Newcomer Service 2022-2023 Local Entertainment, Dining & Specialty Shops

Munsinger Clemens Gardens are two distinct gardens nestled along the banks of the Mississippi River. The gardens are home to beautiful features, including multiple fountains, a lily pond, various beautiful flowers and plants, peacocks, a wishing well, and so much more.

Munsinger Gardens was originally a sawmill and a vision of St. Cloud Superintendent of Parks Joseph Munsinger in the 1930s. He created plans for the garden beds and winding paths that are still a part of the popular city park today.

Bill and Virginia Clemens purchased the Clemens Gardens land and donated it to

Music in the Gardens

Free professional concerts series highlighting local talent. Concerts held on alternating Sundays at 3:0 pm on the banks of the Mississippi River throughout the summer months.

Art FAIR

Art Fair featuring over 45 artists from around the state held the third Thursday of July for 10:00 am – 6:00 pm. Also enjoy music, good food, beverages and strolling the magnificent gardens.

the parks department. Virginia loved roses and flowers and frequently visited the gardens across the street from their house. Today, a memorial statue of Bill and Virginia is displayed in the Rose Gardens. Many events are held at the gardens throughout the summer and fall season, including Music in the Gardens, Art Fair in the Gardens, and an Annual Photo Contest. Take a stroll, explore the acres of gardens, and experience the beauty of St. Cloud.

Alicia Chapman Bluebird Creative

Document destruction for personal or business needs.

Make

BENTON COUNTY Historical Society & Museum

Preser ving the past and the present for the future

has been our motto since our organizational beginning. Preserving historical documents and artifacts of our local history for the community has been an important part of our mission over the last 40 years.

We are pleased to announce that starting in Fall of 2022 we will be putting that motto into action again with a move from our current Sauk Rapids location to the Leonard Robinson house at 202 2nd Ave South, Sauk Rapids. The home was built in 1873, Mr. Robinson started the granite industry in Sauk Rapids and a National Historic Registry Home built from that granite will become our largest physical artifact and our new home base. The move will allow us to serve our community in a downtown historic business district location in an original Central Minnesota townsite, increase our space for artifacts and allow a dedicated area for historical documents and researchers. We are pleased to be moving forward in our mission to our community.

Our current hours are: 10am-4pm Monday-Friday. As we move forward, in our re-location, we may be adjusting those hours to better serve the visitors and researchers. Please check in with us at our website: mnbentonhistory.org or our Facebook: Benton County Historical Society & Museum-Sauk Rapids for current news

Alicia Chapman Bluebird Creative

LINCOLN AVENUE AND EAST ST. GERMAIN W AS THE GATEWAY TO ST. CLOUD IN 1924.

Hailey in Bellabu Bear

The ART of Tattooing

As modern society advances, history often diminishes. The art of tattooing has been around since we as humans have been able to record. Nearly every continent showed signs of their early people decorating their bodies in some fashion. Some used temporary markings, yet some went above and beyond by leaving permanent artworks in place. Pigments etched into the skin, or even in the works of scarring often decorated humans to signify spirituality, culture, status, or even rank.

In modern day times, tattooing has grown past mental and physical boundaries to now limitless potential. Within the past few decades, tattooing has raced from taboo art typically seen on military personnel or criminals, to a mainstream topic between all genders at blended family’s dinner tables.

As years pass, I often feel that the history of tattooing takes a side line to the art history taught throughout modern education. In Traditional art history, it’s common to learn about the masters like Picasso in the late 1800’s, or even Rembrandt in the 1600’s, but the art of tattooing spans far before that. Despite being one of the oldest forms of art, the skill of tattooing could arguably overlap from being an applied art into a fine

art. Many highly skilled modern day tattoo artists often dive deeply into other areas of traditional mediums such as oil, acrylic, and even photography to round out their craft. The tattoo “shops” or “parlors” are now more so evolving into full fledged art “studios” with large art galleries.

Tattooing is a very special craft that allows much interaction between the tattooer and client. It is often said amongst the industry that tattooing is the best career in the world. Being a skilled tattoo artist can allow you to travel the world if you wish, and possess a skill that rises above any language barrier. I have tattooed for 25 years…a quarter century. 25 years is a fraction compared to the age of the craft, but in that amount of time, tattooing has grown exponentially.

I take great pride in the word “Tattoo”, what it’s given me, and what it’s allowed me to give back to the future generations of artists. I’ll forever be grateful to the art of tattooing.

