Sullivan MFA Coop #301 Will Hold 100th Anniversary Open House Friday
Sullivan MFA Coop Association #301, 28 North Church St., will hold a celebration on Friday, July 22, commemorating their 100th Anniversary from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“We’re very proud of our 100 years here at Sullivan MFA Coop and look forward to another 100 years,” said Melissa Larrison, co-op manager. “We have several vendors that will be on hand for this event, special sales, door prizes and lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The MFA Coop #301 has come a long way since their humble start in 1922 when a group of farmers thought it would be profitable for them to establish a cooperative where they could market their products and purchase farm supplies; thus, $10 shares were sold to stockholders to reach the $2,500 needed for begin.
The farmers included: John Linder, Richard Ford, H.L. Doyle, Frank Stenzig and Zach Prather, who went out and sold the stock and then leased a small building at Main and Church from the Fisher Brothers.
The charter for the Farmers Cooperative was executed on October 15, 1922.
By 1930, even though the coop had grown, tough economic times required the board of directors to sign a bank note for $2,000 to keep the cooperative moving forward. The 12 members did just that.
Following a destructive 1936 fire at their 10-year-old building that was constructed in 1926, the cooperative once again found itself without a home. It relocated to the Warfield Livery Barn until 1937 when it moved to its home for many decades on Main St.
As MFA continued to grow, they were able to purchase the bulk fertilizer operation from Frank Blum in 1983.
One of the biggest leaps for the cooperative was purchasing the former Modern Garage building that adjoined their fertilizer operations in 2016.
“This purchase provided the co-op with a lot more room for expansion of products and supplies needed to help the co-op go into the future,” said Larrison. “The move made us much better at helping our patrons and gave us the room we desperately needed.”
Larrison stated that Sullivan MFA Coop #301 currently has some 388 members and is open to the public for shopping anytime.
“We are open to everyone in the community and we are not going anywhere,” said Larrison.
The Sullivan MFA Coop #301 Board of Directors is currently: Bill Manion, Brandon Schatz, Mike Stumpe, Ron Fann and Dale Pfiocek.
Current employees are: Larrison, Manager, Megan Brown, Gunner Hearn, Matthew Johnston, DJ Cuneio and Dean Grus.
The 100th Anniversary Open House will also include the annual meeting of the Coop on July 22.