May 15, 1888 - The Chamber of Commerce was organized with the filing of the Articles of Incorporation, constitution and bylaws for the stated purpose of “advancing the commercial, mercantile and manufacturing interests of Little Falls and the surrounding country”.  Listed on the initial membership roster were 42 businesses.

For the past 133 years, the Chamber has been instrumental in the development and expansion of business in Morrison County. The foresightedness of the founding fathers of the area laid the foundation for the Chamber as we know it today.

There is little recorded history for the Chamber from the years 1888 to 1954. The Chamber’s first paid staff came in the form of administrative support by Mrs. W. J. Bellefeuille from 1954-1960 and Lorrie Virnig from 1960 – 1961.

G. Harmon Klemme was the first paid administrator serving 1960 – 1962 followed by W. J. Vondrashek from 1963 -1967.  The Glen Kraywinkle tenure was from 1967 – 1984; Dave Hochhalter from 1984 – 1995; Elaine Westerdahl-Delaney from 1996 – 2003 and Debora K. Boelz from 2004 until her retirement in 2022.  

1972 - the Chamber took over the sponsorship of the Little Falls Arts & Crafts Fair.  This event has grown to include hundreds of vendors from 25 states. It annually attracts crowds of shoppers numbering over 130,000.

1984 -  the Chamber of Commerce changed its name to Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce to demonstrate the importance of developing an area wide approach to attract new commercial and industrial businesses.    

1989 - the annual golf outing was started. 

1991 -  the Chamber moved into its current offices located in the historic Cass Gilbert Depot.  The results of a community-wide effort saved the historic train depot from demolition and it is now used not only to house the Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, but contains a community room that is enjoyed by many people on an annual basis. 

2004 - Friday Morning Coffees were started. In 2006, the tag line “Proudly serving Morrison County since 1888” was added and the logo revised.   In 2006, Sporting Clays networking event was started.

2007 - an expanded, full-color membership directory was published.   In 2008, the Chamber website was redesigned and the City of Lights were retro-fit with energy efficient LED bulbs. Meet Me @ the Chamber was new programming started in 2009. 

2014 -  the Chamber created its first Facebook page for the Little Falls Arts & Crafts and Market Place Fairs. In 2015 a new networking event, Lunchtime on Location replaced Business After Hours.  

2017 - the educational component formerly titled Leadership LindyLand was revised to Falls Area Leadership Series (FALS). Building on the success of the previous eight sessions, updated content was added with an enhanced four-month sessions being offered in off-years focusing on middle management.   

2020 - the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way the world did business. Adapting to those changes, the Chamber was a county-wide leader in supporting the business community, their families and employees.

2021 - The phone system was replaced with Consolidated Telephone Communications.  The Little Falls Business Association was combined back into the Chamber with a newly formed Community Promotions Committee.

Objective: To provide a varied offering of networking events and to provide all members an opportunity to develop business relationships with each other. 

Board Liaison:  Jana Festler, Edward Jones Investments

Lunchtime on Location

Lunchtime on Location networking is held over the lunch hour and provides the opportunity for a Chamber member to showcase their business. 

January –  no event held

February – Brenda’s Seasonal Specialties

March – Hilmerson’s Sports Center & General Rental

April – Diggity Dowdle

May – FALS Graduation                                                            

August – Morrison County United Way

September – Kinship of Morrison County

October –  no event held

November – The Office Shop  

December -  no event held  due to the holidays

Friday Morning Coffee

Friday Morning Coffees are held the 3rd Friday of the month at either the Cass Gilbert Depot or at the sponsoring business.  

January –  Pay It Forward Foundation

February – Little Falls Lindbergh Lions

March – Little Falls Health Services

April – Sea View Farm

May – Thrive With Vision & Thrive Vision Therapy

June – ANMC Holistic Health, LLC

July – Baby’s on Broadway

August – The Shoppes of Little Falls

September – Edward Jones Investments

October –  5 Star Auto Glass

November – Great River Arts

December  -  Community Promotions Committee

First Place: 

White Wolf Custom Apparel & Design low score team coming in with a 53. Pictured are Jeremy Nuehring, Jason Nuehring, Cooper Berg and Riley Scanlon 

Draw Winners: 

