Vanguard 2018

+ present

H

ere in the Chippewa Valley, we can be thankful there’s no shortage of remarkable people fostering growth in our communities through truly amazing work. Individuals from all walks of life, with diverse passions and varied resources, put in significant effort every day to improve this place and the lives of people who live here. To celebrate the kinds of leaders, thinkers, and doers who inspire others through this work and dedication, Volume One and Charter Bank have launched the new Chippewa Valley Vanguard Awards.

These awards recognize high-level community achievers who have made a significant local impact in any number of disciplines, including the arts, entrepreneurship, social

action, government, education, philanthropy, health, business, and more. From nearly 85 nominations, this year’s four honorees were selected by a panel of established community leaders, and announced in front of a crowd of more than 750 attendees during the sold-out inaugural Best Night event, held Feb. 9 at the Lismore Hotel. Those honored here are just a few of the many individuals blazing a trail in the Valley as it grows into a vibrant, innovative, and healthy place to live. Visit VolumeOne.org/Vanguard to see videos of the honorees, as well as learn how you can nominate candidates for next year’s Chippewa Valley Vanguard Awards. We’ve only just begun to scratch the surface; there are many more stories to be told. –Nick Meyer

Read on to learn about the projects and progress spearheaded by this year’s honorees.

words E R I C C H R I S T E N S O N + L A U R E N F I S H E R + T O M G I F F E Y + M I K E P A U L U S

photos J O E L P E A R I S H

design E R I C C H R I S T E N S O N + M A C K E N Z I E K A V A N A G H

WATCH VIDEO PROFILES OF THIS YEAR’S CHIPPEWA VALLEY VANGUARD HONOREES AT VOLUMEONE.ORG/VANGUARD

“When I see somebody put food in their mouth and see their eyes light up – when I see that smile come across their face – that’s what I live for.”

Crystal Halvorson led the growth of the Menomonie Market Food Co-op into a multi-million dollar operation, and was instrumental in getting funding for Menomonie’s new farmers market pavilion.

Halvorson work at the co-op is driving efforts to support area food producers, encourage healthy lifestyles, and create a thriving work environment while strengthening the Chippewa Valley’s economy.

E

ven since the blueprints were drawn for the new Menomonie Market Food Co-op, there have been massive changes locally and nationally in food distribution.

Wal-Mart made a million-dollar investment in its Menomonie store. Aldi expanded, Woodman’s moved into Altoona, Gordy’s shrank and was replaced by Festival. Amazon bought Whole Foods, and continues to eye Target. Staying competitive in a global food industry is just one of the challenges Crystal Halverson, general manager of the co-op and a driving force behind its multi-million dollar expansion in 2015, faces.

“I hope that we can show the Chippewa Valley that there is an alternative to chain grocery stores – that you can make some food choices that help to keep your dollars local,” she said.

Halvorson knows that food is the heart of a healthy

crystal

HALVORSON community, and dedicates herself to keeping that heart beating strong. Over the past 14 years, she has expanded the mission of the market to include more than just food distribution.

Along with a full-service grocery store with a deli hot bar and a place for customers to sit, eat, and talk, the new building also features a community workspace that hosts food demos, finance classes, and yoga sessions.

Halvorson also aims to make the co-op a caring place for employees to develop their skills. She believes workplaces should encourage decision-making, respect, fun, and appreciation of each other. Workers at the co-op can often be spotted giving each other “kudos” for a job well done.

All this has a meaningful impact on the Chippewa Valley economy. For every dollar that is spent in a food co-op, $1.60 is returned to the community,

words L A U R E N F I S H E R

photo J O E L P E A R I S H

Halverson said. This return allows local farmers to expand their businesses, which in turn gives people more opportunity to buy local. The dollars spent on goods produced in the Valley grow the local economy, instead of moving money out of our community through grocery chains.

But she’s not done yet. Halverson is working with many local agencies to expand the services the co-op offers to Menomonie. She has big plans to develop the farmer’s market pavilion into an even more vibrant space and to improve food security and accessibility for struggling families in the Valley.

Halvorson’s holistic approach to managing the co-op reaches Chippewa Vallians at every point in their lives, from health and sustenance to work and opportunity. Her work toward maintaining a regenerative, hyper-local economy is what makes her one of the area’s most important emerging leaders.

b.j.

HOLLARS B.J. Hollars is an accomplished author, a professor at UW-Eau Claire, and the founder and director of the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild.

