By: Sarah Kocher, St. Cloud Times

MILACA — Though her greenhouse is full of them, a Milaca grower's pumpkins will not meet a toothy-smiled end on front porches this October.

Instead, their rotund, mottled green shells will be split and Rachel Sannerud will scoop the seeds out of the yellow-orange flesh. These seeds are the end goal of a two-year grant project: growing pumpkins for their hulless seeds, called pepitas.

Sannerud has committed to growing varieties of these pumpkins as a specialty crop for two years after receiving an approximately $11,000 Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Grant from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. 
​
"It's basically like a science experiment that you grow on farm," Sannerud said.

Pepitas do not have the white, harder pith surrounding the pumpkin seed. They're slightly smaller, and come out of the pumpkin green. The seeds are a health food and can be marketed directly to consumers through farmers markets and also wholesale to places like restaurants and bakeries, Sannerud said.

The grant allows her to explore growing hulless seed pumpkins without some of the financial risk. It's a learning experience, and the results of the experiment — what varieties work well, best practices for growing, pressure from disease and pests, good harvesting and processing methods — are shared with other farmers in a project report.
​
Sannerud owns and runs Pluck Flower Farm, a small Milaca farm where bright blooms from zinnias and celosia were still growing Thursday near the pumpkin patch she's established for the experiment.

Hulless seed pumpkins have been grown in other countries and other parts of the U.S., Sannerud said, but haven't really been explored as a specialty crop in Minnesota.

"For me and a lot of other small farmers, we want to know how it does here," Sannerud said.

Sannerud bought the farm from three nearby brothers who live near the land she now cultivates. One passes along agricultural reading material to her — including a John Deere magazine with a feature article on hulless seed pumpkins. In the piece, Sannerud said, the seeds were being used for their oil.

​"What I took from it was that these are the same pumpkins that make the trendy seeds that go in people's granola," she said. "And I want to see if we can grow that."

The growing timeline also works well for her farm; the pumpkins need planting a little later than most of her flowers, and harvest time comes when her fresh flower work is winding down for the season, giving her more time to harvest and process them.
​
They've been fun to grow, Sannerud said, but she doesn't have the information she needs yet to determine whether she'll plant these pumpkins past the two-year grant stint. To make that decision, she needs to discover some of the same things other farmers will want to know, too: How much time it takes to process the seeds, and what the yield is like.

"If it all works out on paper, I'm absolutely interested," she said.
​
She tested two growing conditions on her pumpkin plot. One half was not mulched, and the other was mulched with straw before the pumpkins were planted. She also grew three varieties of hulless seed pumpkins, which varied in the time to fruit maturation and size. One was a dual-purpose variety supposed to produce pepitas as well as flesh good for eating.

Next year she'll repeat the growing process with modifications based on how this one went. For instance, her unmulched plot was supposed to be mechanically weeded, but the plants were too close together to fit the tractor she uses to weed. She had to weed the plot by hand. Once was enough.
​
"I don't think I need to do that another year," she said, gesturing to the weeds in the unmulched plot. She may space them out more the second time around.

​Sannerud also plans to share her findings with other farmers on a field day next year. 

Grant projects are meant to explore sustainable agriculture practices and systems with the potential to increase profit, efficiency and personal satisfaction, a press release from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture said. 
​
For Sannerud, the grants are a chance for farmers to do something cool on their farms, and to help other farms become profitable — especially smaller farms, like hers.

Sannerud chooses what she does with her farm — what she grows and how she uses her land — very carefully, because it's largely her doing the work, she said. Any information that comes out of grants like these can make a really big difference, especially for younger and beginning farmers who already look for information like this on the internet.
​
"That's the thing that excites me most is knowing that, if this goes well, it means it doesn't just go well for my farm," Sannerud said. "It means it probably goes well for a lot of other small farms like me, and that there's more small farms like me. And that means so much to me."

​Sannerud is one of eight farmers to receive a Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Grant in 2020.​

By Sheila McCoy, Staff Writer, Morrison County Record

As people are finding different ways to support their local farmers during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, one option to consider is signing up for community supported agriculture (CSA) shares, said Natalie Keane with Sprout in Little Falls.

