Learn about your local business community!
Read our EDC “FACTS & STATS” entries:

  1. With the help of the EDC, my business (JS Cruise Time) is developing a website, has a logo and will be on Google map soon. The FREE hands-0n business internet workshops have been great. Thank You! 
  2. Bennett Office Technologies is celebrating our 30th year in business. 
  3. Conway, Deuth & Schmiesing, PLLP employs 23 partners and staff that studied at Ridgewater College. Milan Schmiesing, one of our three founding partners, was the first technical college graduate in the state to obtain his CPA designation. 
  4. In 2010, Affiliated Community Medical Centers used 19,300 tongue depressors!! ACMC also distributed 10,616 new books to children ages 0-5 through their Reach Out & Read program during well child visits! 
  5. Employment Plus helped almost 900 people find jobs last year in the Willmar area!
  6. With 28 CPAs, Conway, Deuth & Schmiesing, PLLP is one of the Top 25 CPA Firms in Minnesota according to the Twin Cities Business B.I.G. Book. 
  7. United Way of West Central Minnesota provided funding for programs that impacted at least 48,266 individuals last year.
  8. I have a small business designing websites for small businesses. It is my hobby. - Steph Johnson
  9. Willmar Ambulance Service is expecting over 2800 ambulance calls for 2011, last year we had 2642. Willmar ambulance has a 64 second average time from dispatch to en route to any emergency call and serves all of Kandiyohi County!
  10. Tires Plus in Willmar is one of only two independently owned tire dealers in Minnesota that buy tires direct from Michelin. Michelin has strict requirements in order to buy direct. Michelin also manufactures BFGoodrich, Uniroyal and some private brands. Because Tires Plus buys direct, Michelin offers extensive training for their staff. It also allows Tires Plus to buy tires for less, which allows them to sell for less. Tires Plus has been locally owned and operated by Jeff and Lynne Bleess for over 17 years.
  11. Prinsco, Inc., which is headquartered on the MinnWest Technology Campus, will have 8 manufacturing facilities across the United States by the beginning of 2012. They just opened one in Beresford, SD this year and will open another in the Fargo/Moorhead area next spring. The company started in 1975 in Prinsburg, Minnesota.
  12. US Bank is proud to support all the men and women who serve our country.  That's why we provide a variety of financial products and services to all members of the Armed Forces--Active Duty, Retired, Veterans, National Guard and Reserve.
    - Military Banking--Checking:  No monthly maintenance fee or minimum balance requirements as well as additional exclusive banking benefits
    - Home Loans:  US Bank is a VA-approved mortgage lender and offers loans up to 30 years with no down payment and no mortgage insurance requirements. 
    - Small Business Loans through the SBA Patriot Express Loan Program:  We're a strong supporter of this program that provides loans up to $500,000 to military entrepreneurs, including veterans, reservist, National Guard Members, current spouses and widowed spouses of service members.
    US Bank provides support in accordance with the Servicemember's Civil Relief Act
  13. The Reading Therapy Center, Inc., established in 2003, has moved three times to allow expansion and has added an additional center in Moorhead MN. We are a unique center that utilizes specialized therapy techniques to treat reading, language, comprehension and math disabilities in children and adults. We work with children individually, two hours a day, four days a week. Most children travel distances to come to our Willmar center as we draw from a ten county area.
  14. The Spicer Castle Inn was built in 1895 by John Spicer and has remained in the family to this day. It opened as bed and breakfast in 1989 with four guestrooms. It now has 18 guestrooms. Our small family owned business has welcomed tourists to the area for 22 years, this year alone we have had the privilege of welcoming over 2800 lodging guests to our beautiful lakes region.
  15. Since it was established in 2006, the MinnWest Technology Campus has invested over $14.2 million in improvements to their buildings and infrastructure. The campus is now bustling with 26 businesses and over 320 full-time employees.
  16. In 2010, local accounting firm Conway, Deuth & Schmeising donated over 3,200 hours of employee/partner time to their communities, impacting 97 organizations.
  17. Our local Department of Employment and Economic Development reports that there are 1,340 businesses employing over 22,000 people in Kandiyohi County. Another 2,976 people are self-employed.
  18. Touching Hearts at Home, a local company providing in-home non-medical care, performs 475 -650 shifts per month for local area seniors. Each shift can be from 1 to 24 hours.
  19. Bennett Office Technologies scans almost 200,000 email messages a day for spam and viruses for our customers!
  20. First State Agency of Lake Lillian was established in 1965 providing insurance services to the area. First State Agency has been privately owned since inception and is currently owned by Rick and Pat Nordin of Lake Lillian. The agency provides real estate services and personal - commercial insurance services to our area.
  21. Chris Lester started Twin Lakes Snow Removal in 1991. "Twin Lakes" was chosen because it was originally operated out of a home on Twin Lakes, located west of Spicer. By 1994 Chris was providing year-round services including Lawn Care, Dock Services, Landscaping and Tree Work. Sara joined the company in 1996. We incorporated the business in 2000.  John Jenniges first began working with Twin Lakes in 1999 as a crew member. By 2001 he had earned the title of Job Foreman. During 2007-2008 John was called to duty and served with the National Guard in Iraq. In January 2010, John became a Junior Partner with Twin Lakes Services, Inc. We employ around 14 Property Care Professionals and have found that a smaller number of applied crew members provide the personalized service our customers want. We strive to present ourselves as a professional, knowledgeable and caring business to our community.
