About us// Our story
2002
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Josh and Mary met at a college retreat in October 2002. They quickly fell in love decided they both wanted to own a place where they could love and serve others. Josh liked putting on concerts and Mary liked the community and relationship-building aspect of a coffee shop. Their vision for the Ember continued to grow.
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2010 Dreams become reality
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Fast forward to 2010–a group of individuals wanted to reach out to young musicians and artists in the Grand Forks area. They organized an “every-other-Friday” music night that featured local and regional artists, free coffee drinks and an inviting atmosphere, right here at The Ember. After a couple years of super-fun Friday night music happenings, the group asked Josh to start booking the bands for these music nights and Mary was asked to start helping with the coffee side of things; it was a perfect match! Josh and Mary’s vision a decade earlier was becoming a reality.
Freedom Church owns The Ember building. The church had only started a few years earlier, but needed more space than the building would allow. After some debate and lots of prayer, Freedom Church knew its best chance to continue to grow and serve the community was to move across the street to 308 Demers Avenue. With Freedom Church vacating the building, came the perfect opportunity for The Ember to begin. |
2011
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With an amazingly creative team, Josh and Mary began to move forward with the renovations for what would become The Ember Coffee House and Creative Venue.
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2012
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It was a glorious day in March, 2012, when The Ember opened its doors to the community of Grand Forks. A non-profit, volunteer-powered coffeehouse was born.
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2013
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We celebrated our first year in the heart of Downtown Grand Forks!
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