SVM-MAG_06062013

Business Journal Sauk Valley

Vol. 16, No. 2

Sauk Valley Media

Summer 2013

HIS JOB IS TREE-MENDOUS

Cover story: Oregon arborist shares his love of the woods – Pages 12-14

Also inside • New owner for Folsom’s Bakery • Magnuson Hotel opens its doors • Sterling Centers boosts businesses • Profile of Twigs & Sprigs • Local bicycle shop expands • Custom-made primitives

Sauk Valley Business Journal

Page 2

Summer 2013

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Sauk Valley Business Journal

Summer 2013

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Welcome ... to the Summer 2013 issue of Sauk Valley Business Journal

Index of Stories Folsom’s Bakery stays in the family...................4 Reagan Hotel now Magnuson Hotel.............. 6-7 Sterling Centers opens to help wide variety of enterprises......................... 8-9 Twigs & Sprigs....................................................10 ABRA Auto Body & Glass...................................11 On the cover

A smiling Lant Huntley, an Oregon area arborist, drives through the woods in his old Jeep.

– Alex T. Paschal, Sauk Valley Business Journal

Cover Story | Huntley Horticulture Service and Huntley Woods................... 12-14 The Just-Us Place..............................................16 Mead’s Bike Shop expands...............................17 Prim Pickins.......................................................18 Stage Two Resale Shop......................................19

The staff of the Sauk Valley Business Journal Publisher: Trevis Mayfield Advertising Director: Jennifer Baratta

Advertising Sales: Jill Reyna Business Journal Editor: Jim Dunn

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Email Kelly Null at knull@saukvalley.com to start receiving your FREE subscription to the Sauk Valley Business Journal.

Articles and advertisements are the property of Sauk Valley Media of Dixon and Sterling.

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Page 4

Summer 2013

business profile Jim Helle shows off a tray of thumbprints at Folsom’s Bakery in Rock Falls. Helle, formerly a co-owner, bought the bakery at 319 First Ave. from his cousin, Gerald Folsom Jr. The treats, he promises, will remain the same, as will the name.

Pay a visit

Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@saukvalley.com

Folsom’s Bakery, 319 First Ave. in Rock Falls, is open from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

Go to folsomsbakery.com, find the bakery on Facebook, or call 815-622-7870.

Longtime bakery has a new owner Cousin keeps it in the family

BY BRIDGET FLYNN bflynn@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 521

ROCK FALLS – Folsom’s Bak-

ery has been sold, but is remaining in the Folsom clan.

Jim Helle, formerly a co-owner, bought the bakery recently from his cousin, Gerald Folsom Jr. Helle cleaned up the bakery and made some new hires to bring in more friendly faces,

but the products will remain the same, and the bakery will keep its name, he said.

Helle’s mother was Karen Folsom. His cousin Nicole Skinner, daughter of Karen’s sister, Rhonda, has worked at the bakery for 5 years and will remain there.

“It’s still going to be a family tradition,” Helle said.

The Folsoms have been bakers in the Sauk Valley since 1942.

This bakery has been open 12 years.

Helle, 43, of Amboy, is a 1989 graduate of Sterling High School.

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Summer 2013

open for business | magnuson hotel

Former Reagan Hotel now a Magnuson Outdoor pool and eatery in the works

By DEREK BARICHELLO dbarichello@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 526

DIXON — The hotel where Ronald Reagan slept during his visit in 1984 is open again.

Magnuson Hotel, formerly the Reagan Hotel and Suites, opened recently. It will have a capacity of 91 rooms, including the suite where Reagan once slept.

Plans also call for an outdoor pool and a restaurant/bar to open soon.

Manager Wil Vasquez said the new owners are excited to open the hotel, which has been vacant for the past 2 years.

“We’ve had guests come through and said they are happy a hotel is back,” Vasquez said.

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com

Magnuson Hotel, formerly the Reagan Hotel and Suites, will offer 91 rooms like the one above, including the suite where Ronald Reagan once slept. Plans also call for an outdoor pool and a resMAGNUSON continued on 74 taurant and bar to open soon.

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Hotel official hopes to work with Brandywine MAGNUSON

Continued from 6 t

“We’ve been contacting lots of businesses and getting the word out that we’re open.”

The hotel is next to the Brandywine banquet hall at 443 state Route 2, and Vasquez expects its guests attending conferences and wedding receptions this summer to also stay at the Magnuson. “[Brandywinde officials] are excited because it makes everything more accessible,” Vasquez said. “We plan to develop a good working relationship with them.”

