For several years now, Greg Ries and several of his daughters have been sprucing up their elevator property by planting a mixture of field crops and flowers along Main Street in downtown Vermillion. Although the summer of 2008 was not particularly kind to most dryland crops in the area, Greg used a little fertilizer and ample water to produce a bumper crop of field corn and assorted flowers.

The old elevator building stands tall and proud amid the blossoms and tassels that decorate the boulevard in front of the building. While countless motorists enjoyed the colorful display as they drove through town, by far the biggest fans of the Ries family garden were a local gang of squirrels, who feasted on the large cobs of corn they deftly pulled from stalks and carried away. Although he tried has hard as he could, poor Willie, the elevator's 11-year-old wonder dog and unchallenged employee of the month, was unable to make a single squirrel pay the ultimate penalty for their outright thievery.