Eden Prairie is an edge city 12 miles (19 km) southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County and the 12th largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies on the north bank of the Minnesota River, upstream from its confluence with the Mississippi River. As the seventh largest suburb, Eden Prairie and nearby suburbs form the southwest portion of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the fifteenth largest metropolitan area in the United States, with about 3.6 million residents. The U.S. Census Bureau recorded the city's population at 60,797 in 2010.

Comprising many large lakes and ponds, the city has more than 170 miles (270 km) of multi-use trails, 2,250 acres (9 km²) of parks, and 1,300 acres (5 km²) of open space. Previously a bedroom suburb in the 1960s, the city is now home to more than 2,200 businesses and the headquarters of Digital River, SuperValu, Alliant Techsystems, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, MTS Systems Corporation, and the Minnesota Vikings. Regionally known for Eden Prairie Center, it is also the hub for SouthWest Transit, serving public transportation to three adjacent suburbs. Eden Prairie has been named one of Money Magazine's "Best Places to Live" in America since 2006; the city earned a first place ranking in the 2010 survey.

Vic Firth is an American musician and is the founder of Vic Firth Company (formerly Vic Firth, Inc.), a percussion stick and mallet manufacturing company that he started in 1963. The company bills itself as the world's largest manufacturer of drum sticks and mallets. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company's products are manufactured in Newport, Maine.

On December 20, 2010, it was announced that Vic Firth, Inc. had merged with Avedis Zildjian Company. According to the announcement, both companies will continue to run autonomously.

Vic Firth was born June 2, 1930, in Winchester, Massachusetts. He was raised in Maine by parents Everett E. and Rosemary Firth. Son of a successful trumpet player, he started learning the cornet from the age of four, turning over to percussion at an older age, as well as learning to play the trombone, clarinet, piano, and studying music arrangement. When he reached high school he was a full time percussionist, creating an 18-piece band at the age of 16. He played a variety of percussion instruments such as vibraphone, timpani and the drum set. Firth is now an accomplished percussionist with his own percussion corporation that produces sticks and mallets.