He said most other guests will be business people traveling through Dixon.

The opening of a hotel also will have a positive impact on Dixon tourism. The tax collected from hotels funds tourism efforts.

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Sauk Valley Business Journal

Page 8

Summer 2013

BUSINESS PROFILE

Sterling Centers open for businesses Space available for wide variety of enterprises

BY KAYLA HEIMERMAN kheimerman@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 535

STERLING – Sauk Valley entrepreneurs will have another outlet from which to launch their small businesses.

Sterling Centers, which is in the former Frantz Manufacturing building, has been transformed into a business development center. The new venture is in the 300 block of West Third Street, just west of County Market, on the south side of the street.

The 490,000-square-foot building will have commercial space to accommodate small retailers and 22 offices capable of build-outs to suit “mom and pop” businesses to light manufacturing and assembly lines.

The building already includes commercial and private storage.

A model office was being completed this spring, according to a news release, and building improvements were scheduled to be finished by June.

The project was funded only with private money; no local, state or federal money or taxpayer dollars were used to remodel the building.

Officials believe the center – coupled with a focus on local, young entrepreneurs – will drive business development in

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com

The vast space inside Sterling Centers in downtown Sterling is being turned into a place for businesses to call home. the community.

“We need to construct our own vision and not wait on the inevitable to happen,” Sterling Centers General Manager Doug Wiersema said in the release. “And that’s what we have done. It’s the difference between a boomtown and a ghost town.”

Officials are open-minded and willing to work with entrepreneurs to meet their needs; they will divide and alter space and will offer free rent (with terms) to qualified businesses, as necessary.

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Summer 2013

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Goal is to keep young entrepreneurs at home sterling centers Continued from 8 t

“Bring us your business plans,” Wiersema said in the release. “We’ve had inquiries on numerous ideas, everything from a distillery or brewery to an indoor banquet facility with rooftop seating to an indoor go-kart or roller-skating rink, and just about everything in between.

“There’s no box here.”

Part of its goal, he said, is to keep young entrepreneurs at home.

“This project welcomes young people. It’s the generation that will create new opportunities,” he said. “We want to be part of the solution by providing mentoring and internships to keep our young talent at home rather than leaving town for better opportunities.”

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‘‘

This project welcomes young people.

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Doug Wiersema

the first business incubator in the city; in fact it would be the latest in a recent string of projects aimed at business development in the area.

For years, the Sterling Small Business and Technology Center, also known as the “small business incubator,” at 1741 Industrial Drive off LeFevre Road, has been a space for small businesses to get their start.

And recently, Scott Hibbard

’’

began to remodel the historic Royer home at 401 E. Second St. and the Sterling Standard building at 13 E. Fourth St., both to accommodate businesses.

The Royer home will have office space on the first floor and executive suites for overnight business stays on the second floor. The Standard building will have storefronts on the first floor and a small business incubator on the second.

Down to business

Need space for an existing business? Want to pitch a new business and get it off the ground?

Contact Doug Wiersema, general manager of Sterling Centers, at info@sterling-centers.com or 815-441-3916.

But don’t call Sterling Centers an “incubator,” Wiersema said.

“We are not an incubator,” he insisted. “We might be taken as a de facto incubator, but we are more of a facilitator.”

Incubators are a place for businesses to hatch; they get off the ground and eventually fly the coop, Wiersema said. But Sterling Centers, which is much larger than the other, similar centers in town, will be a place for businesses to hatch, grow and roost, he said.

“We’re in it for the long haul,” he said.

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Sauk Valley Business Journal

Page 10

Summer 2013

BUSINESS PROFILE

‘One of a kind’ shop opens in Amboy Ceier’s work is her hobby

By DEREK BARICHELLO dbarichello@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 526

AMBOY – Everything Staci Ceier makes is one of a kind.

The 41-year-old mother and grandmother has opened a boutique called Twigs & Sprigs at 205-1 E. Main St. in downtown Amboy.

She handcrafts wreaths, floral arrangements, specialty gifts, purses, scarves and baby decor, among other items.

Don’t believe everything is one of a kind?

Many of her customers ask her to make an item just like the one they’ve seen at a friend’s house or baby shower, and Ceier pleases them without giving in to her style.

“I can’t make it exactly like it,”

Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@saukvalley.com

Staci Ceier, owner of Twigs and Sprigs at 205-1 E. Main St. in Amboy, poses inside her crafts store.

Ceier, of Amboy, opened the boutique in early February. It is her first taste of business ownership.

