Best of St. Croix Valley 2017

There’s something to be said about being named the crème de la crème, best of the best, top dogs among the St. Croix Valley, perhaps even Best in Show. An accolade by any name is an affirmation of hard work, commitment to quality, and often investments of time and money. There’s a real honor to being named Best in the robust and vibrant St. Croix Valley. Such is the case for the following 30-some most-admired restaurants, shops, services and people, as voted by you, our local consumers, judge and jury, as well as some spots around town our editorial staff thought warranted a second look. Read more about Best of St. Croix Valley 2017

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Push the Pause Button at Ann Bean Mansion

High atop South Hill in Stillwater sits one of many historic mansions found there, but the Ann Bean Mansion is distinctive in that the public is welcome to not just tour but spend the night. Built circa 1880 by the lumber baron father of Ann Bean, Ann along with husband Albert reared two generations of the family before a granddaughter converted the space to apartments in the 1960s, then sold it as an inn in the 1990s. When current owners Jeremy and Erin Drews found it back in 2004, it had seen better days. Read more about Push the Pause Button at Ann Bean Mansion

From Stillwater to Haiti, with Love

Stillwater-based Healing Haiti has been helping the 80 percent of Haitians who find themselves living below the poverty level for the better part of a decade.

Michael Stoebner had an idyllic Stillwater job: designing Christmas ornaments. Then a friend asked him to go on a mission trip to Haiti. They needed a photographer. “Seemed like a waste of time,” Stoebner says. He had work, a life. He went anyway. And as soon as he got off the plane, it was “so rough and raw and smelly and dirty and all the exciting things,” he says. Read more about From Stillwater to Haiti, with Love

Rise to the Incoming Tide

What started almost 15 years ago as an idea for local business and restaurants to pool resources and draw tourists has blossomed into an organized committee of 16 members dedicated to celebrating their community and inviting others to join.

“The main thing is the beautiful community. It becomes that destination that people can come to, and they’re not going to see the same things over and over,” member Ruth Misenko says. “There’s an identity that is created, because it’s not a reproduction of a shopping mall that you can go to anywhere.” Read more about Rise to the Incoming Tide

Swing on by Swinging Bridge Brewery

Have a drink.
The taproom is open Thursday through Sunday, serving up house brews, local guest taps, cold-brew coffee and kombucha. (It can all be canned on-site if you’re stocking up for a trip down the Kinne.)

Become a Community Supported Brewery (CSB) member.
As a CSA is to veggies, a CSB is to local beer. Buy in and get a share of beer—one or two monthly growler fills of your choice—in six- or 12-month stints. Members score exclusive access to new products and special events. Read more about Swing on by Swinging Bridge Brewery

Q&A with the President

Blake Fry is president of the Hudson Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau, a role he’s held since 2015. Fry lives in Hudson with his wife, Michele, a speech-language pathologist in the Stillwater School District, and their children, Abby and Liam. Celebrating Hudson is important to Fry, who moved to the area from Oklahoma City to work with the University of Wisconsin–River Falls to establish the campus in Hudson in 2010. Read more about Q&A with the President

A Brotherhood of Barbershop

Since 1951, the Croix Chordsmen Barbershop Chorus has been interacting with the community through music. Originally started in Hudson before moving to Stillwater, Croix Chordsmen Barbershop Chorus belongs to the Barbershop Harmony Society, which is more than 800 chapters strong nationwide. Read more about A Brotherhood of Barbershop

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