Farmington Liquors Donation Drive
This is the Farmington Feed, bringing you information from the city of Farmington.
Caryn:Hi, and welcome back to the Farmington Feed. I'm Caryn Hojnicki, the city's communications specialist, and I'm hungry for another episode of The Feed. Our guests today are Josh Solinger, liquor operations manager, and Kelly Omlid, parks and recreation director, and officer Hagfors, the k 9 unit officer. They're here today to talk about Farmington Liquors donation drive for April. Liquors holds donation drives each year to support specific departments or organizations in Farmington. Part of this month's donation drive will be benefiting Rambling River Park. Welcome, Josh and Kelly.
Josh:Hello.
Kellee:Thank you for Caryn for having us on today. Yeah.
Caryn:Let's go. I'm excited. I know you guys have done this before, so we should be good to go.
Josh:Once. But I love talking, so
Kellee:Twice. So I'm a podcast expert, I think.
Caryn:Yeah. There you go. Alright. So we'll get started, and we'll discuss why municipal liquors help the community and how it's going to help Rambling River Park.
Caryn:How often do you hold these donation drives?
Josh:We do 2 donation drives a year. We do one in October that benefits the Toys for Town program and the Farmington Farmington Food Shelf. Would those funds get to those programs just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas? And then we do another one in April that's kind of a flex donation drive for us. We kind of reach out to city members and the community to figure out where we need help, and we do the best we can to help them.
Caryn:So how does this donation drive work? Like, what goes out what goes into it?
Josh:Well, we do a few different things. We accept round up donations at the store of any amount you want or just the cents to bring it to the next dollar. But a few years ago, we also started doing silent auctions in the store. So I lean on my vendors to get us a bunch of cool stuff that we can run silent auctions with. And so far, we've got a couple solo stoves, a Blackstone Grill, an autographed Justin Jefferson jersey. Like, we've got some really cool stuff that we're gonna roll out on April 1st.
Caryn:Oh, nice. Yeah. I bet people are gonna be excited about those. Mhmm. So silent auction, meaning you just write down your bid
Josh:Yep.
Caryn:When you're in the store. Yep. Okay.
Josh:So I set an internal goal for our team for our fundraising efforts. And when we get towards the end of the month, if we haven't quite met that goal, I'll reach out to local business owners. And we've had a lot of great ones step up to get us well beyond that goal. Fritz Mechanical, Janie's Home Team, B&B Transformer, a lot of close a lot of great businesses have stepped up and helped us out at the end.
Caryn:Oh, that's nice. You can do that. Yeah. So how can someone contribute that doesn't necessarily shop at the liquor store?
Josh:That's easy. You can still stop in and make a donation of any amount you want, and you can pay cash, check, card, and you can also support the silent auction too. You don't have to buy anything. You can just come in and support them.
Caryn:Okay. That's a good idea.
Kellee:And who doesn't want a new Blackstone Grill?
Josh:Yeah. Perfect for the spring. I'm looking at it too.
Caryn:I mean, I didn't even know.
Kellee:I have one. You would need one.
Caryn:No. I don't know how to use one.
Kellee:I can show you one.
Josh:Anybody could do it. My boys make Smash Burgers with me on ours.
Caryn:Oh, okay.
Josh:They've got it down, and they're 6 and 3 and a half.
Caryn:So I mean, there you go. Rabmbing River Park just recently had their master plan updated and adopted by council. Kellee, what does that mean for the park? Correct.
Kellee:So we went through a process, plenty of community engagement to determine the future of Rambling River Park. We knew it was native of a face lift, bring it back to the premier park it once was. So the master plan was adopted in August. In that plan, it calls for a new playground. It's gonna be an inclusive playground with a poured in place rubber surfacing.
Kellee:It's actually gonna go where the tennis courts currently are. So April 1st, weather permitting, you'll see
Caryn:weather permitting for sure
Kellee:weather permitting. And I wanna say that because we weren't planning on this snow, but you'll see park maintenance starting to take down that tennis courts fence and removing the tennis court surface.
Caryn:Okay.
Kellee:And that is where the playground equipment will go. Also in the master plan is a new shelter between the Veterans Memorial and where the new playground equipment will go. A new skate park, pickleball courts, native prairie restoration, new bathroom, an amphitheater, more access to the river for fishing.
Caryn:Okay.
Kellee:So it's a it's a plan. I mean, it will take several years to fully complete the plan.
Josh:Yeah. That's big. Yeah. It's a lot.