Starting out as an art major in college, Ceier stopped her schooling to raise four children.

The love for art never left her.

She started doing projects out of her home for friends and putting them on Facebook. Word spread, and she decided to open her own shop.

She never dreads a day of work.

“I like it, because it doesn’t feel like a job; it’s more of a hobby,” Ceier said. “I don’t have to cater to a boss or follow a plan. I can do my own thing.”

Twigs & Sprigs has a Facebook page, which features photographs of several of Ceier’s crafts.

Her shop is open from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. The business can be reached at 815-238-1213.

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Sauk Valley Business Journal

Summer 2013

Page 11

open for business | ABRA AUTO BODY & GLASS

Sterling auto body shop thinks green ABRA offers environmentally friendly paint

Information

BY BRIDGET FLYNN bflynn@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 521

ABRA Auto Body & Glass, 1818 N. Locust St. in Sterling, is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Contact the shop at sterling@abraauto.com or 815625-2272 for more information.

STERLING – Regardless of the color you have your car painted at ABRA Auto Body & Glass, it will be green.

The shop uses an environmentally friendly water-based paint and a booth that dries the paint in 2 minutes, general manager Jerry Beightler said.

ABRA, which stands for Auto Body Refinishers of America, opened in March at 1818 N. Locust St. The shop, owned by Sterling Chevrolet, is one of the chain’s four Illinois locations.

The shop offers full-service repair, including collision, paintless dent removal, and

to do. Wyanet Meats used to lease the space now occupied by the auto body shop, Beightler said.

The dealership made a service area out of its former auto body space.

The new body shop has a drive-in bay so that in unpleasant weather, customers may look at their newly painted or repaired vehicles in comfort.

Most repairs can be done in 2 to 3 days, and ABRA can bill insurance companies directly, which “speeds up the process,” Beightler said.

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com

Brad Whitely sands down a body panel on a vehicle at ABRA, 1818 N. Locust St., which is owned by Sterling Chevrolet. auto glass repair and replacement. It also provides customers the free use of cars while theirs are being worked on.

Beightler has been the body

shop manager for Sterling Chevrolet for 25 years. The dealership has long owned the ABRA building and done detailing out of half of it, which it continues

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Sauk Valley Business Journal

Page 12

Summer 2013

COVER STORY | huntley horticulture service & huntley woods

Tree expert gives back to community Arborist offering free seminars to educate public

By Robert Dillon Special to Sauk Valley Business Journal

OREGON – Lant Huntley is a busy man.

Between running Huntley Horticulture Service, which takes him as far north as northern Minnesota and as far south as Springfield, and researching trees and removing invasive species as part of his Huntley Woods Tree Research Facility just outside Oregon, he rarely seems to have a day off.

And despite his busy schedule, he’s launched a free program of seminars he has dubbed “Tuesdays With an Arborist.” The seminars are held the second Tuesday of every month, April Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com through October.

Lant Huntley, of Huntley Horticulture Service and Huntley Woods Tree Research Facility, cuts down HUNTLEY continued on 134 invasive species that can prevent native oak and hickory trees from thriving.

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Sauk Valley Business Journal

Summer 2013

Page 13

Nature trail next in line for Huntley Woods HUNTLEY

Continued from 12 t

They’re Huntley’s way of giving back to those who have given him so much.

“He’s trying to educate the public,” said Carolyn Leake, who has been with Huntley Woods since the private tree research facility was built in 2007.

Huntley Woods, which consists of 40 acres of mixed hardwoods, also plans to open a nature trail by next spring. It will be named after Eugene Canfield, Huntley’s former Sunday school teacher, lifelong friend and mentor.

In fact, Huntley attributes the very existence of his facility to Canfield.

“He said, ‘Why don’t you give back what the Rock River Valley community has given you?’”

Huntley remembers.

“I reluctantly did it,” he said, “but then I realized that what he Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com had given me was a real gift.

Arborist Lant Huntley had this chest custom-made for his truck. When he arrives on scene, it rolls WOODS continued on 144 out with the equipment he needs to research and remedy the problem.

Sauk Valley Business Journal

Page 14

Summer 2013

Goal is to educate young people about trees WOODS

The seminar schedule

Continued from 13 t

“It was all about giving back.

That’s what he gave to me, through the seed that he planted.”

Huntley wants to share his knowledge and experience with the entire Sauk Valley community, including, and especially, its younger members.

“What really concerns me about young people today – not all, because I do know a lot of young people who do care – but there’s a lot that do not,” Huntley said. “They’re so busy in the technological world that has absorbed so much time, and it’s deviated from the natural world. A lot of our sessions here, we have very few people under the age of 30.”