• Grand Casino Mille Lacs, with team members Robert Oswaldson, Ozzie Oswaldson, Tom Martin & Joe Setness; 

• Range Printing with team members:  Amber Rausch, Dan Mohs, Brian Britton & Levi Pelzer

Men's Longest Drive: Eric Hedman

Women's Longest Drive: Melissa Holst

Putting Contest: Jodi Weaver, Allison White Insurance

Chipping Contest: Scot Antolak, Mid Minnesota Federal Credit Union

Skins:

• Broadway Tire with team members Joey Kirschner, Chad Loom, Shane Eastman & Bryan Nygaard

• Minnesota Signature Care with team members: Matthew Pallansch, Mitch Pallansch, Miquel Camps & Gary Pallansch

• Farmers & Merchants Bank with team members: Randy Cebulla, Jonathan Holmgren, Mike Poser & JD Folger. 

SPECIAL THANKS:

5 Star Auto Glass for the cart sponsorship and prizes, Froggy’s Signs for signage, Subway for box lunches, Little Falls Radio for the Live on Location Party Line broadcast prize, Edina Realty for sponsoring the ice cream treats, Papa Murphy’s for coupons, Dahlheimer Beverage for sampling on the course and to Grand Casino Mille Lacs for the stay and play package. 

Schlenner Wenner & Co with a score of 144.  Photo line-up:  left to right:  Brian Schellinger, Ryan Finberg, Cody Cook and Joe Berg

Flurry Shooting: 3-way tie with Schlenner Wenner & Co breaking 39 of 40 targets. 

Top Female Shooter: tie between Madison Bates, Magnifi Financials’ team and Kendra Fischer from Barrett Pet Food Innovations with scores of 32 of the 50 targets.  

Top Male Shooter: tie between Mike Fulford, Seaview Farms and Rob LeBlanc on the Dahlheimer Beverage team, both breaking 49 out of the 50 targets. 

Objectives: 

• To recognize members of the Chamber for their membership and support of the community

• To recognize new businesses in the service area for their choice of location and assist them in growing a prosperous business network

• To recognize the importance of outstanding employees from the membership

Lindy Greeters

Chair:  Sheila Watercott, Stand Up 4 U Coalition    

Board Liaison:  Peter Mooney, The Source Computing

Lindy Greeters visited 19 new businesses in the service area in 2022.  Regular member calls, which are made on a 3-year cycle, were made to 64 Chamber member businesses.

Thank you to the Morrison County Record for publishing, free of charge, the Lindy Greeter visit photos of new businesses in the service area.  This truly demonstrates the paper’s commitment to supporting area growth and development.   

Special Thanks

Thank you to the Morrison County Record for publishing, free of charge, the Lindy Greeter visit photos of new businesses in the service area.  This truly demonstrates the paper’s commitment to supporting area growth and development.   

Outstanding Service Committee

Chair:  Ashley Effinger, Morrison County Social Services

Board Liaison:  Nathan Diehl, Reality Roasters

The Outstanding Service Committee works to identify and reward Chamber members and their employees who go above and beyond the job description in their daily jobs. Nominations are sought from the general public as well as other Chamber members for Employee of the Month designations, Large and Small Business of the Year and the Volunteer of the Year awards.

The Employee of the Month (EOM) program recognizes a Chamber member employee who have been nominated by a customer or employer.  In 2022, the 12 Employees of the Month were:

         January – Lacy Huben Paradox Chiropractic

         February – Angie Metter, Little Falls Eye Care Center

         March – Brandon LeBlanc, Pizza Ranch

         April – Joyce Wielinski, Coborn’s Marketplace

         May – Barb Zajac, Family Medical Center

         June –  Kim Tretter, Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls

         July – Melanie Tate, Subway

         August –  Sophie  Ngomuo, Dairy Queen

         September – Taylor Hernandez, Hand of Hope resource Center

         October –  Janelle Hansen, CareerForce

         November –  Julia Mueller, Linden Hill Historic Estate

         December – Toni Johnson, Walmart

Special Thanks:

The Morrison County Record supports the Employee of the Month program by running monthly articles and photos of each recipient. The Employee of the Month is also presented with gift certificates to one or more of the following:  Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Johnny C’s Sports Bar, Papa Murphy’s Pizza Ranch, Pine Ridge Golf Course, Realty Roasters, Subway, Thrive With Vision, and the Vacuum Cleaner Outlet & Service Center    

Chamber Member Business Spotlights are posted on the Chamber’s Facebook page with an exterior photo of the business as a means of thanking the member and sharing goods and services provided. 

