A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Members of BALLE tour the Food Farm in Wrenshall Tuesday, including a stop at the tomato patch.
Brian DePew said "seeing contemporary art in a barn next to an organic farm in northern Minnesota is not the way I thought I would be ending my evening,"
DePew, the executive director of the Center for Rural Affairs located in Lyons, Neb., went on: "But I couldn't have imagined a more wonderful end to the day".
DePew was in Wrenshall Tuesday night along with 20 other fellows from BALLE, which stands for Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. The best description of what they are about came from Steve Dubb, the senior editor of Nonprofit Quarterly in Boston: "We're a bunch of folks interested in applying economic development principles to community wealth building. We're looking at how we can build up local networks in a way that is sustainable."
The group has been meeting for the past two years around the country and they chose Duluth and Wrenshall as their last stop.
Jamie Harvie is the director of the Institute for a Sustainable Future and lives and works in Duluth. He is one of the 2018 BALLE fellows and lobbied for a visit to Wrenshall as a way to show off the vibrant economic agriculture systems that have been developing in this area, due in large part to my family's Fisher-Merritt Food Farm.
"Our focus for this cohort has been on rural economic development," Harvie said. "The Fisher-Merritts have been an active part of helping to foster new and sustainable businesses and showcase how creative economic thinking plays an important role in community development."
In addition to a tour of the Food Farm led by John Fisher-Merritt, the group convened for a dinner at the Free Range Film Barn, catered by OMC of Duluth. After listening to some additional remarks and poetry by Fisher-Merritt, the fellows toured the current art exhibit on view in the loft and basement of the barn.
Local resident and owner of the Free Range Film Barn, Sandy Dugan, my mother, attended the tour and dinner and was excited to be able to show off the dynamic ecosystem here.
"I just feel so proud to live in this area where I can be a part of creative thinking around economic development," Dugan said. "This community is doing important work and I'm happy that it got to shine on the national stage."
If you want to share your own Wrenshall-specific story - let me know. Call 218-310-4703 or email annes [email protected]
