By Evan Lemmerman
For Murphy News Service
A high school biology teacher and a photographer chuckle and snort in the corner of the room as they watch a video of an industrial grade manure spreader tearing a car to pieces.
A produce farmer chats up the former mayor over a glass of wine while her husband sings and plays guitar on stage.
A painter and a businesswoman are dancing together between crowded tables, making sure not to distance themselves too far from the sommelier making frequent trips to their table.
This is just another typical night at Three Crows Café and Coffee House, where a sense of community stretches far wider and stronger than the building’s tight walls.
Gina Coburn purchased a vacant coffee shop on River Street in Delano, Minnesota, in fall 2004. The building would become Three Crows Café & Coffee House.
It had been vacant for more than a year, previously home to Common Grounds, a coffee shop jointly run by a few churches in town to give kids a place to hang out. After a few years in business, Common Grounds closed.
Coburn renovated the building and opened it to the public in February 2005.
The name Three Crows was inspired by the three mosaic birds made of pebbles on the side of the building. The three birds symbolize the three forks of the Crow River, one of Delano’s most notable landmarks.
NOT HER ORIGINAL INTENT
Opening a coffee shop was not Coburn’s initial intention.
She had a different goal in mind.
“What I wanted to do was have a place where people could just walk in and meet each other,” she said. “I think communities have been kind of breaking down to some extent. People are getting sent all over the country for work and being uprooted. I discovered it is a big deal to have people you can count on that is a bigger group than your family.”
Coburn said her desire to create a community space was inspired by the concept of cohousing. Cohousing is a type of communal living that emphasizes community and the importance of friendship.
“Knowing that, I got really interested in what would happen if there was a public place where people could actually connect with each other. And I rediscovered what is available when people have a big group of friends that they can count on,” Coburn said. “I’m really interested in creating that and providing the right kind of atmosphere.”
Three Crows initially served coffee and other drinks, baked goods and simple breakfasts and lunches throughout the day. As the community grew, so too did the little coffee shop.
“It kept wanting to be more and more of a restaurant. Now it’s almost more of a restaurant than a coffee shop,” Coburn said.
Coburn, inexperienced and new in town, didn’t want the coffee shop to become a restaurant, she said. She didn’t know how to run a restaurant, but enthusiastically took the leap forward.
“I worked in a restaurant during school. That’s all I knew about running a restaurant, but I figured I could figure it out,” Coburn said.
AND THEN CAME MUSIC
The fate of the coffee house was altered again when Al Sterner approached Coburn. Sterner ran a produce farm on the opposite side of the town and played in a band. He asked Coburn if she would consider hosting live music performances.
She accepted his offer and Three Crows found its voice.
It was hard finding people to play at first, Coburn said. She would ask anyone who could play an instrument to entertain. This helped form a steady community around the music nights. More people began to show up to listen and play.
The loyal community became even more established after a year or two. Artists took notice and began to ask permission to play at the restaurant.
“That was really super,” Coburn said. “They started calling us.”
Three Crows grew in popularity as a music venue outside the Twin Cities. Musicians would tell each other about the small, intimate venue and the attentive crowd. The usual Live Music Thursdays were supplemented with additional music on Friday and Saturday nights.
“Next thing you know, we had a nice little music venue to go to in Delano,” Sterner said.
On Saturday mornings, Three Crows is home to a music jam. People of all ages and types get together to play music.
“They were invited to jam once, but now they just do it on their own. They just play and sing and it just happens,” Coburn said. “Then when they are done they pack up and go home.”
Coburn attributes the growth of her community to music.
“We’re so small. We only have 12 tables, so lots of times people have to sit with each other when they come in,” she said.
The music helps people meet each other and form relationships. Three Crows just provides the place.
“It’s just a great place to listen to and play music,” Sterner said.
FLEXIBILITY LED TO PARTICIPATION
Coburn approaches most of her business the same way she approached the inclusion of live music. She invites people to participate.
- ARTWORK: When asked if she would like to hang art on the walls, Coburn accepted. Now, Three Crows is a showcase for local artists and developing talent.
- GUEST CHEFS AND THEMED DINNERS: When asked if she would consider having a guest chef cook dinner, Coburn accepted. Now, Three Crows is known for hosting a myriad of themed dinners, including Valentine’s Day dinners and summer solstice parties.
- WINE AND OPERA: When asked if she needed a wine sommelier, Coburn accepted. Three Crows sommelier Marcus Hanson kept asking to participate, and recently organized a series of opera themed events at Three Crows. The third Opera Night at Three Crows takes place this Saturday, June 7, and is sold out.
“Part of why we are so eclectic is, because, in such a small town, you can’t make it just selling coffee like you can in the cities. You need to try things out,” Coburn said.
Coburn also likes to support the community she has helped create, she said. All of the food served at Three Crows is cooked from scratch with ingredients from local farmers.
Among the other services Three Crows provides are daily lunches and dinners, weekend breakfasts, event catering, a monthly wine club, 25 varieties of tea and house roasted coffee beans.
The road to Three Crows’ success was not without challenge, Coburn said.
“The financial part of running a small business has been very challenging,” she said. “I think it has been very successful in that my intention that it be a place for community was successful in a very short period of time, but to become financially successful it has taken me years.”
The coffee house also faces a constant threat from the river after which it is named. The building sits on the bank of the Crow River in an area notorious for flooding. The building’s basement floods every year.
The city plans to build a floodwall this summer to keep the river at bay.
PLANS FOR BIGGER AND BETTER
Coburn plans to move Three Crows to somewhere else in town this summer. She has a few locations in mind. She wants a place with more room.
“There is no place smaller than this in town. Every place has more room,” she added with a laugh.
Coburn hopes to maintain the intimate community that the small space has created but offer more opportunities. She would like to have the space and flexibility to juggle two things at once, such as a dinner and an event. She said she would also like to be able to host small weddings and have enough room for a dance floor.
“We’ve talked about all kinds of things,” she said.
Coburn said she is enthusiastic about what will come next rather than worry about the future.
“Things change, they never stay the same,” she said. “The staff changes. The season changes. The menu changes. Stuff is always changing.”
Through it all Coburn knows she’s built a community that will last because Three Crows is a breath of fresh air in a world that always seems to be in such a hurry,
“Our focus makes us different,” Coburn said. “I didn’t do this to become a business. The intention was to be a community place, and I think that was different than how most people go into a business. I think it feels different.”
Or, as Coburn likes to say: “Magic.”
Evan Lemmerman is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.
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IF YOU WANT TO GO:
For more information visit www.thethreecrows.com
Three Crows Café & Coffee House
225 N River Street, Delano, MN
763-972-3399