Emilee Barnes and her daughters Carlee (left) and Chloee posed in their Wimbledon kitchen recently.

WIMBLEDON, N.D. (Wimbledon Newsletter) – Wanting to boost their social media presence, Fleck’s Furniture & Appliances of Bismarck offered a Samsung kitchen appliance suite in a Facebook contest in November of 2019.

The 4th generation family-owned business began in Dickinson in 1934, and added the Bismarck location at 3rd & Main in 2002. Those entering the contest had to answer the question, “what is the one appliance you can’t live without?”

Emilee Barnes entered the contest by liking, sharing, and commenting. For her, the answer was obvious; the appliance she needed was a new refrigerator.

“Mine was going to die any day,” she recalled. “When friends were visiting, and the compressor kicked in, people thought the fridge fell over, it was so loud.”

She had looked at fridges on Black Friday but was hoping to delay the expenditure. A couple of days later, on December 2, Emilee was informed that she was the Fleck’s contest winner. The family was just headed out the door to Barnes County North for her daughters’ Christmas program.

“I was in disbelief, and wondering if it was a scam all through the concert,” she said. ”I really didn’t believe it until the appliances were here.” The new appliances are now installed, the contest wasn’t a scam, and there were no “hidden fees”.

Emilee wanted to show her gratitude to Fleck’s, and thought one way was to share her story and let others know about the company. “I am so very grateful, and one way to say ‘thank you’ to Fleck’s is to spread the word about this amazing family company,” she explained when contacting the Wimbledon Newsletter.

And here’s where the story takes a twist, and you realize North Dakota is just a very big “small town”, with everyone connected. Steph Smith was the voice on the other end of the phone telling Emilee she’d won the appliance package. She’s the 4th Fleck generation in the family business, managing the Bismarck store with her brother at the helm.

Steph knew where Wimbledon was on the map – she’s a licensed architect who worked for Wimbledon native Lonnie Laffen (W1976), founder of JLG Architects. She’d even worked on part of the Barnes County North School design before leaving for the family business and greater schedule flexibility following the birth of her second- youngest child.