Objectives

• To further enhance the various communication channels of the Chamber including the Chamber newsletter, the Chamber’s website, www.littlefallsmnchamber.com, direct mail, and guest columns written by the President/CEO in the Morrison County Record

• To cultivate relationships within the community generally, and specifically with members, by increasing awareness of Chamber activities and the services and activities of its members 

In 2022, 12 issues of the Chamber newsletter were published.  Weekly Updates were sent electronically on Fridays, previewing the up-coming week’s activities and noting member sponsorships of events while providing advertising opportunities for members.  

ChamberMaster, a software company that specializes in providing services to chambers of commerce, integrates the Chamber’s membership data base with the website software, streamlining many of the day-to-day activities of the staff.  Not only is the membership data base maintained by ChamberMaster, the Arts & Crafts and Market Place Fairs vendor information is managed in this same format.

Press releases were done on networking opportunities, Chamber sponsored events such as legislative updates, educational sessions and the Arts & Crafts Fair.  Press releases were regularly sent to the Brainerd Dispatch, St. Cloud Times, Morrison County Record, and Little Falls Radio.

The Chamber website, www.littlefallsmnchamber.com, provides members and the greater community with information on upcoming events and membership listings with links to each individual business website, where available. 

Objectives:

• To work in partnership with a variety of community entities (governmental, nonprofit, and private) to address community issues and opportunities

• To provide support to Chamber members through advocacy and liaison with government, taxing entities (including city, county, townships, and school districts) on a case by case basis as determined by the Board

Legislative Updates & Hosted Meetings

The 2022 session started on January 31st  with the pre session, community open mic event  held on January 28th at Little Falls City Hall.  The post session recap was put on hold pending a special session that was not called by the Governor. Being this was an election year, in fairness to all candidates, no post session was done that close to the primary election.  Thank you to the City of Little Falls for being the host site and to Mark Slupe, Great Television for recording the January session for rebroadcast on cable access. 

Objectives:

To generate income to support the activities of the Chamber which are unable to generate income

To make a donation to local projects and programs

To provide information, marketing, and promotion to area residents and potential visitors in order to increase the dollars spent in the community

Activity: Heritage Preservation Commission, Halloween Trick or Treating and Chamber Bucks. 

Halloween Trick or Treating with the business community was held on October 31st with over 750 children participating.

Little Falls Arts & Crafts and Market Place Fairs

The Little Falls Arts & Crafts Fair continues

to be a quality event which includes a cross

section of handcrafted merchandise in a

comfortable and safe setting for shoppers.

The 49th annual Arts & Crafts Fair and the 10th annual Market Place Fair was held September 10 & 11 in the historic downtown streets, parks and parking lots. 

Priding ourselves on having a Fair comprised of handcrafted items, each year vendors have been denied access to the Fair, or juried out of the event.  To accommodate vendors with buy-sell items, the Market Place Fair was added in 2012 and was staged on 1st Street NW and Highway 27 and included 46 vendors with buy-sell, commercial product lines.  

The Fairs are a source of financial support to the community through significant contributions to the operations and projects of the Chamber. The proceeds from the Fairs underwrite the dues for all Chamber members, making Chamber membership affordable.  Proceeds from the Fairs have been reinvested in the community by the Chamber on items such as the historic streetlights, downtown redevelopment, maintenance and upkeep of the entry signs into Little Falls, in the sponsorship of the Falls Area Leadership Series (FALS) and through financial contributions to the Dam Festival ($500), Community Development of Morrison County ($1,000) and the Initiative Foundation ($1,000).  

In 2022, the Arts & Crafts Fair welcomed 42 food vendors, 427 artisan/craft vendors and 46 Market Place vendors. Attendance for this event was estimated at 125,000 people.  Locally, 20+ nonprofit agencies earned money for their programs through the Fair by working the event for the Chamber, by having a food booth or staffing parking lots for local service organizations. 

