From the Editor

JANUARY 2022 • VOLUME 11, ISSUE 1

PUBLISHER Steve Jameson

EDITOR Joe Spear

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Robb Murray

COPY EDITOR Kathy Vos

CONTRIBUTORS Bert Mattson Jean Lundquist Kat Baumann Leticia Gonzalez Ann Rosenquist Fee Pete Steiner Nell Musolf Jane Turpin Moore Michael Lagerquist

PHOTOGRAPHER Pat Christman

PAGE DESIGNER Christina Sankey

ADVERTISING SALES Danny Creel Jordan Greer-Friesz Josh Zimmerman Theresa Haefner Tim Keech

ADVERTISING ASSISTANT Barb Wass

ADVERTISING DESIGNER Christina Sankey

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Justin Niles

Mankato Magazine is published by The Free Press Media monthly at 418 South Second Street, Mankato MN 56001.

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For all editorial inquiries, call Robb Murray 507-344-6386, or email rmurray@mankatofreepress.com.

For advertising, call 344-6364, or e-mail advertising@mankatofreepress.com.

By Robb Murray

They’re here to pump you up!

When I was young, I longed for a weight bench.

A scrawny kid, I figured I’d better start hitting the weights and bulking up to make up for the several inches in height the other guys had over me. To my adolescent mind, adding muscle was the answer.

Then it happened. One Christmas, “Santa” brought me a bright-red weight bench. Along with the bench, there were a dozen or so weights to spool onto the ends of the bar. I spent hours in my basement blasting AC/DC music and doing bench presses until my muscles gave out.

Soon I added a curl bar. Later, a few dumbbells. I thought my little home gym was pretty swell. Didn’t need a gym membership. Just needed to walk down the basement stairs — past the laundry chute and meat freezer — and there in the cinder block corner of our unfinished basement was my weight bench. My dear friend. It wasn’t much, but it was mine.

And while I never bulked up enough to compensate for my lack of height, having it there did help my confidence.

The same spirit — though not the same budget — runs through the hearts of the folks featured in our cover story this month in our “feel good” issue.

A lot of people have gym memberships. But the truly committed, who are able, build home gyms. Today’s home gyms are a far cry from a weight bench in the basement. And it’s becoming more and more common to make them a part of a family’s lifestyle.

“A lot of our clients want fitness areas,” said Mark Deichman, a general contractor who has built a dozen homes recently with custom gyms. “They need to not only be practical but aesthetically current and architecturally themed with the house — but a gym adds a lot of value to a house.”

Paying attention to physical fitness is one way to feel good. Paying attention to mental fitness, especially during a pandemic, is another. Our profile of Minnesota State University professor Thad Shunkwiler is a great reminder to keep tabs on our mental health, and to give our youth the skills they need to get through tough times.

“People are not able to persevere through some of these challenges, and I think that’s a collective failure on us, that we have not taught those strategies. We have not grounded our children in that, saying, ‘Hey, things are going to get tough and this is what we do when we need to persevere and push through those tough situations,’” he says.

And if you’re a checklist kind of person, we’ve got the perfect list of suggestions for you. We’ve got 32 ways to pamper yourself physically, mentally and any other way you can imagine. Consider it a challenge. We dare you to get to them all.

Elsewhere in the January issue, we introduce you to Natalie Pierson, the owner of Vagabond Village and all-around positive force in the community. And our restaurant feature takes you to the Wow! Zone.

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to Bert Mattson, the man who guided us through so many craft beer trends over the years. Bert has moved on. We thank him and wish him well. His replacement is a familiar face to us. James Figy, who used to do our Day Trip articles, has agreed to fill Bert’s shoes. Thanks Bert, and welcome back, James.

Robb Murray is associate editor of Mankato Magazine. Contact him at 344-6386 or rmurray@mankatofreepress.com.

SMILEI