The CSA period runs from about mid-June for 16 weeks. People have the option to receive a box with a variety of vegetables either weekly or biweekly depending on their preference and family size. When herbs and farm-fresh eggs are available, those are added to the box.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares allow subscribers to receive a box with a wide variety of fresh produce, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, Romaine lettuce, red cabbage, green beans, green onions and zucchini, on a weekly or biweekly basis.

The boxes are delivered to the subscribers. What kind of vegetables are included depends on what time in the season it is.

“It’s almost like a gift that you get to open to see what’s inside,” Keane said.

A recipe of a new, fun and sometimes unique meal is included in the box. It’s an opportunity for people who are getting a little tired of what they’re normally cooking.

“It’s a great way to spice up the different types of things you may use or otherwise may pass by in the store,” Keane said.

Most of the growers that provide the produce for the CSA program are located within a 50-mile radius of Little Falls. Some exceptions have been made when producers have something unique to offer, such as Doubting Thomas Farms in Moorhead, which produces flowers and Dancing the Land Farm in Clearwater, which uses high tunnels to grow some of their produce, Keane said.

Sprout also works with a number of Amish farmers from the Browerville and Clarissa area. Like many of the other farmers, they focus on raising crops without using harmful chemicals to ensure that consumers are getting a fresh and natural product.

​Keane said many farmers, through the way they have treated their land, have cultivated a soil that is full of nutrients.

“Soil is just not dirt. It isn’t an inactive thing in the ground. It really is alive with many different properties and you really have to be a steward of the land in order to make sure you can keep that soil alive and healthy to grow fresh and healthy plants,” she said.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Keane has seen an increase in people wanting to subscribe to CSA.

“We are definitely finding more interest in the CSA, especially because it is a way to get your fresh produce without having to go into a store setting. People are considering their immune systems and it is pretty common knowledge that eating more fresh vegetables is a way to go about that,” she said.

Another option Sprout has added are workplace CSAs. It is an opportunity for businesses to sign up as a way to offer their employees a little assistance. It can also boost employee morale and well-being.

Keane said it can also be viewed as an employee wellness program as some employers offer their workers gym memberships to promote health. Through CSA, that can be done either by paying for or subsidizing the CSA.

“During these unprecedented times, a fresh take to ensure employee wellness is needed more than ever. Sprout’s Workplace CSA brings local farm produce directly to members’ places of employment. This makes the Workplace CSA a convenient and attractive to connect employees with fresh, healthy produce while reducing the exposure that comes with traditional shopping trips,” Keane said. Keane said that both employers and insurance companies have become more aware of the benefits of engaging in proactive employee wellness program.

“For every dollar spent on wellness programs, the average employee saves $3.27 in medical costs. In addition, sick leave, health plan costs, worker compensation and disability costs decrease by about 25% per year with these kinds of programs in place,” she said.

​Those who are interested in learning more about CSA shares, may visit www.sproutmn.com/csa.    

Written By: Chelsey M. Perkins, Brainerd Dispatch

​Producers believe what’s driving a spike in local farm business is a combination of people not wanting to shop in stores due to health concerns associated with the novel coronavirus, along with rising prices and limited availability of some meat and dairy products.

​NISSWA — Some farmer’s markets begin next week, and Gayle Stevens won’t have much pork to sell.

The amount of money she might earn in a whole month during a typical early spring is coming in three to four times a week right now, flowing from both returning customers as well as new patrons of Patchwork Farms. The small heritage pig farm also sells eggs and beef, and Stevens made changes to allow for no-contact transactions on her front porch. She believes what’s driving a spike in her farm’s business is a combination of people not wanting to shop in stores due to health concerns associated with the novel coronavirus, along with rising prices and limited availability of some meat and dairy products.

