(Spirit Lake)– A special event later this month will give special recognition to both past and present employees of one of the lakes area’s largest employers. A reunion for employees of what used to be Berkley and Company, now Pure Fishing, will be held Saturday, June 20th at the Pearson Lakes Art Center.
The company was founded by the late Berkley Bedell, who in 1974, was elected to Congress. His son, Tom Bedell, stepped in to run the company in 1979 at the request of his father, after it encountered some difficulties…
“I was in way over my head but I went back. And I tell you the people in Iowa are so incredible. They embraced me, they rallied around, we turned the company around. Together we went from a company losing money, about $20 million in revenue, and we grew it to over $300 million in revenue. We had dealer awards that voted on who’s the best supplier in the fishing tackle business and we won it 13 years in a row and they quit giving away the award because we won it every time. Our people are so amazing. And so it’s been now 29 years since I haven’t been involved with the company, it’s still going strong.”
Tom Bedell, who’s back in the lakes area this summer, said he feels this is a good time to get everyone back together again…
“We’re going to have a luncheon and a program. Anybody who is now working or has worked at Berkley’s, Pure Fishing, is invited to come with them and their spouse and we’d love to have everybody come. I can’t wait to see everybody. They’re family. They made my life so special and I hope I contributed to there’s.”
Both current and past employees of Berkley and Company/Pure Fishing planning to attend need to RSVP by June 12th at purefishingreunion.com. The June 20th event will be held from 11:30 am until 2:00 pm at the Pearson Lakes Art Center.
