rewarding job security. “I got my regular license, then I got my CDL, and with that, I was grandfathered in with the school bus endorsement. To drive school bus, you have to take a test every two years and renew every four years, do a physical. I started driving a passenger van, and I went through three of those through the years, then I started at Rolling Hills and drove a 16-passenger van, and now I’ve been driving a 22-passenger bus with wheelchair seats.”
Each day as an RHT driver began early at a rented shed at the Spring Valley Sales barn. “I’d get up at about 6:00 because I was supposed to be there at 7:00. I’d be there about 6:40 to do inspections, get the bus warmed up. I’d be driving from 7:00 to 3:30 in the afternoon, then I’d have to do post-inspection.” The morning through afternoon with RHT could find her traveling any direction and on an established or unpredictable schedule, and the weather factored into her route, especially if it was forecast for freezing rain, in which case she’d rather that the school district cancel in advance than attempt to pull all students into class. “They’re (dispatch) good at keeping track of the weather in all the different Rolling Hills areas, but the hardest parts were fog at intersections…and driving on ice. I’d rather that the school call it before school than get there and turn right around again to get them home in bad weather.” And technology has changed how Hammon’s bus route was mapped and scheduled for her each day. “We went from getting printouts of where we’re going every day to now, when we’ve got tablets right on the buses so that we can just look it up.”
Hammon acknowledged that she didn’t give her youngest riders’ parents room to register too many complaints about minor details if they entrusted her with their children, and she didn’t give the children any slack when they were to buckle up and stay buckled into their seats. “If parents complained about something, I just would say, ‘I have precious cargo. They’re my responsibility.’ And the kids have to be in seatbelts. I had a rule that they had to stay seated. If they unbuckled their seatbelts, the bus pulls over on the side, and they knew what that meant right away.” Perhaps it was a stern eye in the rearview of the RHT bus, or a reminder that their parents would be notified that they weren’t being safe, but with her commitment to getting everyone to their destinations in good condition, it was for their own good and because she had grown to love each and every passenger, small or tall, sharing that her favorite part of being Bonnie on the “Bonnie Bus” was taking the best care she could of her “precious cargo.” She commented, “It was the people…the kids.”
She cited some of the reasons why she’s decided, in addition to winter’s weather hazards, that she wanted to hand over her garage remote and keyring. “Time and regulations put on all the CDL drivers…it’s getting overwhelming. They expect more and more, and that’s why they’ve got a shortage of drivers overall. You have to have first aid, CPR, defensive driving, all that stuff. They even had an obstacle course that you had to drive the bus through, and that’s where I’m an introvert, doing that stuff in front of people.”
Some things can be measured in mileage, but not Bonnie’s career. “Somebody asked how many miles I put on over the years. I don’t know. Not as much as a semi driver.” Instead, ATTENTION: All Veterans & Your Families she estimated that her career spans approximately 580 children, or the first and second generations of preschoolers in local families that now have elementary students, or by the shift in who her senior passengers were. “We used to take the nursing home residents fishing every year in Lanesboro. And I’ve taken a lady in her nineties down to coffee every morning from Monday through Thursday, and she said, ‘This is what I look forward to, getting out and down to coffee’.
It’s the people.” Retirement promises time to explore what she’d like to do now that the Bonnie Bus has someone else at the wheel. “My official last day was September 8 or 9, and my retirement party was September 28.” Volunteering in her community will fill her days and evenings, as she firmly believes in it. “Why not? You’re a part of the community. Volunteering is what makes a town grow. Every little hour helps. I have not been idle yet. I do concessions at the school basketball and volleyball games, I take tickets at football. I planned to be at Pinter’s on Saturdays and Sundays in October, and after October, it should be quiet until basketball starts. That shouldn’t be bad. I’m also working on my house. I plan to hibernate and lay low this win ter. I do what comes up, and my kids keep me busy. I’m sure my grandchildren will have ball games and concerts, and one of my grandchildren does barrels and poles riding horse, so we have to drive all the way to get there.” Her children often tease her for her notoriety. “Everywhere I go, even in other towns, I’ll see someone, and my kids will ask, ‘Can we go anywhere without you knowing anybody?’
I like to stay active.” And as for the “Bonnie Bus” becoming the “Doug Bus” for her co-worker, Doug, who drove it shortly after her departure, or any other name?
No question for her preschool precious cargo – it’s STILL the “Bonnie Bus.”
Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325
New Design For Downtown Spring Valley May Be Preview of Future
This article by Dave Phillips appeared in the Root River Current eMagazine on October 27, 2024 and is reprinted with permission and gratitude.
