Berating Skating

(I don’t care how quintessential it is)

Mike Paulus, illustrated by Shannon Sorenson

No, dammit – I can’t skate. Not on wheels and not on ice. And besides a brief stint as a hardcore thrasher back in the fourth grade, I can’t even ride a ...

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On the Cover | Feb. 19, 2020

learn more about this issue's cover art from Karen Clark

“Winter at Bear’s Grass is a combination of a digital photograph and an original alcohol ink painting. The two were combined digitally into a double exposure, mixing and highlighting elements from each ..."

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Granny Shots

basketball league for “women of a certain age” keeps ladies active and having fun

Luc Anthony

I did not expect to discover I was related to a reigning national champion by going to a family reunion. On a hot and sultry late-August day in 2018, I headed down to ...

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Rockin’ Reunion: Decadent Cabaret keeps 41st annual music festival alive despite Metro fire

Andrew Patrie

It has been three years since Decadent Cabaret, about to celebrate its 41st incarnation, shifted locales from the House of Rock to The Metro. And while the event was always ...

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Music for the Overly Sentimental

Parker Reed evolves on brand new EP

author & photographer by Nate Cooksey

As 2019 waned, local music mainstay and alt-rock singer-songwriter Parker Reed released his second solo EP, Music for the Overly Sentimental, a title perfectly befitting this ...

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Sounds and Emotions

Home Within provides international insight

Barbara Arnold

“Home Within” is a 60-minute performance in which Syrian-Armenian visual artist Kevork Mourad creates charcoal and watercolor drawings in front of the audience while responding to the ...

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Charlie Berens Show Sells out Real Quick Once – Ope – Twice!

Briana Novacek, photos by Luong Huynh

Oh my gosh, Charlie Berens is going to perform at da Pablo Center on April 5! Well wouldn’t ya know, it was the fastest-selling show in Pablo history, selling out in under an hour! So they added a ...

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Fire Ball Is Hot Stuff

Pride Is A Riot will heat up Ojibwe Ballroom

author & photographer by Nate Cooksey, photos by Luong Huynh

Each year, UW-Eau Claire’s Fire Ball brings drag performers from around the country to Eau Claire for the largest drag ball fundraiser in the Midwest. Participants celebrate the individuality, self-realization and ...

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Statewide Literary Contest Looking for Your Fiction and Poetry

V1 Staff

Sharpen your pencils and fire up your word processors: The state’s longest-running and largest literary contest is seeking new fiction and poetry from ...

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Priory Writers’ Retreat Offers Focus on Craft

V1 Staff

The Chippewa Valley Writers Guild is inviting writers to its second-annual Priory Writers’ Retreat, which will be June 25-28 at The Priory, a former monastery just outside Eau Claire. The retreat gives writers the opportunity to learn from each other and from seasoned instructors while enjoying ...

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City of Eau Claire Seeks New Writer in Residence

V1 Staff

Do you have the literary chops to raise the profile of the written word in the Chippewa Valley? If so, consider applying to be the next city of Eau Claire Writer in Residence by the March 1 deadline. The position is filled every ...

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Artists Invited to Muralize Downtown

Lauren Fisher

Sculpture Tour Eau Claire invites artists of all ages and experience levels to submit designs to the first ColorBlock Mural project, which will create a new kind of art gallery in Eau Claire opening in ...

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On and Off the Wall: New gallery at Racy’s features casual art talks

Eric Christenson

Since its conception in 2017, Artfly has had one tangible and lucid goal: to bring art to the people. With pop-up galleries all around the Valley in ...

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Folksy Fun: Festival invites hands-on appreciation of local craft

Diana Peterson, photos by Andrea Paulseth

Folk arts are rooted in and reflective of the cultural life of a community. These artistic traditions are passed from generation to generation through demonstration, dialogue, and ...

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Queering the Conversation

Foster Gallery exhibit examines queer identities in the Midwest

Catey Leonardson

UW-Eau Claire is illuminating often-silenced voices with a new exhibition in the Ruth Foster Gallery. “Midwest Queeritivities” gives a platform to queer artists throughout the region and beautifully showcases a ...

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Survival Story

Minneapolis-based Eau Claire grad explores Hmong experience on film

Lauren Fisher

From a cinematic perspective, Minneapolis-based filmmaker Bryan Vue found that Gran Torino, the 2008 Clint Eastwood and Bee Vang film in which ...

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Celebrate Weirdness: Midwest Weirdfest back again for creepy crawly films

author & photographer by Nate Cooksey

Something weird is coming to downtown Eau Claire the first weekend in March. In fact, it’s right there in the name: The fourth annual MidWest WeirdFest film festival will be ...

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The Infinity Monologues: An Excerpt

Jack Bushnell

In this play, part-history-part-fiction, Amelia Earhart, Stephen Hawking, and Lawrence Oates (of the ill-fated Scott expedition to the South Pole) recount together their stories of ...

