CEDA

Article by: Nicholas Ouellette

There was plenty to celebrate at Trail Creek Coffee Roasters on Small Business Saturday this year. Trail Creek Coffee Roasters were officially welcomed to the business community with a ribbon cutting ceremony organized by the Kasson Chamber of Commerce. The ribbon cutting also coincided with the coffee roasters new food license and installation of their new sign above the entrance to the roastery.

The roasters new Temporary Food Stand License from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture will allow them to prepare and sell espresso drinks at a variety of events and locations throughout the year. You can find Trail Creek Coffee Roasters at the indoor Rochester Farmers Market at Graham Arenas throughout the winter. Looking forward to 2020, the roasters hope to be at events throughout the region such as the Dodge County Business Expo and Thursdays Downtown. Trail Creek Coffee will continue to sell beans and drip coffee from their roastery, you can find more information about products and hours on their website.

The new Trail Creek Coffee Roasters sign was installed in partnership with the Kasson EDA through their Business Façade Improvement Program. The program provides matching grants to businesses looking to improve the exterior aesthetics of their building. CEDA team member Nicholas Ouellette assisted the business through this application process and award.

You can visit Trail Creek Coffee Roasters in Kasson to resupply on coffee beans, sample their drip coffee, and maybe catch some roasting in action! They are located in Kasson’s old library building just off of Main Street. You will easily spot their building, now adorned with their new sign!

Article by: Annie Leibel

CEDA team member, Annie Leibel, who serves the City of Winnebago, MN, recently worked with Winnebago’s EDA to gather community input to help shape their future goals.

First, Leibel compiled a series of questions to survey the business community. The questions focused on workforce availability, business climate, and future plans. To increase responses, Leibel personally visited each business to distribute the survey. By personally distributing the surveys, Leibel was able to form a stronger relationship with the businesses and get a 37% response rate. The survey responses indicated several businesses were interested in expanding both their physical location and number of employees. These surveys will help guide Leibel and the EDA over the next year.

Once the business survey was complete, Leibel created a community survey to gather input from residents. The survey was sent via mail, along with the City’s first community newsletter to each residential address in Winnebago. The survey included questions about quality of life, city communication, and potential new offerings. The survey was then promoted on the City’s Social Media, and additional paper copies were available at City Hall. Both the newsletter and the survey were met with positive results. Residents were happy to be able to share their input, and appreciated the newsletter with important City information. Overall, residents rated their quality of life as good to excellent. The City also learned that many residents prefer to receive updates via a newsletter, as opposed to social media. Beginning in 2020, the City is planning to send out a newsletter at least twice per year to share current events, safety reminders, and important notices with residents.

Leibel will use the feedback from the business survey and community survey to guide the Winnebago EDA’s work in the future. The surveys have already led to stronger relationships with business owners, and residents have renewed optimism in the work of the EDA.

Article by: Joya Stetson

CEDA team member Joya Stetson, who serves the City of Stewartville, MN, recently worked with the City’s EDA to commission the creation of some inspirational community marketing videos. These videos, which were all produced by the company HH Solutions, were designed to personify living and working in the City.

Three total videos were created: one short video on living in Stewartville, one short video on working in Stewartville and a longer, combined production that incorporated both living and working in the City. The videos were all centered around interviews with local residents and businesses who recounted their gratitude for and experience with the amenities, incentives and overall helpfulness of City boards and personnel.

“The interviews captured by HH Solutions perfectly exemplify what it feels like to be a part of a community; they grab viewers’ attention and make them feel something,” said Stewartville Mayor Jimmie-John King. “After the unveiling of the videos, our entire EDA Board left feeling extremely proud to be in Stewartville.  It is something we cannot wait to share with the world!”

The Stewartville community videos have already been shared through the City’s social media and website.  HH Solutions also prepared an additional outline of marketing strategies to capitalize on the positive emotions evoked by the videos.

Want to check out the Stewartville community videos?  Click the links below.

Living in Stewartville

Working in Stewartville

Long Form Video

Article by: Mary Kennedy and Robert Harris III

Robert Harris, the CEDA representative serving as an Economic Development Consultant for the City of Upsala, MN,  recently provided assistance in creating and distributing a Healthcare Needs Survey to Upsala residents. With an impressive response rate of nearly 50%, the results will aid in the attraction of a healthcare provider to the community. Currently, an assisted living facility is slated for construction in the community with an identified developer. To push the project forward, the developer would like a commitment that a healthcare provider will sign a long-term contract with the facility. At this time there is no healthcare provider in Upsala. Residents have to travel a minimum of 15 miles to see a provider, and a minimum of 22 miles to the nearest hospital. Overall, respondents were enthusiastic about the possibility of bringing a healthcare provider to the city. “Upsala has an incredibly engaged and active citizenry, which contributed to the high overall response rate” said Harris.