Tallitha Reese

Westby, Wisconsin is a small town big on Norwegian culture and heritage. Syttende Mai is celebrated every May, the annual Snowflake Ski Jumping Tournament attracts an international pool of competitors, and Nordic names are the hallmark of many local businesses. So it’s no surprise the area is also host to an annual woodcarving event that brings craftsmen and visitors from all over the Midwest to connect, shop, and learn a craft that, for many in the area, is rooted in their Norwegian heritage. 

Karve In started as an effort by founder John Sutton to bring people together. He realized there were multiple woodcarving groups in the area – Coulee Region Wood Carvers Association of La Crosse; Driftless Spoon Carvers of Driftless Folk School in Viroqua; and The Hatlem Carving Group of Viroqua – but they were all very much separate organizations. 

“I realized these groups did not much intermingle nor know what the others were doing,” he said. “So, I thought why not get all three groups together in one location, so they could meet each other, carve, share ideas, tools, patterns and carving styles.”

The Bekkum Memorial Library, where John was a member of the Board of Directors, hosted that first event in 2017. John requested a help committee and quickly found the assistance of Kathy Anderson (then the Library board president) and Kris Strand (then secretary), and both women continue to hold vital roles in making the annual event happen. They work behind-the-scenes on marketing, as well as arranging details and logistics before and during Karve In. A guiding committee meets throughout the year to plan for and keep the event going. The Bekkum Memorial Library as well as the Friends of Bekkum Memorial Library have continued to support this event through the years, as well, along with the City of Westby and the Westby Area School District. 

Since that first year, this event has continued to grow – even, notably, through the COVID pandemic. Though the Carve In was delayed in 2020, when the event was next held, the turnout was even larger. In fact, the event, previously held in the lower level of the Bekkum Memorial Library, has grown so large that this year’s Karve In 7 will take place at the Westby Elementary School.

Another change to this year’s event is the slight spelling adjustment from “Carve” to “Karve,” which is a Norwegian term for boat – just another way to pay homage to the Nordic ancestry and influence in the area that has led many to the craft of wood carving.   

“While wood carving is an important art form in many cultures, our Norwegian heritage in Westby is especially connected to the art,” says Steve Michaels, who is this year’s event chairman as well as the superintendent of the Westby Area School District. “Our Norwegian heritage and connectedness to the art of wood carving is part of the culture in our small city.” 

John notes that the growth of the event just proves the need and interest in the area for wood carving that can be shared with the next generation. 

“It’s great, as we share with our youth, and maybe it doesn’t stick now, but may come back again in the future to them,” says John, whose own first experience with wood carving started at scout camp when he was in fifth grade. “It lingered in the back recesses of the mind until I got involved with Norskedalen and the Nordic carvers there, a book by Rick Butz and some old pocketknives,” explains John. “Today it’s sorta all consuming.” 

The passing of wood carving knowledge from one generation to the next is something that Steve has also witnessed first-hand at last year’s event. 

“As a member of the library board, I signed up to volunteer and brought my son along,” says Steve. “One of the carvers there took my son under her wing. She spent an hour with him, teaching him the proper and safe way to hold and use a knife. They created several ‘10 minute owl’ carvings. After that, he was hooked! These people are very willing to share their knowledge with young and old alike.” 

Adding to the community aspect of the event is what John calls a Carve Around, where a rough start of a figure (at this year’s event it will be a dog) is cut out and any carver who wishes to participate will take a few cuts, signing the sheet of carvers before it passes on to the next carver. The completed carving is then donated to Bekkum Memorial Library. 

In recent years, each year’s event has also included a “Featured Carver” position, which highlights and recognizes the work of one local carver who has mastered carving, may be a professional carver, or is simply an excellent example of a carver. Ken Larson is the featured carver this year for Karve In 7. Interested folks should carve out some time to stop by Westby Elementary School on Saturday, April 22, 2023, to learn more about carving, buy tools or crafts, and embrace the community culture of Westby, Wisconsin. 

Save the Date:

Karve In 7

Saturday April 22, 2023
10am to 4pm

Free Admission 

Award winning wood carvers will show, demonstrate, and sell their art

Westby Elementary School
122 Nelson St
Westby, WI 54667

Decorah’s Jane Kemp smiles easily and often. 

Yet beneath that kind smile and unassuming demeanor lies a fierce advocate for community causes, and a strong will to get good things done. It’s a fact to which numerous boards and nonprofits across Decorah and Winneshiek County can attest.

“This may be a tired phrase, but it really is all about giving back,” says Jane, 78 years young. “I’ve had a wonderful life thus far, and it’s important to me to give back – this is a marvelous community, but it rests on people giving of their time and talents to stay that way.”

