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CITY COUNCIL: Investing in natural resources PAGE 19
Couple shares story on officer's road to recovery after shooting BY NOELLE OLSON EDITOR
NOELLE OLSON | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
(From left) Jamey Worley, Big Wood Brewery vice president, owner Jason Medvec and brewmaster Ty Mcbee. The crew is excited to move into their new location on “Garceau’s Corner” in Vadnais Heights later this year.
Construction underway at Big Wood Brewery's future home BY NOELLE OLSON EDITOR
Big Wood Brewery is moving its taps from White Bear Lake to Vadnais Heights later this year. Jason Medvec, owner of Big Wood Brewery, purchased the property at 3429 Centerville Road, known as “Garceau’s Corner,” in 2021. “This is a famous corner, and it's home to the oldest two buildings and first homestead in Vadnais Heights,” Medvec said. “We ran out of space in 2018 at the White Bear location. We love White Bear, and it's a great community, but we can't make any more beer.” Medvec and his crew are excited about the new location, which sits on approximately 3.67 acres. “We're going to have a lot more room for activities with the big outdoor space,” Medvec said. “The building portion here is about three times the size of our existing location. We have a view of Lake Vadnais across the street, and the
sunsets are just gorgeous.” The new location will have 16 beers or seltzers on tap, a more extensive patio, a bonfire pit and live music. “We're going to have great music,” Medvec said. “It's going to be top-notch, and it's going to be the best in the area.” Jamey Worley, Big Wood’s vice president, said the new building will have an event center for weddings, parties and corporate and private events. “The events that we wanted to do at White Bear we can now do here,” Worley said. “The taproom is so small, and it really did limit our capacity for the things we really wanted to do. We were able to be successful to a certain degree, but we always were a bit handcuffed just by our indoor space size and then our outdoor space was owned by the city.” Master brewer Ty Mcbee said the brewery is in a great location. “By moving 10 or 15 minutes
closer to the cities, our home turf is within a 20-mile circle of cities like Little Canada, North St. Paul, Maplewood, Roseville, Shoreview and even Hugo,” Mcbee said. Medvec said the White Bear Lake location will remain open until the opening in Vadnais Heights. “We would like to open on New Year's Eve,” Worley said. Big Wood Brewery's first event will be Oktimberfest, from Sept. 29-Oct. 1. Worley said it will be held outdoors at the Vadnais Heights site. Future events planned include a car show, a swap meet and a farmers market in the parking lot. “We want to do more community centered events like outdoor movie nights,” Worley said. “We're really excited to be moving,” Medvec said. “I think this is a great location for us and for our customers to come to relax and drink a cold beer.” To learn more about Big Wood Brewery, go to bigwoodbrewery. com/.
It was a bitterly cold night on Jan. 24 when White Bear Lake Police Officer Ryan Sheak put on his uniform and headed to work. He called home to say goodnight to his three kids and his wife Amber before heading out to deliver a few arrest warrants. CONTRIBUTED “After he called that Amber Sheak stands night I put the kids to by her husband Ryan’s bed and I was just about hospital bed during his to put my phone down recovery after he was and it beeped and I saw shot three times in the it was a dispatcher,” line of duty. Amber recalled. “Then she immediately called me and said a White Bear Lake Police officer was shot. She also said she tried to call Ryan and he didn't answer.” She said she didn't want to believe it was Ryan, but had a gut feeling it was him. “I didn't want to think those thoughts and it might not be him, but then if it's not him, then it's someone else that I care about like family,” Amber said. “I didn't even have time to set my phone down and it started ringing with a random number. And I knew right then it wasn't good. So I answered and it was one of the firefighters Josh (Thermack) and he just said, 'Ryan's been shot, and we're headed to the hospital.'” Thermack put the phone on speaker so Amber could talk to Ryan. “Ryan said, ‘I'll be okay. Get to the hospital and drive safe,’ and I'm thinking in my head, ‘I'm not driving to the hospital, someone's gonna be driving me,’” Amber recalled. “I said, ‘I love you’ and that was hard for me, because I didn't know if that was the last time I would hear his voice." Amber called her parents, and they rushed over to the Sheak's home in Cottage Grove. Amber said all she wanted to do was get to the hospital to see how Ryan was doing. Her mom drove her. Meanwhile, Ryan — a six-year veteran of the police department — was fighting for his life after being shot in the thigh, stomach and pelvis at an apartment building while delivering one of those arrest warrants. SEE ROAD TO RECOVERY, PAGE 18
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