“I took in three pigs to the butcher yesterday (Wednesday). We start markets next week and I won’t even have the meat back yet,” Stevens said by phone Thursday, April 30. “I’ll have a limited supply of my pork products. Then he (the butcher) can’t get me back in until June. Three pigs’ worth of meat will probably be gone in the month of May.”

​Stevens said she can hardly keep up with the phone calls and isn’t able to help everyone who inquires. She recently received a phone call from a manager of multiple group homes in the area who is having trouble purchasing enough meat to feed 32 people. This is because of quantity limits placed on things like pork roasts and packs of chicken at grocery stores, she said.

An impending pork deficit prompted Stevens to pivot Thursday — she placed rolling orders for about 800 Cornish cross chicks, which she’ll raise into broiler chickens. Ordering them all at once was another atypical move, but hatcheries are also overwhelmed with orders. Many aren’t able to ship new orders until late June or July.

“We’ll do more chickens this year and some quail also. I thought, well, if I can’t supply enough pork and beef for a little bit just because of how busy my butcher is and I can’t get in until June. … I can get 100 (chicks) next week,” Stevens said.

​Laurence Fox of Fox Farm Pork in Browerville said he’s hearing similar stories from a number of small, local farmers who use his licensed butchering services, including Stevens. He’s booked solid for the next two months and mostly the rest of the year, when accounting for the 15 other small producers with whom he regularly works.

“We’re busier than ever,” Fox said by phone Friday. “...Their freezers are all empty, and they’ll be running out of pigs by mid-summer to early fall. It’s just wiping us out.

“ … I was going to expand last summer and I decided to wait until this summer. Now I wish I had the extra space to operate.”

Sales increases in local foods as a result of the pandemic aren’t limited to meat and dairy. Arlene Jones of Sprout MN, a food hub based in Little Falls, said they’ve experienced a significant uptick in people purchasing community-supported agriculture shares, or boxes of produce and other local products delivered to consumers on a weekly or biweekly basis. This, in turn, is prompting produce farmers to ramp up their production.

“A lot more people are looking at purchasing CSAs as they’re seeking alternative resources to going out in public and shopping,” Jones said.

Jones said she’s seen other impacts, too, that seem promising for the local foods movement as people look inward to their own yards and communities as resources.

“I think people who’ve always wanted to can and do food preparation are really going to find joy in that this year,” she said. “... I know people who have never gardened who are plowing up land to garden. It’s not like we’re doing victory gardens, but it’s pretty close.”

Jones said Sprout also submitted a proposal for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box program as part of the Coronavirus Farm Assistance Program. The program will seek to distribute up to $3 billion of agricultural products to those in need, partnering with regional and local distributors.

“We’ve gotten federal grants, but we’ve never actually contracted for distribution with the federal government as a method to support what they term small American family farmers,” Jones said.

Amanda Rasinski - Morrison County Record

For three days, Little Falls residents had the opportunity to attend open house style events to offer their opinions and thoughts on issues, challenges, hopes and dreams for the future of Little Falls.

The OurTown56345 Steering Committee spent months meeting with various focus groups and collecting surveys to compile a list of key assets, issues, challenges and goals for the future of the community.

After reviewing surveys once they reached nearly 120 submissions and then again when there were 260, event facilitator Sharon Rodning-Bash said the top issues and key assets remained the same across the board.

Time and time again the Mississippi River was ranked as the number one asset to the community, she said. Other assets noted were local foods, agriculture, non-profits, health care and the city’s connection to Highway 10.

“Next to the Mississippi, everyone is saying, ‘The kids are our future and we have a strong school system. How can we make it stronger?’” Rodning-Bash said. “So these are the assets that the community is saying, ‘Let’s build on it, they are our future.’”

When asking for local assets, the survey also targeted challenges for the community. Affordable housing and child care access topped the list.

Rodning-Bash also said that discrimination and the community being unwelcoming to new people and ideas was noted often in the survey as well. OurTown56345 wanted to identify key issues to bring forward at the open houses.

