Culture & Community

Grand Meadow Artisan Creates Handmade, Permanent Leather Goods

Grand Meadow artisan Zech Sindt of Bluffland Leather Co. creates hand-stitched leather goods built to last a lifetime using traditional, sustainable methods.

Person wearing a knit hat and beige sweater stands on a snowy sidewalk in a small Minnesota downtown, with a local grocery store and historic brick buildings in the background.

Bluff Country Business Academy to Support Local Businesses

Preston and Lanesboro are partnering on the Bluff Country Business Academy, an eight-week program designed to help small businesses grow and thrive.

A sound meditation facilitator sits cross-legged on a patterned rug, holding a frame drum and mallet, surrounded by crystal singing bowls, metal bowls, gongs, and softly lit candles in a calm indoor setting.

Essay | Sound Bath Healing: Relaxation Through Vibration and Stillness

Discover how sound baths and vibrational healing help calm the nervous system, release stress, and restore balance in Southeast Minnesota.

Yellow diamond road sign showing a horse-drawn Amish buggy with a small amber light above it that flashes when a buggy is present, standing beside a snowy rural highway with cars passing on the left and leafless trees lining the roadside in winter

First-ever Amish Buggy Alert Signals Installed in Fillmore County

MnDOT installs flashing Amish buggy alert signs on Highway 44 in an effort to improve safety after two separate fatal vehicle-buggy crashes.

Wildlife rescuer wearing a brown jacket and yellow gloves carefully holds a large adult bald eagle inside a cluttered workshop, with shelves of tools, containers and equipment in the background. The eagle is looking back at the man.

Area Family Rescues Animals Year-Round

An injured juvenile bald eagle rescued near Spring Valley during a snowstorm sheds light on the work of The Rescue Connection, a family-run wildlife rescue serving southern Minnesota.

Historic log cabin in winter, partially covered in snow, with weathered wooden walls, small windows and bare trees casting long shadows across a snowy rural yard.

Southern Minnesota’s Near-Miss: The Children’s Blizzard Revisited

Laney Smith revisits the historic and devastating Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888 and how the experience reshaped how Minnesota deals with snowstorms.

Young man wearing glasses and a white sweater with an American flag sits beside a lit Christmas tree indoors, looking to the side with a calm reflective expression.

Essay | Buon Natale! Christmas in Italy: Traditions, Food and Family

An Italian exchange student reflects on Christmas traditions in Italy while experiencing the holidays with his Minnesota host family.

CPKC Holiday Train travels through a snowy crossing at night with the locomotive and rail cars outlined in bright red blue and green Christmas lights.

Holiday Train Brings Christmas Spirit to Driftless Communities

The CPKC Holiday Train rolled through La Crescent and other Driftless communities in December, combining live music and dazzling lights with vital fundraising for local food banks.

Three older women smile at the camera while wearing festive Christmas hats and scarves inside a museum-like space, with vintage displays and a large carved figure visible behind them.

Cold Weather Can’t Stop Christmas Cheer at Peterson’s Beloved Holiday Festival

Hardy community members won’t let a cold snap keep them from celebrating Christmas in Peterson! John Weiss reports on this local holiday tradition of Norwegian treats, Santa visits and music that continues to bring the community together.

Illustration: "Going to Conference" in the book The Circuit Rider A Tale of the Heroic Age by Edward Eggleston (left). Portrait of Father John Lewis Dyer (right). (Acquired through Public Domain)

Where Frontier Faith Took Root: Lenora Methodist Church and Its Circuit-Rider Origins

Written by Amy Jo Hahn, this story traces the influence of Methodist pastor John Lewis Dyer, his influence on building the Lenora Methodist Episcopal Church and the frontier faith that shaped a rural Minnesota community.

Black-and-white group portrait of twelve young men in dark suits posed around a wooden table, likely a student organization from the early 1900s. A banner reading “Duodecim” rests beneath the table. All are clean-shaven with neatly combed hair, photographed indoors against a plain studio backdrop.

Poet Richard Eberhart Remembered

John Torgrimson shares the nearly forgotten story and literary legacy of Austin native and U.S. Poet Laureate Richard Eberhart.

Large group of people of all ages standing in line at a church or community-center buffet, filling their plates with Thanksgiving-style food in large roasters. The room is bright and busy, with casseroles, turkey, salads, and desserts laid out on long tables. The scene shows a warm, friendly small-town gathering.

Essay | Bringing Back Takkefest: Rushford Community Rebuilds a Beloved Thanksgiving Tradition

Kristin Burdey shares her story of reviving a beloved community holiday dinner and the healing it’s brought to families who’ve recently closed their Rushford-area restaurant businesses.