By Brenda Erdahl
Dr. Niki Tripp and her Sunfish Dental team have officially moved into their new home in the old McHugh Building on Birch Ave in Maple Lake.
Tripp has spent the last seven months refurbishing the 81-year-old piece of Maple Lake history, and on Wednesday, Oct. 18, celebrated her grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony and free mini donuts.
“We had a really good turnout, I was pleasantly surprised,” said Tripp who reported giving away more than 100 bags of mini donuts.
Tripp is fairly new to Maple Lake. She bought the practice from her predecessor, Dennis Quinlan in 2020 in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Business was so brisk, when the opportunity arose to move to the larger McHugh Building next door, she took it. She bought the building in February and immediately started remodeling.
Despite the history of the building, which shows it to be the home of Security State Bank from as early as 1942, Tripp joked she found no stashes of gold coins during the demolition. She did find several Minnesota State Statute books in the walls along with a lot of tissue type paper that she thought was likely placed there as insulation. They also found two robust vaults (one on the main floor and one on the lower floor) that will remain as the historical centerpieces to their clinic.
