FACES+PLACES MAY 2024

FACES PLACES+

Jose Andres Garcia takes

LIVE. WORK. PLAY.

IF YOU GO

Panaderia Y Pasteleria La Estrella is now open at 326 Central Ave. N., Faribault. Hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 7 a.m. to noon Sundays.

Authentic Mexican bakery opens downtown

By KRISTINE GOODRICH kristine.goodrich@apgsomn.com

For new customers struggling to choose, Jose Andres Garcia recommends his concha.

The classic plain sweet bread is a staple of bakeries in Mexico, he says.

Garcia was up at 5 a.m.

baking concha and a few other types of breads and sweets during a soft opening of his new bakery in downtown Faribault.

For the official grand opening in April, he had dozens of options ranging from flan to cuernos.

Customers need not be able to pronounce names to order what looks most appetizing to them. In the tradition of

Jose Andres Garcia boxes up handmade baked goods for one of his first customers on Friday. (Kristine Goodrich/southernminn.com)

the Mexican bakeries in which Garcia learned his craft, guests grab a metal tray and a pair of tongs and pick out what they want to take home.

Jose and his family of helpers say they’re excited to both provide a taste of home for the local Latino community, as well as to share their traditions with the broader community.

“It’s very satisfying making something people enjoy,” Jose said with the help of his wife, Bethsaida Garcia, translating.

Jose is Mexican born and raised and named his Faribault bakery Panaderia Y Pasteleria La Estrella after the one he first smelled and tasted as a young child. In English it means “the star bakery and cake shop.”

Jose moved to another small Mexican village before he landed his first baker apprenticeship at just 12 years old.

By age 15 he was already dreaming of owning his own bakery. God had a hand in helping that dream come true at age 27, he and Bethsaida said. Their faith also was what brought them together.

Bethsaida grew up in Faribault, is a Faribault High School graduate, and a longtime member of the Iglesia Evangelica Cristiana Espiritual church in Faribault. He was on a mission trip with the church to Georgia when she met Jose.

Jose Andres Garcia takes conchas out of the oven at his Panaderia Y Pasteleria La Estrella at 326 Central Ave. N. (Kristine Goodrich/southernminn.com)

Jose Andres Garcia and Bethsaida Garcia celebrate their grand opening on Monday.

al spot right in their own town to open Panaderia Y Pasteleria La Estrella.

He had come to work at a bakery in Atlanta wanting to experience America for a while. But he didn’t intend to stay, he said. That changed when he met Bethsaida.

After a few years of getting to know each other via long distance, Jose agreed to join Bethsaida in Faribault. They’ve been married since 2019 and have a 3-year-old daughter, Violet. Jose commuted to the south metro to work at a Mexican bakery.

Late last year, they found a near ide-

The space on Central Avenue near Fourth Street NE was formerly a Subway sandwich shop franchise. It needed some sprucing up after sitting empty for several years, but still had some of the kitchen equipment Jose needed for his plans.

“It was an opportunity God put on our laps,” Bethsaida said.

Jose makes all of his breads, pastries, cakes and other desserts from scratch using authentic Mexican recipes, Bethsaida said. She and other family mem-

bers provide assistance with the lessskill-required aspects of the baking and with running a small business.

Jose said his favorite item to make is cake, because he can get creative with ingredients and decoration. Using fruit as a bright decoration is one of his signatures. Customers will be able to buy whole cakes as well as by the slice, and he will take orders for custom quinceanera and wedding cakes.

In addition to baked goods, Jose intends to make a few varieties of flan (a custard dessert) and a different daily

flavor of atole (a hot milk-based beverage).

Most of his products will sell for $1 to $3, he said.

Jose said he doesn’t have dreams of one day creating a franchise like Subway. Like the independent small bakers in his homeland, he said he’s content with one bakery where he can maintain top quality goods and personal service.

Reach Associate Editor Kristine Goodrich at 507-333-3134 or kristine.goodrich@apgsomn.

