PERHAM, MINN. – Outside the sparkling new high school here, no one lingered in the parking lot on one of winter’s coldest nights. Inside, though, the Hive was jumping.
This girls basketball game wasn’t particularly noteworthy: the Perham Yellowjackets against the Staples-Motley Cardinals with neither team bound for the state tournament. Still, the gym was packed to support their hometown girls. On the second-floor walking track, murals showed the history of the town and star athletes of the past. Senior night was the hottest thing going on a subzero evening in this west-central Minnesota town, especially with junior Kaia Anderson expected to score her 1,000th point.
When Kaia made her landmark basket, officials stopped the game. Kaia hugged her dad, the school’s activities director, and gave the game ball to her mom, who’d been diagnosed with cancer the previous year and had become a community rallying point. The crowd, many holding signs that simply said “1000,” stood and applauded, some fans with tears in their eyes.
Packing into the Hive on a cold winter night, spectators cheer after Perham High School basketball player Kaia Anderson scored her 1,000th career point. (Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
This moment underscored how Perham unlocked the secret recipe for success that has eluded plenty of small towns around Minnesota. Simply put, people who live in Perham support Perham.
They follow the lead of the Nelson family, which has run an array of manufacturing businesses in Perham for three generations. Teenagers graduate, see the world and move back to the town where a huge Perham Yellowjacket logo adorns the water tower. Thriving small businesses line blocks of a bustling Main Street: Brew Ales & Eats pub, MN Tru North sporting goods/lake-life store, Bay Window Quilt Shop, Richter’s Men’s Wear.
Perhaps most vital has been large, locally owned businesses reinvesting in this town halfway between Brainerd and Fargo on Hwy. 10: internet service provider Arvig, which started here in 1950 as a telephone company and has stayed local while expanding regionally; Bongards, a farmer-owned cheese-making co-op in the midst of a $125 million expansion; and the Nelson family’s KLN Family Brands, Perham’s leading company. Even if you don’t know KLN, you’ve seen their products: Wiley Wallaby licorice, Tuffy’s Pet Foods, Finley’s dog treats, Sweet Chaos drizzled popcorn.
The Tuffy’s manufacturing plant shadows Main Street, symbolic of KLN Brands’ impact in a town of 3,600 people where the company employs some 700. The Nelson family has helped fund scads of big projects in recent decades. The company infuses everything in town — even the air.
Perham’s diversified economy, with agriculture, manufacturing and tourism, means when one sector struggles, another picks up the slack. Bongards Creameries Perham Plant can be seen from Main Street. (Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
“Every other day, the whole town smells like licorice,” said Eryn Moser, an elementary educator who was watching the basketball game. She paused, then added: “We also get the dog food smell.”
Young people worship during weekly youth group at Crosspoint Alliance Church in Perham. (Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
”We’ve had people who grew up here, who love living here and who’ve reinvested in their community,” said Fred Sailer, a retired high school activities director and longtime resident. “When you look at the whole western side of Minnesota, there were dynamic little towns all along that North Dakota-South Dakota border, mostly driven by agriculture. As agriculture began to change, you didn’t have these 120-acre farms and dairy farms dotting the countryside. When that happened, a lot of small towns died.”
Perham’s diversified economy, with agriculture, manufacturing and tourism, meant that when one sector struggled, another picked up the slack. And instead of being closed off to newcomers, Perham’s old guard has nurtured its next generation of leaders.
“Every small rural town is fragile,” Sailer said. “If you don’t encourage leadership, new faces, new ideas, your fate is sealed.”
Downtown Perham features a mural and sculpture in honor of the town's beloved Turtle Fest. (Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Local benefactors spur growth
Many point to the Nelson family’s generous spirit. Tuffy Nelson moved to Perham after World War II and started Pine Lakes Feed and Hatchery. Over time, he and his son Kenny happened upon a new business idea: pet food.
The company, a $600 million enterprise drawing employees from a 40-mile radius, is now run by his grandson, Charlie Nelson. The company ethos includes community improvement, and Kenny Nelson points to the late 1980s as a huge moment in Perham, when five wealthy local donors ponied up $50,000 apiece to kickstart fundraising for the Perham Area Community Center, a recreation center that’s become the city’s crown jewel.
The Perham Area Community Center has a pool and other amenities and has become a crown jewel of the town. (Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Local benefactors also raised millions for the new hospital and the new school, a new Boys and Girls Club and a new learning center for autistic and other neurodiverse kids. To chip away at the housing shortage, local leaders founded Grow Perham 15 years ago, which now operates more than 300 apartment units, including a new 36-unit complex downtown. Leaders brag about two-bedroom units renting for less than $1,000 a month here.