He admits his first reaction “was one of frustration and just rejecting the idea that they would not participate in the world of the outdoors and learning about it.”

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com

The greenhouse at Huntley Woods is Lant Huntley’s place for quiet research and contemplation.

“But I know a lot of those people – they’re good people – they were just brought up in a different time, and maybe it’s not their failure, maybe it’s ours, to engender an interest in the outdoors.”

Despite that, Huntley is not a quitter.

“No matter whose failure it is, I’m going to continue to try to

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bring those people in.”

In fact, he is open to the idea of a Tuesday session geared toward a younger audience.

“If we were to do something like that, it’s like any other dimension in learning,” he said.

“We’d better be dynamic, and we’d better be able to relate to them, and take them not just into our world, but we’d better

Huntley Woods is at 1382 state Route 2 in Oregon. Go to www.huntleywoods.net or call 815-229-6695 for more information on the facility.

The remainder of the free “Tuesday’s with an Arborist” schedule is: June 11 – “Tree diseases; drought – or disease – or both?”

July 9 – “Care and maintenance of trees under stressed conditions” Aug. 13 – “In the woods – looking at trees – identifying problems – finding solutions” Sept. 10 – “Invasive species defined; identification and control” Oct. 8 – “Classroom in the woods; when to plant a tree, and how” join into their world a little bit if we want them to participate in their world, the outdoors.”

Sauk Valley Business Journal

Summer 2013

Page 15

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Page 16

Summer 2013

open for business | the Just-US place

Serving food and honoring soldiers 200-seat banquet room in the works

BY BRIDGET FLYNN bflynn@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 521

POLO – Polo does not have many venues suitable for weddings, reunions, and other large events, said Jeannie Kyker, who recently opened The Just-Us Place.

Kyker, 54, and her husband, Kendall Kyker, 50, hope to solve that problem. They are renovating the former bowling alley’s back room into a space that will seat 200. They hope to finish that project in October.

In this town of 2,300, everyone knows everyone, and so many residents want large weddings and reunions. They sometimes go to Dixon, Sterling or Freeport, because they can’t find a large venue, she said.

The bar and dining room

Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@saukvalley. com

Jeannie Kyker sits in the bar area at the Just-Us Place in Polo. She and her husband, Kendall Kyker, 50, created the space by renovating a former bowling alley. opened in March.

The Kykers used wood from some of the 12 bowling lanes to make the bar and the backs

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of seven dining room booths.

They added new lighting as well.

On a wall in the hallway are framed photos of their son, Staff Sgt. Justus Bartel, after whom the bar is named. Bartelt was 27 when he was killed in combat in Afghanistan in July 2010.

They are adding photos of other local troops, and they intend to add a graphic that reads “war on terrorism.”

The Kykers also memorialized their son by putting license plates from his motorcycle, pickup truck and Mustang on a wall of the dining room, along with a panel with four stars made out of license plates.

The panel and stars were a gift that their friend Nancy Swan of Dixon made in memory of Justus. Swan died about a year ago after being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

“It’s a little piece of her, and she’s gone, and it’s a little piece

If you go The Just-Us Place opened in March at 601 N. Union Ave. in Polo.

The dining area and kitchen are open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The bar’s hours vary.

Go to thejustusplace.com, find the restaurant on Facebook or call 815-946-3614 for more information. of Justus, and he’s gone,” Kyker said.

The Kykers allow the Polo VFW and American Legion to meet in the smaller banquet room, which seats 40 to 45, when it’s not being rented.

The kitchen serves sandwiches, hot dogs, wraps, salads, soups and dinners such as 10-ounce New York strip steak and deep-fried whole catfish.

Baskets with chicken strips or jumbo shrimp are also available.

Summer 2013

Sauk Valley Business Journal

Page 17

business profile

Shop adds space for bikes and events Room has bar where folks can drink water, watch Tour de France

About the shop and the club

BY BRIDGET FLYNN bflynn@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 521

STERLING – Bryce Mead did not know he was speaking prophecy when he told a buddy last summer that he’d like to buy the space next to his bike shop.

About a week later, Heather Lanell, the photographer whose studio occupied the space, posted a notice on Facebook that she was moving.

“I didn’t expect it to happen so suddenly,” said Mead, co-owner of Mead’s Bike Shop.