NEVER MISS AN EVENT

Members of the Garcia family are busy readying for the official opening of their bakery on Monday. (Kristine Goodrich/southernminn.com)

Jose Andres Garcia takes a jam-filled pastry out of the oven in his new bakery in downtown Faribault during a soft opening Friday.The bakery officially opens on Monday. (Kristine Goodrich/ southernminn.com)

Homebody Refill Market opens its earthfriendly doors

By PAMELA THOMPSON pamela.thompson@apgsomn.com

An Earth-friendly business aimed at reducing area landfills of more plastics has opened a store in downtown Northfield.

Homebody Refill Market is a marketplace for refillable cleaning products and personal care goods. Co-owners Leslie Davila and Kim Kocak opened the unique store ini April.

Davila and Kocak said their friendship formed after discovering a shared belief in environmental accountability and action. They formed a business partnership after having a serious discussion on the nation’s reliance on plastics.

“As parents, we are invested in the

health of the planet,” said Davila.

The concept behind the products at Homebody Refill Market is that customers either bring in their own already used container or borrow one from the store’s community container shelf to refill personal-care or home-cleaning products. The store also accepts donated glass or aluminum vessels of any shape and size that are clean, dry and without a la.

“We are here to help any customer ready to embrace this concept,” said Kocak.

The store is sourcing from brands that are conscious about providing products with a low impact on the environment.

Cleaning supplies include all-purpose cleaner, laundry detergent, dish soap, bathroom cleaner, floor cleaner, scour cleaning paste and toilet bowl

IF YOU GO

Homebody Refill Market hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. yo 8 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. On Thursday, the refill market is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The store, located at 211 Division St. S. is closed Mondays.

cleaner. Personal care items include shampoo and conditioner, soaps, lotion, deodorant and toothpaste.

The store also sells some home, goods including wool dryer balls, dishcloths, reusable “paper” towels, baskets and totes.

Customers can fill their containers, then weight the amount on the small scale.

The business partners said their goals are to try to include products made by as many local vendors as possible, and to offer unscented items for those with sensitivities.

Davilia is using her home kitchen to experiment making new products. Any products sporting a blue label are homemade here in Northfield.

“I’m like a mad chemist,” she joked.

While some may have the notion that earth-friendly products are more expensive than regular store-bought items,

Kocak said their items are competitively priced.

For example, a cleaning bomb to be used once a week is $1, while 8 ounces of hand soap costs $3.44.

Customer Megan Hamzawi, who has lived much of her life in larger east coast cities and was already familiar with the idea of refill shopping, she said she was “thrilled” with the local store.

“My 6- and 9-year-old kids both want a cleaner world,” she said. “Plastics are a huge sore spot for the one who wants to be a marine biologist and get rid of all plastic pollution in our oceans.”the fourth. In a case of fortuitous timing, the permit came through and they were able to build all four.

Pamela Thompson is the associate editor for the Northfield News. Reach her at 507-6451115 or pamela.thompson@apgsomn.com

Homebody Refill Market is

Leslie Davila and Kim Kocak are co-owners of Homebody Refill Market. (Pamela Thompson/southernminn.com)

MSB named top in state for locally popular ale

By ANNIE HARMAN annie.harman@apgsomn.com

Since the beginning, it’s been “the little brewery that could.”

From opening months before a global pandemic to outgrowing their space within five years, the crew at Mineral Springs Brewery has continued to push forward and thrive. While no longer a surprise for the Owatonna community how successful the business — and, of course, the beer — is, MSB has now made a name for itself statewide.

On March 22, MSB — co-owned by Mark Sebring, Bill Cronin and Rob Baker — took home first place from the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild’s MN Brewers Cup Competition, a statewide, blind taste-testing competition for Minnesota breweries and brewpubs. While this isn’t the first time MSB has entered the competition, Cronin said it is the first time they have taken home any title, let alone a first place spot.