  22. Spectrum Home Care's goal is to help individuals' achieve and maintain optimal health and independence in their homes. We serve patients from infants (0-1 year olds) to elderly. Spectrum Health Companies have 11 locations in Minnesota for home care services and assisted living. Spectrum employs home health aides, nursing services, and other employment opportunities.
  23. Gracie Margaret's Is celebrating their first birthday on November 16th!
  24. Dunn Bros Coffee in Willmar will freshly roast over 6500 pounds of coffee!!!
  25. Legal & Administrative Assistants (LAA) opened in 1994 and was the first business in Kandiyohi County to provide a central contact for interpreting and translation services, which was done at the request of the county’s healthcare providers and independent interpreters. Today, LAA has 10 Spanish interpreters and 4 Somali interpreters and has other languages available.
  26. Bethel Lutheran Church is one of the Willmar Downtown contributors to the Annual Celebrate Art! Celebrate Coffee! event held each September.  Bethel’s claim to fame is donated homemade pies and delicious coffee served each year.  In 2011, we sold over 500 tickets for pie and coffee. That equals over 62 homemade pies!  Some of this year’s proceeds were sent to our missionary in Lima, Peru. Blessings!
  27. CDS Administrative Services, LLC is a local Third Party Administrator of Cafeteria Plans and Retirement Plans with offices located in Willmar and St. Cloud. Their staff includes six Third Party Administrators and a Managing Partner.
  28. I am the proud owner of Illusions Boutique and Tanning in New London! Come celebrate Home for the Holidays this weekend. Lots of great deals to start your holiday shopping!
  29. Touching Hearts at Home's caregiver count has grown to 75 in 2011! Our caregivers love the opportunity to establish valuable relationships with families and we often hear comments like, "This doesn't feel like a job at all!" or "I can't believe I am getting paid to do something so rewarding."
  30. United Way of West Central MN's fact of the week: If every person in our West Central MN area donated $20 per person, we would exceed our fundraising goal of $923,000.
  31. In the past four years, Bennett Office Technologies has served 2,291 businesses!
  32. Green Lake Lutheran Ministries has hosted 225,533 campers and retreat guests since 1983. These guests of various walks of life have come from all over the state, country and even some internationally.
  33. Heritage Bank, with 13 branches in west central Minnesota and northwestern Iowa, received millions of dollars in Federal funding aimed at increasing jobs with small business loans.
  34. Did you know that Home State Bank loves four-legged customers too?  Last year we participated in the Humane Society of Kandiyohi and Meeker Counties “Give a Dog a Bone Program” and gave out over 2100 doggie treats to customers going through our drive thru window! Home State Bank has been serving customers in Kandiyohi County since 1926.
  35. Kandiyohi County Park #7 on Games Lake is one of only two of our many public beaches in the county that have lifeguards on duty all summer.
  36. Bethel Lutheran Church sponsors a Chili Feed each year in partnership with the Holidaze Parade. A network of over 60 volunteers prepares and serves hot steamy chili with a variety of toppings to over 700 visitors to the downtown celebration. Entertainment provided for diners and in the main sanctuary.  A variety of musical groups and styles of music are offered throughout Bethel Church. Next one is this weekend, come join us.
  37. Compassionate Care is celebrating its tenth year of business on March 1, 2012.  In those ten years Compassionate Care has never advertised for its help. Our 60 plus caregivers have been carefully chosen or were personally referred to us. We often say, “we don’t advertise for our help, we pray for our help.  We have been blessed with cream-of-the-crop caregivers and staff.” Compassionate Care serves a wonderful generation of grateful older adults.  Our home care and management services help our clients remain safe and independent at home.  We feel blessed to serve Kandiyohi county and the surrounding area residents.
  38. Did you know that Epitopix, an affiliate and tenant of the MinnWest Technology Campus, currently has 60 U.S. patents and 67 foreign patents?
  39. In addition to a wide variety of printing services, West Central Printing can also do custom rubber stamps for address, notary, deposit stamps, etc. We also carry a large selection of WoodWick candles & reed diffusers.  Owners Stephen & Laura Deleski have a combined 56 years of experience in the printing industry.
  40. With a May, 1889 “birthdate,” North American State Bank is the oldest family-owned and operated financial institution in Willmar. NASB joined the Willmar community in 2003.
  41. Community service is important to North American State Bank and its employees! Over the past year, North American State Bank’s 40 employees have donated more than 4,750 hours of service time and thousands of dollars to 62 local organizations.
  42. Dickerson’s Lake Florida Resort was started in 1924 by Bob Dickerson’s great grandparents & is the only 4th generation resort in Kandiyohi County!
