Northwest Minnesota Foundation ~ Developing Community Assets ~ Serving 12 Counties
Blooming Business
Summer 2014 ~ Number 64 ~
by Amy Tobkin, Program Officer - Business Development
This is a quarterly publication of Northwest Minnesota Foundation
The Northwest Minnesota Foundation invests resources, facilitates collaboration and promotes philanthropy to make the region a better place to live and work.
NORTHWEST MINNESOTA FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Robert J. Hager, Chair
Spending the day inside of Kelly’s Cottage Garden in Park Rapids is an experience you will not soon forget. Succulent moss baskets, planters spilling with fragrant blooms and the heat of summer will quickly erase the memory of a frigid Minnesota winter.
This is the ‘hobby, turned to passion,’ which Kelly Sanquist admitted was literally inspired by flipping through a Martha Stewart magazine and falling in love with the look of overflowing baskets. The love quickly grew and became her first greenhouse in 2005. From April to September each year, Kelly spends 12 hours a day in her 6,000 square feet of growing space preparing and delivering the grandest hanging baskets, vertical gardens and window boxes that you are likely to set your eyes on. Her commercial clients include Chase on the Lake in Walker, the Hampton Inn and Double Tree hotels in Bemidji. She also has rural and lake home customers who come back every year to start their summer season off right with custom arrangements. Kelly says, “I feel a lot of pressure to get everything done on (Continued on page 4)
Pete Haddeland, Vice Chair Faye Auchenpaugh, Secretary Judy Roy, Treasurer Jody Horntvedt Jon Quistgaard Leah Pigatti Jon Linnell Tom Anderson Cathy Forgit Kristin Eggerling Edie Ramstad