Oh my god. Seriously, where has time gone? Is summer almost done? Are kids going back to school already?
Not quite, but damned if it’s not coming quick. Speaking of which, the United Way 1000 Lakes Stuff the Bus Backpack Packing Party (sounds like a tongue-twister) at Klockow is already tomorrow, Thursday, Aug. 15. For the last couple months, generous citizens have donated supplies to help low-income families have a few of the basics to be successful in school. Grand Rapids Target and Walmart have had Stuff the Bus events in order to gather the supplies, and it is all culminating at the brewery, where volunteers will be stuffing the backpacks with all the pencils, markers, notebooks, and various other sundry items that kids K thru 12 need for their school career.
We got lots of stuff and need many hands to help!
If you would like to help, you can still volunteer by going to volunteer.uwlakes.org. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, we need you tomorrow, village!
But it’s not all work and planning for the future. Sometimes you just need to kick back, relax, and run a 5K. Fortunately, this Saturday, Aug. 17, Klockow will be participating in the Minnesota Brewery Running Series! This fun run, much like the Backpack Packing Party, is all about giving back, as proceeds from registrations go to area non-profits in the communities of host breweries. As for us, we’ve chosen Great Tails Animal Rescue. We’ve long supported the mission of Great Tails and hope that they’re able to continue doing their amazing work!
If you’re not familiar, the Minnesota Brewery Running Series is an annual event that takes place at breweries around the state. This year, the earliest run was at Utepils Brewing in Minneapolis on April 13, and goes all year at a different brewery nearly every weekend all the way until Dec. 7 at Headflyer Brewing and Minneapolis Cider Co. This is the 12th year of the running series, and more than a half a million dollars has already been raised for various nonprofits throughout the state. For more information and to register, visit www.breweryrunningseries.com/minnesota. If you’re in the neighborhood, come on in to the taproom and ask if we have anymore $5 discount cards for registration! If you buy a pint, we just might give you one.
And on Sunday, you’ll see that Rapids Brewing Company is hosting their installment! It’s a whole Grand Rapids 5K destination weekend!
Just a Cool Story
In lieu of our normal staff or customer interview, we decided to do something a bit different this week. Last Thursday a man and his daughter came into the taproom, and had a story to tell.
Back in 2018, Adam and Karen were vacationing in Grand Rapids to get away from their home in the Twin Cities for a bit. For the previous year and a half, they had been going through the adoption process, and recently found out that they were “in the book,” meaning that they were finally visible to birth families. An important stage to be sure, but they still didn’t know how much longer they were going to have to wait.
After hiking outside of the Forest History Center, they checked their phones to see when the brewery opened so they could get a beer. What they found instead was a text, a voicemail, and an email from the adoption agency wanting them to call back due to some exciting news: the possible placement of their two-year-old daughter, Gabrielle.
After speaking on the phone for a bit, the agency sent them all the necessary paperwork as well as Gabrielle’s story.
“So we came to the brewery here, and we sat on our phone and went through Gabby’s story, and we ended up looking at your mural. And we were like, ‘Oh my god. This is amazing. There’s a father, a mother, and a two-year-old little girl,’” said Adam. “Well this is a sign!”
The mural in our family-owned brewery. The family if you hadn’t guessed, is the Klockows.
Things started moving quickly after this. They even had to leave their vacation early in order to meet with Gabrielle!
“And I kid you not, she even had pigtails in,” said Adam, recalling how the little girl in the mural did as well. “It was meant to be.”
For the last several years, they’ve continued to come to Sugar Lake Lodge in Grand Rapids for a summer vacation. And every time they come back up north, they always make a point to come to Klockow Brewing for a pint and a little walk down memory lane. When asked what her favorite part of her vacation so far was, Gabrielle said that it was coming to Klockow to see the mural.
“It’s part of her story.”
Gabrielle is now eight, and what’s more, she has a four-year-old brother, Isaac, also adopted. We’ve always known that this brewery is a special place, but it takes on a different form when you find out the ways that it’s special for other people. But perhaps it’s fitting, that this family-owned brewery is a source of memories for other growing families.
~
Thanks for checking out our humble little brewery! As long as you keep coming by, we’ll do our part by making the best damn beer possible and serving it in our always inviting atmosphere.
The Klockow Staff
Beer and Shrubbery Drops this Week:
Local, etc -
Sammy’s - Grand Rapids
Smoke on the Water - Coleraine
Eagles Club - Grand Rapids
Boulder Taphouse - Grand Rapids
Hotel Rapids - Grand Rapids
SuperOne Liquor - Grand Rapids
Bottles & Brews - LaPrairie
SuperOne Foods North - Grand Rapids
SuperOne Foods South - Grand Rapids
Dutch Room & Mad Dog’s Pizza - Grand Rapids
NoPo Coffee Co. - Grand Rapids
Rocket’s - Cohasset
Raven Stone - Coleraine
Unwined Up North - Grand Rapids
Sugar Lake Lodge - Cohasset
Pokegama Plaza Liquors - Grand Rapids
International Falls, etc -
Ranier Municipal Liquor Store - Ranier
Ash Trail Lodge - Orr
The Rocky Ledge - Kabetogama
SuperOne Liquor - International Falls
Bootleggers Liquor - International Falls
Westworld -
Bemidji Curling Club
Beehive Offsale Liquors - Bemidji
Liquor Lodge - Turtle River
Northern Off Sale Liquor - Bemidji
Junkyard Brewing - Moorhead