Kellee:It's a lot, but it is very exciting. We're we're really excited about what this means for Farmington. I think this new playground equipment will bring people into town specifically for that playground.
Caryn:Okay. So you said it's an inclusive playground. What does that actually mean when you're building one? Like, what does it include?
Kellee:Not all pieces will be accessible by somebody in a mobility device, but there will be several pieces that anybody could access whether they're in a wheelchair or have some other mobility device. We're very excited. There will be a few new features that we don't have anywhere in our park system.
Caryn:Okay.
Kellee:We're gonna have some zip lines.
Caryn:Oh, those are awesome.
Kellee:Zip lines in Farmington. We're really excited about that.
Josh:This is so cool because it's the first thing you see when you come into Farmington is that park, and it's it's gonna look so awesome when it's done.
Kellee:It's gonna have some nice bright colors, and you will definitely see it as you're driving into Farmington, and you might do a double take. And that's what we want. We hope you get past onto the bridge and, like, woah. We got new playground equipment. We gotta go into that small parking lot on the east side, and we need to stop. We were gonna go down to the bakery or whatever downtown, but we need to do this first and then we'll keep heading downtown.
Caryn:Oh, for sure. My my kids always want to stop at a park and
Kellee:Yep.
Josh:Bring the donuts to the park.
Kellee:Bring the donuts to the park.
Caryn:Absolutely. Alright. Well, back to Josh for a second. How will your employees incorporate this donation drive into their shift? What do they what do they do?
Josh:We ask if they want to round up, but we're also running a special on our wine club membership for that month only. So instead of $25 for the year, it's $15 for the year, and that grants you 10% off on all regularly priced wine for the entire year.
Caryn:Nice.
Josh:So on a lot of purchases, you've covered that within 1 or 2 stops in.
Caryn:Right. For sure. Does that money go towards the donation drive as well?
Josh:Okay. 100% of it does. Yeah.
Caryn:Okay. So what if you are not up for renewal yet, but can you renew early and get the the deal? Or
Josh:It's it's never the way they did it before. You had to be expiring that month or have been expired. But I like to grant a little bit more leeway because they just wanna do good too. So I'm okay if it expires in a month or 2. I'm okay with letting that go through.
Caryn:Okay. What's the best way to get updates on the progress of the donation drive?
Josh:I like to hold that number close to my vest with my team and I.
Caryn:OK.
Josh:But you can keep updates on our auction items on our social media all throughout the month. We'll have probably 4 different waves of auction items throughout the month, and I'll post every single item once they come in on the auction block.
Caryn:Okay. And that's like a once a week kind of thing?
Josh:Yeah.
Caryn:Okay.
Josh:Yep.
Caryn:And so do they have a week to make their bid? Is that how that works?
Josh:Yep.
Caryn:Okay. Where can we find more information on the plan for Rambling River Park?
Kellee:So the master plan is on, the city's website, farmingtonmn.gov, under parks and recreation. Probably could put a link right on the the home page so it's easily accessible for people who are interested in in seeing the plan. We're really excited about it and we think that the residents and the public will be excited about it as well.
Caryn:Is there anything else that we missed that you guys wanna talk about about the donation drive or the park?
Kellee:Stop in early and often, please. You know, don't just win one item on the silent auction, win multiple.
Caryn:There you go.
Josh:Yeah. And I know that I mean, pretty much every store you go to now, they ask you if you want to round up every place. But if you choose to round up at Farmington Liquors, that money goes directly back to our community. And you might think 5¢, but those 5¢, they all add up at the end of the month.
Caryn:For sure. Can they be specific? Can they be like, I really wanna, you know, help out the park? Or is that not really an option? They'd have to just round up.
Josh:We're going to yeah. It's gonna be an even split at the end of the month. K9 9 Units gets half. The parks department for the Rambling River Park Enhancements will get the other half.
Caryn:Okay.
Josh:But they can choose to donate whatever amount of money they want. So they're not set to the 17¢ to bring it up to $5. They can do whatever they like.
Caryn:Okay. And they can go right on their card too.
Josh:Mhmm.
Caryn:Nice. Yeah. Alright. Well, thank you, Josh and Kelly, for spending some time with me talking about what Farmington Liquors does for our parks.
Kellee:Yes. Thank you. And I wanna thank, Josh and his team. Without them asking the customers to round up and all their hard work to get silent auction items from the vendors, This isn't possible, and let's keep that money in Farmington. And I really appreciate your support, Josh, and and your teams
Josh:for going to Work for you.