The winning entry was for one of the first and most popular beers that has been on tap since MSB first opened in November 2019: the Cinder Hill Cream Ale, now the number one brew in the category of American Blonde, Wheat and Cream Ales in all of Minnesota.

Coming from a hobbyist dabbling in homebrews, MSB’s brewer Mark Sebring said it has been humbling to see one of the brewery’s first beers be recognized in such a way.

“Every beer is just sort of an experiment where you try to fit every quadrant and you think it will be popular and it is, but then you do another and fill every quadrant and you think it will be popular and it absolutely bombs,” Sebring

laughed.“When I first brewed [Cinder Hill Cream Ale] at the homebrew scale and had the guys try it, they seemed to think it was pretty decent, but you still worry, you wonder to yourself if it will translate on the larger scale from five gallons to five barrels.”

Since its inception, the Owatonna-based brewery has named each of its offerings after local landmarks, legends and lore, and the award-winning Cinder Hill Cream Ale is no exception. Many locals know Cinder Hill as the very steep 60-foot hill just off Linn Avenue, commonly used by local athletes for training. What they might not know, however, is the training hill’s nickname stems from a nearly century-old piece of folklore — something that a local historian confirms to hold truth.

Shor tly after the Owatonna utilities plant opened in 1924, Nancy Vaillancourt said they needed a place to put all their leftover cinders — three to fourinch round chunks of combustion residue from the different fuels the power plant was burning.

“Instead of having an icy surface, they would put those cinders on the road and that would give you some traction underneath and make the road bumpy to help vehicles get up the hill,” Vaillancourt said. While she is unsure of when exactly the power plant stopped putting cinders out on the hill, she suspects the process continued for “at least a couple of decades.”

While the cinders on Cinder Hill are from a lifetime ago, the Cinder Hill Cream Ale continues to flow at MSB, and the recent award comes at no surprise to the local and loyal customers ordering it by the pint.

That’s my favorite,” said Jennifer Sulli-

(Annie

van Hansen. “I knew I had good taste!”

This year, the Brewers Cup Competition had nearly 450 competition entries from over 90 breweries and brewpubs in the state, and the beers were organized into 23 categories based on style. The submissions were judged blind and scored based on how well each submission represented the standards of its style. The top three in each style category, along with the top three overall, were announced at an industry-only awards ceremony on the evening of Friday, March 22.

To date, Sebring said Cinder Hill Cream Ale is the largest by-volume beer they turn out at MSB, but even still he says he never would have imagined

during that first homebrew batch that it would be recognized at the state level.

“Beer is subjective, everyone has their own taste and take on things,” he said.

“But the cream ale is what we keep running out of and we have to keep making. It’s an easy to drink, pleasant and approachable beer.”

MSB continues to run operations as usual as the brewery prepares to relocate to the new ASCEND riverfront project later this year. The new space, facing the river, will triple the space both inside and outside for the business.

Reach Associate Editor Annie Harman at 507-444-2378 or follow her on Twitter @NewspaperAnnie. ©Copyright 2023 APG Media of Southern Minnesota.

Mark Sebring works as the lead brewer for Mineral Springs Brewery and is one of three co-owners. Every beer that comes out of the brewery is named after Owatonna legends and landmarks.

Granlund/southernminn.com)

The Cinder Hill Cream Ale from Owatonna’s Mineral Springs Brewery rests atop cinders waiting at the bottom of the Cinder Hill on Linn Avenue. The beer recently received top honors at a statewide competition. (Photo courtesy of Mineral Springs Brewery)

working for many years with

Hughes/southernminn.com)

businesses

By CARSON HUGHES carson.hughes@apgsomn.com

Since taking ownership of Generations Boutique six months ago, Leila Leonhardt has made it her mission to cultivate a shop that can be enjoyed by women of all shapes and sizes.

The St. Peter resident of 18 years may be new to the world of business ownership, but she’s a longtime patron of the many boutiques which line St. Peter’s downtown strip. However, as a woman

with a curvier figure, Leonhardt said one of the most challenging parts of shopping anywhere for new clothes is finding outfits which look fashionable and also feel good to wear.

