Char Barrie Recognized for Her Artisan Goods

    TURTON, SD, December 01, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Char Barrie has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

Since 1995, Mrs. Barrie has found a great deal of success as the owner of the South Dakota-based Char's Kitchen, through which she offers homemade jams, salsa, pickles, syrups, jellies and gift baskets. With a variety of flavors of her products available, including chokecherry, raspberry-rhubarb, elderberry and strawberry-rhubarb, she proudly produces her own preserves sourced from her husband's garden through a licensed kitchen. In addition to selling her items through her online store at charskitchen.net, she also provides her products to a number of retail stores throughout South Dakota, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Tennessee and Washington as well as food and craft fairs. As such, Mrs. Barrie creates approximately 10,000 mason jars each season, utilizing 2,000 pounds of sugar, 1,000 pounds of apples and three massive freezers where she keeps much of her fruit until she can transform them into her hand-crafted items.

Mrs. Barrie's journey down her present professional path began when her oldest daughter asked her for her delicious jellies in baby food jars as a Christmas gift for her grandparents. She additionally fondly recalls receiving outstanding feedback upon selling baked goods at a craft fair to benefit her local chapter of Veterans of Foreign Wars in Turton, South Dakota in 1996. Likewise, Mrs. Barrie was inspired by the intimate nature of her hometown, as there are about 30 people in her town who all know her work, and she commutes only 4 miles to the family farm where her jelly house and primary business resides.

Before establishing herself as a fixture within her community, Mrs. Barrie began her career as an office administrator for Viking Rubber in South Dakota between 1992 and 1995. In the years that followed, she supported her ambitions within her field by acquiring a food service license from the South Dakota Department of Health in 2004 and a ServSafe certification from the National Restaurant Association in 2008. Proudly remaining in business for nearly 30 years, Mrs. Barrie has attributed her success to the hard work of herself, her husband, Rolland, and their part-time employees, as well as her ability to maintain the quality of her products.

As a testament to her stellar efforts, Mrs. Barrie has been notably featured in such esteemed publications as Forbes Magazine, Millennium Magazine and South Dakota Magazine, the latter of which spotlighted her and her business in 2023. In 2022, she was highlighted with a front-page article in The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, detailing the humble beginnings of Char's Kitchen while allowing readers to dig deeper into her process. Selected for inclusion by Stanford Who's Who in 2010 and 2011, Mrs. Barrie was subsequently presented with the Pinnacle Professional Membership Award by Continental Who's Who in 2021 and a Diamond Award from Carrington Publishers in 2022.

Outside of her primary endeavors, Mrs. Barrie has been active as a volunteer with Just Beecuz Floral in Doland since 2017. Moreover, she has garnered a wealth of personal gratification through her work as a volunteer and donor with St. Joseph's Catholic Church since 2002. Mrs. Barrie has also contributed her support to her local fire department as a donor.

Since 1998, Mrs. Barrie has been a member of the Conde chapter of the American Legion, during which time she was additionally appointed as a membership chairman from 2000 to 2010 and the president from 2012 to 2014. In recognition of her exceptional support of her local auxiliary, the Veterans of Foreign Wars distinguished her as a lifetime board member in 1998. Beyond her involvement with these nonprofit organizations, she has been affiliated with the International Association of Women, formerly known as the National Association of Professional Women, since 2009. Mrs. Barrie has also extended her support to the Crazy Horse National Memorial.

Among the many highlights of her storied career, Mrs. Barrie cites her ability to grow Char's Kitchen from a personal request for a Christmas g gift to a thriving independent business as the highlight of her career, having gone to crafting 500 jars for fairs to producing thousands of jars per year in a variety of sizes. She is also proud to have developed seasonal and holiday items, including a Christmas-flavor made from cranberries, oranges, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. Furthermore, she finds satisfaction in helping to expose the world to the chokecherry, a native fruit of North and South Dakota that remains among her biggest sellers. In recent years, Mrs. Barrie has seen much interest rise in her lauded pickles as well.

Mrs. Barrie may be best known for her work with Char's Kitchen, but she has also shown unparalleled dedication to her amazing family, which includes her loving husband, their six daughters, 11 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. In the coming years, she hopes to enter a well-deserved retirement, having spent many hours into the night preparing her products so they remain fresh and ready for her customers. However, Mrs. Barrie may never fully retire, as she believes she may continue to craft her acclaimed goods on a limited basis through her online store or personalized orders at a point in the near future.

About Marquis Who's Who®:
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Marquis celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2023, and Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.

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