Monday, Feb. 10 through Wednesday, Feb. 12, participants were asked to place sticky notes with their ideas and opinions on how to build on the assets and address the challenges in the community.
​
Many comments were made about revitalizing the downtown area, bringing bike and recreation trails to the community — possibly along the river, supporting agriculture and protecting the river while also using it for tourism.

Some recurring challenges posted, in line with online surveys, pertained to affordable child care, housing and expanded education in skilled/trade industries.

Participants commented on the four themes identified from the focus groups: helping the next generation, building a strong local economy, preserving the Mississippi River and being a welcoming community.

These themes were listed on posters and residents were asked what their vision was for the future relating to these topics. Several comments revolved around improving city assets by adding trails, benches, bike racks and public WiFi to local parks. Many residents see a future with gardens and monuments and a cafe or restaurant along the river.

Child care, housing and workforce were yet again issues participants want to address for the future of the city.

Community members could also add to a vision board collage which displayed their hopes, dreams and aspirations for the future of Little Falls. A table full of Legos displayed infrastructure creations by visitors looking for a more tangible way to share their ideas.

The open discussion table was another popular way for people to share their ideas and opinions.

Conversations ranged from senior housing to bringing in young families with affordable child care and more wide ranging jobs with benefits. Some residents were concerned about maintaining the historical area of the city while welcoming new assets. A number of people suggested a nice eatery with views and had a general feeling that the river is an under-utilized asset to the community. Many other topics were recurring: bike trails, community gardens, a recreation center, more activities for young children.

Although the public events are over, the OurTown56345 survey will be available online until Feb. 24, and Rodning-Bash said all are encouraged to participate. The survey link can be found on the group’s Facebook page or people can go directly to the survey, here.
​
In late May, the Steering Committee and the city will compile all of the findings into a document which Rodning-Bash refers to as a strategic framework. She said the document will hopefully be adopted by the City Council and used as a reference for future projects and focuses in the community.

By NORA G. HERTEL Associated Press, Published in the Star Tribune
LITTLE FALLS, Minn. — Agriculture stories this past year focused on the affects of a trade war and the impact of climate change on farmers.

Arlene Jones has a different story to tell.

She's a farmer with 80 acres and the executive director of Sprout, a food hub in Little Falls that connects local farmers with markets in schools and restaurants and with consumers directly.

"The trade wars don't impact small, biodiverse farms," Jones told the St. Cloud Times. “The trade wars are impacting the growers that have thousands and thousands of acres of mostly corn and soybeans that are sitting in grain elevators, because there's no market for them.”

The small farmers who work with Sprout don't rely on the international market, Jones said. She co-founded Sprout after she found local buyers for her own and others' produce.

"Growers that practice variety over volume are less likely to have access to markets," Jones said — and they're less vulnerable to trade actions.

The nonprofit took root in 2012 and has grown in the last three years. Sprout is home to a rental kitchen for cooking classes and small food processors, and it's a monthly marketplace in the winter and hosts other food and artistic programs.

Their marketplace expanded from 20 vendors three years ago to 45 with a waiting list.

On a recent Saturday morning the Sprout warehouse echoed with songs from the Cold Spring Area Maennerchor. Craft and food vendors displayed their wares. And the kitchen smelled like garlic as Central Minnesota farmers prepped for a cooking demonstration.

Sprout has used an arts grant over the last three years to beautify its space and highlight minority groups in the community. Staff applied for another grant and hope to get funding to tell farmers' stories and feature cooking demonstrations with their food.

"Consumers are continuing to demand the story behind their food," Jones said.

"I think it is the consumer conscience, (the) consciousness of really starting to care about the economic vitality of the communities that they live in," she said. “And you pair that with personal responsibility for our own well-being through food, and those are value propositions that no one's going to turn their back on.”​

And it's good for the environment.

Kate Droske mixed sour cream into a skillet of ground beef for the filling of pierogis, Polish dumplings, at the start of Saturday's marketplace. She prepped to demonstrate her great-grandmother's recipe with her husband Tyler Carlson. The two run Early Boots Farm in Sauk Centre and raised the beef used in the recipe.