So when offered the opportunity to purchase Generations Boutique last fall, Leonhardt leapt at the chance to keep one of her favorite clothing stores in business and expand the clothing options available to plus-size women in the St. Peter community.

“A lot of boutiques only carry small, medium or large sizes,” said Leonhardt. “Well there’s a whole other section of

New Generations Boutique owner renews focus on inclusive clothing sizes

sizing from XL to 3XL, and so my goal is to have a wider range of clothing, because I fall into that XL clothing, and a lot of boutiques don’t have something that I can wear. “

Upon purchasing the storefront from former owner Amy Frey, Leonhardt has formed partnerships with a number of new vendors with clothing up to 3XL in size. Some of Generations Boutique’s new products for the spring season include golf skorts, high rise tomboy jeans and button down denim tops — all of which can be found in sizes upwards of small, medium and large.

“A

plore the creative side of entrepreneurship.

“I think accounting is more clear, you’re in the black or you’re in the red,” said Leonhardt. “It’s very structured and the boutique is very creative and it allows me to find a creative side that I didn’t really know that I had.”

lot of boutiques only carry small, medium or large sizes. Well there’s a whole other section of sizing from XL to 3XL, and so my goal is to have a wider range of clothing, because I fall into that XL clothing, and a lot of boutiques don’t have something that I can wear.”

- Laila Leonhardt

“Hopefully I can help bridge that gap [in the market] and just have a warm and inviting space for people in St. Peter and for people who are just driving through to stop in and try clothes on or buy local products,” said Leonhardt.

As an accountant, Leonhardt has made a career out of helping farmers, retailers and other small businesses with budgeting and bookkeeping. After many years of familiarizing herself with the financial side of running a business, operating Generations Boutique has given Leonhardt the opportunity to ex-

Much of that creative work behind the scenes involves partnering with vendors to provide the store with clothing, jewelry and other accessories. In addition to building business partnerships, Leonhardt is working on introducing education classes to the store. For the first class, Leonhardt will be bringing in Mankato acupuncturist Jolene McLaughlin to lead a class on acupuncture.

“Most know acupuncture as needles but they don’t know what the benefits are, or how it actually works or what the needles feel like, so I teamed up with Jolene McLaughlin in Mankato and she’s going to come over and do an education class,” said Leonhardt.

Laila Leonhardt, the new owner of Generations Boutique, has made stocking clothing inclusive of all sizes a priority for the St. Peter storefront. (Carson Hughes/southernminn. com)

After

small

as an accountant, Laila Leonhardt is now experiencing small business ownership herself as the new owner of Generations Boutique. (Carson

Fabrication artist showcases process in new documentary on

Gathering Tree sculpture

By CARSON HUGHES carson.hughes@apgsomn.com

Since 2017, the Gathering Tree in Mothers Louise Park in Le Sueur has been a shining testament to the power of community cooperation. The 85,000 bulbs, hung up by two dozen volunteers, light up the night sky each year during Le Sueur’s annual Christmas in the Valley

celebration.

But now the Gathering Tree’s days are numbered. Two years ago, the city found the tree was harboring an emerald ash borer infestation. The wood boring pest has been responsible for the deaths of over 15 million ash trees across the US and Canada since 2002 and has been spreading throughout Southern Minnesota in recent years. While the Gathering Tree is receiving treatments to prolong its life, the pest can only be held off for

so long before the tree perishes.

To commemorate the Gathering Tree’s legacy and teach the community about the threat of the emerald ash borer, local fabrication and restoration artist Johnny Favolise debuted a sculpted replica of the tree at last year’s Christmas in the Valley. The metallic structure is nearly identical to the tree, but instead of branches, the miniature is topped with a plaque detailing the history of the

Gathering Tree and the harms posed by emerald ash borer.

