By Heather Rule

In Pine City, an ongoing commitment to community is taking shape as local businesses and residents invest in improvements and beautification projects across the city. These efforts, driven by individual property owners, have not gone unnoticed.

To celebrate and encourage such contributions, the Pine City Planning Commission and City Council have been recognizing standout projects with annual awards for more than 15 years. From murals that transform blank walls into vibrant works of art to major building renovations, these awards highlight the creativity, dedication, and community spirit that define Pine City’s progress.

Mayor and planning commission member Kent Bombard said that having people feel like they’re seen within the community is important.

“And to know that the city isn’t just a big machine that’s here to run your life,” Bombard added. “It’s that we see you, we appreciate you. We appreciate the work you’re doing and spending time, spending your money, in our community.”

The awards process

The city planning commission oversees the awards, which include a Business Site Improvement Award, Residential Site Improvement Award, and Citizen Planner Award. Once the nomination form is posted on the website, it’s promoted on social media and the city encourages residents to submit nominations, said City Administrator Marcy Peterson.

The number of nominations for the categories varies, though it’s usually between six and 12 total nominations annually. There have been multiple winners in each of the three categories, Bombard said. Tabitha Pickett, Pine City’s city planner, also hopes to spread the word to more people and businesses to increase the number of nominations.

City staff maintains the nominations and presents them to the planning commission for review and decisions, according to Peterson. Winners typically receive their awards at the annual Pine City Area Chamber of Commerce banquet in October.

Dan Swanson, planning commission secretary and newly elected City Council member who’s been part of conducting the program for the past two years, said that in that time they’ve chosen to recognize any business or person nominated “just out of a good faith and energizing the community, if you will,” Swanson said. “Just to recognize that people do see you, and what you do does matter for our community.”

Growing list of projects receive recognition

The awards program has grown over the years. The program started as one award for site improvement and one award for community planner.

“Now we’ve kind of expanded it to include someone doing basically any major project of improving part of our city,” said Bombard, adding that the awards are a good way to give recipients “some kudos because they’re spending their hard-earned money” to put into facilities to make them better.

So, what’s an example of one of these award winners? Swanson recalls one from last year with a mural painted on the side of the art center in town. It was nominated for the beautification aspect, Swanson said. They also recognized the flower shop in the city, which also had a mural painted on the side of the building through a collaborative project between the master gardeners and the city.

A citizen who provides a lot of crafting/art classes — within the schools, churches, and the general public — was a recent winner of the Citizen Planner Award.

“We recognized her this year, just for her impact and for how she reaches so many different people in our community,” Swanson said.

Past winners also include a project that transformed a former bakery on Main Street with new roofing, lighting, and a façade update, as well as an automotive garage repurposed into a restaurant.

There’s a sense of pride that goes along with these awards, Swanson said. In a small community like Pine City (population 3,700), many of the businesses, nonprofit organizations, and volunteers are so actively engaged that they look forward to these awards, he said. Even if that excitement is unspoken.

“But I know people have their (award) certificates hung in their businesses,” Swanson said. “I see them all the time.”

The program’s future

Pickett hopes to expand the awards program by introducing more specific categories, such as recognizing improvements to building interiors. Increasing the number of nominations or recommendations in the future could help bring this vision to life.

Expanding the awards program makes sense for the growing community. Peterson noted that Pine County is the fastest growing county in Minnesota, and they’re “seeing such tremendous growth in our little city,” she said.

“We have so many new businesses coming in, and it’s just such an exciting time,” Peterson said. “You can see that the people who live in this community love and cherish it. There’s a lot of pride that comes with seeing these improvements being done.

“I see this program even getting bigger every year.”

Heather Rule is a freelance writer.