W

e can easily count “relentless enthusiasm” as one of B.J. Hollars’ many skills. And one could argue that a fierce degree of enthusiasm is what separates otherwise talented individuals from the leaders who use their talent to shape a community.

At any rate, it seems to be working wonders for Hollars – a local writer and professor who focuses his energy on the Chippewa Valley’s writing community.

“It’s really easy to sit in your room and start scrawling with your pen, and that’s awesome, but that’s just one part of it,” Hollars said. “I think building the community and trying to find ways to be a writer beyond just the work itself is really important to anyone’s growth. That’s something we really take to heart.”

Hollars moved his family to the Chippewa Valley seven years ago to teach English at UW-Eau Claire. An award-winning writer, his books’ topics range from his obsession with extinct birds to his efforts in documenting the personal stories of 1961’s Freedom Riders and their battle for civil rights. But teaching and writing here wasn’t enough.

In February 2016, he and a few others launched the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild, a joint program between the Eau Claire Regional Arts Council and UW-Eau Claire. What began as an online directory for writer’s groups exploded into an active organization that hosts monthly workshops, readings, and writing retreats – a regular

Hollars and the Writers Guild have reenergized our literary scene, organizing and inspiring local writers to do great things in and for the Chippewa Valley.

“It’s really easy to sit in your room and start scrawling with your pen, and that’s awesome, but that’s just one part of it. I think building the community and trying to find ways to be a writer beyond just the work itself is really important to anyone’s growth.

That’s something we really take to heart.” words M I K E P A U L U S

photo J O E L P E A R I S H

weekend retreat in the winter, and a robust set of retreats in the summer at the Cirenaica country lodge outside of Fall Creek.

The Guild exposed a massive but unconnected pool of writers hungry for learning opportunities and platforms for their work.

So, driven by Hollars’ energy and enthusiasm, the Guild responded, emerging as a force to help reenergize the Chippewa Valley’s literary scene.

The Guild’s core concept is to draw together every kind of writer from the area and use that talent for the good of all, inspiring artists to do great things in and for our community.

“The writing community is really integral to all of the other cool things that are happening right here,” Hollars said. “It’s so neat to see how you can take a group of people who maybe don’t have much in common – maybe this person produces radio, this person does music, this person makes a logo – and you put all these people together with some writers, and something really cool comes out of it. I think, moving forward, the writing community can continue to support all these other artistic communities.”

Many people cite Hollars’ relentless enthusiasm as the engine behind to the Guild’s success. But hiding behind that energy, woven into every part of the Writers Guild, is a brilliant sense of wonder. And this wide-eyed curiosity isn’t just a tool for the artists among us. It’s an essential guide in our path forward.

“If not now, when? If you want to do it, figure out how to do it right now. That’s kind of what my mantra is. I’m not going to wait around for somebody to do it, or for somebody else to figure out how to make something better, I’m just going to do it myself and get it done.”

Becca Cooke is the owner of Red’s Mercantile. She’s a passionate entrepreneur and an active member of various community boards and initiatives.

Cooke’s business-centric workshops and programs, such as the Red Letter Grant, have fostered and inspired emerging communities of female entrepreneurs across the Chippewa Valley and beyond.

‘W

e all do better when we all do better.” That’s a quote from the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota. For entrepreneur Becca Cooke, it’s so much more than a note at the bottom of her email signature – it’s a reminder she carries in her heart every single day: this idea that working together as a community and building each other up can yield multitudes more than going it on your own.

Cooke, an Eau Claire native, graduated from North High School, studied in Minnesota at the University of St. Thomas, then moved to California to start a fast-paced career fundraising for political campaigns. She was living in the desert, caught up in a bustling lifestyle. But while diving into her passions was exciting, it ultimately left her wanting to do something more creative and thoughtful. So she came back to her roots in Eau Claire where she could be around lakes, rivers, and family – and without much help or mentorship, she opened the doors on Red’s Mercantile, her downtown Eau Claire retail and home goods shop, in the fall of 2015.

And almost immediately, she started giving back.

