Gramling's Centennial Celebration

In case you weren’t alive in 1915, Gramling’s Centennial Celebration offers the chance to glimpse a Tallahassee you never knew.
On Saturday, March 14th, you can join local leaders, farmers and regular folk as they celebrate the family-owned business that has been growing roots in this city for a century.
Beginning in the heart of downtown Tallahassee, Gramling’s moved to its current location at 1010 South Adams Street in 1927.
To step inside the original feed and seed warehouse is to walk into a living history.
Wide wooden planks line the floor, worn smooth with time. Vintage metal signs advertise Carnation calf formula and Greenwood seed corn. Shelves stacked with old-fashioned washboards and shiny metal washbasins make you wonder if you left your horse tied up outside.
“I can tell you my granddaddy would be amazed we’re still here,” says Stan Gramling, third generation owner of Gramling’s, Inc.
Thirty years ago, Stan left music, his life’s dream, to keep the family business alive. The old store was his second home during childhood and he had worked there as a teen. Family always came first.
That type of commitment shows in the service Gramling’s gives and the care that customers get – along with 100 years of knowledge on feed and field, horses, pets and home gardens. Gramling’s has character you can’t buy, and value you can’t find anywhere else.
Heirloom vegetable seeds are scooped from wooden bins and weighed out on antique iron scales. They also come bagged by the 1⁄4-pound in hand-labeled, brown paper sacks. There has never been a genetically-modified seed among the bunch.
While much of the old feel remains, the business has changed over the years. The catalogue customers, buying livestock feed, farming equipment and field seed, disappeared with rise of online shopping and dominance of the big box stores.
Many longtime residents of the area, like Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor’s parents, are favorite customers of Gramling’s. But even with a loyal customer base, the business needs to reach new people to survive.
Kiersten Lee, owner of Paisley Café in Midtown, urges her customers and friends to visit the store, calling Gramling’s “a true local treasure.”
In its latest incarnation, Gramling’s is the anchor of an emerging local food revival. Gardening supply is now the focus of the business. And everyone – from growers, to restaurateurs, to people who eat food – benefits from the vital role Gramling’s plays in the local economy and the environment.
Home gardeners in the know, community garden enthusiasts, innovative educators and a new crop of young farmers turn to Gramling’s for products and for knowledge. It is the place to come to learn about sustainable growing practices.
“We cater to earthy people like us,” says Stan. “Regular families who want to start growing their own food. The Nathan Ballentines of the world, that’s who we’re here for.”
Stan recalls the Man in Overalls coming into the store as a kid, asking questions and soaking up farming wisdom. As an adult, Ballentine, a recent Jefferson Award recipient, shares what he’s learned through a blog with an international following.
The Man in Overalls will be on hand at Gramling’s Centennial Celebration, giving free raised bed gardening workshops as a tribute to the business that treated him like family.
“Like I said in my letter to the editor,” offers Ballentine, “we need Gramling’s around for another 100 years.”
The Centennial Celebration of this “local treasure” will take place at Gramling’s current location, 1010 South Adams Street, on March 14th, from 10am to 3pm. The party begins with a ribbon cutting ceremony by the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce and proclamations by state and local lawmakers.
Festivities include walking history tours by Guided Tours in Tallahassee, gardening workshops by the Man in Overalls, fresh produce from Ripe City Farm, locally-made sausage from Limestone Meathouse and a chance to win a raised bed installation by Pro One Landscaping.
Sponsors include iHeart Radio, Sustainable Tallahassee, Tallahassee Downtown Improvement Authority, Pro One Landscaping, Paisley Café, Frenchtown Heritage Marketplace and Tallahassee Food Network.
Gramling’s, Inc.
http://www.gramlings.com