DETROIT LAKES

— Three of the top five business-related stories on DL-Online in 2024 involve some popular local places to party, eat and work — WE Fest, Zorbaz and Lakeshirts. The others involve a new men’s clothing store and a proposed townhome development on Highway 59.

The story that grabbed the most online attention was a new townhouse development proposed for Highway 59. Next was a story about Soo Pass Ranch buzzing with activity prior to WE Fest. Third was Lakeshirts celebrating 40 years.

Then came a story on the Detroit Lakes City Council denying a signage variance to Zorbaz. The arrival of a new men’s clothing store in Detroit Lakes was also in the top five.

The most popular online story, with 7,692 page views totaling 7,197 minutes, was headlined: “New Townhouse development planned for Highway 59 in Detroit Lakes.” According to the Jan. 29 story by reporter Barbie Porter, 48 residences were proposed in the development plan.

In May 2023, she wrote, news broke that a developer from Oakdale, Minnesota, wanted to transform a 47-acre parcel across from the Subaru dealership on Highway 59. The developer’s plan included a total of 48 residences upon completion, as well as a community pool and clubhouse.

The current plan is to offer single-level and two-story townhomes with a cottage-inspired design, including horizontal siding, shakes on the gables, wrapped porch pillars and stone accents.

The two-story units tentatively offer three bedrooms and 2½ bathrooms, whereas the slab-on-grade models would offer two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

The documents provided to the commission state that the initial plan for the development is to build it in four phases, or 12 units at a time.

Community Development Director Larry Remmen stated that a letter from a MnDOT representative had been submitted for the commission to review.

The letter indicated the location of the property access from Highway 59 was at the crux of their concern. If the project were to move forward, MnDOT would like to see an access lane and possibly a bypass lane, depending on where the access is located, according to the story.

When it comes to catching people’s attention, it can be hard to top WE Fest, since the popular country music fest has been a staple of summer in Detroit Lakes for over 40 years.

The story, headlined, “Soo Pass Ranch buzzing with activity ahead of WE Fest,” got 2,725 pageviews for a total of 4,224 minutes.

The July 30 story by news editor Nathan Bowe looked at all the work that goes into preparing for the thousands of fans who show up for WE Fest.

Detroit Lakes Tribune file photo

“There was a lot going on at WE Fest on Monday, as vendors, contractors, employees and even law enforcement personnel got ready for the big country music festival this week,” the story begins, before talking to the people involved and getting into some details about how they do their work.

For example, there is a lot of cross-training involved at the Soo Pass Ranch. “Employees at WE Fest know how to do lots of different jobs,” said Sherry Anderson of Detroit Lakes, who was working at the WE Fest employee check-in booth that day.

Just down the hill from the ranch house, Becker County Sheriff Todd Glander was overseeing the setting-up of the fenced-in sheriff’s office area, with an emergency management trailer near the command post.

“We’ll be out here fully staffed starting Wednesday morning through Sunday morning,” Glander said.

In the East Village area, two men were setting up what looked like a bouncy house, but was actually an “interactive alien shooting booth,” with actors inside dressed like aliens. WE Fest fans could shoot at those aliens with green glow-in-the-dark paintballs.

On the Main Stage were workers with Von Ulm Industries stagehand company. “We’ll be here for the whole thing,” said Will Danielson. “Tomorrow, when production comes in, we’ll be hanging the audio and the video and the lighting. Then Saturday night, as soon as Eric Church is done, we’ll drop as much as we can. Sunday morning we’ll pack it all away for next year.”

The third-most-read story, headlined “Lakeshirts celebrates 40 years of perseverance,” got 2,200 pageviews for a total of 4,164 minutes.

According to the story by reporter Barbie Porter, which ran Aug. 30, Lakeshirts was launched on a shoestring budget in 1984 by hometown boys Mark Fritz and Mike “Hutch” Hutchinson. The first year of operations Lakeshirts pulled in around $4,500 in profit.

Contributed photo

Lakeshirts now occupies about 200,000 square feet in Detroit Lakes and is the proud parent company to eight offspring businesses that sell products in all 50 states, the Caribbean and Canada. They have operations in Detroit Lakes, Little Falls, Minnesota; Jamestown, New York; and Longmont, Colorado, as well as a warehouse in Los Angeles, California. Lakeshirts also has showrooms in Colorado, Georgia and Nevada.

“If you work really, really, really hard and take care of your customers, your employees and your community, you too can be an overnight success in 40 years,” Fritz said.

The No. 4 story on the list involves Zorbaz, a name that always draws readers.

The story, headlined “Detroit Lakes City Council denies signage size variance for Zorbaz,” got 2,578 pageviews for 3,008 total minutes.

According to the Oct. 9 story by managing editor Tris Anderson, the City Council unanimously turned down a request from Zorbaz to put up a 293-square-foot sign on the north side of Zorbaz, facing Peoples Park. That request was 109 square feet too large for the city ordinance.

Barbie Porter / Detroit Lakes Tribune

Zorbaz owner Cole Hanson took responsibility for not submitting the additional signage in his original building permit. “Over the course of the last year, I’ve invested quite a bit of money updating the exterior and interior of Zorbaz,” he told the council. A lot of customer traffic comes from the north and a prominent Zorbaz sign is needed on that side of the building, he said.

The fifth-most-read business story was about The Dashery menswear store opening in the same downtown building that used to hold the Norby’s menswear department. It received 3,744 pageviews for a total of 2,674 minutes.

That historic Norby’s twist appealed to Dashery owner Mandy Brower, since a member of the Norby family was instrumental in bringing The Dashery to Detroit Lakes, according to the Feb. 13 story by news editor Nathan Bowe. She decided to open the store after talking with Michael Norby about the community, and about the 150-year history of the Norby’s Department Store in downtown Detroit Lakes. “He sealed the deal,” Brower said with a smile.

Detroit Lakes Tribune File Photo