Business Focus: Lakeland’s success is on display
RATHDRUM – The Lakeland Company invites you to step beyond the limits of your imagination. Lakeland’s business is creating grand illusions for display.
As president of the Lakeland Company, David Long receives project requests from museums, zoos, and retail ventures across the nation. Like his counterparts in New York or Chicago, his phone rings every few minutes as he handles assembly and logistics problems for multimillion dollar projects, makes quick manufacturing decisions, asks his secretary to note an out-of-town meeting and cajoles a project coordinator who needs to find a licensed electrician. But, unlike those other businesspeople, he does it all from a trio of small metal buildings in Rathdrum’s industrial park.
Long calls his business “the Hollywood back lot of Rathdrum” and says its “a combination of art and heavy construction.” He and his employees are artists, and their medium is fiberglass reinforced concrete.
According to its Web site, Lakeland Company designs, manufactures and installs historical replications, backyard dreamscapes, artificial rock and water features, zoo exhibits, museum dioramas, aquariums, miniature golf designs, retail store and trade show displays, environmental and themed designs and artificial landscapes.
Long, whose father was in the sign business, was a journeyman sign maker by the time he was 18, but it wasn’t until 1991 that he and his wife moved to North Idaho and started the Lakeland Company. Long focused on what he enjoyed doing most – the more creative, three-dimensional jobs.
He made the decision early to invest time and money on research and development, and as the popularity of artificial rock and environmental displays grew, his decision paid off. Long and his team have completed artificial animal habitats for the Oklahoma City Zoo and 15 huge dioramas from around the world for the Rolling Hills Wildlife Museum in Salina, Kan. Their mountains, waterfalls and outdoor environments grace other museums, casinos, retail businesses and private residences across the nation.
Lakeland Company recently began working on the mountain, aquariums and artificial log wraps for the Cabela’s in Post Falls. It is the third Cabela’s store Long has worked on. “I think it’s pretty neat we’re building a mountain in our own backyard,” he said. Other local works can be seen at Silverwood Theme Park, Sacred Heart Medical Center, and The Club at Black Rock.
Long doesn’t hesitate to tackle small jobs, either. Paul Matthews, a local architect and history buff, hired Long and his company to add a special historic touch to his new building on Rathdrum’s Main Street. His vision was to mount two sculptures, a railroad steam locomotive and a pony express rider, atop the brick building.
Matthews provided Long with small replicas of what he wanted and Long’s team went to work. They scanned the pieces into a computer system, created 3-D models, cut full-scale models, formed a mold, and created the final piece. A granite-looking finish was the final step.
Long credits his success to the fact that he’ll tackle anything and the team of employees he has gathered.
According to Long, his business and reputation have grown by word of mouth, and he believes it is due to the importance he places on educating his clients, open communication, and attention to detail. “It’s our solutions that set us apart.”
Long enjoys living and working in North Idaho and believes in supporting his community.
He is proud of the fact that he provides good jobs for his employees and uses local resources and labor whenever possible.
He donated much of the expense of creating an eye-catching artificial rock in the middle of Lakeland High School, and recently donated money for a rock climbing wall for kids during Rathdrum Days.
When asked his favorite thing about the work he does, he extends his arms in an encompassing gesture and says, “Everything. I love just showing up every day.”