Fastenal packed the stage when it took part in Nasdaq's Opening Bell ceremony on Monday.

The opening bell signals the traditional start of the trading day and Nasdaq invites its member companies to do the honors in recognition of various milestones.

On Monday, Winona-based Fastenal was celebrating 50 years in business and 30 years on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Fastenal was founded in Winona on Nov. 28, 1967 and joined the Nasdaq stock exchange on Aug. 20, 1987.

"Fastenal has been built by thousands of great people working in every area of our organization," said CEO Dan Florness in a company release. "We wanted to shine the spotlight on as many of these leaders as the stage could possibly hold."

Fastenal, which has rung the opening bell three previous times (2007, 2011, 2014), conducted an employee lottery to fill the 65 spots on stage for this trip.

Employees with at least 10 years of service, which include nearly 2,700 of Fastenal's total 20,200 employees, were eligible for the drawing. 30 employees, and a guest each, came from all over the country including some from overseas.

Kelsey Ayres, Star Tribune

Winners flew in on Saturday and were due to fly back home on Monday.

The employees who won the trip to New York City joined Florness and one of the company's original five founders, Michael Gostomski, on the Nasdaq stage Monday.

Fastenal shares have been a good investment over the years. According to data supplied by the company: 1,000 shares of the company's stock bought at the initial public offering would have cost $9,000 but by Sept. 29 the value of those shares had grown to $4.4 million and delivered $876,000 worth of dividends.

Fastenal distributes industrial and construction supplies through more than 2,500 stores, 70,000 industrial vending machines and 560 OnSite-style locations across the U.S. and in 21 countries. Last year they had total sales of $3.96 billion.