  43. Kandiyohi County and Willmar are unique.  More wholesalers are located here than any other community in outstate Minnesota.  These wholesalers sell a lot of diverse products.
  44. In 1981, when Connie came to Dickerson’s Resort, there were 11 cabins and 28 beds to make. In 2011 there are 13 cabins and 47 beds to make!
  45. Bethel Lutheran Church will celebrate the 59th Anniversary of its annual celebration of Lucia Day on December 10, 2011 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.  The day is officially called St. Lucia Festival and honors the Swedish tradition of service to the community.  The day starts at 8 a.m. with crowning of the Lucia Queens followed by service to the community by Bethel’s young members.  The church is beautifully decorated in preparation for Christmas with traditional Swedish artifacts.  The festivities include music, coffee, and fellowship, not to mention many varieties of traditional delicious Scandinavian cookies.  Come join us!
  46. Dickerson’s Lake Florida Resort hosted 137 families for vacation in 2011.  136 of them were from outside of Kandiyohi County.  Connie Dickerson
  47. Willmar Community Senior Network (WCSN) is a 3-year-old nonprofit serving seniors aging 65+ that connects seniors to volunteers and resources. WCSN Volunteers put in over 3400 hours and 1300 unique home visits to support local seniors last year.
  48. Conway, Deuth & Schmiesing’s (CDS) business is one of 18 points of interest along Willmar Walks. Willmar Walks is 3 measured walking paths in Downtown Willmar with sidewalk markings for 1 mile, 1-1/2 miles and 2 miles. At CDS, you can view our historical, local photos displayed in our firm’s lobby and hallways.  Annette Benson, CDS.
  49. In 2011, Dickerson’s Lake Florida Resort served 217 pizzas at their Monday Pizza Party. The pizzas were all made locally by Jakes Pizza of Willmar.
  50. Did you know that Willmar Poultry Company hatches turkey poults four days a week in the Willmar hatchery, totally approximately 180,000 turkey poults a day! Wow! Now that is amazing!
  51. You may not be aware of the fact but ALL the free calendars that Atwater State Bank provides its customers contain 365 days! In celebration of the fact our 2012 calendars now have an extra day – come check it out!
  52. 2012 will be the 6th summer that Bethel will sponsor the concert series “If it’s Tuesday, it must be Bethel.”  Each Tuesday during June and July at noon, 8 different area musical groups and individuals entertain concert-goers on Becker Avenue between 4th and 5th Street for about 45 minutes.  The street is blocked off, chairs and shade are provided for concert-goers.  Area restaurants provide food and beverage at minimal cost, which is served before and during the concert.  Would you like to be included as one of the performers in 2012?  Call the church office at 235-5450 for more information!
  53. Gurley's Foods roasts over 6,000,000 pounds of in-shell peanuts every year.  Laid end to end, these peanuts would reach coast to coast . . . 5 times! If you laid the peanuts end to end since our start, they would easily reach the moon! We sell over 45 truckloads of almond bark in October and November each year. That equates to 1.5 million pounds of candy coating mainly used to make coated pretzels!
  54. Did you know that Peaceful Thymes in Atwater grows over 31,000 plants from seed and plugs. They also wholesale during the spring growing season and during the Christmas season. Plus, there are new, exciting changes happening to Peaceful Thymes.
  55. Companywide, Willmar Poultry Company hatches approximately 90 million poults a year. That is a lot of turkeys!
  56. Seeing a need in the Biofuels Industry, Christianson & Associates, PLLP, developed our own proprietary ERP software, Intellego, for process manufacturing, which fully integrates with Microsoft Dynamics GP, and have implemented more ERP systems than any other company in the biofuels industry.
  57. Christianson & Associates, PLLP is proud to have been able to assist over 200 startup companies in the last 10 years, through the development stage business by providing entity analysis, strategic planning, forecasted financial statements and business plan preparation.
  58. Three Sisters Furnishing in New London is the only Amish Furniture store in Minnesota that sources Amish furniture from family furniture makers right here in Minnesota. We are also the only store that can supply their customers with custom-built furniture.  Since opening in July of 2009, this family owned business has had Amish furniture sold in several Midwest states and Canada. Three Sisters Furnishings is currently doubling its square footage with an expansion that will provide more than 5,000 square feet of showroom and customer service facilities.
  59. Since January 1, 2011, Q102 has played over 87,281 songs!
  60. RedStar Creative, a local advertising agency, has been using Adobe Photoshop for over twenty years, since it was first released on floppy disks in 1990. Since that time, RedStar has provided hundreds of hours of small group and customized training on Photoshop and a variety of other software, design and marketing  topics.
  61. Prinsco, manufacturer of high performance plastic drainage pipe, uses thousands of tons of recycled plastic each year. In fact, in just a few hours, Prinsco can easily use all of the recycled (#2) plastic it takes our local recycling center thirty days to produce.
  62. In the month of November alone, Touching Hearts at Home, headquartered out of New London, will celebrate over 1,095 years of birthdays among clients and caregivers. That's a lot of candles!
  63. The West Central Tribune’s web site wctrib.com averages 1.2 million page views every month.