Now, community members can see how this replica got made, from its beginning as a 3D design model to its final stage as a completed sculpture, in a 17-minute video documentary recently released on Favolise’s YouTube channel. The President of aDDDvantage Creations Inc. and iBother Studio carefully documented the month’s worth of work

Johnny Favolise, of Johnny Fab’s fabrication shop, poses with his sculpted replica of the base of the Gathering Tree. The sculpture was constructed for last year’s Christmas in the Valley Celebration after the Gathering Tree was found to be infected with Emerald Ash Borer. (Carson Hughes/southernminn.com)

Johnny Favolise poses with a 1963 Cadillac Eureka hearse, which he’s restoring into a Ghostbusters-branded Ectomobile for paranormal investigator and Unscripted Paranormal host Adrian Lee. The hearse is one of the largest projects he’s working on in his shop, and it will likely take more than a year to restore it. (Carson Hughes/southernminn.com)

Johnny Favolise showcased his fabrication process in a new video documenting the Gathering Tree sculpture’s journey from conception to creation. (Carson Hughes/ southernminn.com)

to give others an insight into the metal fabrication and design process and educate students interested in metalwork as a career path.

“The amount of time that it takes, you can’t slap something like this together. There’s a lot of love, effort, bleeding. I’ve got burns on my hands from welding,” said Favolise. “I think there’s a greater appreciation when they see the method.”

The sculpture is just one of the many unique projects that Favolise takes on at his Johnny Fab’s workshop at 549 Elmwood Avenue. With the assistance of 3D modeling, 3D printing and laser engraving technology, Favolise uses his fabrication skills to craft custom gifts and parts for vintage vehicles and antiques that can be difficult or downright impossible to replace.

The fabricator’s process is on full display in the documentary, which takes viewers step-by-step through the construction of the Gathering Tree sculpture. Before even grabbing a piece of scrap metal or picking up a welding torch, Favolise first turned to his computer, where he mocked up a 3D model of the tree based on photographs. He then 3D-printed the model and presented the proof of concept to the Christmas in the Valley Committee.

With the committee’s approval. Favolise went to design measurements for an interior steel structure to help support the heavy, metal disc-shaped placard on top. Using recycled parts from a filing cabinet, which were cut, sanded, hammered and welded together, Favolise had his interior structure by the second week of November.

A rectangular stainless steel column with a single cylindrical branch, the interior structure was far from resembling a tree. But that would soon change when Favolise got to work on the most arduous part of the process, designing a bark-like casing. The steel materials were cut, hammered, planished, snipped, fitted, hammered again and tack welded into place to create a shape that resembled the curving ridges of tree bark.

With little more than a week remaining before Christmas in the Valley, it was time to coat the sculpture with a metal powder coat finish to replicate the texture of the tree. Favolise used a dark brown color as the base and fired the casing up in the oven before brushing the branching pattern of bark with a white powder coat.

Still, Favolise’s work wasn’t quite done.

The sculpture was missing the hole left on the front of the tree from its cut limb. Without it, Favolise said it wouldn’t be authentic. So he spent three days cutting, shaping and fitting 35 pieces to craft the feature on the exterior of the sculpture. In the final stages of the project, Favolise secured the base and top disc to the sculpture and textured the sculpture with the final metal compound before putting it in the oven to apply a final finish. Just hours before the Christmas in the Valley kickoff, Chris Wilke of K&R Graphics wrapped the memorial message over the placard.

Reach Reporter Carson Hughes at 507-9318575. ©Copyright 2022 APG Media of Southern Minnesota. All Rights Reserved.

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New Richland beekeeper showcases honeymaking process

By CARSON HUGHES

carson.hughes@apgsomn.com

With spring here and temperatures rising, honeybees are finally ready to leave their hives and hunt for pollen. That’s good news for beekeepers like Jason Casey, of Sun Honey LLC, who relies on the insects to supply honey and beeswax for his line of products.

