by Claire Krieger | Nov 18, 2025 | Featured, Giving Back, Shops, Style
The limited-time installation features exclusive customer experiences. Through March 2026, Love Your Melon (LYM) is back at the Mall of America with a pop-up store. The brand, owned and founded by Valley resident Zachary Quinn, supplies beanies to children battling...
by Claire Krieger | Oct 15, 2025 | Featured, Local Makers
The waffle business has big plans for its small drive-thru shop. Wilder Waffle Co. is opening its first permanent location on the corner of Interstate 94 and Highway 12 in Hudson. Usually found traveling the valley (and beyond) as a mobile trailer, the shop plans to...
by Claire Krieger | Oct 1, 2025 | Local Makers, Shops
The shop will continue making artisan chocolate under a new owner. The St. Croix Chocolate Company is turning over a new leaf this fall with a change in ownership. St. Paul’s Jason Moldan, a retired sergeant major and creator of The Minnesota Chocolate Lab, took over...
by Zoe Yates | Oct 1, 2025 | Featured
As we are pulled deeper into the slow, steady rhythm of autumn, so too are we called home. These cold months remind us of the importance of our shelter, which may feel long-neglected after months spent enjoying the sun and sky. Our food, homes, and entertaining issue...
by Missy Austreng | Oct 1, 2025 | Giving Back, Noteworthy, People
Metta Belisle lived her name. In Sanskrit, metta means loving-kindness—a philosophy she carried into every part of her life, from rescuing animals to planting flowers and trees. A third grade teacher for nearly 30 years, Metta believed that how we treat animals and...
by Jennifer Pitterle | Oct 1, 2025 | Featured, Local Makers, Restaurants
Chef Cristian De Leon brings Mayan-inspired cuisine to Stillwater. In an unassuming storefront on the Highway 36 frontage road in Stillwater, chef Cristian De Leon is crafting some of the most innovative Latin food in the Metro—and doing it all with a commitment to...
by Jennifer Pitterle | Oct 1, 2025 | Build, Featured, History, Interior Design
Architect Greg Elsner and his family tune into nature at their distinctive home in Taylors Falls. Greg Elsner brings a uniquely Minnesotan sensibility to his work. “I love embracing the seasons here that don’t happen elsewhere,” Elsner says. “I love water skiing and...
by Zoe Yates | Oct 1, 2025 | Giving Back, Outdoors, Wellness
The local nonprofit is helping first responders, law enforcement, veterans and more through adventures in nature. Stillwater resident Chris Tetrault spent decades serving his country in the National Guard and as a law enforcement officer. Now, he’s continuing his...
by Ellie Heyerdahl | Oct 1, 2025 | Arts, Education, Noteworthy, Outdoors
Only 72 days after opening, the Natural Heritage Art Centre in Osceola, Wisconsin, was destroyed by a fire in January 2023. The destruction of the building left founder Jessica Turtle uncertain about the next step. “I was looking for a way to do art ecology with more...
by Tricia Christiansen | Oct 1, 2025 | Giving Back, Local Makers
Hudson Daybreak Rotary shared a dynamic selection of artisan food and wine at the Taste of the Valley event in Lakefront Park in Hudson, Wisconsin. This year, guests voted on their personal favorites with Los Habaneros Mexican Grill & Bar receiving top nods as a...
by Zoe Yates | Oct 1, 2025 | Build, Featured, Interior Design
At a Valley family’s second home in Finland, Minnesota, modern design meets rustic charm. Baytown Township residents Dave and Heidi Hove weren’t in the market for a second home, but when they found their dream setting—42.5 acres on the Baptism River in Finland,...
by Zoe Yates | Oct 1, 2025 | Entertain, Giving Back, Outdoors
Hudson’s Hilltop Pumpkin Party and Rotary Halloween Parade is an autumn mainstay. It’s been 72 years since the first annual Rotary Halloween Parade—and the event just keeps getting better. For the past three years, Hudson Daybreak Rotary and Rotary Club of Hudson,...
by Zoe Yates | Oct 1, 2025 | Photo Contest
After enjoying a fall hike at Arcola Bluffs, Stillwater resident Maribeth Lundeen stopped at Arcola Mills to capture this image of a small stream meeting the St. Croix River. “The view looking north up the river is beautiful any time of the year,” Lundeen says. She...
by Jennifer Pitterle | Oct 1, 2025 | Local Makers
Rising star chef Cory Western draws inspiration from his childhood in East Farmington, Wisconsin. In the rolling hills of East Farmington, Wisconsin, just east of the St. Croix River, chef Cory Western’s culinary story began. Growing up on a small hobby farm, he spent...
by Ben Thietje | Oct 1, 2025 | Arts, Noteworthy
Memorable characters abound in the Phipps Center for the Arts’ production of Little Shop of Horrors, but the real star of the show is the one that has vines, teeth and an appetite for destruction—otherwise known as Audrey II. Behind the scenes of this monstrous...
