Today was the first workday of 2024 and we wasted no time getting busy on the projects that must be completed this coming year. In the Hazelnut Inn Peter was laying floor tiles. The painting crew continued their work in the Inn as well. In the shop, Keith was welding another new structure for NEB’s Fun World. Matt fastened the diamond lath to the completed frames. Tianna did various jobs but was mostly kept busy mixing sculpting epoxy which I used to rough out the dragon bracket for the first of four NEB’s decorative signs. The signs are for fictitious businesses and are a tip of the hat to honour the owners of NEB’s Fun World.
Mall of America mini-golf
In 2006, with the new shop up to full speed and the purchase of our CNC router, we could take on projects and achieve the quality we only dreamed of previously. We were commissioned to design and build the features for a new mini-golf in the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We built all of the signs and features in our shop and contracted the onsite work to a US company. I made several trips to supervise the onsite build and the installation of our pieces. It was a challenging project as the golf was on the third floor in the mall's center. The contractor set up a large crane and we lifted the prefabricated features into place during the night.
Riptide Adventure Golf
The first major project we got after moving off Vancouver Island and completing the new shop was back on Vancouver Island. Our new client had played on Giggle Ridge and wanted a similar course on their resort property in Parksville. We designed a mini-golf for the beautiful setting and over the next months built it for them. All of the major features were fabricated in the new shop and then transported to the island. This would be the last time we provided a turnkey golf rather than just the features. That meant we also hauled our travel trailer to the site so I could oversee the onsite construction. Members of our crew stayed in local hotels. Our client loved the result so much that we were invited back the following year to add a second eighteen-hole course to Riptide Lagoon and the third year to add some more signs and features for the bumper cars.