Celebrating the season, the New Richland farmer showcased his beekeeping equipment to community members at the Waterville Public Library to teach people all about beekeeping. Speaking to an audience of around 30 people at the Le Sueur Public Library on Thursday, Casey showcased the equipment he uses to take care of his bees. The New Richland beekeeper has around 80 wooden hives where his bees live and produce honey. On a good year, Casey said each hive can pro-

duce around 150 gallons of honey.

Each hive consists of several supers, boxes where the worker bees make the honey. The supers are lined with removable frames with wire cells that can be used by the bees for storing pollen and nectar and creating honeycomb.

In the brood box, the largest part of the hive, where new worker bees are born and raised, the hexagonal chambers function as nesting places for the queen to lay eggs. Those eggs then hatch into new worker bees. Since the average male honeybee only lives for about six to eight weeks, the health of the hive relies on the queen constantly spawning new bees to take their place.

At the top of the hive is an inner and outer cover to protect the bees from the elements. During the winter, Casey said he modifies the cover with absorbent material to prevent ice melts from dripping into the hive. The hives are especially susceptible to melts because bees don’t hibernate during the winter. To resist the cold, the bees swarm in a ball around the queen, shivering and generating up to 95 degrees of heat.

“The heat goes up and hits this and it starts to drip down,” said Casey. “That can kill a bee or it can make mold. So that’s why I put an absorbent so it

doesn’t go down on them.” Bees create honey by feasting on nectar from flowers and taking it back to the hive where the nectar is passed mouth-to-mouth from one bee to another. This process breaks down the nectar into simple sugars, creating the gooey consistency of honey. The bees then store the honey hexagonal cells in the hive and fan it with their wings to reduce the moisture content.

During the harvesting process, bees help plants reproduce by transferring pollen from one flower to another. Because of these benefits, 10 different farmers have allowed Casey to keep his hives on their properties near Good Thunder, Mapleton, Freeborn, Waldorf, Gaylord and New Richland.

With hives operating in different locations, Casey’s bees are extracting pollen and nectar from different kinds of flowers, which can impact the coloration of the honey. Some of his bottles are filled with honey that takes a light yellow hue while others are other bottles display a dark gold color.

“Depending on what tree or what plant it’s from, it can be yellow, orange, purple all sorts of colors,” said Casey. “They’ve even said out in Hershey Pennsylvania where they make M&Ms, some people have M&M colored pollen in

Jason Casey of Sun Honey LLC displays a panel used by bees for making honey. (Carson Hughes/southernminn.com)

Jason Casey showcased the products his bees create including bottles of honey and a beeswax sculpture of a frog. (Carson Hughes/southernminn. com)

Jason Casey, of Sun Honey LLC, showcased his beekeeping equipment at the Le Sueur and Waterville public libraries last week. In his presentation, Casey exhibited one of his hives and gave audiences a sample of his honey. (Carson Hughes/southernminn.com)

Angie’s introduces delivery, more additions on the horizon

DELIVERY

Customers can order from Angie’s by calling 507-789-1100, visiting their website angiesinkenyon. com or downloading the Toast app.

Angie’s delivers 4-8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, taking the last order of the night at 7:15 to allow time for cooking and delivery before close.

By JOSH LAFOLLETTE josh.lafollette@apgsomn.com

“It was nice to wake up on a Saturday morning and be like, ‘I think I want an omelet, and I just want to sit on my couch. I don’t want to leave.’”

Recalling her formative years in Kenyon, restaurant owner Angie Anderson can rattle off the names of delivery spots she once enjoyed.

Options have dwindled over the years, even as delivery services are exploding in popularity nationwide.

Now the owner of Angie’s, Anderson began offering delivery in February, doing her part to bring back the old days.

Currently, they only deliver to customers within Kenyon city limits, but she’s received a number of requests to expand their service area. She’s considering it, though she expressed reservations about sending employees out onto country roads during inclement winter weather.

However, it seems many customers within city limits are willing to make the trip to her restaurant to avoid the $4 delivery charge. Though many of Anderson’s customers were excited at the announcement, the new service hasn’t actually impacted the business much. Anderson said they typically receive one delivery order a day, perhaps four on a busy day.

