Chris Hahn

Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, February 12, 2026.   Reprinted with permission and gratitude.

By Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy

This bookish girl’s awaiting her new skirt.

Thing is, she’s a bit of a rockhound.

“The scope of the project includes repairing the exterior, the EIFS, or the ‘exterior insulation and finish system,’ and once everything is repaired, they’ll do a whole new topcoat layer of EIFS, and because EIFS is a little fragile, they’ll do some rock installation on the south side of the building, under the canopy and on the bottom of the front,” explained Spring Valley Public Library (SVPL) Director Melissa Van der Plas, highlighting how Spring Valley’s library will undergo a construction glow-up this summer as its exterior is given a long-awaited restoration that includes a new skirting and façade of Versetta Stone to help protect the community’s favorite book sanctuary.

Vander Plas went on to elaborate on other parts of the project that has been made possible through a $165,000 Minnesota state library construction grant that pays for half of the costs of dressing up SVPL’s structure, with the other half of that sum being drawn from the library’s capital campaign construction fund that was designated at the time that the former SuperValu grocery store was converted to the Spring Valley area’s literary center in 2001-2002. “With all of that, we’ll have to do a few roof repairs – because we have to do the EIFS, it will disrupt the roof a little bit – and then we’ll be doing some landscaping, adding patios and expanding the library’s use outdoors. Not only do we want to make it more appealing…we want to add usefulness and some decorative features.”

The director cited that “this whole project began because the library board realized that it had been 25 years since anything had been structurally improved here.” Snowblower and lawnmower damage caused them concern because the EIFS had been punctured. “Because of the EIFS damage, there was potential for more structural damage and development of mold. That has not happened, but we addressed it through this project using our library capital campaign fund, which is essentially an overage of funds saved when the building was turned into a library.”

Vander Plas outlined the expected timeline for the summer’s work – when the contractor will start gathering materials and readying the library for a makeover – and what to expect as the effort progresses. “It’s going to be prob ably late April or early May before they get started on the actual things outside. Our con tractor is JJBK Construction here in Spring Valley, and we’re also using another con tractor who specializes in EIFS.”

The library’s grant committee, library board and staff are excited to see what SVPL’s new clothes look like as the building gets the first cosmetic changes in more than a quarter century. Vander Plas observed that there will be more outdoor space for patrons to enjoy a book, for the children’s summer reading program participants to explore and play, and certainty that the library’s skirting will not again become as threadbare as it currently has done.

She acknowledged the generosity of the community upon the library’s relocation to the former grocery store from the Carnegie building that is now Spring Valley’s city hall and that of donors who have given as generously since. “We will have to replace the roof in five to ten years, and we do not want to deplete our capital campaign fund – we’re using an amount of that for this project – and we do not want it to go away. There may be opportunities in the future to support our maintenance projects, but we are thankful for the support we’ve had already.”

She invited the SVPL community to watch as the library gets its Cinderella transformation this summer, adding that the library is open six days a week to welcome patrons and visitors to tour the collections and take a moment to read a book.

The Spring Valley Public Library, on Jefferson Street behind First National Bank, is open Monday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 7:00 p.m., Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. For more information, log onto the library’s website at www.springvalley.lib.mn.us, stop in, or call 507-346-2100.

 

 

Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325

Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, January 22, 2026.   Reprinted with permission and gratitude.

By David Phillips 

 

People love to visit small towns for their cute shops, one-of-a-kind restaurants, or charming sites, but sometimes amazing things can happen behind the nondescript exteriors of buildings on the outskirts of town, far from the popular areas that draw visitors.

Matt Stier, owner of Tracker Industries, located on the north edge of Spring Valley in one of those nondescript buildings, gave local Kiwanis members a glimpse into his manufacturing business with a talk during a regular meeting Jan. 14 and a tour of his facility, which actually includes several buildings, after the meeting. Most Kiwanians had no idea what was going on behind the walls of his buildings that many of them drive by several times each week.

Tracker Industries mainly makes hardware for overhead garage door systems. That would seem simple enough, but Stier pointed out that he has nearly 1,000 different designs of components that he manufactures. They include all different sizes of trusses, which are a horizontal support to prevent sag in the door, struts, brackets, and tracks.

Those parts made in the small town of Spring Valley go to more than half the states in the United States, and some of them, in turn, are shipped to foreign lands, such as Mexico and the United Kingdom, which means Stier has to be aware of global issues. The company also has a direct connection to British Columbia, Canada.

“It’s been kind of difficult doing the border thing lately, but they’re figuring it out,” he said.

His facility used 15 million pounds of galvanized steel last year. It comes in about seven-foot diameter rolls weighing 3,000 to 8,000 pounds of different widths that look something like huge rolls of Hubba Bubba gum, except they are silver and much stiffer than they appear. The steel is fed through various machines, depending on how it is going to be punched for hardware holes or bent to the correct angle for assembly.

Not only is the destination for these components international, so is the competition. He noted that he lost orders for one component to a place in China that could manufacture it cheaper than the cost of materials for Stier, but he recently gained it back because the customer was fed up with the unreliability of delivery by the Chinese firm.

“So now, within just the last six months, they gave it back to us, and they said, ‘We don’t care what it costs to make it, we want it made in the United States. We aren’t getting it when we want it from China.’ And, yeah, they fired them and hired us back,” said Stier.

