FORT ATKINSON — Janesville-based Blain’s Farm & Fleet accepted a statewide business achievement award at a ceremony Monday in Fort Atkinson. In a twist, the $75,000 cash award that comes with the annually-bestowed honor must be passed on to a charitable organization.
Blain’s Farm & Fleet chose this year’s charitable recipient to be SMILES (Special Methods in Learning Equine Skills) a Darien-based equine therapy nonprofit.
The 10th annual Wisconsin Business Achievement Award ceremony and luncheon at The Fireside was attended by past recipients, members of the family whose foundation annually funds it and those who have a hand in choosing awardees, including former Gov. Tommy Thompson, who has sat on the final selection panel.
Past business winners have included Jones Dairy Farm in 2023 and The Fireside Theatre in 2017, both located in Fort Atkinson.
Thompson was among several speakers who offered remarks Monday on this year’s business and charitable recipients and who also reminisced about their longtime friendship with Rockne Flowers, who along with his wife, JoAnne, created the Flowers Family Foundation in 2006, a few years after the sale of their business, Stoughton-based Nelson Industries, in 1998.