Success Stories

The Redwood Area Encompasses Six Unique Communities

The Redwood Area of Minnesota has six unique communities: Belview, Clements, the Lower Sioux Indian Community, Lucan, Seaforth, and Wabasso. In Part One of this series, we’ll share some of the special qualities found in three of these communities: the Lower Sioux Indian Community, Lucan, and Wabasso. We’ll feature Belview, Clements and Seaforth in Part Two of this series on the six communities in the Redwood Area.

Lower Sioux Indian Community

Many exciting things are happening in the Lower Sioux Indian Community. Robert Larsen, President of the Lower Sioux Community, shared that an Intergenerational Cultural Incubator, called the “Wicoicage” has been added to their Community Center and will be opening in late April. The building has many incredible features, including a ceiling with overhead lights that resemble the constellations in the night sky. The incubator also features community art including leatherwork, pottery, beading, and painting. The incubator has a separate room for sewing, embroidery, and quilting, studios that can be rented by artists for art, music, or multimedia projects, and a special room with state-of-the-art acoustics for drummers and other musicians. Tribal elders have a designated space that will be used as a gathering area or a senior center with its own chef serving senior dining.

Larsen also shared that the Lower Sioux Indian Community was recently awarded a grant which will fund a hemp infrastructure project that will be used to build sustainable housing for their community through a process using a decorticator that processes up to one ton of hemp stalks per hour. Through a process of combining it with lime, the hemp is turned into a fiber that can then be used to insulate homes. The benefits of hemp fiber include being resistant to flame, mold, and pests and being an excellent source of insulation.

The project, Laursen shared, “all started with wanting to be able to produce the hemp hurd for 'hemp-crete' to build homes for our members. Hopefully, more folks realize the value and the movement spreads for everyone.”

To learn more about the Lower Sioux Indian Community’s Intergenerational Incubator, contact Cynthia Zimmer, Executive Assistant at 507-697-6185 ext. 8670 or at dakotafutures@lowersioux.com.

To learn more about the new Hemp Project, contact Tabia Goodthunder at 507-697- 8942 or at tabia.goodthunder@lowersioux.com.

City of Lucan

The City of Lucan was founded in 1902, and has had a long and celebrated history ever since. Longtime resident and council Member Bob Plaetz described Lucan as “our small town with a big heart,” adding that Lucan is a friendly community that stays vibrant because of the cooperation between so many organizations, including the Lions, the Booster Club, the Historical Society, the Legion and Legion Auxiliary, and the EDA.

Plaetz also noted that the two churches, Trinity Lutheran Church and Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church, have worked hard to maintain their adjacent cemeteries just outside of town, and there is a local post office and a historical museum in the former Lucan Train Depot.

The business community has also continued to thrive in Lucan. Plaetz explained, “though our commercial community has shrunk we have important business endeavors in First Independent Bank, Knott’s Corner Bar and Restaurant, Country Enterprises (a manufacturing business in a former fertilizer plant on the site of a lumber yard), Duscher Plumbing, Heating & Hardware, a thrift store in a former hotel/hardware store, a garage, a garage door installation business, a painter, a mini-storage business in the former Our Lady of Victory School and a newly revived butcher shop.”

Another wonderful aspect of life in Lucan is its beautiful park complex, which has a basketball court, a fenced-in baseball diamond, a volleyball court, a picnic shelter, and newly purchased and installed playground equipment. The park is adjacent to the Lucan Community Center which is housed in a renovated public school. 

Every year, Lucan has three town-wide celebrations: the St. Patrick's parade and program that occurs on the Sunday after the holiday; the Booster Club Golf Day, and Pretzel Days which occurs the second weekend of June, and begins with the Lucan Lions BBQ feed, and continues all weekend with music, softball, and many other local favorites.

Wabasso

Wabasso is a small town that enjoys the benefits of having a tight-knit community where everyone knows each other, and is willing to go the extra mile to help out a neighbor and to champion local athletes competing in all sports.

This pride and loyalty extends to the local businesses, which everyone supports and does what they can to help them succeed. Local stores in Wabasso have personal service, and offer products that are “made from the heart,” as someone who grew-up in Wabasso explained.

“We have a wonderful long-standing family-owned grocery store, a couple of hair salons, three eating establishments, three churches, a bank, a plumbing business, a manufacturing business, three co-ops, a private school and a public school with a high school that harbors so much talent between the arts, sports and academics” shared a Wabasso representative. 

Other local stores and services in Wabasso include a gas station, liquor store, two auto mechanic shops, and a newly built senior center.

Every summer, the Roadhouse Bar and Grill hosts Roll Ins every-other-Tuesday from June to August. These shows attract a large number of visitors with their bikes and classic and other custom cars from all over southwest Minnesota. Summer Fest is another Wabasso tradition that the whole town comes out to enjoy.

While each has their unique attributes, the Lower Sioux Indian Community, Lucan and Wabasso all share having supportive communities with incredible small town spirit, making all of these areas a special place to live, work and own a business.

Learn more about the Redwood Area Development Corporation (RADC) and how it supports all six communities in the Redwood Area. Contact the RADC at 507-637-4004 for more information about how they can help your business grow and about the services they provide to local community organizations.