Kellee:Thank you.
Caryn:Our conversation continues with officer Hagfors, the canine officer for Farmington. Part of this month's donation drive will be benefiting the canine officer Smoke. So welcome.
Officer Hagfors:Yep. Thank you for having me.
Caryn:Yeah. So, we're going to talk a little bit about what Smoke does for the department and what you're responsible for as this handler.
Officer Hagfors:Yeah, absolutely. So for the department, smoke serves as a detection and apprehension tool, not just for Farmington, but it's frequently used across the South Metro as well as the South Metro SWAT team, which encompasses Dakota and Rice County. German Shepherd working dogs, they got about 225,000,000 olfactory receptors compared to our 6000000ous humans. Because of this, you know, he's excellent for detection of drugs such as Fentanyl, heroin, crack, and the list of others. But he's also trained to track, locate, and apprehend suspects as well as search for children and vulnerable adults.
Caryn:Okay. So and then as his handler, like, what are you responsible for on the daily?
Officer Hagfors:So I'm responsible for him both at work and at home. So he lives with me, works with me, even goes camping with me. I'm responsible for his, you know, care every day to include, you know, exercise, training, which is, you know, a required minimum of 16 hours a month. Also ensure that he has a good comfortable home life when he's off work. You know, I wanna make sure he's got a busy life at work. I wanna make sure he can at least enjoy his time off. While I'm at work, I'm responsible for making sure he's deployed in correct situations, you know, per our policy. Also, that we're both set up for success, you know, and and I essentially operate him like a piece of equipment during canine employments.
Caryn:And you so you said a Dakota County and just Farmington. Is that it? Or no. You also mentioned SWAT, I think.
Officer Hagfors:Yep. So Dakota County, you know, we'll get calls for you know, you can be in Rice County. Scotts County has hit us up, you know, if they don't get a dog nearby. So we'll go all over
Caryn:Yeah.
Officer Hagfors:If they need a dog.
Caryn:because not everybody has one?
Officer Hagfors:Correct. Okay. Correct. Like Rosemount doesn't have a dog. We have 1. Hastings has 1. But, you know, a lot of agencies will have 2, on. But there's times where it'll just be me and him for the entire Dakota County
Caryn:Oh, wow.
Officer Hagfors:and Rice County.
Caryn:Okay.
Officer Hagfors:So I'm up in West Saint Paul, South Saint Paul. You know, I'll shoot across over to Hastings, wherever it may be. I mean, we get pulled all over.
Caryn:Okay. So you're not always in Farmington.
Officer Hagfors:Correct.
Caryn:So what's a typical day like for a smoke then?
Officer Hagfors:Typical day consists of, you know, waking up, running around like a a ball with the kids, you know, as well as our other 2 dogs. He likes playing with them. When it's time for work, I put a flat collar on him, which is his you know, this is working collar. He knows when that collar goes on. Like, okay, dad. It's time to go to work. So he gets all excited over that.
Caryn:That gets him ready.
Officer Hagfors:Yep. So we start day off. You know, we lay a few different tracks, not only burn energy but also get him fresh on his most commonly utilized skill, which is tracking. So I'll go and take his toy and I'll walk fields, you know, depending on you know, use various winds. I'll use different weathers, stuff like that, different surfaces. Just get them used to tracking and understanding, like, yep. We're working today. Then we can patrol state calls for the service in the city or anywhere in the South Metro that he's needed. Depending on the call, we'll do additional training such as, you know, obedience, narcotics, or building searches.
Caryn:Why does Smoke need our support?
Officer Hagfors:Smoke is a special dog, and he puts his life on the line every day. You know, he not only serves Farmington, but Dakota County as well. And also, you know, he puts himself in situations that a lot of other dogs aren't put in, you know, very high risk, you know, SWAT operations. We're there only for the worst of the worst people. You know, SWAT teams don't get called out for everything.
Caryn:Right.
Officer Hagfors:You know, it's gotta be a violent weapons involved, you know, suspect that we're there for.
Caryn:Mhmm.
Officer Hagfors:Farmington expects, you know, they and deserves an agency that's highly trained and equipped to handle its cost for service. You know, Smoke is a piece of that equipment that we use, you know, to ensure he's more than the rate to locate, you know, a missing child, a family suspect, or, you know, someone that just burglarized your home. We require significant amount of continued training as well as the equipment forms such as, you know, tracking harnesses, e collars, ballistic vests.
