We still cannot stop smiling about this year’s Saints BBQ. Every summer, this event reminds us why we do what we do. It is not simply about real estate. It is about the people, relationships, and community that have grown alongside our team.
Thirteen years ago, our first Saints BBQ was a small gathering at a park near Medicine Lake. Kerby stood at the grill flipping hot dogs while a handful of clients and friends gathered around picnic tables.
Our daughter was just a baby that summer, and our friend Gretchen Strandell, wife of Bob Strandell of Bell Bank Mortgage, held her while we visited with everyone. It was simple, personal, and exactly the kind of connection we wanted to build our business around.
Pictures of our oldest daughter Vivi with Bell Mortgage loan officer, Bob Strandell’s wife.
This year, that same tradition brought nearly 1,000 past clients, friends, and team members together at CHS Field for a Saint Paul Saints game.
As we watched the crowd gather under the ballpark lights, we could not help but think back to those early days at Medicine Lake. The event may have grown, but the heart behind it has remained the same.
Every person there represents a relationship we value, whether we helped them buy a home, sell a home, referred them to a trusted resource, or simply stayed connected through the years.
The evening felt like one big reunion. We reconnected with clients we have known for more than a decade, welcomed families attending for the first time, and heard updates about new homes, growing families, career changes, and other exciting milestones.
Those conversations remind us that our relationships with clients do not end at the closing table. In many ways, that is where they begin.
One of our favorite moments of the night was announcing the winner of the $1,000 grand prize. Kerby personally helped her and her husband purchase their first starter home in Coon Rapids around 2010. Since then, they have attended nearly every Saints BBQ and remained an important part of our community.
This year’s win was especially fun because it was not her first time leaving with a prize. In fact, this marked the fourth time she has won something at one of our BBQs! Stories like this are what make the event so meaningful. We love celebrating with clients through every season of life and staying connected long after the closing table.
The Saints BBQ is one of our favorite ways to say thank you.
Thank you for trusting us with some of life’s biggest decisions. Thank you for introducing us to your friends, family members, neighbors, and coworkers. Most importantly, thank you for continuing to show up, stay connected, and allow us to be part of your story.
Your support has helped turn a small gathering around a few picnic tables into one of our favorite traditions of the year.
To everyone who joined us this year, thank you for making the night so memorable. We loved celebrating with you and hope you had as much fun as we did.
For those who could not attend, we hope to see you next summer. No matter how long it has been since we last connected, please know that you will always be an important part of the Kerby & Cristina community.
We could not be more grateful for how far we have come together, and we cannot wait to see where the next thirteen years take us.