It was always part of the plan to have Red’s be more than just a shop where people can buy stuff. So Cooke launched a line of Red Letter Goods, a collection of items in the shop from which 15 percent of the proceeds would be pooled into an annual grant to be given to women who wanted to start their own local ventures. This effort, the Red Letter Grant, quickly snowballed with a crushing wave of support, a handful of wildly successful fundraisers, and a match from a big donor. The first year surpassed Cooke’s loftiest expectations, and she was able to give a total of $2,000 to four burgeoning women-powered startups. Thriving new efforts like Odd Brand Strategy, Melnaturel, Moonrise Aerials, and Giizhig Design Company are already making some major moves in the local business world partly because of the grant, but also with the fire and passion that comes from a spirited support system.

becca

COOKE

“I think in some capacities there’s still a boys’ club in Eau Claire as far as business leadership goes,” Cooke said. “And creating something like the Red Letter Grant both in the people that win and the people that apply, you create this network and sisterhood of support.”

soming hub for new products, new ideas, and new

The grant is a testament to the power of what’s possible when you tap into the strength of a community built on togetherness, when you bring energetic, like-minded entrepreneurs together, and when you foster an undeniably supportive network of movers and shakers.

our community evolves ever so beautifully.

And that isn’t exclusive to the grant. Though Red’s Mercantile has only been open for a little more than two years, the space itself has become a blos-

destiny into their own hands, building each other

words E R I C C H R I S T E N S O N

photo J O E L P E A R I S H

collaborations. By hosting all kinds of get-togethers like rallies, small business workshops, and pop up shops all with the intent on bringing powerhouse creators and makers together, new connections are made, ideas flourish, pertnerships are made, and Cooke is a young force to be reckoned with, and it’s already thrilling to see the crystallization of all of her efforts. She has a bright future of her own, but even more exciting is the forthcoming watershed of Chippewa Valley women taking their up, and making their ideas into reality right now.

Not later, right now. And it all starts here.

I

t may be easier to list what Jason Jon Anderson doesn’t do than what he does do: His résumé alone would fill a page, but job titles and lists of accomplishments don’t tell the whole story. As a lighting designer, Anderson’s work is both highly visible and yet somehow intangible – both a particle and a wave – and so is his impact on the Chippewa Valley. As acting executive director of the Pablo Center at the Confluence, assistant director of conferences and event services at UW-Eau Claire, production manager for Bon Iver, production director for the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival, and the creative force behind the lighting of the Phoenix Park bridge, Anderson’s light shines strongly across the Valley and beyond.

“I don’t know if I ever thought of myself as a leader,” he explains. “It’s one of those (situations) where you’re trying to do the right thing always for the greater good of everybody, and rising the tide so that all boats come with you. And in each of the projects that I’ve been blessed to be part of or people that I’ve met along the way, it’s helping them learn what the creative collisions are, how working together – even if it’s cooperatively or in ‘cooperetition’ with one another – that it’s for the benefit of the greater good.”

jason jon

ANDERSON

“I don’t know if I ever thought of myself as a leader. It’s one of those (situations) where you’re trying to do the right thing always for the greater good of everybody, and rising the tide so that all boats come with you. ... It’s for the benefit of the greater good.” words T O M G I F F E Y

photo J O E L P E A R I S H

The Chippewa Falls native flourished in the Chi-Hi band program, but his creative path took an unexpected turn at UW-Stevens Point when he took a lighting design course and fell in love. “There was something about the sense of scale that theater allows you to create that drew me instantly to those very Ken Burns national park experiences,” he says. “You’re like, ‘Oh, I can actually paint a scene and make the audience feel like they’re in a very different scenario.’ ” He assumed that his career would take him far from home, and it did – at least for a time.

When he took a job at UW-Eau Claire 11 years ago, he figured it would just be a “pit stop.”

But the Valley’s flourishing creativity created new opportunities: Bon Iver performances at UWEC’s Zorn Arena drew Anderson into the Grammy-winning band’s orbit, leading him to the role of production manager for Bon Iver at concerts around the world. His role with the band and the campus connected him with the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival; now he’s production director for Eaux Claires and Boston Calling, a festival in Boston. An invitation to a meeting about the Phoenix Park bridge lighting project led to two years of work to illuminate that span with thousands of programmable LEDs – sparks he hopes light the imaginations of a new generation. “Now you have a bridge that changes color and it can do things,” he says. “What creativity does that lead to in whatever industry they decide to pursue in life?”

In recent months, Anderson stepped into the role of acting executive director of what’s now been dubbed the Pablo Center at the Confluence, the much-anticipated downtown performing arts center. He’s exited that the arts center will become a “creative linchpin” for the Valley’s cultural and economic future.

“What’s the goal?” he muses about the Pablo Center. “It’s that we create five new Jamfs, not necessarily in software, but five new innovative great companies have come to create their homes here because of it, and the cash flow coming from that flows back into the artistic community, which drives 100 new artists who are highly successful, and it’s just that cycle and circle that keeps turning, and that to me is what Confluence is about.”