Caryn:Okay. Right. They did that, fundraiser for his vest
Officer Hagfors:Yep.
Caryn:Not too long ago.
Officer Hagfors:Yep. That they did.
Caryn:And so those aren't cheap. And how often you go through those?
Officer Hagfors:Oh, yeah. I mean, he's he's ready for another tracking harness right now.
Caryn:Okay.
Officer Hagfors:The velcro's coming off. He weighs about 98 pounds , you know, you're holding back a 98 pound dog that just would be pulling, pulling, pulling. You know, when you're using that every day, the equipment goes pretty quickly.
Caryn:For sure. Remind me how old is Smoke?
Officer Hagfors:He is turning 4 April 23rd.
Caryn:Okay. So he'll be 4. Will there be a new picture, birthday picture?
Officer Hagfors:There will be. There will be. I've been thinking of ideas already.
Caryn:Everybody loved that last year. So can you even come up with a number for how much food he goes through in a week or a month? Like a 98 pound dog eats a lot of food. I'm I'm sure.
Officer Hagfors:Yeah. If if I didn't cut him off, he would eat bags and bags and bags. Right now I got him on oh, he's probably on 4 cups of food a day, and that's not to include, you know, his joint supplements, his DasQuan, all that stuff that he's taking to keep his joints lubricated to just to get the most life out of him. He goes through a lot.
Caryn:I have a 12 year old boy. I I know how much food he eats.
Officer Hagfors:I got a 12 year old boy too. They're they're about powerful, you know, they're about neck and neck.
Caryn:So you kinda mentioned some training. So every month he has to do so much training. And then how did how did that go, like, prior to getting Smoke here? Like, you had to have training.
Officer Hagfors:Yeah. So actually, Smoke, it's you know, he's from Slovakia, the trainer. So you got various trainers throughout the state, that agencies contract with. They go over, you know, my trainer got them from Slovakia, so he went over, hand picked their dogs. You know, he goes over there, observes them, works with them. In about 9 months, he'll bring them back here to the state. And then as their handlers. We go up and we select the dog. You know, when you have your dog, you have a couple months of bonding time where they're riding around with you and use each other, working on basic stuff like sits, downs, but mostly it's just bonding, becoming essentially best friends with the dog. Actually, I wouldn't say best friends. It's having the dog understand like you're dad now. And then once that's done, you go through canine training for 12 weeks.
Caryn:Wow. That's a lot.
Officer Hagfors:Yep. Yep.
Caryn:Like 8 hour days?
Officer Hagfors:Oh, more
Caryn:like Longer.
Officer Hagfors:Yeah. More like yeah. 10 hour days.
Caryn:Oh, wow.
Officer Hagfors:By the time you're done, you know, you and the dog are gassed.
Caryn:Right.
Officer Hagfors:But, you know, luckily, you're going through with other handlers throughout, you know, not just the state, but you could have handlers from all over the country that are to school with you. Okay. So dog you and the dog get a little bit of rest period and you get to observe other handlers and see what they're doing right, what they're doing wrong.
Caryn:Okay. So you're learning too.
Officer Hagfors:Yeah.
Caryn:Last October, there was a mini replica Smoke, and it was sold for the patch project. And I know that mini Smoke was at the liquor store a couple times. Has the real smoke been to the liquor store?
Officer Hagfors:Yes. He will. He has. In February he was there, taking pictures.
Caryn:Yeah.
Officer Hagfors:The replica Smoke may I add, the real Smoke got a hold of him at my house and wasn't a fan of him. So real Smoke didn't like replica Smoke at the little mini one. He was a chew toy.
Caryn:Oh, geez. Well, good thing we didn't, put too many in front of him. And then, you know, everybody likes to see Smoke at the open house. So we're hoping for this one that's coming up on May 18th that we're gonna get to see Smoke. Will we?
Officer Hagfors:Yeah. I have, I have high hopes. He's got surgery at the end of April. Recovery time's about 2 weeks.
Caryn:ok
Officer Hagfors:So barring any setbacks or any complications with the surgery, he should be ready to go for the open house. And even in the event I'm already coming up in the back of my mind of different handlers, that can come in and fill his spot if needed.
Caryn:Okay. So there will be a canine demonstration of some sort?
Officer Hagfors:Yep. Yeah. Lakeville's got 2 handlers that have been more than willing to help out. We also have, Inver Grove Heights. Their handler lives within the city here, and he's always more than willing to help out if I gotta hit the emergency button and find another dog.