Jim and Audra Chamberlin of Island Lake Farm in Deerwood brought garlic, onions and potatoes for the demonstration.

All four farmers in Sprout's kitchen have used Sprout for freezer space or sold their produce through the nonprofit. They attended Saturday to represent the Sustainable Farming Association's Central Chapter.
​
"Agriculture done well heals," said Jim Chamberlin. “Agriculture done poorly degrades. Degrades our water. Degrades our soil. Degrades our health. Degrades our rural communities.”

LITTLE FALLS — Agriculture stories this year focused on the affects of a trade war and the impact of climate change on farmers.

Arlene Jones has a different story to tell.

She's a farmer with 80 acres and the executive director of Sprout, a food hub in Little Falls that connects local farmers with markets in schools and restaurants and with consumers directly.

​"The trade wars don't impact small, biodiverse farms," Jones said. "The trade wars are impacting the growers that have thousands and thousands of acres of mostly corn and soybeans that are sitting in grain elevators, because there's no market for them."

The small farmers who work with Sprout don't rely on the international market, Jones said. She co-founded Sprout after she found local buyers for her own and others' produce.

"Growers that practice variety over volume are less likely to have access to markets," Jones said — and they're less vulnerable to trade actions.

The nonprofit took root in 2012 and has grown in the last three years. Sprout is home to a rental kitchen for cooking classes and small food processors, and it's a monthly marketplace in the winter and hosts other food and artistic programs.

​Their marketplace expanded from 20 vendors three years ago to 45 with a waiting list. 

On Saturday morning the Sprout warehouse echoed with songs from the Cold Spring Area Maennerchor. Craft and food vendors displayed their wares. And the kitchen smelled like garlic as Central Minnesota farmers prepped for a cooking demonstration.
​
Sprout has used an arts grant over the last three years to beautify its space and highlight minority groups in the community. Staff applied for another grant and hope to get funding to tell farmers' stories and feature cooking demonstrations with their food.

"Consumers are continuing to demand the story behind their food," Jones said. 
​
"I think it is the consumer conscience, (the) consciousness of really starting to care about the economic vitality of the communities that they live in," she said. "And you pair that with personal responsibility for our own well-being through food, and those are value propositions that no one's going to turn their back on."

Kate Droske mixed sour cream into a skillet of ground beef for the filling of pierogis, Polish dumplings, at the start of Saturday's marketplace. She prepped to demonstrate her great-grandmother's recipe with her husband Tyler Carlson. The two run Early Boots Farm in Sauk Centre and raised the beef used in the recipe.

​Jim and Audra Chamberlin of Island Lake Farm in Deerwood brought garlic, onions and potatoes for the demonstration. 

All four farmers in Sprout's kitchen have used Sprout for freezer space or sold their produce through the nonprofit. They attended Saturday to represent the Sustainable Farming Association's Central Chapter. 
​
"Agriculture done well heals," said Jim Chamberlin. "Agriculture done poorly degrades. Degrades our water. Degrades our soil. Degrades our health. Degrades our rural communities."

Sustainable agriculture is tied to the local food movement and supports soil health through practices like cover crops and rotational grazing. 

Small farmers may be shielded from trade wars, but they're not protected from volatile weather and other challenges in farming, like finding a next generation of farmers. 

Jones hopes with a new grant Sprout can better equip farmers, including Amish and Hispanic growers, to compete with behemoth producers. 

The farms that Sprout works with aren't mechanized farms, Jones said. They're hand-planted, weeded and harvested. 
​
"A farmer's hand touched that food," she said. "And we want you to know the story behind it."

