Sarah Alfano: Professor, gardener and rock star
This time of year, you can find Sarah Alfano hard at work at her family-run greenhouse. When she's not there, you might see her in the classroom or on stage.
Flowers, cacti and even some ghost peppers are taking shape at Medary Acres in Brookings. The business has been a staple in the eastern South Dakota city since 1952.
'People are really excited to see some green, see some color, get thinking about their gardens,' Medary Acres co-owner Sarah Alfano said.
This is Alfano's favorite time of year.
'Just watching everything grow and change and just seeing this big, empty, cold greenhouse go from that into the beautiful place that you see right now, it's just really special and rewarding,' Alfano said.
Alfano co-owns the greenhouse with her parents. It's been part of her life for as long as she can remember.
'My name is on the cement right over there from when I was a little kid. I don't remember the greenhouse not being in my life,' Alfano said.
However, Medary Acres is only open from mid-April until mid-June, so Alfano wanted to do something new during the greenhouse's offseason. She studied higher education in graduate school at SDSU, so she decided to give teaching a try.
'I'm kind of a nerd at heart. I went to school for a long time, love school, always did well in school, so it's really fun to just be back in that environment,' Alfano said.
Alfano teaches a small business management class in the Ness School of Management and Economics at SDSU.
'We just talked about all the different things that you have to know about and kind of manage when you own or are helping out a small business,' Alfano said.
But that's not the only thing Alfano does when she's away from the greenhouse. She also plays bass in a band called 'Hot Freaks.'
'It's very fun, it's very pop influenced, it's pretty heavy piano influence,' Alfano said. 'Some of the songs are really romantic, very sweet and fun.'
Alfano joined Hot Freaks while she was working on her undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, but as the members started getting jobs and moving elsewhere, the band amicably split around 2015. However, about six years later, things started heating up again when one of their songs started gaining some traction.
'We also found out one of our songs had gone viral on TikTok, which we didn't really know about because we didn't have TikTok at the time,' Alfano said.
It came as a bit of a shock to Hot Freaks's singer, Leo Vondracek.
'I kind of thought that was like, 'Oh, cool.' I didn't realize it was going to be kind of a life changing thing. I'm like, 'Oh, that's great. I always knew that song was pretty cool, you know?'' Vondracek said.
It's around that time the band caught the attention of SDSU junior Jordan Roemeling.
'I heard their viral song Puppy Princess and put it on my Spotify and didn't think much of it,' Roemeling said.
That was until about three years later when she found out that Alfano teaches at SDSU.
'Last semester, I talked to my classmate, Alexis, just making small talk about our day, and she said, 'I went to a small business management class, and my professor is in a band,' and I'm like, 'Really? Oh, that's so cool,' and she was like, 'Yeah, she's in this band called Hot Freaks.' I was like, 'Wait, I've heard of that band,' Roemeling said.
Roemeling is a reporter for the Collegian, SDSU's student newspaper, so naturally, she reached out to write a story.
'It was really awesome. It was probably one of the best interviews I've ever had. I love writing about music and entertainment, so I just jumped on the opportunity as quick as I could to write it,' Roemeling said.
The attention that Hot Freaks has received from social media and from articles like Roemling's has allowed the band to tour the country.
'It's crazy. We're a little bit older now, so we have a little bit more life experience and just perspective I would say. It's just really crazy and humbling to go to a city that you've maybe never been to before and play a show that's packed full of people that know your music, love your music,' Alfano said.
As Hot Freaks grows its fan base, Alfano will keep trying to be the best guitar player, professor and gardener that she can be.
'It's just all kind of lined up, a little bit of planning, a little bit of luck, and I hope I can keep it all going and keep juggling all my things,' Alfano said.
Hot Freaks will also be playing in Sioux Falls in a couple of months. The group will play at the 'That Sounds Decent' concert at the Levitt on June 28th.
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