Tools for Economic Growth in Spring Valley, Minnesota.
Another brewery is springing up in Southeast Minnesota. Wisconsin-based Hop & Barrel Brewing is opening a new location in Spring Valley on Saturday.
It’s the latest addition to a piece of Minnesota that’s becoming a destination for touring beer lovers.
“It’s so much more conducive to beer tourism here than in our area of Wisconsin,” said Justin Terbeest, co-founder of Hop & Barrel and Spring Valley native.
Name: Isaac Hauser
Parents: Steve and Amy Hauser
School Activities: Key Club 12th grade representative, National Honor Society, Basketball, Cross-Country, Treasurer of Student Council.
Activities/Work Outside of School: I work for Gillette Pepsi Co. in Rochester as a part-time merchandiser. No other organized recurring activities, just hobbies.
Your Favorite Class and Why? Math. My current math class is CIS calculus. I always liked math in the sense that there was always an answer and I was relatively good at it. Most days I trudge out of this calculus class frustrated, but it is my most challenging class that allows me to learn from failure, which I do not get in other classes.
Why is a Solid Education Important? “Solid education” is a phrase I have never heard, but I feel like it should be used more often. A solid education, in the sense of thorough education with attention to detail, allows generations to be well equipped with the information they need to make their own opinions and tendencies. With the assistance of solid educators, the previously stated opinions and tendencies will create communities strengthened by diversity and understanding.
Immediate Plans After High School Graduation: I plan to take my senior year summer to continue my work with Pepsi and spend as much time with my significant other as possible before heading to college in the Fall.
Long-term Plans/Goals: I plan to obtain a minimum of a bachelor’s in business administration with unknown focuses. I then plan on using such a degree to find a competitive job where I can perhaps
Note: The Spring Valley Kiwanis Club annually recognizes the top academic performers at Kingsland High School. Kiwanis will recognize Isaac and his parents during the Nov. 17 meeting at the Spring Valley Community Center.
Andrea Hindt of rural Spring Valley has been expressing herself artistically since her elementary school days. “In third grade, I would draw pictures for my teacher and classmates,” says Andrea. “Growing up, the Sunday comic pages were the best! I loved to read them. My twin sister, Anji Bennett, and I would draw cartoons and we used to say ‘when we grow up’ we want to have our own comic strips.”
Andrea continued to take art classes throughout high school and was a member of the Albert Lea High School Art Club. During the holidays students would paint the windows at local care centers and restaurants. “Also in high school, I took a graphic arts class taught by Mr. Goodnature. For one of our projects, I designed and screen printed my favorite band logo on my jean jacket. I loved that class. Mr. Goodnature put me on the path towards graphic design as a career.”
Click Here for the complete feature story by Mary Whalen in the Fillmore County Journal!
Valley Butchery and Meat Market, located at 624 Pleasant Ave. in Spring Valley, is ready to expand. The current location, purpose-built in 1963 as a full-service meat processing facility, has faithfully served the Spring Valley community for nearly 60 years but needs renovation and expansion. “The need to expand has been there for some time,” explains Rusty Hellickson, 4th generation “Lockerman” and co-owner of Valley Butchery with his son Tanner. “We simply need more space to be able to offer our customers the products and services that we want to”. Planned renovations will include a new meat cooler, an in-house smokehouse, improved workstations, and a larger retail product case.
Family-owned and operated; Valley Butchery’s business has been growing steadily since Hellickson’s purchased the business in 2017. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many people to look to their local businesses to provide goods and services, and butcher shops were no exception. “We have seen a big increase in demand for our products”, explains Hellickson, “especially from customers who were used to going elsewhere for their meats, but now realize that they can buy quality local meats without the travel.”
While the increase in business has been positive, there have been significant challenges. Planning a comprehensive remodel has proved difficult with supply shortages, skyrocketing costs, and lining up bids and contractors. For the most part, contractors have stayed busy, and are often booked out several months on projects. “COVID has also made it a nightmare to get supplies for their daily business operations,” adds Hellickson. “Simple everyday things like gloves, plastic wrap, and other packaging supplies are now more expensive and in much shorter supply”
Additionally, any renovation and expansion also require significant financial resources. Valley Butchery was able to utilize multiple funding sources to help with its expansion, explains Chris Hahn, EDA Director for Spring Valley. “My predecessor worked to help secure a Minnesota Department of Agriculture Value-Added Producer Grant in 2019, and then they were able to apply and receive gap funding from the Spring Valley EDA to help secure the financing for the entire project. Being able to help core community businesses like a butcher shop, leverage all the resources available is vital to our small rural communities!”
Valley Butchery and Meat Market is locally owned and operated, and offers full-service slaughterhouse, meat-cutting, and packaging services to Spring Valley and the surrounding area. To contact Valley Butchery and Meat Market please call them 507-346-7707 or check them out on Facebook.
Hop & Barrel Spring Valley, Brewery and Taproom will hold its Grand Opening Block Party on Saturday November 20th from Noon to Midnight at its new location on the corner of West Jefferson and North Broadway in historic downtown Spring Valley, MN.
Learn more about Hop & Barrel’s expansion to Spring Valley
A community Halloween open house is set to return to Spring Valley on Sunday, Oct. 31.
The event for youth ages 1 to 12 will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Spring Valley Community Center. Activities include games run by Spring Valley Kiwanis and Kingsland Key Club members on the main floor along with a haunted house set up by Key Club members and staffed by Kingsland High School drama students in the stage area.
There is no admission charge, but Key Club members are collecting donations for the Spring Valley Food Shelf. The Key Club is a youth service group at Kingsland High School that is sponsored by the Kiwanis.
Numerous prizes will be awarded at the various game stations and all youth receive a treat bag on their way out of the center once they are finished with the games.
The event is co-sponsored by the Spring Valley Chamber of Commerce in addition to the Key Club and Kiwanis, a service organization with a guiding principle of “improving the world one child and one community at a time.”
Other groups have partnered with the event organizers to provide Halloween safety and promote reading.
The Spring Valley VFW Post 4114 is sponsoring a Lite-a-Tyke program during the event. The local VFW has been participating in this event for about the last decade.
VFW members will be at a table to distribute reflective stickers to put on the costumes or coats of children, or adults, so people going trick-or-treating are visible if they go out that night after the open house. The effort is the local VFW post’s premier safety program.
Another addition to the open house is a reading table put on by the Kiwanis Young Children Priority One Committee. This has been a part of the event for the past several years.
Committee members set up a table with books from the Kiwanis Reading Project. The children can select a book for a Kiwanis member to read to them at the open house or to take home for their parents to read to them later. There will also be a drawing that children may enter with winners getting to pick from a box of unique books.
There is no cost for the safety sticker or the book. Just look for the sticker table or the book table, both which will be separate from the many game stations.
The Halloween open house has been a tradition for decades, but took a break last year due to pandemic restrictions.
Chris Hahn
Spring Valley EDA Director
Phone: 612-327-9729
Email: director@springvalleyeda.org
