BEST for last

As Waseca County’s fastest growing community, Janesville provided a dynamic last stop for the Business and Entrepreneurial Support Team (BEST) on Wednesday, August 10. At the start of the tour in city hall, BEST member Bob Hoffman asked Community Development Director Marley Rohwer about the town’s size. “We are at about 2,500 people,” she replied. “And we’re growing fast.”

According to Rohwer, Janesville is expanding so rapidly that it has only two vacant lots left for development. “We are now conducting a housing study to see what our city needs for proper housing,” she said.

Business is also slowly building in town. “Home Sweet Home Remodeling” of Eagle Lake, owned by Dave and Jennifer Miller, bought the Janesville Hardware store; the two plan to  continue using most of the building’s space as a hardware store, but will also use part of it as a second office for “Home Sweet Home Remodeling.” Their moving into town was made possible with some support from the city, with Janesville residents happy to keep the hardware store in town.

Mayor Andy Arnoldt talked about the revolving loan funds that the city’s economic development authority has been offering to businesses like “Home Sweet Home Remodeling.” “We’ve been giving out money to local businesses that apply for it,” he stated. “It’s been a well-received program with great success.”

City Office Manager Andrea Moen joined the meeting for a few minutes to share the city’s plans for its new water and electric automatic metering infrastructure.

“We’ve been switching out water meters throughout the whole summer,” she explained. “We plan on finishing the water meters this year. But due to supply chain issues, we will have to wait another two years for the electric meters to be installed.”

The next stop of the afternoon was Gidgets, an embroidery store owned by Janesville native Bridget Gehring. Waldorf Mayor Rob Wilkening was surprised to see shirts with a logo for “Waldorf Days” sitting in boxes within view of the front door. He, along with other members of the BEST group, asked Gehring to explain the processes of screen printing and creating decals.

“I do a lot of it on the computer,” Gehring answered. “The clients give me a general idea, I make it up, and we go back and forth until they are satisfied with the final product.”

When asked how she built up to creating the significant number of products she sells in a short amount of time, she replied, “I learned a lot on the fly. I’m not afraid of a challenge.”

Despite starting within a year of the Covid-19 pandemic, she says that her business has been booming with orders coming in nearly non-stop since she opened. “We’re running out of space in our small shop to store stuff. I’ll need to expand soon.

“I’ve been blessed by God for all of my success,” she continued. “It’s been great having support from the local schools and business.”

“You have something extraordinary going on here,” Hoffman told Gehring. “It’s not often you see a business as unique as this in a small town like Janesville.”

The last part of the tour took place at Dairy Queen. Before anyone went to order any ice cream, Mayor Arnoldt said, “It’s on me.”

Todd Adamek, owner of Dairy Queen, originally came from the town of Montgomery. However, when he met his wife, a Janesville native, they decided to buy the place from the Cowdin family  - who also owned a liquor store next door - in the late 2000s.

“I used to work a corporate job,” he shared. “But ever since we bought the business, I’ve never been happier. I love what I do here, running an ice cream shop. It’s always been an honor to serve the people of Janesville, too.”

Arnoldt then shared a story about when his family used to own the Dairy Queen in town. “It was one of my first jobs,” he said.

Everyone’s story on the tour showed that Janesville is a town not to be overlooked. As BEST member Hoffman put it, the town has a lot going for it. Waldorf Mayor Rob Wilkening agreed.

“You are between Mankato and Waseca, two thriving towns,” Wilkening pointed out. “Mankato is especially booming in population. I wouldn’t be surprised if Janesville became a suburb if it isn’t already.”

But the future of Janesville is uncertain. Hoffman asked if the city was thinking of becoming a bedroom community for Mankato or trying to stand out on its own and bring in some industry. Community development director Marley Rohwer didn’t have a confident answer.

“We have zoned off an area of the city for industrial use, but we are not sure if it will stay that way,” she responded. “That’s something we’ll have to consider in the future.”

One thing is for sure, though. Janesville will continue to grow; the town has already experienced people from Mankato looking for a home in a smaller community to raise their families and be sure that their kids are getting a quality education.