Herald Sauk Centre
NUMBER 32 • VOLUME 156
THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2023
| WWW.STAR-PUB.COM
Neary named new Diocese of St. Cloud bishop
End of an
The Rev. Patrick Neary
Area pastors excited to work together under his leadership BY HERMAN LENSING STAFF WRITER
The Rev. Patrick Neary, CSC, a member of Congregation of Holy Cross, was introduced as the bishop-elect of the Diocese of St. Cloud Dec. 15 at a press conference at the diocesan pastoral center in St. Cloud. Neary will be the 10th bishop in the history of the diocese. He is currently in his fifth year as pastor of Holy Redeemer Parish in Portland, Oregon. Local parish pastors are excited to welcome Neary. “We will be looking for the first opportunity to have him visit the parishes in the Harvest of Hope Area Catholic Community,” said the Rev. Edward Vebelun, pastor of this Catholic community, serving parishes in St. Anthony, Avon, Albany and St. Martin. “We will do our part to give him a warm welcome and work together under his leadership to be the hands and feet of Christ in the Catholic church of central Minnesota.” Neary was born in 1963, and is the oldest of six children, in-
Neary page 4
era Depot Feeds closes after more than five decades of business BY SARAH COLBURN | STAFF WRITER
For more than 50 years, Depot Feeds has served the needs of area farmers and patrons in and around Sauk Centre. That came to an end Dec. 31 when owner Mark Quistorff said goodbye to customers for the final time when he closed the store. In 2022, Quistorff said there were several months he didn’t make any money, and in the months he did, it wasn’t near the preCOVID years. “When I first started, I was ordering a minimum of 4 tons of Purina Feed a week, and now I’ve been ordering 4 tons a month,” he said. Profits starting declining in 2019 and prior to that, the business grew each year. He said the decline has been a combination of retirement by his loyal dairy farm customers, rising costs, competition with bigger feed stores and competition within Central Minnesota for customers. Since Quistorff, and his wife Nancy, purchased the business in 2015 from Patsy (Koenig) Ahrens and Dave Uphoff, he’s had a solid base of support. The store sold not only feed to dairy farmers but also for calves, chickens and steers. The store, which expanded in the 1990s, also operated a greenhouse that provided flowers to the public, sold Christmas trees, chicks in the
spring and summer and provided a variety of farm supplies. “The toughest part is everybody who comes in here, I probably won’t see them again,” Quistorff said. “You sit and you visit with people…” Through the years Quistorff said he’s prided himself, and his one part-time or one full-time employee, on the level of customer service they’ve been able to provide. He mixed feed, paying close attention to the rations and percentages in order to meet each customer’s individual needs. “If they’d come in and ask us a question, we’d try to answer it,” he said. “If we couldn’t, we’d take down their name and number and get back to them in a couple of days.” He knew their orders and knew they wanted a particular type of potato or seed. In addition, he and Uphoff committed to visiting the farmers he worked with at least once every two or three weeks. They would make rounds to the farms to see what challenges his customers had and make suggestions for areas he may be able to help. It was a tradition started by the previous owners and one he felt compelled to carry out. He recalls a particular customer who was feeding his steers only corn, sileage and hay and when he added in protein at Quistorff’s urging his animals buoyed to 1,500 pounds within 15
PHOTO PHO TO O BY MAR MARK K KLAP K KLAPHAKE LAPHAK LAP HAKEE HAK
Mark Quistorff closed the doors at Depot Feeds Dec. 31. Depot Feeds was a feed store for local farmers for 50 years.
months, something that used to take that farmer two years. Quistorff put in 50 hours a week at the business, arriving at 7:45 a.m. each weekday and leaving around 5 p.m., fitting in chores at his home farm before and after business hours. He was also open 8 a.m. to Noon on Saturdays. As shortly ago as 2019, he said he had 50 regular farmers he supported with feed and supplies and, before he closed, he was down to around 15, and many of his hobby farmers quit coming in for feed when prices went up. The early years Ahrens and Uphoff purchased the business from founders Ed and Theresa Koenig in 1997. The store first opened in 1971 inside what had originally been a Burlington Northern Depot. Train tracks ran on the north and south sides of the building and freight came by railway. In its heyday, the demand for Purina feed was so high that two trains might stop at the site at once to unload enough feed to meet the local demand.
Depot Feeds page 4
Gaining interests through
involvement Riley, Sebek selected as Sauk Centre’s ExCEL nominees BY EVAN MICHEALSON | STAFF WRITER
PHOTOS BY EVAN MICHEALSON
Raya Sebek is an ExCEL Award nominee for Sauk Centre High School. Sebek is involved all around the school, participating in volleyball, track and field, student council and captains and leaders, along with volunteering in her community.
ST R
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The life of a student-athlete is fraught with exhaustive schedules and the pressure to succeed both academically and athletically. However, many would not have it any other way, and for those who persevere, oftentimes, good results follow hard work. Such is the case for Sauk Centre High School juniors Ethan Riley and Raya Sebek, who have been selected as the school’s nominees for the Minnesota State High School League’s ExCEL Award, which stands for Excellence in Community, Education and Leadership. “I think it’s a really good opportunity, just because I try my best at school just to be involved, and I’m trying my best at everything I’m doing,” Sebek said. Both students were pulled out of algebra class by Sauk Centre activities director Scott Bergman, who notified them of the accomplishment. For the pair, it was an eye-opening announcement that they did not expect, even while applying for the award previously.
ExCEL page 4
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PHOTOS BY EVAN MICHEALSON
Ethan Riley stands inside the Sauk Centre High School gym Dec. 20 in Sauk Centre. Riley is one of two Sauk Centre nominees for the Minnesota State High School League’s ExCEL Award, recognizing high-achieving junior student-athletes.
PUBLIC NOTICES • Mortgage Foreclosures (3) - pg. 6 & 9 • Sheriff ’s Sale - pg. 7 • Notice of Abandoned Vehicle - pg. 9 • Notice of Aeration System - pg. 9
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