Off-The-Cuff
It’s March Madness time, and the Editor is especially excited for his Atlantic 10 Dayton Flyers—yet at this writing, he’s not sure they even made the tournament. You probably have your favorite college hoops squads, too. So buckle your seat belts and away we go….
Again, welcome to the fifteenth anniversary of southern Minnesota’s first and only locally owned business publication, Connect Business Magazine. Can it be fifteen? We began lean and mean in early 1994, featuring Micro-Trak Systems (Mankato) and screen printer Kutzwald (Judson), and have grown from 600 to more than 7,500 in circulation….
Inspired by his daughter, the Editor in January began a FaceBook page and the experience revealed volumes about the Internet age. One little-known fact: The Editor’s Cincinnati high school was also helter-skelter Charles Manson’s for two years in the late 1940s. On our high school’s FaceBook group, you can even find a Charles Manson. Indeed, this is indicative of our times in one of two ways: first, that Charles Manson would even be allowed to post on FaceBook; or second, that Facebook would allow someone to fake being Charles Manson. Given FaceBook has dozens of identical, angry-eyed, hair-tangled Charles Mansons, our guess is, the latter…
Over the years, the Editor has befriended a few people featured. One such lasting friendship has been with William “Bill” Carlson (Sept. ’96 issue), the founder of Carlson Craft, who sold out to Glen Taylor and others in the ‘70s. Not long ago, William Dewey Carlson celebrated his 94th birthday. If you’d like to wish him happy birthday, and say hi to wife Vi, send cards and letters to 100 Dublin Road #2223, Mankato MN 56001…
For Hot Startz! this issue, the Editor featured, among others, Diane Nelson of Fairmont’s Olive Leaf Pantry, a retail store that sells hard-to-find dry grocery, dairy, and frozen items for people who can’t tolerate gluten, lactose, nuts, eggs, soy, tree nuts or other foods. Like Nelson’s daughter, the Editor has Celiac disease, which means he can’t eat wheat, barley or rye. After visiting the store with his son in January, the Editor, on the way home, was able to eat certain good-tasting baked goods—containing wheat substitutes—for the first time in years…
Sure was great calling and emailing all the folks on our cover since 1996 for this special issue. One conversation the Editor had was with Bob Gallaway, former top dog of Ridley Inc., a $600 million ag-related Mankato company. Gallaway mentioned meeting Dale Brenke at a Christmas party years ago, co-owner of Schmidt Siding & Window, who was featured in our 2009 Business Person of the Year issue. (That story also featured Radio Mankato and Schmidt Siding & Window’s successful “Extreme Makeover” promotion.) Gallaway said he read the Brenke feature and then remembered back to the Christmas party years earlier. How often we publicly brush up against businesspeople and often have no clue about their personal and professional backgrounds, he said…
This magazine has many unsung heroes. It takes a team effort to publish Connect Business Magazine, from Becky Wagner (production), art director Kris Kathmann, sales manager Cory Sjoblad, circulation manager Dave Maakestad, and publisher Jeff Irish, to production support offered by J.R. Smith, Josh Swanson, and Kelly Hanson. Connect Business Magazine is owned by Nicollet-based, graphic design studio Concept & Design Inc. Our printer, Corporate Graphics of North Mankato, does a remarkable job…
Also, we hope you continue enjoying Connect Business Magazine. In our tenth anniversary issue, in 2004, the Editor closed out his column with these words that still ring true: “In the future, you will notice changes in our layout, and in the way we present opinion and information. But you won’t again see us focus solely on issues or products, though they will remain a part. Our readers tell us they have developed a taste for our food, and this editor isn’t about to mess with a winning recipe”….
Finally: We certainly hope you enjoy reading another 15 years of Connect Business Magazine as much as we did publishing the first 15….
