The program speaker at the Dec. 13 Rotary Club of Edina meeting was Eric Dayton, co-owner of the Bachelor Farmer restaurant. He spoke about “Identity & Entrepreneurship in the North.” The presentation will cover how the North has grown over the past five years from a knit hat into a movement.
Rotarian Stefan Smith will give his Classification Talk at the meeting.
The 2019-2020 directors and new officer were announced by Past President San Asato at the meeting. There are several new directors, and Joe Hayes will serve as our next officer.
Click on the link below for more on the meeting...
President John Flynn opened with a "Be the Inspiration" video highlighting our own Sonja Tengdin and Keith Benson.
Stefan Smith and Steven Veker greeted us. Dr. Tom Pirsch and Jean Morrison were in their holiday attire with bells ringing as they accepted donations to provide gifts to those in need. Tom and Jean have been doing this ever since I can remember and it’s always fun and encouraging to have them greet everyone.
Wade Thommen gave the invocation and led us in the pledge and Four-Way test. Ron Erhardt introduced our guests, including an illustrious guest by member “Royce Povoski.” Jennifer Bennerotte served as our very capable photographer.
President Flynn recognized and thanked the wonderful staff at Edina County Club for doing such a great job of serving us each week throughout the year. He also thanked Patti Ellingson-Solheim and Mark Gasner (Rotaract President) for their hard work as our accountants.
Fun trivia: How many presidents served before President Flynn? (Hint: our club was chartered in August of 1957).
Immediate Past President San Asato conducted club business by introducing the nominees to serve on our boards.
Congratulations to Joe Hayes, who will serve as the incoming secretary next year, and president of our club in four years! The following incoming board members were elected:
- Fred Sylvester: Club Service
- Kelley Burnett: Community Service—Local Funding
- Jennifer Hendrickson: Public Image
- Susan Stiles: The Rotary Foundation
- Renee Harberts: Social
- David Aase: Youth Service
- Paul Peterson and Brandon Azbill: Rotary Foundation Board
- Jennifer Bennerotte and Jody Kern were elected to serve at large.
President Flynn thanked Jennifer Garske for the great work she has done as Club Administrator. Jennifer has accepted a position with the City of Edina and will no longer serve as our club administrator. Jennifer has done an incredible job serving our club and certainly will be missed. Congratulations Jennifer on your new position!
Two students from Edina High School joined us to share about their experience at EHS and future plans. Thank you to Steve Buettner for coordinating their visit. Our two Rotary Youth Exchange students were also in attendance. Terry Stevens introduce the students at the meeting.
Stefan Smith, a class-act, joined our club a year ago and gave a wonderful Classification Talk. Stefan grew up in Grand Meadow, Minnesota, and graduated from St. Thomas. Stefan's classification is Financial Planning. Sefan joined his father’s firm about 10 years ago and heads up their Twin Cities office with an emphasis on serving medical professionals. Stephan met his wife Kate (daughter of Thom and Lynn Winninger) in Australia. They live in Edina with their two children. Stefan, has agreed to serve as chair of Camp Enterprise next year.
Sam Thompson introduced our speaker, Eric Dayton. Eric talked about people’s perception of Minnesota when he was in college out east. "My college friends seemed to write off Minnesota as the frozen tundra, a wasteland, a flyover state."
"They'd never been to Minnesota but that seemed to be their idea of our home state."
Eric talked about creating a movement that puts Minnesota in a different light. "Let's embrace winter, let's make it one our biggest assets." Eric and brother Andrew own the Askov Finlayson clothing store, featuring high quality Minnesota brands and the Scandinavian themed Bachelor Farmer restaurant. Eric talked about the importance of our Minnesota image globally. Eric has put a lot of effort into creating and advancing the "North" movement, which embraces and markets our Minnesota winters as wonderful and positive. Minnesota needs to attract talent needed to start and grow companies and if we can talk about winter as a fun place year-round and embrace a unique winter experience, Minnesota benefits from the future people that make our state their home. If you’re interested in reading further about Eric and his story, please use this link, and also this link.
Jennifer Shinners warmly thanked Eric for speaking to our club. President Flynn mentioned that next Thursday is our Holiday Party at the ECC so there no regular meeting on Dec. 20. By the way, congratulations to Deirdre Kvale for winning a seat on the Long Lake City Council. Deirdre will begin her term next month.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