While they accept orders online and over the phone, Anderson said she’s

able to make some exceptions for customers who call in — for instance, delivering slightly outside city limits in some cases

Anderson said adding new offerings and services is essential to holding patrons’ interest in the restaurant business. While the response to delivery has been underwhelming, adding pizza to the menu last fall was a major success.

“We’re trying to just listen to our customers and see what they want,” she said.

To that end, Anderson is cooking up a number of ideas for the future.

First on the agenda, she plans to add protein bowls. She envisions an assembly line at the counter, where customers can choose their preferred meats, grains, sauces and veggies for a quick nutritious meal.

Of the new items she hopes to roll out this year, Anderson feels protein bowls are the highest priority for customers.

“Because the gym’s right there,” she explained with a chuckle.

Anderson also plans to offer a kid’s menu and pizza by the slice at the counter.

Dreaming up new menu items is one thing — finding the time to implement them is another.

“I’m here 90% of my life. I go home to sleep and to maybe take my shoes off for a couple hours and rest. Some weeks are 90 hours, some weeks are 70. There’s never a 40-hour week,” said Anderson.

Occasionally someone walks through the front door looking for a drink, and immediately walks out upon learning they don’t serve alcohol. Anderson didn’t foresee serving alcohol when she started the restaurant and it’s still not a high priority for her — but it’s “on the back burner.”

Someday, she’d like to serve brunch

drinks like Bloody Marys and mimosas, and introduce a few beers and wines and a seltzer to the menu. Anderson isn’t quite ready to tackle that idea, considering how few of her employees are old enough to serve alcohol.

Part of the impetus for serving alcohol comes from the closure of Lacey’s Kitchen and Cocktails his winter. Far from being her rival, she saw the establishment across the street as a compliment to hers.

“I really liked [Lacey’s owner] Steve a lot. We were friends. They offered alcohol. They offered a bar atmosphere. We offered a small town diner, family atmosphere. It was completely different,” said Anderson.

Anderson said she misses spending summer nights on the patio at Lacey’s.

“I was very sad because I liked to go there too,” she said.

While she has big plans for the future, she’d still like to see deliveries pick up.

Angie’s offers delivery 4-8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. She’d like to expand the hours, but that would require hiring a designated delivery employee — something she’d only consider if they started receiving more orders.

Anderson said deliveries have been relatively smooth thus far, but she has considered making a set of guidelines to make things easier on customers and employees. Her No. 1 recommendation is that customers turn their outdoor lights on when expecting a delivery, so the employee can safely find their house.

(Josh LaFollette/southernminn.com)

Angie Anderson, owner of Angie’s, in her restaurant. She recently started doing delivery, hearkening back to the days when Kenyon had a variety of delivery options. (Josh LaFollette/southernminn. com)

Tree Huggers

holds grand opening, says

‘All eyes are on Minnesota’

By ROSE KORABEK rose.korabek@apgsomn.com

On a blustery Caledonia morning, history was being made. Tree Huggers Cannabis held its grand opening in conjunction with a city of Caledonia and Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting in the new dawn of cannabis.

Caledonia City Clerk/Administrator said, “We’re excited to be at the beginning of a brand new industry and look forward to more economic development in Caledo-

nia. The city is always happy to welcome more businesses to the community.”

Caledonia Chamber member Polly Heberlein echoed those sentiments and wished Tree Huggers the best of luck.

Co-owners Brent Welch, Ryan Johnson and Dillon Beyer were on hand with their team to greet those stopping by.The grand opening celebration took place in mid-April with free samples of Tree Huggers products, in-store specials, hourly gift card giveaways and drawings for prizes. Outside there was a glass blower and Fancy Nancy’s Lunch Wagon.

Beyer handles sales and distribution for the young company throughout Wisconsin

and Minnesota. “We are in some major retailers and expanding to Madison, Milwaukee and the Twin Cities,” he said.

