Rising from the ashes

On a bitter January morning in Grand Forks, under a sky thick with smoke, Jay and Phil Knutson sat in their vehicles and watched more than a building burn.

They watched a piece of their family history slip away.

Since 1969, Knutson Printing Company had quietly supported the community from this shop, producing everything from business cards and booklets to event programs and engineering prints. While most don’t see their presses humming steadily in the background of daily life, their work is visible in almost every corner of the Greater Grand Forks community and beyond.

But on Jan. 17, none of it could be saved.

“I kept thinking they were going to win the fight,” Jay said, recalling the firefighters battling the blaze. “You keep telling yourself they’re going to beat this thing. It just didn’t happen.”

As flames consumed the shop – along with its equipment, records and memories – the brothers’ phones buzzed with calls and texts. Most offered sympathy. One offered something more.

That call came from Troy Ahonen, Minnkota’s print production supervisor. After confirming support from the cooperative’s leadership, he reached out that morning offering the Knutsons immediate access to the cooperative’s print facilities and an opportunity to continue serving their customers while they figured out their next steps.

“I felt horrible for Jay and Phil,” Ahonen said. “I consider them good friends and colleagues in the business. We have a really good working relationship. There was no question that we were going to help and do our part to keep a family-run business alive when they were going through a tough time.”

For the Knutsons, it changed everything.

“What a huge relief,” Phil said. “Not having to worry about that was a blessing. Troy had it lined up, and we started printing the jobs that were burned up in the fire almost right away.”

Making the day-to-day work

Minnkota operates a full-service print shop used primarily to support the cooperative and its member systems. After quickly securing approval to bring the Knutsons into the facility, Ahonen and Travis McCleish, Minnkota’s digital print specialist, prepared the shop to run two operations side by side.

“The challenging part is just keeping track of all the jobs,” Ahonen said. “I just wanted to make sure everyone had what they needed and that we could accommodate each other.”

Over the next seven weeks, the Knutsons completed dozens of print jobs using Minnkota’s equipment. Orders were fulfilled. Customers were served. The business, though displaced, remained operational.

The Knutsons paid for materials and showed appreciation by regularly bringing in donuts for their new coworkers. What could have been a complete shutdown instead became a period of continuity between the two teams.

“Troy would call and say, ‘What papers do you need? What papers do you use the most? I’m going to order them,’” Phil said. “And it was just boom, boom, boom – everything was ready to go.”

A lifetime in the shop

For Jay and Phil, the loss of the building carried a deeper weight. Knutson Printing is where they grew up.

Their parents, Vernon and Marian, started the business in the same building near the University of North Dakota on April 1, 1969.

“So the story goes,” Jay said, “my dad was working at the Grand Forks Herald and told the guys he was going to start his own printing company. They said, ‘Vern, you’re a fool for starting your own company.’ So he started it on April Fools’ Day.”

As children, the brothers spent their days in the shop playing in the basement before eventually working upstairs on the print floor.

“It was tough work, because everything was hot metal,” Jay said, recalling the heavy mechanical presses of the early years with no air conditioning.

Over time, they took on more responsibility, eventually running day-to-day operations before fully taking over in 1995. They guided the business through decades of change, from traditional typesetting to modern digital printing.

Moving forward

Today, the Knutsons are focused on what comes next.

New equipment has been ordered, and a temporary location in Grand Forks is up and running. Plans are underway to rebuild, with hopes of returning to the original, historic site.

The future may even include the next generation. Phil’s two sons have shown interest in the business and are already helping in various ways.

Through it all, one thing has stood out: the local support.

Following the fire, the response from the community has been overwhelming, the brothers said.

“That’s why we buy local,” Phil said. “That’s why we eat local. That’s why we spend local.”

For Ahonen, the collaboration doesn’t end here. The two operations continue to share ideas, materials and camaraderie. He calls the experience one of the most meaningful moments of his 40-year career in the printing industry.

“I was really pleased that we stayed true to our cooperative values,” Ahonen said. “We give back in a lot of ways, but this was different. This was allowing someone to come onto our site, use our equipment and keep going. It was a very proud moment.”

MAIN IMAGE: The Knutson Printing building was destroyed on Jan. 17 following a major fire. (Minnkota/Michael Hoeft)