Wright co-op celebrates 100 years

Manager Timothy Bury stands in the back office at the Farmers Cooperative store in Wright, thumbing through an old ledger book: its thick yellow pages still sturdy, cursive handwriting detailing the first meeting in February 1919 still legible.

"The farmers of Wright and vacinity (sic) met ... for the purpose of forming a company for the conducting of a General Mercantile business," it starts, the handwriting probably by A. Lundquist, who was appointed secretary of the new cooperative.

The writer goes on to detail other board members, including Anton Johnson, John Walli, G.A. Forgerson, Ole E. Moon, C.A. Johnson and Fred Bushey. Forgerson was appointed president.

"The selection of a manager is left to the board of directors," the secretary continued. "Then was 78 declared members and most of them agreed that the meeting very harmonious, which looks good for the future of the Cooperative."

When he gets time - not often - Bury enjoys looking through the old books stacked on a shelf in what used to be a locked safe.

"It was a true cooperative, founded by a bunch of Finlanders in true Marxist type cooperative, where the benefits are supposed to come back to members," Bury said, adding that the problems with Marxism come when human beings get involved. He explained that there are no membership requirements to shop there, and no price difference for those who claim membership and those who don't.

Original shares sold for $10 each, Bury said, money the cooperative used to get the building and stock the shelves. They opened the doors June 3, 1919.

On Saturday, June 1, the Farmers Cooperative will celebrate its 100th birthday with customers and residents. There will be free food and drinks, including some of the co-op's special brats, hot dogs and hamburgers, along with a trivia contest all about the Farmers Cooperative.

The brick building sits a block or so away from Highway 210, just past the old school and across the street from the tiny Wright Post Office. There's an old pumphouse out back, and the vista across the railroad tracks to the north is nothing but rural farmland.

Ron Rosbacka shops at the cooperative about once a week.

"I've shopped here for years," he said. "The meat is excellent. And it's a small store, I don't have to go too far. And I like to support local."

Back when the Farmers Cooperative started, Wright was a bustling little town. Most recently, the 2010 census put its population at 127, with 52 households.

When Bury started as manager there in 2013, he got some interesting, but solid, advice.

"'Don't ever run out of Top of the Tater', they told me. You could start a mass riot," he said with a chuckle. "They weren't kidding."

"We have enough to meet people's needs," Bury said. "But we don't carry a bunch of different brands."

There's a little bit of everything in the store: health and beauty products, household goods, canning supplies, automotive fluids, a "no hunting" sign, canned and boxed goods, frozen food, cereal, pop, fresh fruit and vegetables, frozen pizza. The meat fridge boasts freshly made brats - wild rice and cheese are popular, as are the pickle and blue cheese brats - along with other meat specialty items made right there, like stuffed pork chops and bacon wrapped chicken breasts. There are flip-flops hanging next to the candy, and a little room filled with books and clothes. Much of the dairy comes from another, more famous cooperative: Land O' Lakes.

People can buy feed and minerals for everything from cows to goats and pigs, and seed for growing hay in the new warehouse - an addition designed by Bury - which is heated with the warm air from the compressor room that used to vent outside.

In her book of Wright memories, "Have no fear, Wright is still here," former teacher Helen Benson quoted Garrison Keillor to describe the Wright store: "If you can't find what you want in this store, you don't need it."

The building at 1398 Center Road is actually the third home for the Farmers Co-op in Wright: A former Twin Ports Creamery building, the Farmers Cooperative moved there in 1969. The co-op began in a former grocery store a couple blocks west of its current spot, then moved across the street and turned the first store into a feedmill, now vacant.

Bury remembers touring the old creamery when he was in elementary school in Wright, before he moved onto high school in Cromwell. He grew up and moved away for many years - joining the military and then starting his own business - but moved back about six years ago, tired of city life.

Things have changed since he went to school here.

"When I was growing up, there were 500 dairy farms in Carlton County," he said. "Now there are more like five. You couldn't swing a cat without hitting a dairy farmer."

As the agricultural nature of the area has changed, the cooperative has adapted. Although the warehouse still has bags of animal and pet feed, molasses, salt and other minerals stacked on the shelves, it's nothing like the old days.

"Now we're doing more part-time farmers with cow-calf operations, or hobby farms with cows, goats or horses, where they're really not raising them to make money," he said.

The latest challenges to the Cooperative are internet sales and the new Dollar General Store that started up in Cromwell last year.

"Before Dollar General came, I'd been steadily improving [sales] each year," Bury said. "We were up about 10 percent a year ago. Dollar General came in it really hurt. Last month they took 25 percent of sales."

He's still seeing growth in certain categories of sales, like meat and produce, and the feed and farm products that the national chain doesn't carry.

It isn't the first time the cooperative has hit tough times. Bury was hired when things weren't going so well, and Benson's book includes a report delivered by longtime manager Ellen Peterson in 1927 that explained how the Farmers Cooperative nearly went bankrupt in 1921, only two years after it had opened.

In her report, Peterson said the store had multiple managers in its first eight years. That trend didn't last, as Peterson remained the store manager for more than 50 years, working there nearly 60.

Benson wrote that Peterson considered the store her vocation, and managed it not just to make money for its members, but also to serve them.

"It was a community center, a gathering place where people exchanged news, gossip, and views," Benson wrote in her book. "I still remember the wood-burning stove that was its source of heat in the winter, around which people gathered to talk and warm up."

The Petersons lived on a farm close to Bury's family's farm.

"I know Ellen didn't take a paycheck sometimes," Bury said. "Talk about selfless service. That's someone to aspire to, although she never got rich. But there's more to life than money, right?"

Bury said he keeps things going with lots of help from his fellow employees, particularly Jill Dahl and Jan Abel.

"They are the two that keep me going," he said, while the two longtime employees - Dahl at over 20 years and Jan somewhere between 12-15 - chopped meat and made brats to fill the meat cooler.

Cashier Kaylee Besch started two weeks ago. The Cromwell grad said she loves it.

"The people are nice; they come in and greet you every morning or every time you work," she said. "The other staff members here are really nice, really helpful." She lives a little over a mile away so it's a quick trip to work. Besch remembers coming to the store with her parents and grandparents.

It's quiet in the middle of the day on a Tuesday, but the workers are busy and it seems there is always at least one customer in the store.

Although he works far more than 40 hours most weeks, Bury is glad he made the move. He is living in the farmhouse he grew up in, a little over three miles away.

"Life moves at a slower pace around here," he said.

It's a milestonebirthday party

The Farmers Cooperative in Wright will celebrate its 100th birthday Saturday, June 1, with a party for customers. There will be free food and beverages for all, including brats, hot dogs and hamburgers, starting around 10 a.m. and going until the food runs out. There will be a trivia contest about the store, and the person who gets the most answers correct will receive a $50 gift certificate for the co-op.