Sarah Ferguson, pictured in the Giant Welcome Center’s Jolly Green Giant museum, was selected as the Blue Earth Chamber of Commerce’s new executive director after a months-long search.

The Blue Earth Chamber of Commerce and its board of directors got some very good news last week when they learned Sarah Ferguson had accepted the position of Chamber executive director.

Ferguson had been working for the Chamber as a part-time administrative assistant since August.

The Blue Earth Chamber of Commerce has been without an executive director since last June when Shellie Poetter left the position.

Ferguson says she was working two part-time jobs, the one for the Chamber and also for a chiropractor in Fairmont.

“I was encouraged to apply for the Chamber executive director position by a lot of people,” Ferguson says. “Even my employer in Fairmont, Dr. Meghan Hanson at Anew Chiropractic, encouraged me to seize this opportunity even though it would leave her short-handed. I will miss working with her and am so grateful for her support.”

Ferguson has had a variety of work experiences she brings to her new job. She also has lived in several places around the country.

“I grew up in a very little town in Nebraska, called Coleridge,” Ferguson says. “After high school I went to the American Institute of Business in Des Moines, Iowa, and got a degree in court reporting.”

She explains she chose that career path because her father encouraged her.

“He saw an ad in the paper about it, and how they were looking for fast typists and there were many job opportunities,” Ferguson says. “I was a fast typist and this just intrigued me.”

She worked as a court reporter for three years and was working in Reno, Nevada, when she decided it just was not for her.

“There was not a lot of interaction with other people,” she explains. “I am kind of a people person, and I did very little interaction with people in that job.”

Ferguson even got a dog, just so she had someone to talk to in the evenings.

She decided she would like to become an elementary teacher and did one semester of college with that aim.

“But we moved to Duluth and I did not do more college,” she recalls. “At that point I was married and had two daughters. I worked for two opthalmologists as an assistant, and I enjoyed working with the patients.”

Her husband at the time got tired of the Duluth and Minnesota weather and the family moved to Prescott, Arizona.

“The weather was pretty awesome,” she says. “And I was able to stay home for three years with my daughters, and I will always be glad I did.”

But, eventually, she and her husband divorced and she and her two daughters ended up moving to Ames, Iowa, where Ferguson worked at First National Bank in Ames.

“I was in the bookkeeping department, working with online banking and bill paying,” she says. “The banking world was very interesting, I was working with great people and learning new things.”

She met Cory Milbrandt, who was working at a different branch of the same bank she was at.

The couple ended up moving to Blue Earth in September of 2015, where Cory started at a position at First Bank Blue Earth.

“In October of 2015, I started working at Blue Earth Area Schools, first in the office as an assistant,” she says. “Then in October of 2015 I became the middle school secretary.”

She says she loved the work, particularly having lots of interaction with the parents, students and teachers.

Ferguson adds that she has enjoyed many of her jobs, but sometimes just transitioned to another opportunity. It was in July of 2022 that she started part- time at the chiropractic clinic in Fairmont.

“My part-time hours in Fairmont were Monday, Wednesday, Friday, so I could work part-time at the Blue Earth Chamber on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Ferguson explains. “I will keep that schedule through the end of December, then start full-time here in January.”

She admits she does not have a real background in being a chamber executive director, but she figured, why not give it a try?

“I have already had such great encouragement and support,” she says. “I am willing to learn, and want people to help out, teach me and guide me.”

“I know I have a ‘giant’ learning curve,” she adds with a big smile.

As far as when she is not working, Ferguson says her hobby the past many years has been attending all the fun things her two daughters have been involved with, like concerts and sporting events.

Her daughter, Calli Ferguson, graduated from BEA in 2022 and is a sophomore in college in Tucson, Arizona, majoring in medicine.

Her daughter Madeline Ferguson is a junior at BEA High School and doing all kinds of things, and loving it all, her mother says.

For herself, Ferguson is very excited to start on this new career path.

“I am grateful for the other employees here, Candy Sasse and Tessa Cox, and our volunteers,” Ferguson says. “They are wonderful and have helped out a lot, from inventory to decorating and much more.”

Ferguson had some parting thoughts.

“I am really proud of our town,” she says. “From the combination of the people, the businesses, all the things we have here. There is really a lot going on.”

She invites everyone to stop in and check out the Giant Welcome Center sometime.

“Not everyone knows about us, or has stopped out here to see what we have here at the Giant,” she adds. “Local people are amazed at how many people stop in here during the summer and all year long. Blue Earth is a great place, and we want everyone to know it.”