Published Thursday January 19, 2025
By David Phillips
Bluff Brothers Brewing received the first ever Community Spirit Award during the annual meeting and banquet of the Spring Valley Area Chamber of Commerce Jan. 15 at the Spring Valley VFW Hall.
The award is the successor to the previous Volunteer of the Year award, which the Chamber has awarded to individuals the past several years. Chamber President Angie Gensmer said that there are many deserving people, but often it is the same people getting recognized by various organizations in different ways.
“Since we are a chamber that represents businesses, we should try to give an award to a business instead of an individual,” she said.
Bluff Brothers Brewing is always trying to help out in the community, which is why it is deserving of this first-ever award, noted Gensmer.
“I think the Bluff Brothers are a very great new business in the community,” she said. “They bring a lot of people in with a lot of their activities and they are constantly evolving with their different events.”
She explained that the business gets a lot of attention, not just from the local community, but also by others from outside the area. The owners are “out-of-the-box thinkers” who work with multiple local nonprofit organizations, even opening their business after hours for events, she added.
In other action at the meeting, Gensmer gave a review of 2023, noting that the Chamber grew in membership, starting 2023 with 71 members and ending with 77.
She also outlined several events that the Chamber holds. The annual Christmas on Historic Broadway Avenue celebration, co-sponsored with Brave Community Theatre, was affected by poor weather, although most events ran on time. However, the money raised through donations was down, “mostly because of the weather,” said Gensmer, as the Chamber usually raises more than $1,000, but brought in just under $800 this year.
The Chamber also sponsored a Cookbook Walk during the event. The Chamber asked businesses to come up with a recipe to share with the public. Businesses had copies of the recipe at their location, or at the library for businesses not open during the event. People were given a cover page, binder and map at the library so they could collect the recipes to fill up their binder.
“I think it was a hit,” said Gensmer. “I heard a lot of people talking about it. ”Next year, the Chamber will increase publicity on the event to get more participation, she added.
As far as ribbon cuttings for new businesses, there were just three in 2023: Smoking Guns Smoke Shop, Grand Meadow License Bureau and the Gateway Cafe in Wykoff. Gensmer said
another will be held soon as Greg Brooks is opening a business in Ostrander.
Tyler Anderson reported on the annual Easter egg hunt, which he said also had weather challenges, so just a few days prior to the planned day of the event, it was moved up to
Saturday instead of Sunday. Despite the late change, the hunt had 145 attendees, which compares to 175 the year before.
Volunteers included Chamber members, people from Good Earth Village, Kingsland students and Miss Minnesota nominees.
The Buy Local Committee had three Spring Valley after-hours events at Marzolf Implement, Pear Ridge Dental and Ody’s Country Meats. Anderson noted that the Chamber is looking for
more hosts from businesses that want to showcase their operation and take part in a networking opportunity.
The Chamber also held the second annual Spring Valley career expo in November in partnership with Kingsland Public Schools.
“There was a big focus on trying to bring the different career options in and wanting to showcase what kids have in their own backyard,” said Anderson. “Sometimes they have no idea
what is going on locally.”
More than 150 students from Kingsland took part in the expo and 20 businesses from all over the area, not just Spring Valley, set up booths. Anderson said the Chamber is working on
growing this event in 2025.
In new business, Gensmer said that Treasurer Wendy Betts, Secretary Tyler Anderson and board member Kerin Rath will be continuing their terms on the Chamber board. Blake Koebke
will not be renewing his term so the board will be looking for a replacement.
Other board members are Vice President Cody Koebke and Alicia O’Connell.
The final event of the evening was a trivia contest featuring items of local interest. The team of Julie Mlinar, Justin Mlinar, and Dave and Pam Phillips won the contest, earning Spring Valley
Bucks that can be used at any Chamber business.