Note: This story is part of an intermittent series at the St. Cloud Times about the future of agriculture in Minnesota. ​

Written By: Brainerd Dispatch

LITTLE FALLS – Local farmers will showcase their products at the upcoming Holiday Growers & Makers Marketplace from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 14 at Sprout in Little Falls.
The December market aims to create a cheerful holiday experience for the whole family through cooking demonstrations, tasty food samples, choir singing and shopping for handmade and homegrown food, art and gifts, it stated in a news release. The public is invited to attend the free event which also includes art activities for all ages through a traveling felting studio and community rug-making.
Entertainment at the market from 10 a.m. to noon will be The Cold Spring Area Maennerchor — German for Men’s Choir — celebrating over 80 years of bringing spirited singing to central Minnesota. The group of more than 15 singers will be dressed in German vests and hats performing a festive set with Christmas carols in German and English as well as a few German crowd favorites. Pillager Schools’ Chamber Singers will then take the stage from 1-3 p.m., singing a mix of a cappella vocal music and holiday carols.

There will be a cooking demonstration and food sampling at about noon in the Sprout kitchen, featuring central Minnesota farmers with the Sustainable Farming Association. SFA is a farmer-to-farmer network that promotes environmental stewardship, economic resilience and strong, diverse communities through education, demonstration and research. The cooking demonstration will be led by Tyler Carlson and Kate Droske of Early Boots Farm of Sauk Centre, who will prepare Pierogi featuring their own grass-fed beef, in addition to products from Ole Lake Farm of Aitkin and Island Lake Farm in Deerwood.

Pierogi, the national dish of Poland, are delicate, stuffed dumplings that date back to the 13th century. Pierogi is a staple holiday dish to celebrate Christmas, Easter, weddings, and more, often having a designated flavor for each holiday, a news release stated. The public is invited to gather in the kitchen to watch the demonstration and learn more about the SFA. SFA members are also invited to stay at Sprout for a social at 3 p.m., which will include a Local Fermentation potluck.
​
Market attendees are encouraged to come to the Market day hungry, to taste the samples and to dine at the Cabin Fever “pop-up restaurant” to enjoy lunch, craft brews and wine during the market, a news release stated.

Those inspired by the art at the market can have the opportunity to try their hand at two fiber art activities during the market. Facilitated by Liz Dwyer of Dancing the Land Farm, the community will help create a felt rug as an art installation for the Sprout Marketplace. Using wool from “good-felting sheep” she raises on her farm in Clearwater, Dwyer lets the natural wool dictate the color pallet with shades of white, brown, gray and black. After many years of learning and teaching felting, Dwyer travelled to Kyrgyzstan to study a very specific, traditional Kyrgyz style of rug-making.

“There I was steeped in felt, the sounds of sheep, the dizzying heights of the high mountain pastures, the sounds of nomad horse games, the taste of vodka, and apricots, and lamb stew, and endless cups of black tea and milk. I felted until my hands were raw, and my eyes crossed. And I learned a ton,” Dwyer stated.

As one of three Western women who have been taught this art by traditional Kyrgyz artists, Dwyer has the rare permission to keep making and teaching the art. At the market, she needs the many hands of market goers to contribute to the rug-making, as she states “Traditionally, felt-making is community making.”
​
Market attendees can learn other fiber art techniques at the Mobile Felting Studio by artist Lisa Jordan of Brainerd. As an ambassador for the fiber art form in the region, Jordan has introduced the art to hundreds of students through various workshops and demonstrations. At the mobile studio, Jordan sets up a “sensory feast” of raw fleeces with their sheepy scent and greasy feel, lofty wool batting, unusual looking wool tools and bowls of tiny animals made of wool to pique curiosity, a news release stated. Participants can try many aspects of processing and felting from washing fleece to needle-felting.

By: Brainerd Dispatch | Nov 13th 2019 - 12pm.

Senior Resource Director at Horizon Health Kristine Hoheisel works with caregivers each day. Through her work, it became apparent to her that many caregivers who could really benefit from a support group would not go; as they felt it would only put them behind in their caregiving duties. Others said they did not feel comfortable sitting in a group setting.

Hearing this, Hoheisel's thought was to change up the traditional support group setting so she could get more caregivers to go and receive the benefits of a great caregiver support system. 

Horizon Health has created a unique, nontraditional support group to help the many caregivers in need. 