Excited about the grand opening and new beginnings, Beyer said they had moved a plant originally gifted by his mom to one of the La Crosse locations. The dieffenbachia was started in 1984 and is 40 years old, two years older than him. The plant now sits in the indoor sunroom with other plants.

In Houston County,Tree Huggers Cannabis soda’s co-packer is Spring Grove Soda. For the Craft Cannabis H2O, the co-packer is 608 Brewing Co. in La Crosse.

“It’s a fun day,” said Beyer.“We’re a grow-

ing industry (no pun intended). It’s good to see Minnesota doing this right. They embraced hemp and next year will have the legalization of cannabis

“Minnesota was the 23rd state to decriminalize adult use cannabis and legalize it for those 21 and older. 24 states now have and in a bunch of other states, it’s no longer a felony.”

Beyer said Tree Huggers is one of the many Minnesota businesses providing feedback to the newly-established Office of Cannabis Management.

“Everyone is working together to decide how business is going to be conducted for testing and licensing. Minnesota will be hir-

Sara Welch served up Tree Huggers Cannabis root beer floats.

A variety of products are for sale at Tree Huggers Cannabis.

A group mingled indoors while waiting for the ribbon cutting.

ing over 200 people to manage it at the state level,” said Beyer.

He said the state is getting feedback on the bill, rules and regulations on how to run it and make things fair.

“They have the data to see what a successful program looks like. They can look at the first 22 states and see what worked and what didn’t. I have heard from my network that all eyes are on Minnesota. There are national companies that are waiting to see how they craft their bill and with all the input from those of us in the industry, it should be a good bill.”

Beyer said he believes in the free market and it (how many stores can open) shouldn’t necessarily be based on county populations.“Let the free market decide,” he said. “They don’t cap breweries, gas stations or pharmacies.”

Brent thanked everyone who came for the ribbon cutting, then his wife Sara, who co-owns the La Crosse locations with him, served up Tree Huggers root beer floats made with Tree Huggers Cannabis soda.

“We’re excited to be at the beginning of a brand new industry and look forward to more economic development in Caledonia. The city is always happy to welcome more businesses to the community.”

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Caledonia City

Clerk/Administrator

Tree Huggers opened last November and is located in the old Dairy Queen building at 603 Esch Dr. in Caledonia. By Minnesota law, no one under age 21 is allowed entrance.

Rose Korabek is the associate editor for The Caledonia Argus. Reach her at 507-556-1701.

Inside, the store sells a large variety of its own and other cannabisrelated products.

Juan Pablo Zuñiga Navarro brings a second life back to dirty sneakers.

Tree Huggers team members joined the celebration.

Co-owner Dillon Beyer tends to the 40-year-old plant that was a gift from his mom.

Tree Huggers co-owner Brent Welch cut the ribbon at the grand opening ceremony on Apr. 12.

there because bees will eat them.”

When it comes time to harvest the honey, Casey will put on his beekeeping suit and spray the hives with a smoker to calm the bees down and settle them into the bottom of the hive.

“It’s not that they can’t breathe, but they don’t like the smoke,” said Casey.

“So they try to get away from it and go down to the middle of the hive.”

To extract the panels from the hive, Casey often has to use a small pry bar to loosen them up. This is because the panels are frequently stuck together by propolis, a glue that bees make by mixing their saliva with beeswax. The mixture is so sticky that Casey said he sometimes can’t pull the panels out

himself, and needs the metal gripper to lift them out.

Under the name Sun Honey LLC, Casey sells his honey in squeeze bottles, glass bottles, jars, jugs and the classic bear-shaped container. He also packages flavored sticks of honey which range from strawberry flavor to peppermint, apple, watermelon and more. During his presentation, each of the audience

members had the opportunity to sample the sweet treats.

Casey’s bees also provide the business owner with plenty of beeswax, which he uses to make soaps, candles and sculptures.

Reach Reporter Carson Hughes at 507-9318575. ©Copyright 2022 APG Media of Southern Minnesota. All Rights Reserved.

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