Written by Executive Director, Aaron Backman
2023 was a memorable year in many ways. A new housing study covering all of Kandiyohi County was completed by Viewpoint Consulting in January. It identified a need for 2,555 additional housing units, including 1,580 units in Willmar, to be constructed between now and the year 2030.
Several housing projects that the EDC was significantly involved with were completed or commenced with this year. Edgeview, the Unique Opportunities multi-family project
Walking into the backyard of child care provider Michelle Weiler is like walking into a children’s fairy tale. It is the magic of Alice in Wonderland, the secret hidden place of the Secret Garden and full of children having as much fun as if they were in Peter Pan’s Never Never Land. But this isn’t a story of how they care for the children they watch; it is the story of how they care for each other.
Sue Yoakum and Michelle Weiler have been running their child care businesses and helping
In November, the Joint Powers Board voted unanimously to adopt a new public facing name for what has been known as the EDC, while the legal name remains the same.
The Kandiyohi County and City of Willmar Economic Development Commission (EDC) was founded in 2003 as a joint powers authority between the City of Willmar and Kandiyohi County through special legislation. “The past name served the purpose of introducing who and what this new organization was,” said Kelsey Olson, Marketing and Communications
September 15th to October 15th marks Hispanic Heritage Month, a month of reflection and appreciation of the Latino Community in America. In recognition of this month, the EDC, Mid-Minnesota Development Commission, the City of Willmar, and Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES) of Willmar have partnered to create a video that defines what it means to be Latino in Kandiyohi County. We asked simple questions, including ‘Where were you born?’ and ‘What does being Latino in Kandiyohi
The town of Tromsǿ, Norway, may not mean much to us, but for generations of families and now neighbors in Lake Lillian, Minnesota, it is a string that binds them together. It is the root of their lineage. This includes Gregg Hanson, the 6th generation of original homesteaders. Gregg’s grandparents, Gjertina Johnson, and Emil Hanson Junior, immigrated from the Tormsǿ area in 1900 and homesteaded on the Lake Lillian prairie. “They traveled all that way on the boat, they all got scurvy. . .