SPRING VALLEY – Downtown Spring Valley has taken on a new look this year with a more colorful, pedestrian-friendly design that is a temporary preview of potential changes in the works.
The intersections on Broadway Avenue in the downtown section of Spring Valley have been bumped out into the traffic flow to provide more room for people to gather off the street. The new expanded pedestrian areas have flower pots and paintings on the pavement with plans for benches and picnic tables in the future. Temporary delineators outline the new proposed off-street areas on the one-way portion of Broadway.
The Spring Valley Business Alliance (SVBA) came up with the goal of revitalizing downtown after holding meetings to set priorities for the community in 2021. It has been working with the City of Spring Valley on getting public input on the proposal to see if the project should go ahead and, if so, what changes are needed.
The temporary preview may lead to a permanent new design that is the most recent, and ambitious, step in the revitalization of downtown Spring Valley, which has experienced many challenges over the past several decades.
“I grew up here and I remember coming downtown on Friday nights and how vibrant downtown was. It was kind of the economic heart of Spring Valley. If nothing else, it was a gathering spot because you saw a lot of friends, family, classmates downtown,” said Dan Freeman, treasurer of the SVBA and a 1975 graduate of Spring Valley High School.
Although Freeman said he realizes “things have changed a lot where we are never going to go back to those days,” he still feels it is important to make downtown more vital to attract visitors and instill pride in the community.
Downtown Once A Magnet
More than 50 years ago, downtown Spring Valley was a magnet that drew people from all over the area. It was a busy retail center with three grocery stores, three banks, two pharmacies, two variety stores, a clothing store for men and another for women, two appliance stores and many other shops lining the two-and-a-half blocks of Broadway Avenue. However, downtown started losing retail businesses that either closed or relocated to the north side of the community on Highway 63, one of the busiest highways south of Rochester.
One of the earliest big moves was by Don Lanning, who relocated his grocery store to the highway in a new, larger building. At the time, he said he would have preferred to stay in the downtown area, but his lot was too small for expansion and potential downtown locations were hemmed in by the Spring Valley Creek, which has an extended floodplain on the south and east sides, as well as dense residential development on the north and west sides. Other businesses followed his to the north side of Spring Valley, lured by the exposure to the large amount of traffic that fills the highway each day.
Over time, downtown became filled with several empty buildings and many service businesses that didn’t bring in people. Parking spots weren’t hard to come by on the main drag even during the day while the streets were empty on evenings and weekends.
Freeman moved away soon after graduating from high school when downtown was near its peak. He still maintained a love for the community and relocated to Spring Valley a few years ago from the Twin Cities, where he worked as an accountant. The number of empty buildings — he counted about a dozen when he moved here — was enough of a concern that he decided to join in the effort to seek solutions to revitalize the community, most recently through the SVBA.
In the years before SVBA, there had been ongoing efforts to pump some energy into downtown. Christmas on Historic Broadway, a joint project of the Spring Valley Area Chamber of Commerce and Brave Community Theatre, began in 2006. The annual downtown event in early December features a light parade, supper with Santa Claus, a sledding hill and many other winter activities.
Fins and Films, which started in 2017 by now local business owner Greg Melartin, features various automobile-related activities and a movie shown on a large, mobile screen on Broadway Avenue much like the old drive-in theaters except people bring blankets and chairs instead of their cars to watch the show. The annual summer event also features a fashion show, musicians, children’s activities and a car show.
In recent years, downtown started attracting some new retail businesses. Jenn Slifka opened Chateau de Chic Salon & Spa in 2006 on the edge of downtown. She married building contractor Alex Slifka, who is now president of the SVBA, and they moved the salon to a historic building in the heart of downtown in 2011. They now own five downtown buildings, four of them connected by an indoor passage. The connected ones to Chateau de Chic include: Chic by Chateau, a women’s clothing boutique; Some Like it Hot, a cafe, bakery and gift shop owned by Jenn’s mother, Suzanne Gardner; and Stellar 181 Taphouse, a bar and restaurant. The newest addition is Broadway Hive, which has three businesses in a corner building: Beatnik Boutique with gifts, plants and home decor; Sparrow’s Closet with vintage clothing, jewelry and furniture; and 1895 Artisans, a space for creative activities, including classes, events and gatherings.