"Soul Food" incorporates cooking into the support group, which allows caregivers the opportunity to talk with other caregivers while making meals to take home. Soul Food meets monthly at Sprout in Little Falls with a licensed social worker from Horizon Health and a chef from Sprout. 

Betty Hines, program participant, said, "It's just wonderful. It's such a great concept."

Horizon Health is partnering with United Way, Crow Wing Power and the Central Minnesota Council on Aging to provide this program. 

"It is so neat to observe this group as they are so upbeat and excited to be here," Hoheisel said, "They are having so much fun preparing meals together all while supporting each other."

This group meets the first Thursday of the month from 10 a.m. - noon at Sprout, 609 13th Ave. NE #8, Little Falls and they will leave with a meal for them and their loved one. 

Anyone interested in joining this group is asked to call Kelsey to RSVP at (320) 468-2788. 

Reservations are required so the proper amount of ingredients can be available.

Published in the Star Tribune on November 1, 2019 — 4:37PM 
By Jenna Ross 

How, exactly, did that happen? Could they do it, too?

“It took six years. It didn’t happen overnight,” said Ed Zabinski, who was on the Grand Rapids City Council when it created an Arts and Culture Commission. “If you’re watching from a distance, it’s like watching paint dry. It’s painful. But it is important, because in the process they made sure the people who had negative things to say had that opportunity.

“They checked all the boxes, touched all the bases.”
​
In early October, about 350 people from 25 states gathered in this Mississippi River city of about 11,000 to talk about how the arts can boost small communities. Hosting the three-day, multivenue conference gave the city, better known for its paper mill, the chance to share its successes and struggles in the arts. It honored the old — KAXE, the longest-running rural public radio station in the country. It showed off the new — a handful of public art pieces scattered across the city.

Grand Rapids, with its state-of-the-art performance venue and its downtown art gallery, its high-profile indigenous arts community and its new city commission, seemed like an ideal spot, she said. The city is also honest about the area’s challenges, including an economy historically dependent on mining and forestry.

“The transitions the region is facing are really significant,” Anderson said. “They’re showing how to look those challenges right in the face.”

Sculptures sprouting
On a new pedestrian bridge spanning the Mississippi, flat, colorful fungi sprout.

Artist Nicole Camene affixed the final mushroom, sculpted with wood, cardboard and yarn, to the slender railing just as a tour group of conference attendees approached.

​“Public-space art is kind of like my passion, where I feel most connected to people and place,” Camene said.

The Minneapolis artist attended a workshop in Grand Rapids, learning about grants they were offering to create public art projects. Camene had been reading about the symbiotic relationship between trees and fungi. After digging into the Blandin Paper Co.’s efforts around sustainability, she thought mushrooms might make an apt metaphor for balancing consumption and protection of the area’s resources.

“It’s complicated,” she said. “We need toilet paper and things to write on. But at the same time, we can try to find a balance.”

The temporary fungi join four new permanent sculptures that have popped up in Grand Rapids this year. There are two new murals, too, and two pieces of sidewalk poetry.

The flurry of public art is rooted in the work of the Arts and Culture Commission, formed in 2013. The group drew up a plan for arts in the city. It launched an artist residency program, offering makers studio space in the Old Central School downtown. It persuaded the City Council to earmark 1.5% of funding for public-works projects for public art.

They knew little about how to pick and place public art, said Sonja Merrild, the commission’s chairwoman and director of grants for the Blandin Foundation, which plays a key role in community development here.

“We were in over our heads,” she said. A small group photographed a building where they thought a mural might look nice, a street corner where a sculpture might work. “This is where we think art would look pretty,” as she put it. Then they hired Forecast Public Art, a St. Paul nonprofit, to help create a process for selecting, paying for and placing artworks, Merrild said. “They make the process really defensible.”

Summit attendees seemed to appreciate the city leaders’ honesty, Merrild said later. Plus, “because Grand Rapids is pretty far up here in the woods, I sensed some surprise that we could have an arts community that was as significant, frankly, as it is.”

‘It is who we are’

Jenna Ross is an arts and culture reporter. 
​jross@startribune.com 612-673-7168