Ryan Schepp Cream City Tattoo

Salt therapy dates back to the 12th Century when it was commonly used in Eastern Europe. It was discovered that salt miners weren’t coming down with common ailments like colds and coughs. Through research, it was determined the salty air helped keep lung infections and allergies away.

Bella Vita Salt Caves is a modern way to experience these health benefits. Dry salt therapy can be used on a regular basis as a complementary treatment for coughs, colds, flu, asthma, ear infections,

Dry Salt Therapy

used as a complementary treatment on a regular basis can provide relief for:

• Coughs, Cold, & Flu

• Sinus Infections/ Sinusitis

• Cystic Fibrosis

• Ear Infections

• Chronic Bronchitis

• Emphysema

• COPD & COVID-19

• Snoring & Sleeping Problems

• Allergies

• Acne

• Psoriasis

• Eczema

• Stress

• Anxiety

• Fatigue

• Asthma

snoring and sleeping problems, stress, fatigue, and more.

When you walk into Bella Vita, you will be transformed and feel full-body relaxation. Whether you attend a yoga class, meditation session, crystal bowl class, or any of our other classes or workshops, you will be able to walk out feeling renewed and refreshed.

Experience the transformative natural benefits of dry salt therapy today.

Alicia Chapman, Bluebird Creative

Resident artist Mary Bruno embraces the art of letterpress

Mary Bruno is a letterpress artist-in-residence in St. Joseph, operating as Bruno Press, a unique shop to visit for locally-made original art, art prints, greeting cards, and posters.

In these days of digital printing, it is important that the art form of letterpress survives for its clarity and tactile, raised designs and typography. Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing, a process where copies are produced by repeated direct impression of an inked raised surface against sheets of paper. These impressions are created with inked movable type and/or other forms of relief “blocks” suchas wood engravings, photo-etched zinc plates, and linoleum blocks.

Mary Bruno uses multiple techniques with her Vandercook 100 letterpress, handed down to her in 2003, upon the death of her artist/educator father

Don Bruno, a former instructor at the College of St. Benedict. She holds a graphic design degree from the St. Cloud Technical and Community College and a BFA from St. Cloud State University. An “art kid” since birth, Bruno played with clay in the ceramics studio and assisted her dad with silk-screen poster printing. In high school, Bruno and her father carved linoleum blocks and had some “amazing” father/daughter talks in the garage/print shop her father created to accommodate his acquired letterpress equipment, cast off by local printers that had adopted offset printing.

Her own studio/shop is “so freaking cool,” notes Bruno of the space “jam-packed with beautiful, colorful (in color and in language) posters and prints, type and machines.” The shop is her place to work, create, and relax, as well as instruct student interns or conduct client tours and art-related conversations.

Her favorite art subject matter is birds, especially crows. “I am obsessed with the Corvid family, and I love to carve the detailed feathers and expressive eyes of crows and ravens,” says Bruno. The artist also creates “funny, cheeky, sassy cards that are different from anything else out there.”

Give Mary Bruno a call at 612.327.2542 to schedule a visit to her shop at 154 Fifth Avenue SE, St. Joseph, or to check on her hours of operation.

Mary MacDonell Belisle

ST. JOSEPH AND COLLEGEVILLE

AWARD WINNING SANDWICHES

ST.

ice cream ice cream expert expert

CREAM!

a former glorious a former glorious double scoop double scoop

a former glorious a former glorious double scoop double scoop

JOY-INDUCING ICE

JOY-INDUCING ICE CREAM!

ST. JOE

HAND-CRAFTED IN DOWNTOWN

HAND-CRAFTED IN DOWNTOWN ST. JOE

minnesota street MARKET

Every town needs a market place that is also a community space — where you come for the bread and stay for the conversation.

The Minnesota Street Market, a food & art co-op in downtown St. Joseph, is that kind of store. On the way to fetch local eggs, you might talk with the people who tap syrup from local trees and make honey from local bees. Or one of the local farmers who raise fresh product, mushrooms, poultry, pork, or grass-fed beef. Food tastes better when you know the people who produce it!

The Market also features 30 local artists and 10 local authors who create prints, pottery, cards, crafts, books, soap and candles that you can give as gifts, or keep for yourself!

Open since 2011 in the historic 1899 Loso Building, the market has a compact layout for easy in-and-out trips. Select sustainably-raised foods from smallbatch producers — including fresh, organic fruits & vegetables, local when possible.

Fellow shoppers and friendly staff are your community members.

The Minnesota Street Market, a locally-grown and community-owned co-op.

Photos by Yuppy Photography

The Place