Caryn:Right. Well, we're hoping he recovers quickly. What can people expect for that demonstration?
Officer Hagfors:More of Mayor Hoyt getting bit. He doesn't know that yet, but I'll
Caryn:I was gonna say, did you ask him?
Officer Hagfors:No. That'll be a conversation or meeting and we'll have. But he's always been more than willing to be Smokes chew toys. So I think this year we'll do some more, bailout drills out of the squad car and stuff like that. I think that's what a lot of the kids like to see.
Caryn:Right. See the action,
Officer Hagfors:bad guy. Yep. The acts of the they're not too concerned over, you know, dogs sitting in a bucket that's got narcotics and, you know, they like to see people, you know, the Mayor Hoyt getting bit.
Caryn:Of course. So I'm gonna end with this question. I'm sure you've heard of bed bug sniffing dogs.
Officer Hagfors:I have.
Caryn:Obviously, Smoke doesn't do that. What is he trained to sniff?
Officer Hagfors:Smoke's trained to sniff various drugs. You know, heroin crack, methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, ecstasy. He's also trained for ground disturbance. So, you know, when you step on a piece of grass, it emits a different odor than, you know, a nondisterved piece of grass.
Caryn:Okay.
Officer Hagfors:So that mix with human odor as well as, you know, they're they're not specifically trained on the different human sweats, but they pick up on it. So
Caryn:Like different human sweats?
Officer Hagfors:Yep. So like if if you're working out and you're running because you don't wanna go back to prison, that's 2 different odors to the dog.
Caryn:Oh, okay.
Officer Hagfors:They pick up on the we call a hot odor. So you can have 2 of the same tracks side by side. You know, one's a fear sweat, one's a regular jogging sweat. They're gonna pick up on that fear sweat because we typically use people that are scared of dogs.
Caryn:Oh.
Officer Hagfors:You know, in in a way. Okay. People that are were kinda uneasy around dogs, they produce a different sweat. So we typically try and get them to serve as role players for us.
Caryn:Okay.
Officer Hagfors:Because then the dogs pick up on that odor.
Caryn:Okay. Because it's different.
Officer Hagfors:Yep.
Caryn:Interesting. I never knew that. Is there anything else that we missed talking about Smoke and the canine program that you want people to know about?
Officer Hagfors:No. I would just say, you know, keep in mind, you know, we're asking a lot of that dog. Super amazing dog. He's going above and beyond, not just for us, but for the community, you know, for Dakota County and the SWAT team as well. Because of that, you know, he he needs the extra support. He needs the additional equipment. You know, he needs the additional time training. He's just not your average, you know, working dog. You know, we're asking a lot out of him.
Caryn:Yeah. For sure.
Officer Hagfors:Putting him in the worst of the worst situations. Mhmm. So because of that, you know, I I just ask people, hey. Give them as much support as you can.
Caryn:Yeah. And that financial support will definitely help. So when people are at Farmington Liquors next time, just they make sure to round up and it can go to Ssmoke. Well, thank you for your time today.
Josh:Yeah, absolutely.
Caryn:And, I like learning a little bit more about smoke and the canine program and, the help he is for this community, not only Farmington, but also Dakota County and the surrounding counties. Yeah. Alright. Well, remember to round up.
Caryn:Thanks again, Josh, Kelly, and Officer Hagfors for spending time with me today, talking about Farmington Liquors donation drive for April.
Caryn:But before I wrap up today's episode, I do wanna remind you to round up when making a purchase at Farmington Liquors during the entire month of April. You can also purchase a wine club membership for only $15 this month. The regular price is $25. That membership fee gives you discounts in store for the year and free entry to the quarterly tasting events. It is good for 2 members in the same household.
Caryn:This month's fee will go directly to either the k9 Officer Smoke or Rambling River Park fundraisers. Be sure to check out our website at farmingtonmn.gov or the liquor's Facebook page at @farmingtonmnliquors . The Facebook page features the most up to date information on our monthly specials, videos, announcements of new and popular products, and, of course, donation drive information. That concludes this month's episode of Farmington Feed. Thank you for listening.
Caryn:We look forward to connecting with residents with this podcast. If you have any feedback, guest requests, or ideas, email me at communications @ farmingtonmn.gov. Don't forget to subscribe to the Farmington Feed wherever you like to get your podcasts.