The city has taken part in various state and regional economic development programs in recent years as well. Jenn Slifka came up with the idea for a new business group in 2019 during a public action forum of the Making it Home program offered through the University of Minnesota Extension Service. The idea was refined to the SVBA when Spring Valley took part in the inaugural Rural Entrepreneurial Venture (REV) program offered through the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation from 2019 to 2021.
Soon after the SVBA was formed in 2021, a summer-long event started in 2022 that has brought even more vitality to downtown. Wednesdays on Broadway on the third Wednesday of each month features more than 70 vendors lining the main two blocks of downtown along with music, children’s activities and large picnic tables for people to gather.
Wednesdays On Broadway Shows Potential Of Downtown
Prior to 2022, the Rustic Rose Greenhouse on the northside of Spring Valley had set up a farmers’ market Friday evenings on a side lot with a handful of vendors selling produce or baked goods. Tiffany Mundfrom, a real estate agent who had opened an office in downtown Spring Valley in 2021, liked the idea of a spot to offer fresh local products and get people together, she said, so she inquired about expanding the market at Rustic Rose.
She got positive feedback for her idea, but the location had to change because there wasn’t enough room for vendors and parking at Rustic Rose. Word of mouth spread, creating interest among many in the community with a core group getting together and deciding to set the market downtown to showcase the buildings and businesses already there. Alex Slifka suggested adding entertainment, mainly musicians, to the mix and the idea expanded to a farmers’ market with a block party feel.
Once the idea took hold, Mundfrom said she needed a way to take care of finances for paying bills and taking in fees from vendors, so she went through the business alliance, which was already set up as a non-profit entity. Now, Wednesdays on Broadway is its own non-profit with a separate bank account as a subgroup under the SVBA.
In planning meetings, the group was hoping to have at least 25 vendors to start. The event far exceeded that total even on the first Wednesday, growing to 50 to 60 vendors by the end of the first summer and averaging more than 70 now.
“I was just blown away,” said Mundfrom. “People were so excited about the idea.”
The community also responded well. The vendors were planning for 150 people, but food vendors ran out of food well before the event ended. There is no official count of attendees, but Mundfrom said that first year vendors estimated 500 to 700 people based on their observations and sales. The crowds have grown in the ensuing years.
The vendors are a varied group, many from out of town, but also local businesses and home-based businesses seeking more exposure. Youth groups and other community organizations also participate by setting up booths or creating activities for youth.
It has become a social event for local people as they look forward to coming downtown Spring Valley to meet each other while visitors also show up to check out the fun atmosphere that has stayed much the same over the three-year run.
“We heard from the vendors it was an overall good experience for them, so we didn’t feel the need to change it,” said Mundfrom.
Success Breeds Success
The SVBA saw the community embrace coming downtown once a month, so “we wanted to translate that to more of a daily or weekly experience for people,” said Freeman. The group didn’t want to shut down Broadway Avenue to traffic permanently, so the members looked for ways to modify the existing space to become more pedestrian-friendly.
The bump-outs provide more space for people to gather any time they want to, noted Freeman. Restaurants in many communities have outdoor dining, but there is not much room for that in Spring Valley. The expanded sidewalk area with benches and tables will allow someone to buy coffee at a diner and take it outside to gather with other people, he added.
Not only does the new design promote gathering, it also enhances the visual aspect of downtown by adding color and softening the brick and concrete environment, Freeman explained. In addition to the large pots with flowers, paintings have been added to the street. Local artist Andrea Hindt, who has painted many murals in town including ones on the Slifka building at the north entrance to downtown, created the artistic designs at each intersection with community members helping to fill the outlines in.
“The painting on the street adds just a little bit of quirkiness to the community, something you’re not going to see in communities around here,” said Freeman. “And they can tell a story, too, as each of the corners highlights a certain aspect of Spring Valley.”
The change will benefit not only local residents, but also visitors to Spring Valley and, in turn, all businesses in the community, noted Freeman.
“You have a fun spot to visit and wander around,” Freeman said of the new downtown design. “If you’re an outsider and you need something from the hardware store or grocery store or auto parts store, we have that covered, just not downtown, but you need a magnet that brings people in to spend some time here.”
The SVBA encompasses all of Spring Valley, not just downtown, emphasized Freeman. During early strategic planning sessions in 2021, priorities were determined with the top one being revitalizing downtown with new street-scaling so “people feel comfortable spending some time” in Spring Valley, he said. A second priority identified is improving signage coming into Spring Valley
Freeman has worked extensively with the city on the downtown project. He said he isn’t a fan of the delineators, but the city wanted them to show where the pedestrian portions would bump out into the roadway so people would know exactly how the changes would impact flow. If the project goes forward, the delineators would be removed and surmountable, or drive-over, curbs would be installed.