An Iowa native, Jane – full name, Henrietta Jane – decided to move to Juneau, Alaska, in 1966 after earning her bachelor’s degree in history and German from the University of Iowa. Though she “only intended to stay for the summer,” fate had other plans.

Not long after her arrival, Jane met her future husband, Don, then a staff member at the Alaska Department of Health and Welfare. In 1969, the couple tied the knot. And while both left the state temporarily to pursue master’s degrees – Jane earned a master of library science degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1971 – it was not until 1977 that they decided to relocate to Des Moines, Iowa, with their young daughter, Anna, in tow.

When Luther College offered Don a position as director of its social work program the very next year, they moved to Decorah and never looked back – by 1981, Jane had been hired by the college as well. Over the next 30 years, Jane carved out a career in Preus Library, serving as circulation librarian, library department head, and supervisor of the Fine Arts Collection – it  grew impressively under her direction – as well as a professor in the college’s PAIDEIA program for first-year students. “We did a lot of reference and circulation work and a lot of bibliographic instruction in the early days,” says Jane, who retired from the library in 2010 as professor emerita of library and information studies. “It was well before Google, so we were charged with teaching students and other library patrons how to use the many reference materials.”

Both in retirement (and well before), she put her exemplary organizational skills and undying passion for good causes to use well beyond the Luther campus. When Winneshiek County Habitat for Humanity (WCHfH) asked her to join its board after the death of her husband, its director, in 2003, Jane accepted immediately. “I served both as a memorial to Don and because I believe deeply in the program,” she says. “Our goal was to have houses in every community in Winneshiek County, not just Decorah, and the scope of the work was just incredible – we did not only new builds but also renovations, including a church.”

Jane stepped off the board years ago, but she and her daughter, Anna, remain among the organization’s biggest advocates. As did Jane, Anna has served as board secretary. And the Kemp family has been a consistent supporter of the Don Kemp Golf Tournament, which raises funds for WCHfH building projects. (Jane is quick to point out that she does not golf in the annual event: “I am the least athletic person,” she says with a laugh.) 

Other Decorah-based groups, both large and small, have also benefited from Jane’s time and talents. She is past president of Friends of the Decorah Public Library, a volunteer group that raises money to support the library and invest in needs not covered by its budget, from technology upgrades to programming. She currently chairs a local travel club that was established more than a century ago, says Jane, “for women who needed, at that time, to get out of the house and really sink their minds into something.” The group meets regularly at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, where Jane is an active member. She has served as church webmaster and has volunteered for the landscape committee and altar guild, among other things. “We have a very small staff so we are very much a congregation of volunteers,” she notes. 

And while Jane claims no Norwegian ancestry, she has always loved history, so currently serving as a trustee of the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum is, as she says, “a natural fit.” 

During her tenure on the board, the museum has developed Heritage Park, dedicated in 2021, and the Vesterheim Commons, due to open later this year. “Vesterheim is such a fabulous asset for Decorah; not only does it preserve the history of Norwegian-Americans who are so prominent in the Upper Midwest, but frankly, it’s also a huge tourist draw.”

When asked, Jane quickly credits her good friends and “mentors,” Georgie Klevar and Joyce Epperly, for the seemingly endless inspiration she spreads around the community. “They set the standard for me for volunteering and giving to nonprofits,” she says. “And they absolutely have inspired me.”

Jane says that while she logs time every day on volunteer work, she also makes time for other activities she enjoys, including reading (of course!), traveling with family and friends, and walking the many trails of Decorah. “This town really does check all the boxes for me,” she concludes. “I love helping this community, and it’s been very fulfilling to do so.” 

Deep in the City…of Winona, Minnesota, lives a community-minded teen working to create a space for people to come together.

In early 2022, 15-year-old Seamus Schwaba wrote a musical – Deep in the City – and was looking to produce it for an audience. Along the way, he found that Winona didn’t need just one show – they needed shows that would go on, and on. So, Seamus put the word out, gathered folks for a board, and together they launched Winona’s new community theatre organization, Sugarloaf Theatre, with a mission to provide “fun accessible theatre and other performing arts opportunities for all ages, genders, sexual orientations, religions, and ethnicities in the community.” 

Deep in the City brought Sugarloaf to life with three sold-out shows, and began the framework for the schedule: two full-scale productions a year – a summer musical and a winter play – plus additional offerings as allows. 

On December 9-10 of 2022, folks can check out the fun 24-Hour Theatre at the Winona Friendship Center. During 24-Hour Theatre, community members gather to write, direct, rehearse, and perform short, original works for the public within 24 hours. The theme will be Upon a Snowy Eve.

“This will be exciting because it’s a fun way for community actors to get involved in a short play without making a huge time commitment,” says Seamus.

