Cleanup is under way at the Hastings Creamery. 
During the February 17 Hastings City Council meeting, the council approved a resolution issuing the demolition and removal of the hazardous creamery building, located at 1701 Vermillion Street. The council directed 3D LLC, proprietor of the Hastings Creamery, a cleanup deadline of June 15, 2026.
At the Hastings Creamery, the outer tanks have been removed. KDWA was across the street and spoke with Gary, a former maintenance worker of the Hastings Co-op. Gary shared what it’s like to see the fire-damaged building and offered a history lesson on the former creamery owners.
“Well, see, I wasn’t around when the fire, when the fire burned it down. I mean, seeing this dollar, it’s an era of time. That’s what it is. Just an era in time. (If the fire didn’t happen) it’d probably maybe still be going, you know? But once the fire hit, it got too bad. Oh, when it was still the Hastings Co-Op owned by the farmers, and that it was a darn good place. It took good management, ran it really good and everything. Then they sold it to Paynesville or something like that. Bought in another dairy, and then then they sold it all to Polka Dot dairy.”
Watching the creamery tanks being removed, Gary reminisced:
“They hauled all the milk out with all the compound storage, says, I mean, I did all those tanks there, right there, laying there. I’ve been inside them many times, up on top, in, crawling in the one still standing there been inside them, you know, for maintenance work. You know, it is quite an era in time. Good place to work. It’s called history.”
For whatever is established to replace the former creamery, Gary says:
“Hey, we don’t live here. So, they can put anything they like there, but I hope it’s nice.”
[Click the soundbite to listen to the broadcast.]