Some local business owners have told Freeman that the new design has slowed down traffic and reduced the number of wrong-way drivers on the one-way street. It has also increased pedestrian safety with much shorter crosswalks, he added.
There has been some criticism of the narrower road access due to concerns about non-automobile traffic. Freeman has worked with city officials who have assured him that the new design wouldn’t hamper their responsibilities.
“We want to make sure anything we do works for maintenance, for street cleaning, for snowplowing, we want to make sure the fire trucks can make it downtown,” said Freeman.
However, there is some uncertainty about the city’s outlook on this project because there is a potential for significant turnover in elected positions. The mayor, when contacted for comment on the project, declined because he did not file for re-election and he hadn’t seen the results of the latest survey. There are several candidates for the two council seats up for election and there will likely be an open seat after the election because the two council members not up for re-election are seeking the mayor’s position.
Freeman said representatives from the business alliance plan to meet again with city officials to get their input and review the latest survey when things are more settled after the 2024 election.
The council did recently approve, on a split vote, support for a grant to purchase picnic tables and benches for the project. The alliance won’t find out about the outcome until next October and it then has a year to purchase items. If the project doesn’t go through for some reason, the alliance would refuse the grant.
Initial feedback on the project was positive when the city included a survey on the project earlier this year in residents’ utilities bill. After that survey, a committee with representatives from different groups in the city met to give input to landscape architects of the city engineering firm, Bolton and Menk, which came up with a design rendering for a community open house in April to give residents an idea of what downtown could look like. The positive feedback from those surveys and open house led to the decision to try this new phase.
“Spring Valley as a whole has a lot of potential,” said Freeman. “It’s just a matter of giving it a chance.”
Moving Forward Has Challenges
A second survey, which was distributed in September 2024, followed up on the first survey, asking for feedback on the trial run. One question on the most recent survey unveiled the first mention of a price tag of more than $1 million when asking local residents about potentially using taxpayer funds on the project.
In coming up with projected cost as well as the format for the entire process, the city used model guidelines set by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, according to City Administrator Deb Zimmer. The cost estimate came from Bolton and Menk once the initial process came to an end.
Freeman noted that the alliance has already spent around $10,000 on the project for flowers, pots, and other items. It has a commitment for three memorial benches and is scheduling a second masquerade ball to raise funds. The group is also seeking other grants to aid the process.
“We’re trying to keep it so the city really doesn’t have to spend money,” said Freeman. “I don’t see us having a problem raising the money if that’s the direction the council agrees we should go.”
If the entire project can’t be funded right away, the SVBA would like to see some incremental progress that would help the small businesses in the community. “You can make small improvements and still have a drastic impact on downtown,” said Freeman.
Zimmer said the cost estimate was based on the original architectural rendering, which had tall, brick pillars at each end of the two-block design. It also includes money for engineering since storm water drainage would be altered. She added there could be potential changes to utilities and adjustments may be needed due to a height difference from one side of the street to the other, which could make the bump-outs challenging.
As far as breaking down the project into pieces over time, it is possible, said Zimmer, but there are some potential issues, such as paying more for engineering or having to redo some portions if the project is stretched out. The council and SVBA will need to look to see what is reasonable as far as “the cost savings of doing it at all at once vs. the benefit of doing it over time,” she said.
Freeman is optimistic that the project can come to fruition even if it isn’t done immediately.
“If given a chance, people will be pleased with the results,” said Freeman. “At some point in time, hopefully it’s a source of pride for residents in Spring Valley.”
City officials continue to work through the review and planning stages and will also be setting more long-range priorities once annual capital planning is done in January 2025., so they will need to make some decisions before then, noted Zimmer noted there are already some big projects on the city agenda, including upgrading the wastewater treatment plant, reconstructing East Tracy Road, funding the city portion of an upcoming Highway 63 project and potentially replacing utilities in the southeast part of town.
Freeman realizes revitalizing downtown Spring Valley won’t be a quick and easy process.
“It can be an ambitious plan, but you have to think big. We’ve got to keep the town vibrant. Over the years, people have done that, visioning with the library and other projects around town. Nothing is easy. You have to stick with it,” said Freeman. “I’m optimistic that a little bit at a time, we’ll get positive changes downtown.”
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David Phillips, of Spring Valley, had been a writer, photographer, editor and publisher with various newspapers for 45 years until he retired as publisher of southeastern Minnesota’s Bluff Country Newspaper Group in 2020.
