It seems like a long time ago, but as I type these words, it’s been exactly one month since our Grand Opening events the first weekend of October. Now we’re just a couple of days from launching the Espresso Bar, and taking an audit of all that we learned during our first month of coworking.

During that Grand Opening event, I had the opportunity to sit on a panel with our Coffee & Operations Director Nick Garcia, and field some questions about our respective hopes, dreams, and visions for the approaching months. Honestly, the energy in the room was so moving, as I went to deliver my answers, I found myself choked up, emotional, and only able to share a small portion of my thoughts. So, we thought it would be worthwhile to share those here, and give the curious a look behind the curtain at how we think about the art of hospitality, and making Lumber Exchange magic.

Carson to Teke: What turns a building full of desks into a community?

There are so many tricks and secrets we’ve learned over the years to get people to gel as a Community, so I picked out just two of my favourites to share with you.

The first secret is creating moments for serendipity to flourish. Sometimes all a person needs to realize a long deferred dream is a window of possibility. One chance encounter, a conversation over a cup of coffee, a lunch and learn presentation, and suddenly inspiration and the freedom to dream is yours. A space like the Lumber Exchange attracts people that understand what it means to share. In my role as Community & Culture Director, it’s essential to orchestrate programming in such a way that people feel open and safe - to eliminate self-doubts - and to bring the right people together, at the right moment. (Even in our first month, those moments were many, and the Founding Members of the Lumber Exchange are already gliding on serendipity, breaking trail into a future filled with possibility).

The second secret is something Carson and I both believe in deeply, and that’s the act of breaking bread with neighbors. Eating, drinking, laughing, and sharing random stories among random people is a surefire way to bond, reflect, and walk away enriched. In certain faith traditions, the symbolic ceremony of breaking bread and drinking wine in the spirit of gratitude is called communion - and that of course is the root word of community. It’s essential to us that our Members and guests have an inspiring and comfortable place to share meals and beverages - and the design of the building put that activity right in the center. Whenever I do a tour, I always emphasize in the Member Kitchen: this is where the magic happens.

I don’t know if these are secrets so much as philosophies that both Carson and I have experimented with over decades. We share a belief that good, hard working, and kind people, with good intentions and dreams, will bring more goodness into the world. Honestly, it’s almost as undeniable as math. The Lumber Exchange exists to serve the Community, and in so doing, we demonstrate how to serve each other - watching that expand out in concentric circles through Hayward, Sawyer County, Wisconsin and beyond. I guess the essence of the secret is that generosity of spirit begets generosity of spirit and so forth.

Amanda to Teke: Picture this place a year from now. Who’s here, and what are they doing?

That’s such an excellent question - because the answer is endless. Already we have filled the desks and offices with a huge variety of personalities and expertise. We have Tracey Gundersen anchoring the corner window office as one of the region’s premier real estate agents. Brian Priester leads the Sawyer County Economic Development Board between golf rounds. The dynamic team at CAMBA - the beating heart of our mountain bike trail system - has made a home in our Double Office, giving us a constant stream of fitness gurus, laughter, and love of the outdoors. We have financial advisors, designers, architects, coders, the remarkable broadcast engineer and media personality Mark Lundeen, and the incredibly tasteful chef Teresa Peters (who is feeding us today!). The designers of Spider Lake Studios, Jim and Sean, who contributed so much to this elegant and inspired building we sit in and happen to be two of the finest humans I know, now have their headquarters beautifying our Main Street corner window.

The list goes on . . .

So my answer to that question, Amanda, is MORE OF THIS PLEASE. A year from now, we expect to see dozens of ambitious community projects in motion. Our metric for success is the elevation of a united Sawyer County. We do that by hosting all of the stakeholders - from the Birkie to the Chequamegon, to Lumberjack and Musky competitions, from cranberry & fall fests, to river paddlers, fishing and sauna enthusiasts. All of us have a home at the Lumber Exchange. A year from now, we will have witnessed an organic network form where one thing flows naturally into the other - just like the watershed all around us feeding the Namekagon, the Chippewa Flowage, Lac Courte Oreilles, and beyond. As stewards of the forest, rivers, lakes, and trails - we are people coming together in the same way shorelines and rivers are connected: upstream, downstream, across the way, and around the bend. Naturally. Thank you for going on this exploration with us. The magic is yet to come. Let’s discover big things, together.