His equipment also has an international flavor as one of his newer machines came from Italy. It is a high-tech unit more than 200 feet long. He likes the unit, but said one problem with it is that Italy is in such a distant time zone that there is a small window of hours available for troubleshooting or asking questions when both companies are open for business at the same time.

Still, it gives him many options, both vertical and horizontal, plus a wide range of radii.

The products his company makes are used in overhead doors ranging from residential homes to large commercial buildings. He said that huge warehouses with hundreds of doors for companies such as Amazon use the components manufactured in Spring Valley.

Stier started out with an office in the building that is now Stellar 181, which most people have been in since it is a popular tap house in town. His first shop in 1989 was the former county shop where he made his first component, an angle unit that he still makes today.

In the late 1990s, he moved to his current location, although the structure was about a fourth of the size of the one building that parallels Highways 16 & 63. He expanded that first building to about 450 feet long and has since added two buildings parallel to the first one and a building of about 300 feet that connects the spurs.

While the facility is large, it generally looks subdued with little activity visible from the highway. However, Stier has 24 employees, who park out of sight behind the complex, and has about two full truckloads a day taking product out of the facility.

“All of our lines are high-speed lines, so we like to at least keep it coming out at 100 feet a minute or more. So it’s a constant, you know,” he said.

Inside the buildings, he has 18 forklifts, 21 punch presses, and eight roll formers, which take up a lot of room, in addition to the Italian unit. Stier said he personally procured almost all the punch presses, which are usually quite dated. He takes them apart, repaints them, and then has new electronics installed.

“Some of them are really old, but the old ones are the best ones,” he said. “They just last forever.”

Stier, an accomplished musician who plays at many local venues with his wife, Brenda, uses his creative mind in other ways as well. He came up with a design for a decorated angle flag bracket that saved a lot of steel waste in production.

“The die-maker said, ‘Well, you can’t do that.’ I said, ‘I think we can,’ and we ended up making this,” said Stier, holding a sample component in his hand.

He also used his creativity to get into the business. He ran an overhead door company for about 20 years, but one day he was thinking there must be a better way than working outside in conditions from 100+ degrees in the shade to 30 below zero. He shifted to manufacturing, and it took off fairly quickly since he knew what was needed in overhead doors and who needed the components.

“I always say that it’s really important to know who your customers are,” he said.

He also knows his employees well, providing the group, which includes a couple of women in the shop, with such perks as special pizza days and even a unique savings program.

The presence of manufacturing companies like his is a boon to small communities and even the distant lands where some of the products eventually end up. The vibrant activities inside these manufacturing companies may be hidden from visitors, and even most residents, but they contribute greatly to the fabric of the community.

 

Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325

Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, January 22, 2026.   Reprinted with permission and gratitude.

By Gretchen Mensink-Lovejoy

The Spring Valley Kiwanis Club has honored Emily Sar­gent, daughter of Leah and Greg Sargent, as a recipient of its Academic Excellence Award.

The Kingsland senior is ac­tive in HOSA, One Act Play, Drama Club, Knowledge Bowl, golf, and Art Club. “Of them, HOSA is my favorite,” she noted, going on to list that “in the past, I’ve also done Key Club and Game Club.” She at­tends Post-Secondary Educa­tion Options (PSEO) classes while also remaining close to Kingsland. “My favorite sub­ject has to be any subject that is history-based. My least favor­ite is any class that’s math-based.”

She’s busy enough with school that she doesn’t have a job just yet. “Outside of school, I don’t do many activ­ities besides my hobbies since a lot of my PSEO work takes up a lot of my time. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, baking and doing arts and crafts – painting and making book­marks from pressed flowers are my favorites. One of my other hobbies is biking on trails dur­ing the summer and fall time when it’s warm and dry enough that you can enjoy the colors and scenery in peace.” She added, “My favorite movie is probably ‘Secondhand Lions.’ It’s wholesome and has a lot of great life lessons, in my opin­ion. My favorite book is prob­ably ‘Les Miserables.’ I am a fan of old classics, and it’s set during a very busy time in his­tory, so it’s just fun to read. I can listen to just about any music, but I prefer indie music, and I could live on crispy chicken sandwiches for the rest of my life but find Spam abso­lutely gross. My biggest pet peeve is when people throw trash on the ground and don’t pick it up.”

If she were given free air­fare to any country in the world, she’d travel to Germany. “If I could go to any country in the world, I would go to Ger­many. I would want to go to see a lot of the medieval archi­tecture and the World War II historical sites. If I could go to any state, I’d probably go to Hawaii just to see the coast­lines.”

 

The 17-year-old has others in mind as she considered what she’d do if she could change the world. “If I could change one thing about the world, I’d probably change it to make ev­eryone else more understanding and empathetic of other people’s situations. I’d pick that because it would quite lit­erally make a world of differ­ence for everything else. Three people I admire would defi­nitely be my mom and dad. They’ve helped me through ev­erything and made sure I could have the time and means to do things I wanted to do. Another person I admire would be my grandpa because of all of the work he’s done and sacrifices he’s made to get through life.”

She shared her plans after high school and PSEO. “When I graduate, I want to become a medical laboratory scientist and a researcher. I want to because I’ve always wanted to work in the sciences in some shape or form, and I’ve loved lab work the best. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an architect.”

The Kiwanis recognized Emily and her parents at a re­cent meeting. The club con­venes on Wednesdays at noon at the Spring Valley Com­munity Center and welcomes visitors who would like to learn more about the organization’s mission and membership.

 

Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325