Northwest Iowa — Regional leaders from the four-county Northwest Iowa Development (NWID) region(Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola, and Sioux counties) and the city of LeMars met recently. One of the things they did was give out the Kirk Grau Business Organization Innovation Award to three businesses in northwest Iowa.
The leaders tell us the Grau award recipients demonstrate innovation or innovative strategy in areas such as workforce development, product marketing or product development, new technology development or application of technology, organizational development, or project financing or other similar examples of what they call new, creative, and successful strategy.
One of the recipients was Crystallyn Kay’s Studio (CKS) here in Sheldon. We had a chance to talk to studio owner Crystallyn Sterler. She tells us about her business.
She tells us how she and those she works with feel about receiving the award.
Sterler says her business has really taken off. She tells us it actually started as a hobby.
Sterler tells us that the business is quite young, having only started as a business in July of 2024. She says they hope to break ground soon on their own building. She says they’d love to see you in their studio.
That web address again is www.crystallynkaysstudio.com.
Other winners of the Kirk Grau award were West River Electric of Le Mars, and Friedrichsen Meat Company of Sutherland.
West River’s nomination said that Sam Johnson exemplifies the very spirit of innovation that the Kirk Grau Award seeks to recognize. A 2014 graduate of South O’Brien High School in Paullina, Iowa, and Northwest Iowa Community College in Sheldon, Sam pursued excellence in Industrial and Commercial Wiring and Electrical Technology, earning his AS degrees and becoming a Class A Master Electrician.
Those who nominated Friedrichsen Meat Company said that Will and Macey Friedrichsen were faced with a critical decline in butchers across Iowa and a growing demand for locally-sourced, high-quality meat, so they identified an opportunity to revitalize the industry. The nomination says their commitment to ensuring that communities have access to locally processed meats led to the creation of Friedrichsen Meat Company in 2022—a business built on innovation, sustainability, and service.
