The inspiration behind the quirky woman-owned Blondie's Butcher Shop in southeastern Minnesota
WANAMINGO, Minn. — There's a business in the town of Wanamingo that you simply can't miss. It's on the main drag and it's decked out in a lot of signs and a lot of pink.
In this week's Finding Minnesota, John Lauritsen explains how the idea behind Blondie's Butcher Shop began in the mountains out west.
"I like the ruralness. It's home. It's always been home here," said Lindsey Fulton Loken.
But for many years, Loken left home and worked at a much higher elevation. She was a paramedic, 13,000 feet above sea level, responding to snowmobile and hunting accidents.
"I was out in the Big Horn Mountains, Montana, Wyoming," Loken said. "I called home to my dad, and I said I'm just really burned out. I was complaining like any kid does to their parents."
That homesickness brought her back to the small town with the big name. But she didn't return empty-handed.
"Out of the blue he's like, the meat locker is available across the street," Loken said.
Loken didn't know a thing about being a butcher. But in a traditionally male-dominated profession, she learned quickly, relying on life-long farm friends to help her carve out a new career. All while performing a meat locker makeover.
"I imagine it looks a lot different today than it did 90 years ago, right?" Loken said. "Well, I always make the joke that I'm probably making the previous owners turn over in their grave because I painted it pink."
That was one of the first changes she made. Then came the signs — a whole lot of them.
Most of the schticky, quirky signage you see came from locals who've embraced the Blondie's vibe.
"She's definitely gaudy. And I don't take that word by offense by any means because it is. It's very gaudy. It kind of looks like the inside of my head. It's very busy," Loken said.
The hope was customer curiosity would take over. And it worked.
"Very cool. Lots of cool signs. Old signs," said Julie Johnson, a customer from Northfield. "We like to buy local meats. I noticed it was local meats and a woman-owned shop."
"It's funny because nobody makes eye contact with me right away because they are seeing this, looking at that, what about that," Loken said.
At first, Loken was so busy with pork chops and steaks that she didn't realize the local farmers had already given her new business a name.
"People started writing checks out to Blondie's Butcher Shop, Blondie's Locker. The bank got mad. So needless to say, we changed the name of it to Blondie's Butcher Shop," Loken said.
And clearly, there's no going back. Loken and her customers are tickled pink with the changes she's made — and there could be more to come.
"I really enjoy teaching. I feel like I've done it long enough and I have a lot more to give back to the industry than just processing meat and hogs right now," Loken said. "I really want to put a women-owned product out there."
Blondie's Butcher Shop holds a Bar-B-Que fest every year before the Fourth of July and last year more than 800 people showed up. Loken isn't the only female meat-cutter at the shop and they like to stress that all their products come from local farms.