He and his wife, Marcy Mead, bought the 1,000 square feet of space at 416 Locust St. and recently opened it as a show-

Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@saukvalley.com

Bryce Mead, owner of Mead’s Bike Shop, talks about his recent expansion, which added 6,000 square feet to his shop in downtown Sterling. “We’re trying to be cycling central for northwest Illinois or the Sauk Valley region,” Mead said. room for about 50 mountain bikes.

The newly acquired space will be used to showcase certain bicycles; for cycling classes, informational sessions on bicycle safety and other issues; and for special events such as ladies’ night and men’s night.

The room also has a bar where folks can sit and have water or soda while their bikes are repaired or while a friend or family member shops. Mead plans to install a TV in the new room to live-stream the Tour de France.

“We’re trying to be cycling

Mead’s Bike Shop,414 Locust St. in Sterling, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Go to meadsbikeshop.com, find the shop on Facebook, or call 815-626-4601 for more information.

Bryce Mead also is president of Tempo Velo Cycling Club.

Go to tempovelo.com for membership forms and more information, or call the bike shop. central for northwest Illinois or the Sauk Valley region,” Mead said. “It’s about a community, really.”

They moved the shop to 414 Locust St. about 2 years ago.

Before that, the store was in Bazaar Americana, 609 W. Third St., for 7 years.

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Sauk Valley Business Journal

Page 18

Summer 2013

BUSINESS PROFILE

Shop offers custom-made primitives Prim Pickins sells furniture, home decor with a rustic, aged feel

Prim Pickins Prim Pickins sells Sarah Foshee’s primitive furniture. The store at 607 Griswold Ave. is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Wednesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday.

Call 815-499-7754 or find the business on Facebook for more information.

BY BRIDGET FLYNN bflynn@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 521

STERLING – In her 20 years of making furniture, Sarah Foshee has built up a following.

“People who know me, they’re like, ‘Sarah can do that; Sarah can do that,’” she said.

She makes custom furniture, and sometimes delivers large items for no fee.

Foshee opened Prim Pickins July 30 at 607 Griswold Ave. in a small building next to her parents’ home, which for 38 years housed their store, H&R Bait Shop.

The location is “off the beaten path,” she acknowledges. In

Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com

Sarah Foshee, owner of Prim Pickins, designs and builds most of the primitive-style furniture and home decor items found in her store at 607 Griswold Ave. in Sterling. fact, a sign on Fourth Street tells westbound drivers “Prim Pickins” can be found if they turn right.

Her service keeps customers coming back, she said.

“I promise it’ll be well worth

your trip,” she said.

Among other things, Foshee makes entertainment centers, TV stands, kitchen tables, bar tables, sofa tables, coffee tables, end tables, bookcases, bunk beds, dressers, windowpanes,

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She also makes small home decor items.

“If it can be built out of wood, I can make it,” she said.

The store is named after her style of furniture: primitive.

Pieces are made by hand, with simple, straight lines. “It’s all new, but I make it look old,” she said.

She uses quality materials, and her items have what a lot of people call character, she said.

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Sauk Valley Business Journal

Summer 2013

Page 19

business profile

Self Help adds Stage Two Resale Shop Store to become training ground for the disabled

To donate Stage Two Resale Shop will continue to accept donated items at the store at 225 First Ave. in Rock Falls, and now also will pick up items if the donor has no means of transportation.

The shop is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Go to selfhelp-sterling.com or call 815-626-7323 for more information.

BY BRIDGET FLYNN bflynn@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 521

ROCK FALLS – Self Help Enterprises is now operating Stage Two Resale Shop, and its proceeds will go to the nonprofit, which provides job training and other services for adults with disabilities.

In fact, sometime down the line, Self Help will train its clients in retail work and they will be paid for working there, said Carla Haubrich, executive director of Self Help.

The thrift store at 225 First Ave. was owned by Sauk Valley Christian Academy in Galt. The school gave the business to Self Help on Feb. 1, and its volun-

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com

Stage 2 shop manager Agnes Povilaitis is excited about Self Help Enterprises taking over the Rock Falls resale shop. The shop’s proceeds will go to the nonprofit, which provides job training and other services for adults with disabilities. teers will continue to give their time to the store, Haubrich said.

Self Help also will continue to employ the store’s longtime co-

managers, Agnes Povilaitis and Emily Habben, she said.

The name will stay the same, and no changes are planned

right now, although they hope to move to a bigger building eventually, she said.

Self Help took over the shop in part to have a funding source that does not come from the state, Haubrich said.

“We’re taking a proactive approach to trying to generate funds. ... I think it’s something that we need to do with the situation the state is in right now.”

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