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Man in a Blue Shirt

Dan Lyksett

I’ve haven’t been a big fan of Valentine’s Day since 1961, fourth grade, when I didn’t get a card from Pammy Ritchie, crushing my budding crush ...

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City Joins Sonnentag Project

hurdles remain for plan to expand arena’s size

Tom Giffey

The Eau Claire City Council has voted unanimously to take part in a university-led project to build a major event center on Menomonie Street, but numerous steps are ...

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Making a Splash in Wilson Park

water feature slated to replace fountain downtown

Tom Giffey

A new plan for downtown Eau Claire’s Wilson Park features a splash pad-style cluster of in-ground bubblers surrounded by boulders, benches, and berms to ...

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The Stage Is Set: Middlesworth talks vision as he starts programming the Pablo

Evan Middlesworth talks vision as he starts programming the Pablo

Eric Christenson, photos by Lee Butterworth

After a national search with over 45 applicants, the Pablo Center at the Confluence found its new director of artistic programming right here at home. Evan Middlesworth now takes on ...

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Neighbors Can Speak Out on New Boyd Park Plan

Tom Giffey

Want to offer your thoughts about the proposed redesign of Boyd Park? A public input session will be held at 6:30pm Thursday, March 5, at Spirit Lutheran Church, 1310 Main St. The gathering will be hosted by ...

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Peters Stepping Aside

Eau Claire city manager to retire in May

Tom Giffey, photos by Andrea Paulseth

After 30 years with the City of Eau Claire – the last four of them as city manager – Dale Peters announced recently he will retire in May. “Eau Claire has a thriving and bright future, and I look forward to ...

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Five More Noteworthy Wisconsin African-Americans

Tom Giffey

When Joshua Glover, who had escaped enslavement, was locked in a Milwaukee jail in 1854, a mob of 5,000 people gathered outside to set him free. Glover had escaped slavery in Missouri two years ...

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A Family Affair: New cheesecake-focused dessert biz in Chippewa Falls

Briana Novacek, photos by Andrea Paulseth

Cheesecake is amazing, agreed? And who doesn’t like cupcakes? Imagine those two wonderful things entering your mouth as one amazing culinary creation. That’s right, cheesecake cupcakes. Chippewa Falls has a ...

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CVTC Chef Receives Educator Award

Lauren Fisher

Chef Kevin Brown, a co-creator of Chippewa Valley Technical College’s Culinary Management Program, was named 2019 Educator of the Year by the ...

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Roble Is Back on the Menu but Delivery Only

Lauren Fisher, photos by Andrea Paulseth

Roble, which closed not long after being chosen Best New Restaurant in the 2018 Best of the Chippewa Valley Reader Poll, is back. Operating out of the ...

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Historic and Homey

Durand Brewing Co. offers classic taps, relaxed setting

Danielle Zinsli, photos by Andrea Paulseth

Walking into Durand Brewing Company feels a lot like walking into your neighbor’s garage. Except this joint has more than just Busch Light. When people inevitably seek it out, they have plenty of ...

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The Cold Can’t Hold Us Back

Altoona’s Frosty Fun Series draws community outside

Lauren Fisher

Altoona’s Frosty Fun series of winter events is underway, inviting locals to don their warmest coats and make the most of the opportunities winter offers. In partnership with the ...

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An Illiminating Upgrade

Eau Claire Ski Striders fund new trail lights at Tower Ridge

Olivia Kroner

This winter, members of the Eau Claire community are seeing cross-country skiing in a whole new light – literally. Thanks to $32,000 raised in donations by the Eau Claire Ski Striders, and a matching grant from ...

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Time for a Hullabaloo!

the Valley’s coolest kids event is back for another day of family-centric fun

V1 Staff, photos by Andrea Paulseth

The Great Big Hullabaloo will return with another dynamic day of kid-centric and family-focused fun on Saturday, May 30, at the Pablo Center at the Confluence in Eau Claire. Expect an ...

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Freaky Fast: Student, gym teacher bond over love for racing

Tom Giffey, photos by Andrea Paulseth

Dylan Snyder is freaky fast. The Eau Claire second-grader demonstrated that during a recent ...

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Take on The Summit

wellness conference encourages connectedness and curiosity

Caitlin Boyle, photos by Andrea Paulseth

Next month, the Chippewa Valley will host a two-day wellness summit that will challenge peoples’ minds, bodies, and souls to reach for something more ...

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Indigenous Approaches

exploring the wellness movement in Indian Country

James Johonnott

In the search for insights on wellness for both mind and body, sometimes the best answers can be found by looking to the past. Marcus Red Thunder, race director of ...

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Mindfulness at Work

speaker: truly listening can improve health and business

Pam Powers, photos by Andrea Paulseth

Taking a few moments to breathe and being mindful of that breath helps employees focus, be less stressed, and become better ...

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