Not all things that are around that long stand the test of time. “Crank That” is an exception, of course, and so is Volume One. Over the last 18 years, people have used this magazine to learn all about stuff in the Chippewa Valley, like new businesses opening up, artists doing their thing, upcoming events and gatherings to check out, and one-of-a-kind people telling one-of-a-kind stories. For the community, by the community. Function over flash.

I started working at Volume One in 2014 and even then we were talking about redesigning the mag. The old design looked good enough and it functioned pretty well, so throwing that all aside to re-imagine something fresh seemed like an increasingly impossible task, nothing short of Herculean. The years passed with mounting projects and investments in other spheres – tons of community events, The Local Store, video production, and more. So a huge, floor-to-ceiling undertaking like redesigning the magazine was easy to put on the back-burner to favor more immediate needs.

Then 2020 happened.

For what it’s worth, the redesign project was high on the list of our annual goals in January (just like it was in the many Januarys before it) before a global pandemic and related events created the pause that made us completely rethink literally everything we do here (which you can read more about from our owner and publisher on the next spread). While this year has been painful and poignant in so many ways, it also gave us a glimmer of an opportunity to take on this project clear-headed and focused.

So that’s what you see here. Our refreshed vision for how a community can build itself up on the pages of a magazine and with words on a website. We’re really proud to help make that happen in new and exciting ways, no matter what, as long as we possibly can. We hope you’ll go along with us.