June 21st - Clean Up!

Tim Krey and his crew from Natureview Landscaping Inc. spent a few hours at the MNLA state fair site doing some clean up work prior to the "Back to the 50s" show at the MN State Fairgrounds. Thanks to Tim for his help with the project and helping us put our best face forward!

Volunteer Installation Day - Saturday, June 16

On Saturday, June 16 several MNLA members came out to volunteer their time to help with the waterfall/stream installation.

Here you see Douglas Owens-Pike of Energyscapes and Trisha Miller and Daniel Leland of Bachman's digging a trench along the edge of the stream.

In this photo Pierre Taddeini and Derek Chicos from Bachman's are plotting out the placement of the boulders in the streambed.

Thanks to these volunteers and their leader, Patrick Warden from Bachman's who gave up part of a Saturday to help this project become a reality!

Construction continues...

Today construction continues at the MNLA State Fair garden. Kyle Calflin continues to run the backhoe as Mark Danelski and Omar Evans of The Pond Masters help direct the installation.

Thanks to Kevin Berry at Hedberg Landscape Supplies for helping to find labor to continue the installation a second day!

Construction Begins!

A hole in the ground begins to take shape at the State Fair!


In the morning, giant pilies of rock and gravel, donated by Gertens Wholesale, were delivered to the site. Thanks to Susie Johnson at Gertens for the donation and delivery of these materials!



In addition to donated supplies, labor and equipment was donated by MNLA members. Patrick Warden and Chuck Mathison provided direction for the project.





Kyle Calflin from Landscape Renovations ran the backhoe that moved around piles of rock all day long. Thanks to Scott Frampton from Landscape Renovations for volunteering his backhoe for the day!









Mike McNamara at Hoffman & McNamara donated a Bobcat operated by Travis Krinke. Here he is covering the pond rock with gravel.

Planning for Construction

Construction on the water feature is set to begin on Wednesday, June 13th.

There were many people involved in coordinating the site supplies, labor, etc. But most of the credit goes to Bill Mielke, Minnesota Valley Companies and MNLA Public Relations Committee Member, and Patrick Warden of Bachman's Landscaping and MNLA Landscape Contractors Committee Member. (In this photo, Warden is on the phone trying to coordinate delivery of materials to the State Fair site.)