Three Wishes

During the summer of 2005 we had the unique opportunity to team up with NBC for a new show called Three Wishes, hosted by Amy Grant. Each episode focused on one small town in the US, and chose three wishes from people who lived in or around the town to fulfill. We were involved in the October 14, 2005 episode which featured LeMars, Iowa.

Terry and Amy Aberson, who own and operate a 60-cow dairy between Sioux Center and Orange City, IA, had a fire in their dairy barn caused by a spark from a parked tractor. The cows were safely removed in time, but the barn itself was destroyed. Around this time NBC was scoping towns for Three Wishes, and had decided to film an episode in Le Mars, IA, about 20 miles south of where the Abersons live. Their story was related to NBC employees, and the Abersons were selected to have a wish granted by the show.

Their wish was to have us rebuild their dairy facility, so during July and August 2005, we assembled most of the components of the parlor and milkhouse systems in our shop while Buys & Hoksbergen Construction laid the foundation for the new building, all with NBC's cameras rolling. When everything was ready, we brought our assemblies to the Abersons' farm and put them in place. Construction on the building was finished and they had their wish: a new Bou-Matic-powered dairy barn!

During cleanup of the fire, Terry somehow lost his wedding ring. NBC caught wind of this, found a replica of the ring, and gave it to Amy to present to Terry onstage during the intermission at a free Amy Grant concert at the courthouse in Le Mars. We got to meet Amy Grant after this concert and thank her and the crew for everything they had done for Le Mars. The two other Le Mars wishes involve a girl who missed her high school graduation after she was in a car accident, and an aspiring dancer.