Wildfire Furs open for business in former RE/MAX building

By Robert Williams

Editor

Award-winning Fur Harvester Amber Pausch has moved her outdoors business Wildfire Furs from her home to downtown Vergas. The store is currently open while interior design of the space continues after moving in over the holidays.  

The company name has a family tie. Amber’s father, Gerald Wendt, owned an agricultural business called Wildfire Trucking.  

“It was to honor him and I liked it and it was unique,” she said.  

Pausch got her start working with fur to pursue something out of the ordinary.  

“I don’t like to be like everybody else; I was trying to figure out what I could do from home while I  was there with my kids,” Pausch said.  

Amber and her husband Jamie raised and homeschooled six children, three boys and three girls. Jamie was doing taxidermy at the time which keyed the idea to work with furs and a meeting with Kay Bachman and a few lessons on how to work with fur, along with some patterns got Amber up and running.

“I just kind of took it from there and added the knowledge that I already had,” said Pausch.

There was not a lot of assistance online in working with furs and according to Pausch her early work consisted of a lot of trial and error.

“I never went into it thinking it was going to be hard,” she said. “I didn’t have the mindset of it being hard and that makes a big difference. I think your outlook and how you look at it—if you say you can or you can’t you’re right.”

She sewed for a fur buyer to get going and thanks to word-of-mouth her business began to grow.

“This hobby went to more than just a hobby,” she said.

Pausch attends outdoors industry vendor events throughout the year and has been selling her merchandise online at wildfirefurs.com. Vendor events are held throughout the region, including both Dakotas and Minnesota. She also does well at craft fairs.

“Our best ones so far have been a trapper’s convention and we’ve done Hairyman Festival in Vergas since it started,” she said. 

Pausch registered with the state to officially open her business in 2017.

“I’ve been working out of my home and gradually taking over more and more of it,” she said. “I finally decided it was time it was not in the house anymore.”

That decision was in time with the availability of the RE/MAX building when the Summers decided to move the real estate portion of their business next door into the Design Center.

“I’m pretty excited to branch out and be seen,” she said.

Pausch has multiple ways she gets her furs, including harvesting done at home by her husband Jamie, along with Hough Fur out of Barnesville. Nearly all of her product is sourced in-state.

“All my leather comes from southeast Minnesota,” she said.

Customers also supply their own tanned furs and about 75 percent of Pausch’s business is custom.

“The other 25 percent is inventory or somebody sees something they like and they ask about making it,” she said.

Pausch’s customer base is a wide variety, like her products, selling to serious outdoors people, along with complementary products for higher fashion.

“I have some customers who are more in-your-face, mountain man-looking or some down by the cities and it’s all about how she wants to wear it to show off her earrings,” Pausch said. “I like both types of people and I enjoy interacting with all of them, so I’m glad they feel comfortable on both ends.”

Pausch grew up in southeast Minnesota near Rochester in the town of Eyota. She went to Ridgewater College in Willmar to be a veterinary technician. She has continued that pursuit helping out Dr. Randall Lindemann at Acorn Lake Veterinary Service in Frazee.

Pausch had eyed previous properties in Vergas to put her business but none were sufficient for what she wanted or the timing was off and she sought out retail space in Pelican Rapids as well. 

“Vergas, when we’ve set up over here for different events, we’ve always been so well received that it just seemed that it was a good fit,” Pausch said.

In time, Pausch hopes to add more than just furs in the store. She is in discussions with some leather makers, some blacksmithing and metal yard art

“I want anything that is handcrafted and regional,” she said. “I want local. If somebody comes here on vacation I want them to take back something that is made here.”

That inventory will also include the Pausch family’s maple syrup and honey products.

Pausch possesses a cottage food license as well, which will allow her to sell homemade jellies that she makes, as well.

The fur product line is large including products as small as keychains, knit hat poms, can koozies to mittens and hats and earmuffs, vests, parkas and larger items like rugs and blankets at the top of the line.

One surprise to those not familiar with the industry is how popular skunk hides are.

“They’ve doubled in price in the last seven years,” she said. “I think because it’s recognizable. Most people that see a pelt know it’s a skunk and provided they were taken care of properly they won’t smell at this stage of the game.”

While the store is open, hours will fluctuate in the beginning. Saturdays and Sunday afternoons are currently on schedule to get started through the end of winter.

“And whenever I’m sewing we’ll be open,” Pausch said.

An official opening date is the works with a grand opening scheduled during Vergas’ Maple Syrup Festival in April.

Wildfire Furs is located at 110 S. Railway Ave., the former RE/MAX building next to Summers Design Center. The company’s web presences include Facebook and Instagram pages /wildfirefurs. Contact info includes (218) 234-7708 and wildfirefurs@gmail.com.