Red Silo owners to open a new seasonal marketplace in old bank in rural Minnesota (2024)

WOLVERTON, Minn. — Bobbi Jo Cody said she’s got her “JoJo mojo” back.

After she and husband, Todd, closed their gift/home decor shop, The Red Silo, in downtown Fargo three years ago, Bobbi Jo sometimes missed the more creative aspects of decorating her own store.

Now they have found another brick-and-mortar to call their own. On June 17, the Fargo couple closed on the purchase of a petite, 103-year-old bank building in Wolverton, Minnesota, located about 25 miles south of Fargo-Moorhead.

They’ve dubbed it the Red Silo Seasonal Marketplace, as it will only be open in summer and fall.

The 700-square-foot structure has a red brick facade, a bank vault and came complete with its own early-1900s player piano. The Codys have spent the last few weeks cleaning, sealing the brick and preparing the building for a Wednesday, July 10, grand opening event.

Contributed / The Red Silo

The grand opening will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 10, at It will feature local art, crafts, jewelry, bath-and-body products, coffee and food from local vendors; Bobbi Jo’s scented soy wax candles and Todd's artwork.

“We’re just really excited about downsizing, but putting in a few of our favorite things,” Bobbi Jo said.

Jumbo’s Food Truck will provide concessions. There might even be music — if they can get the player piano they inherited to plink out a few early 20th-century tunes from the rolls of music which accompanied the piano.

“I don’t know if it works yet, but I can just see it come alive with the player piano playing. People can come in and smell good smells and hear the music,” she said.

Contributed / The Red Silo

The marketplace is simply the latest chapter to the couple’s story. They started out selling Todd’s art — framed and matted by Bobbi Jo — at Shady Hollow Flea Market in Detroit Lakes.

They moved into the Red Silo storefront at 12 Broadway in 2014, where they continued until shut down by COVID. “We still had a passion for it, but in a space that size, it was just not feasible,” Bobbi Jo said.

Since then, they’ve continued working full-time jobs — Bobbi Jo as an elementary school art teacher, Todd as a reading interventionist for Fargo Public Schools. But they've also kept a few toes in the pool of handcrafted foods and gifts.

Under the Red Silo label, they still work out of the commercial kitchen at 12 Broadway, where they make grab-and-go soups and sandwiches to be sold at the First Avenue Market at 612 1st Ave. N. They also provide homemade soup every Tuesday for Great Harvest Bread in Fargo.

They’ve continued to sell their goods at various vendor shows, and Bobbi Jo’s candles are carried by shops throughout North Dakota and Minnesota.

“We got a good taste of being creative in small doses,” Bobbi Jo said.

Even so, the couple has stayed open to the possibility of another storefront. “That’s my passion,” she said. “I love to cook and I love to decorate. We just kind of always have our eye out for small towns around. I grew up in a small town and it’s where my heart is. And so we’ve just been watching for buildings and something that would be unique,” she said.

Contributed / The Red Silo

The little bank building fits the bill. Located right on Wolverton’s main street, it was built to be a bank in 1921 and later served as a post office. Most recently, it housed an antiques store, which closed three years ago.

Wolverton residents have been excited to welcome a new business to their town, population 128.

In fact, Bobbi Jo met a good share of them recently. After a heavy rain, the Codys were pumping out the yard on their property when a member of the local Lutheran church happened by.

She invited Bobbi Jo to come over and meet the church council. Bobbi Jo — wearing flipflops and covered with mud from their soggy project — tried to beg off. But the woman insisted no one would care and they'd love to meet her.

“So I met the Lutheran church council. I walked in all muddy and there were about 20 people sitting around a table,” Bobbi Jo said, laughing. “But they were very kind. They’re very excited.”

Since Bobbi Jo announced their latest adventure on Facebook, news has traveled fast. “I LOVE that building! I admire it every time we go to the lake. Now I’ll have to stop. Congratulations,” one commenter wrote.

“It’s been amazing,” Bobbi Jo said. “Since we posted our first event on Facebook, we’ve had lots of fun comments and lots of people responding that they’re excited to see us in a brick-and-mortar again.”

Contributed / The Red Silo

The bank building has plenty of charm, with arched transom windows, green trim and an open, airy interior. She plans to keep its decor simple, with exposed brick and interior rafters.

The building doesn’t have a kitchen, although she’s wondered if one could be installed in the bank vault. Either way, they would like to eventually offer grab-and-go lunches, even if they need to bring them from their Fargo commercial kitchen.

She and Todd have many other plans ahead. In the fall, they want to host Pickledfest, where vendors can showcase all types of preserved goods. As Bobbi Jo’s dad is a pumpkin and squash farmer, they will offer a Pumpkin Patch Saturdays in September and October.

As the property includes a greenspace, they’d like to periodically include outdoor vendors who offer fresh produce or ag-related products.

Contributed / The Red Silo

They also hope to capitalize on their location right on the well-traveled Highway 75 — the historic “King of Trails" — as people head to lake country or groups of friends decide to take a fun Saturday roadtrip.

“It’s a big gateway to the lakes,” Bobbi Jo said. “We’d love to have people pull up in their vintage cars or party buses or whatever.”

The Red Silo Seasonal Market will be open Wednesdays through Fridays from 3 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 217 US Highway 75.

Bobbi Jo said they are looking for vendors, so those interested can apply via their website, www.redsilo.com.

For 35 years, Tammy Swift has shared all stages of her life through a weekly personal column. Her first “real world” job involved founding and running the Bismarck Tribune’s Dickinson bureau from her apartment. She has worked at The Forum four different times, during which she’s produced everything from food stories and movie reviews to breaking news and business stories. Her work has won awards from the Minnesota and North Dakota Newspaper Associations, the Society for Professional Journalists and the Dakotas Associated Press Managing Editors News Contest. As a business reporter, she gravitates toward personality profiles, cottage industry stories, small-town business features or anything quirky. She can be reached at tswift@forumcomm.com.