Crystal Lumber celebrates 70 with a cause
Crystal Lumber & Hardware celebrated its 70th birthday with a community fundraising event.
The third-generation family-owned and operated retail lumber and building material supplier is based in Crystal Falls, Michigan, and serves the state’s Upper Peninsula. The Aug. 18 event benefitted the Iron County Fire Victims Fund.
“This was a great event supporting a great cause while allowing us to reflect on our history and share our vision for the future,” Crystal Lumber owner Chris Willman said. “We had a ton of our friends and neighbors from throughout the community participate, and I look forward to making this an annual community event.”
According to Crystal Lumber Business Manager Ron Deuter, being situated in a rural area means many of the community’s first responders are family and friends. The company even has several employees who are married to first responders.
“The Fire Victims Fund plays such an important role in our area, where most of the small towns rely on volunteer departments, resources are spread thin and the demographics of the region are such that people often don’t have the support and resources needed when tragedy strikes,” Deuter told HBSDealer. “And given our geography in a heavily forested region of the country, fire education, prevention, and management takes on an even greater importance in everyone’s daily lives. It’s always front and center.”
Several hundred people attended the party, which included a classic car show by the Classic Farm Machinery Club of Iron County. Crystal Lumber provided a gift bag for the first 200 guests, while area firefighters staffed the beverage tent.
All proceeds from the beverage sales went directly to the Iron County Fire Victims Fund.
“Given this was the first event of this type that we held and based on the positive response and success we saw, the thought was that we could make this an annual event and possibly pick a different charity each year, or have a select group of charities that we want to support and rotate through them each year,” Deuter said. “We’re still discussing internally our approach there so no final decisions have been made.”
Crystal Lumber has been serving the Northwoods since 1953 and is Iron County’s oldest full-service, year-round Lumber and Building Material supply center. The company said it features the area’s largest kitchen and bath showroom and offers an outstanding selection of cabinetry, countertops, and fixtures.
In its 70-year history, Crystal Lumber has contributed greatly to the community of Iron County and the surrounding areas through perseverance, hard work, and exceptional customer service, the company said.
Crystal Lumber has assisted in the construction of hundreds of new homes, thousands of remodeling projects and, as always, continues to give back to many community groups and organizations.
“Crystal Lumber’s history of support to local organizations and groups is extensive, but typically on a smaller level such as making random donations to various non-profits, events, fundraisers and neighbors in need,” Deuter noted. “This was the first event of a larger scale for us and it was super cool to see how our positive reputation as a local business can help rally people around a cause.”
