An Opulent Artist in the Ozarks
While looking for a Halloween wreath for her large front door, Air Force veteran Jane Weissner decided that she would make her own. Jane enjoyed the experience so much that she chose to keep crafting wreaths for future holidays. When July rolled around, she began to make patriotic-themed wreaths and—after encouragement from her daughter—began to offer them for sale on Etsy.
“They started selling like crazy,” Jane says. After moving to Branson from Arizona in 2022, Jane’s business, Ritzy Glitzy Wreaths, boomed, eventually reaching over 2,500 wreaths having been sold through her online store. Jane takes inspiration for her wreaths from the nature surrounding her in Branson, but it’s the feeling that she gets while creating that keeps her crafting. “It’s good for me,” she says. “I was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer, so it really helps me to just stay out of my head, put my mind somewhere else, and love what I do.” —Sydney Jones
A Long-Lived Butcher Legacy
Alewel’s Country Meats began in 1932 as a small-town grocery store in downtown Concordia. Since then, Alewel’s has moved to Warrensburg and remains a well-loved store for the locals. The original owner of Alewel’s, Hugo Alewel, began his business with old family recipes from Germany. In 2017, Austin Alewel, a fourth generation Alewel, joined his father Randy in the business. The family now works with farmers from Springfield and Kansas City to provide fresh sausages, pork chops, smoked turkey legs, beef jerky, bacon-wrapped beef steak fillets, whole smoked chickens, whole hams, and much more.
“We’ve been in business now for 93 years, and that doesn’t happen on a fluke,” Austin says. “There’s a lot of hard work that’s gone into this.” —Sydney Jones
A Woodworking Wonder
Jon Ortmann began woodcrafting as a teenager and found a passion for the art. After working for years in the corporate world, he decided to go full time as a woodworking artist and open Ortmann Woodcraft in 2015 alongside his wife, Debbie.
The Ortmanns began showing their products at art shows and soon grew a following among people who like functional, high-end, wooden art pieces, including pens and engraved cutting boards. The Ortmanns were contracted to create President Donald Trump’s inauguration pen for the 2016 election. “Ever since then, we have landed really cool and really unique government contracts with every walk of life,” says Jon. “It’s really cool because not only are you doing what you love, but they’re relying on the quality of your product to be an impressive gift for somebody that they hold in very high regard.” Visitors can see the Ortmann’s showroom in Patton at 13552 State Highway 72.
—Sydney Jones
An Ultraviolet Undertaking
Winner, winner, marble printer! Marble Graphics in Jefferson City offers laser engravings and UV printing on awards, trophies, plaques, drinkware, name badges, and paperweights. The business, which was started in 1983, has been owned and operated for the last five years by Chris and Leslie Balk. Before the couple took over, the business would laser engrave and hand-paint products, which was a time-consuming task. Leslie and Chris soon found a more efficient way to add color to items—UV printing. “It sped the process up. Now we are usually a two- to three-day turnaround for plaques or awards we have in stock,” Chris says. “We can make our own plaques and awards. Nobody else does that in the state.”—Andrea Kaneko
A Startup With Briny Beginnings
Two Men and a Garden—a pickle and canned goods business—grew out of the discovery of a few old family recipes on notecards and a passion for being in the garden. Co-owners Brett Tintera and Joel Austin began gardening together in 2006 in St. Louis, attempting to create delicious canned goods for their own families. “It was trial and error for sure,” Joel says. “Funny story about our dill pickles is that originally our recipe said ‘two mustard seed.’ To show you how clueless we are, we used two seeds. Later, of course, we realized it needed to be two teaspoons.”
The two friends soon perfected their recipe and opened their own business: Two Men and a Garden. Joel’s daughter, Tara, designed a Two Men and a Garden logo for the friends as a joke one Father’s Day, but the name—and the original artwork—stuck. “We fell in love with it,” Joel says. To this day, the logo is the same as the original. Brett and Joel say they owe all their success to Chris and Mani Manes, the owners of the Greenhouse Market, a St. Louis-based produce shop. While organizing produce to sell one weekend, the women took a chance on Joel and Brett’s pickles. “They sold out on the very first weekend,” Joel says. “Our goal for the business was to make enough money from the greenhouse to buy a new tiller. It was an ambitious goal at the time!” The goal was met, and the business is still growing.
The Two Men and a Garden team have always chosen to include fresh ingredients and exclude preservatives in their products. “We’ve stuck to our original fresh, whole ingredients,” Joel says. “We source fresh whole garlic and mince it for each and every batch,” Joel adds. The owners pride themselves on offering products that do not contain preservatives. “We ask potential first-time buyers to read our ingredients list before buying. It’s amazingly simple,” Joel says. —Sydney Jones
