When I first set up a small table, a grinder, and a folding chair at the Sun Prairie Farmers Market, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew how to sharpen, I knew how to troubleshoot tools and repair edges, and I knew that a sharp knife has a way of making someone’s day run smoother. What I didn’t know was whether a mobile sharpening setup would actually take root in a town where people have plenty of options and even more habits. Most folks already have a way they handle dull knives: toss them in a drawer, replace them every few years, or do the quick swipe on a decades-old “sharpening steel” that’s actually softer than the blade.

But week after week, people stopped by out of curiosity. Some brought a knife they’d been fighting with for months. Some brought scissors that hadn’t cut fabric cleanly in a decade. Others handed over clipper blades that had dulled during a long grooming season. And one by one, those conversations and transactions added up to something bigger than I expected.

Recently, Sharp On Sight crossed a milestone: 100 five-star reviews on Google. For a small local service business, those aren’t just numbers. Each one represents a real person, a real edge, and a real moment when someone walked away with a tool that worked better than it did when they arrived. At the same time, Sharp On Sight was also named a 2025 Neighborhood Fave on Nextdoor, which is a sign that local families, home cooks, gardeners, barbers, groomers, and small business owners see value in what I do. These milestones didn’t show up on their own. They came from a steady stream of people who gave me a shot, supported this work, and kept Sun Prairie and Madison sharp.

The Path to 100 Five-Star Reviews

Reaching 100 five-star reviews wasn’t a sprint. It was more like sharpening a stubborn blade: slow, steady, and deliberate. Every review came from someone who trusted me enough to hand over something valuable. Sometimes it was a pocket knife that had seen every season of Wisconsin weather. Sometimes it was a set of kitchen knives that had cut every meal for a family over the last five or ten years. Sometimes it was a pair of shears for a barber or groomer who relies on precision to make a living.

People often assume reviews just... happen. But I know better. Reviews only show up when the work is worth writing about. They show up when someone sees value not just in the sharpening, but in the interaction, the turnaround time, the conversations at the market booth, or the ease of dropping off at 215 E Main Street. They show up when someone realizes that what they thought was “good enough” wasn’t actually good enough after all.

The five-star rating matters, but the trust behind it matters more. Sharpening isn’t glamorous. It’s dusty, noisy, detail-heavy work. But every edge I send out is my reputation walking around in someone’s hand every day. That’s why each review feels like a confirmation that the approach works: do the job right, don’t cut corners, sharpen to the angle the blade was meant to have, and treat people like neighbors rather than transactions.

Becoming a Nextdoor Neighborhood Fave

The Neighborhood Fave award is different from Google reviews in one important way: it comes from the people who live right here, in the neighborhoods where this business actually operates. You don’t win a Neighborhood Fave unless the people within a few miles of you are talking, recommending, and sharing your service with each other. It’s quiet word-of-mouth, but it’s the type that lasts.

When someone recommends Sharp On Sight on Nextdoor, it usually happens in moments where people are solving real problems:
“Does anyone know who sharpens clipper blades around here”
“My kitchen knives are dull, who do you use”
“Where do you take scissors for sharpening in Sun Prairie”

Those local conversations built more momentum than any advertisement could. And when Nextdoor sent the notice that Sharp On Sight was a 2025 Neighborhood Fave, it felt like a nod from the people who’ve supported me since the beginning.

Farmers Markets: Where the Business Really Took Shape

It’s impossible to talk about these milestones without talking about the markets that shaped the business into what it is today.

The Sun Prairie Farmers Market

The Sun Prairie Farmers Market is where Sharp On Sight really grew legs. Week after week, season after season, this market brought in the flow of people who made this business steady. It’s where I met the majority of my earliest customers. It’s where I learned what people needed sharpened most, what problems they faced daily, and what mattered to them. It’s also where I sharpened through cold mornings, windy afternoons, early spring crowds, and fall weekends full of pumpkin buyers.

The market gave me visibility, community, and a chance to build relationships. It also gave me responsibility. If you sharpen a knife on a Saturday morning and someone uses it to prep dinner that evening, you’d better believe they’ll know exactly how good (or bad) your work is within hours. The market environment kept the quality high and the accountability direct.

The West Main Street Farmers Market

The West Main Street Farmers Market played a different but equally important role. It brought customers who use their tools heavily: gardeners, small business owners, cooks, home chefs, and people who take pride in things lasting as long as they should. The Tuesday afternoon and evening hours gave me a second home base. And for a service business, consistency matters.

Both markets helped the business grow in ways I couldn’t have predicted. They provided a real-time feedback loop: when edges performed well, people came back. When they noticed improvement in their daily tasks, they told a friend. When a neighbor asked where to get shears or mower blades sharpened, they pointed them in my direction.

The farmers markets weren’t just places where I set up shop. They were the foundation that turned a sharpening table into a local service that now has more than a hundred five-star reviews and real presence in the community.

Why These Milestones Matter

Milestones don’t exist just to be celebrated. They serve a purpose. They mark a moment where the business looks different than it did a year or two ago. Hitting 100 five-star reviews and earning the Neighborhood Fave award shows steady growth, trust, and reliability.

It also signals that people see value in keeping their tools maintained rather than replacing them unnecessarily. Whether it’s a pocket knife used every day at work, kitchen knives used to cook for a family, or grooming shears that need precision, sharp tools matter. And when people find a sharpener they trust, they tend to stick with them.

For me, these milestones also mark a shift from “side project” to “community service.” Sharp On Sight has become part of the weekly rhythm for people around Sun Prairie and Madison. Some stop by every season, some every few months, some every week depending on the work they do. This consistency is what keeps the business moving forward.

The People Behind the Milestones

The real story of Sharp On Sight isn’t the equipment, the techniques, the angles, or even the markets themselves. It’s the people:
The chef who drops off knives before a busy weekend.
The barber who needs clippers sharp before a packed schedule.
The gardener sharpening pruners and shears for spring.
The home cook who just wants a knife that slices cleanly for once.
The parent trying to revive a pair of school scissors.
The butcher maintaining the tools that keep their shop running.
The repeat customers who bring a friend the next time.

Every single person who dropped something off, stopped by the booth, wrote a review, recommended me on Nextdoor, or even just asked a question contributed to these milestones. None of this happened in a vacuum. It happened in driveways, booths, markets, drop boxes, and quick conversations on Main Street. It happened in small moments that added up.

Looking Ahead: Staying Sharp, Growing Steady

With the business continuing to grow, the focus stays the same: do good work, keep improving, streamline the setup, and continue serving Sun Prairie and Madison with the kind of consistency people can rely on. There will always be new knives, new edges, new steels, new tools, and new customers. But the fundamentals won’t change.

The plan moving forward is simple:
Show up.
Sharpen well.
Keep the community sharp.

The markets will continue to be home base. The drop box on Main Street will continue to be available around the clock. And the sharpening service will keep expanding as more people discover the value of maintaining the tools they use every day.

Where the Edges Lead Next

Reaching 100 five-star reviews and being named a Neighborhood Fave aren’t the end of anything. They’re a marker in the middle of the path — a reminder that the last couple years of effort were worth it and that the work is moving in the right direction. They represent hundreds of edges, hundreds of conversations, and hundreds of small moments that added up to something solid.

Sun Prairie, Madison, and the surrounding areas have been supportive in ways I couldn’t have predicted when I first started. The markets gave me a home, the customers gave me trust, and the community gave this business the momentum it needed. I appreciate every bit of it.

Sharp On Sight will keep growing, one blade at a time.