The use of electronic marketing was expanded beyond the Facebook page for the Fairs to eBlasts and boosted posts.

Objectives:  to provide development services to assist in the areas of leadership and business.

Falls Area Leadership Series  (FALS)

Chair:  Bonnie Bachan, Morrison County Social Services

Board Liaison:  Jana Festler, Edward Jones Investments 

In its 16th year, the Chamber leadership programming underwent a name and logo change, plus revised program content.  The newly named FALS continues to provide a training ground for the next generation of community leaders.  Programming is held every other year with 2021 being the beginning of biennial cycle.

2021 – 2022 Participants

Jeff Bowman

Morrison County

Annie Cribb

City of Little Falls

Jana Festler

Edward Jones Investments

Nathan Harrison

Friends of Pine Grove Zoo

Samantha Hofer

Bridgeway Estates

Jeremy Hoffman

US Bank

Austin Johnson

Randall State Bank

Pennie Molitor

Thrive With Vision

Chelsea Rutz

Sourcewell

Julie Veillette

Schlenner Wenner & Co.

Danielle Yorek

Paradox Chiropractic

Nikunj Mathukiya 

Minnesota Power

Falls Area Leadership Series provides the opportunity for businesses to speak to the participants by being a session sponsor or graduation sponsor.  Sponsors during the spring sessions were LeBlanc’s Rice Creek Hunting & Recreation, Thrivent Financial - Alicia Kapus, and the Stand Up 4 U Coalition.   Program content for FALS is broken down into nine days over the course of the year.  A community service project is incorporated into the leadership development training that instills group planning and implementation skills. This years’ project was called Bunny Bingo, a family-friendly event held on April 9th at the VFW Club.  Funds raised were donated to the City of Little Falls earmarked for handicapped assessable playground equipment in Gamradt Park at 300 7th Street NW.      

Minnesota Manufacturing Week Celebrated

In collaboration with Morrison County Community Development and Rural MN CEP, the Chamber sponsored a tour of Lakeshirts and Wabash on October 26th.  Attendees from the Chamber community and general public numbered over 75 plus 167 from area high schools.

Liaison Activities:  Community Development of Morrison County, City of Little Falls and  Visit Little Falls  

Other Community Outreach: In 2022, Chamber staff served on the boards Little Falls Lindbergh Lions, City of Little Falls’ Heritage Preservation Commission, Stand Up 4 U and the Citizens Committee at Camp Ripley.  Staff regularly attends meetings of the Little Falls Business Association, City of Little Falls Park, Recreation and Tree Board meetings, and the West Side Improvement Association.  

The Little Falls Business Association (LFBA): was absorbed into the Chamber which then formed the Community Promotions Committee. The Committee has been working on the 'Shop. Live. Work. Play' local campaign. The Key Tag promotion was Launched in Q1 of 2023 as a part of this campaign. 

Chair:  Tom Hoggarth, Golfer Organized for Little Falls

Vice Chair:  Jana Festler, Edward Jones Investments

Committee:  Executive Committee

Annual Meeting

Due to the lingering effects of COVID, the Annual Meeting was held on May 5th at LeBlanc’s Rice Creek

Hunting & Recreation in a outdoor setting.  The  Annual Award winners were announced in February

with a YouTube video was created by Great River Television.  The video can be viewed on the Chamber’s

website at www.littlefallsmnchamber.com

Award Sponsors

Diggity Dowdle, Edina Realty, Falls Fabricating, Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Magnifi Financial, the Office Shop and Touright Bicycle Shop    

Corporate Sponsors

BeMobile, Lakeshirts, Pine Country Bank, Sea View Farm, Thielen Meats                       

Dessert Table Sponsor

Morrison County Record

Table Sponsors

Major Accomplishments in 2022

• Completed the membership year with In 2022, the Chamber had 263 members in good standing, which was up 21 members over 2021     

• Sponsored 20 networking events

• Sponsored Falls Area Leadership Series  (FALS)

• Created a Community Promotions Committee which was a melding of the Little Falls Business Association and the Chamber

Investing in the Community - $2,500 in 2022

• $1,000 to Community Development of Morrison County

•  $1,000 to the Initiative Foundation

•  $500 to the Little Falls Dam Festival