Through a SoMinn LENS

A long-time wordsmith and photographer, Audrey Kletscher Helbling creates from Faribault, where she lives with her husband of nearly 40 years. Her greatest holiday joy comes in time with family, including her two precious grandchildren. www.mnprairieroots.com audrey@mnprairieroots.com

Love blooms on a mural commissioned by the North eld Arts and Culture Commission and painted by Illinois artist Brett Whitacre.

Embracing love in Southern Minnesota

Expressions of love exist everywhere. Love for loved ones. Love for others. Love for community. Love for whatever you appreciate, whatever your passions in life. In my recent photographic wanderings, I’ve gathered a collection of love images from the area. Some written, some artistic, some of people together in love- lled moments.

Though different, each expresses love. These “found” expressions of love remind me that, even in the most challenging of times, love shines bright. To love is to care. To love is to embrace. To love is to celebrate. In February, when chocolates and roses and poetry symbolize the romantic side of love, I appreciate, too, the universal love which connects humankind. It’s there. Inside. Outside. Between. Among. There awaiting our embrace. 

TOP LEFT: Inside LaNette’s Coffee Shop in downtown Montgomery, original art focuses on a love MIDDLE LEFT: Posted on the Faribault Foundation’s community message board in Central Park in June 2021. BOTTOM LEFT: Retail love displayed in downtown North eld in 2020.

A memorial sign at the Medford City Park shows just how beloved this park Inspiring and loving messages banner the windows of a home in Dundas in August 2020.

TOP LEFT: Early in the pandemic, hearts show love and care on this county government building in Faribault.

MIDDLE LEFT: Community pride and love for Cannon Falls.

Henrik Hellerud, a then second grader at Nerstrand Elementary School, created this heart art for the annual Student Art Show at Faribault’s Paradise Center for the Arts.

TOP: Generational love in Nerstrand during a Cruising Rice County History Tour in mid 2020. MIDDLE: A love for 4-H showcased in a collection of buttons at the Arts & Heritage Center in Montgomery as part of the “Celebrating Farmers and Agriculture” exhibit in 2020. Together at North Alexander Park in Faribault on a spring day in 2020.

Lerberg’s Foods posts a love message to customers inside its Ellendale store in March 2021. At River Bend Nature Center, a memorial paver invites visitors to pause

Love for Prince banners a billboard along Interstate 35 outside Faribault in late 2020.

Bride and bridesmaids pose for wedding photos in June 2020 at the Village of Yesteryear in Owatonna. TOP RIGHT: Among the many positive messages posted along the Virtues Trail in Faribault.

MIDDLE RIGHT: Columnist Audrey Kletscher Helbling crafted this love poem from magnetic poetry words on her refrigerator.

BOTTOM RIGHT: A North eld business (early in the pandemic) encouraged masking by focusing on the message of loving others.