WILLMAR—The Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar’s Economic Development Commission began training the second Elevate class of entrepreneurs and local business owners Sept. 16.
The 12-week Elevate course offers hands-on training in business planning and management while providing business education and coaching specifically tailored to underserved minority entrepreneurs in the county.
The EDC partnered with the Southwest Initiative Foundation in 2017 to design and implement a Business Retention
NEW LONDON—Set among rolling hills covered in prairie grass and oak trees, Bethesda North Pointe, in rural New London, is the newest senior living community in Kandiyohi County.
Construction of the $21 million project began in the fall of 2019 and the facility is set to begin welcoming new residents this fall—just as Bethesda launches its year-long 125th anniversary celebration.
Founded in 1897, Bethesda operates its flagship, multi-faceted senior care facility complex in Willmar, as well as
WILLMAR—Two public hearings will be held at the Nov. 1 Willmar City Council meeting in regard to an expansion project at the Willmar Poultry Innovations facility near the Willmar Wastewater Treatment Plant on the western outskirts of Willmar.
The public hearings are mandated before the council can consider selling and rezoning the property Willmar Poultry is interested in buying.
The land in question wraps around the current poultry facility located on Kandiyohi County Road 116/75th Street, next
The Highway 23 Coalition has a vision of a four-lane corridor from the far southwest corner of the state near Luverne all the way up to Hinckley, just before drivers reach the popular North Shore. It is a vision that will require a lot of time, effort and money to make a reality, but it is a job the coalition seems willing to take on.
“We want the whole corridor, and we are not going to stop until we get it,” said Donna Boonstra, coalition chair.
In Minnesota, there isn’t a complete four-lane
NEW LONDON—For a town known as “the city on the pond,” it’s only appropriate that a business called Lucky Duck landed in New London.
Located in the former Mill Pond Mercantile building in downtown New London, the 7,500-square-foot Lucky Duck is filled floor to ceiling with shelves of games, toys, puzzles, books and opportunities for hands-on play. There’s also hand-dipped ice cream, popcorn and old-fashioned sweet treats in the two-story toy store with a mission of fun.
“We want it
WILLMAR—Giving customers “revolutionary solutions” to help them “feed the world” was the driving force that engineers at Nova-Tech Engineering in Willmar used to develop an all-in-one piece of equipment that performs multiple tasks to prepare fresh shrimp for market.
The automated platform, called ShrimpWorks, has the potential to dramatically change how fresh shrimp are processed here in west central Minnesota’s burgeoning shrimp industry and in countries around the world — including
WILLMAR—A unique working relationship between a former dairy farmer from Blomkest, two former poultry farmers from Danube and a high-tech engineering company in Willmar could produce the first commercial-scale saltwater shrimp to be born, raised and processed in Minnesota.
There are some moving pieces to the puzzle to fit together yet, but the picture looks promising.
“Everyone’s watching to see what happens,” said Becky Bruns, who is nearly done upgrading equipment at her farm-raised shrimp
WILLMAR—There has been a local, state and national push to expand broadband access into underserved or unserved areas, especially since the pandemic has shown how instrumental it is to have reliable high-speed internet. U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, in a visit to Willmar on Friday, joined a roundtable discussion about broadband to hear and learn about how broadband expansion is going in Kandiyohi County.
“I’ve been coming to Kandiyohi County to talk about broadband for a long time,”
WILLMAR—A large logistics facility to be constructed in the Willmar Industrial Park is still a go, though changes have been made to the land purchase agreement between the city and Ruedebusch Development & Construction National, the project developer.
The Willmar City Council, at its meeting Monday, made amendments to the purchase agreement and major subdivision plat. The council also approved the development agreement with RDC National, which lays out the responsibilities of each party.
RDC
WILLMAR— State representatives serving on the Minnesota House Capital Investment Committee stopped briefly in Willmar on Tuesday to learn about three local projects requesting state funding from the upcoming capital budget, or bonding bill.
Cliff Carmody, executive director of the cooperative, spoke on the expansion project for the Willmar center, which is located on the MinnWest campus. The center provides educational services for special education students. Currently, 31 students are enrolled