The 2023 winter play is The Rainbow Fish, a children’s book that was adapted into a one-act play. Sugarloaf is producing this play in collaboration with Winona’s Bluffview Montessori School, where all rehearsals, auditions, and performances will take place. Community performances are scheduled for February 25 at 2 and 6 pm, and February 26 at 2 pm, and auditions are January 16. “We are looking for all different kinds of actors, adults and teens to audition for this show,” Seamus says.

Additionally, every few months Sugarloaf Theatre offers Three Week Theatre for kids in the community. “We learn a variety of improv games, tongue twisters, and acting tips,” Seamus says. “It’s a lot of fun!”

While Seamus knows theatre isn’t necessarily for everyone, he would encourage anyone interested to give it a try. “Community theatre people are so kind and accepting,” he says. “It makes you feel like you’re a part of something! At least it has for me.”

Turn the page to learn more about Sugarloaf Theatre and its founder, Seamus Schwaba, in a fun Q&A.

1. What inspired you to start Sugarloaf Theatre?

Well, Winona is a beautiful and very artistic community. It’s a community I’m very proud to be a part of! The one thing I wish it had more of, though, is accessible opportunities for community members to participate in theatre. We are lucky enough to have wonderful programs that offer performing opportunities, such as the cemetery walk, but what I wanted to do was make a true community theatre organization in Winona that does full scale productions with no participation fees. Besides, I’ve always loved community theatre! It’s a fantastic way to bring people together because it allows people from completely different generations to work as a team to create something! I honestly think that’s a really beautiful thing! The other thing is that coming out of a global pandemic, people need hope more than ever. I think community theatre is the perfect way to bring people together and become a family again. There are just so many reasons to do this! 

2. What’s the process of starting a community theatre organization? 

To be honest, when I first started this project I had no idea what it would turn into. I wanted to produce the musical I wrote, Deep in the City, and I thought I’d do it as a community theatre thing. As I got further into advertising and fundraising for the show, I had conversations with so many community members and realized that Winona needs more than a one-off community musical. We need a community theatre! So I worked on getting a board! Now, we are working towards non-profit status. It’s a long journey, but we’ll get there. I know we will.  

3. The life of a 15-year-old is often pretty busy. How do you manage to fit it all in? Do you have a lot of folks helping to make this community project happen?

Of course I do. Nobody could make all this happen alone! I’ve got wonderful board members, funders, and friends to help me. And I would like to thank all of them for their support, because without them I wouldn’t be able to do this! This being said, I’d like to think I do a lot of work for Sugarloaf Theatre as well. And I’m very proud of the hard work I’ve put in to making these events possible. Yes, there are definitely times where I’ve gotten overwhelmed, but at the end of the day I know that the work we’re doing matters. We are working to do something that helps people and gives them hope, and that motivates me to continue when I’m having a bad day. I’m also just so grateful for all the people that support this project. 

4. Can you tell our readers a little more about 24-Hour Theatre?

The event will take place on December 9-10 of 2022. The goal is to write, direct, rehearse, and perform three short plays for the community in 24 hours. It will start on the 9th with a meeting that all writers, directors, stage managers, and actors will attend, where we will go over the schedule for the day following. Then, the writers will go home and write over the night. In the morning the directors will meet at the Winona Friendship Center, which is where the majority of the event will take place. They will have a short time to look at the scripts that were written the night before, and come up with a plan for blocking (the process of teaching actors where they enter, exit, and stand on stage).

Then, the actors will arrive and they will rehearse the show. The show will be open for the community to see the night of the 10th at 7 pm. Tickets to the performance will be $10 per person, and are available at linktr.ee/sugarloaftheatre.

5. The summer musical you wrote, Deep in the City, was Sugarloaf Theatre’s first-ever show, and you directed it! Can you tell us about that process? How did you feel once the run was done? 

I was so proud of Deep in the City! And yes, Deep in the City was my first time directing a show, but I’ve been involved in Theatre since I was five. Honestly, it was the only thing I thought about for a year. I lived for my time to write at the piano. That show was so much fun to work on! I counted down the days for auditions and I couldn’t wait. The show turned out to be everything I dreamed it to be and more. The cast performed for three sold out audiences and got two standing ovations. And I would never have been able to do it without the help of my piano accompanist, stage manager, and musical director. I always expected to feel sad once the show ended, but I really didn’t. I was really happy that it went so well, and I was so excited for the future of Sugarloaf Theatre. I still am! I also had a lot going on. A few weeks after the show I went to go perform at the State Fair for 4-H and I won first place in the performing arts division for the second year in a row. I met so many wonderful people on that trip. This summer, overall, just reminded me how wonderful the world is!! And if you stick through a hard time you can always find yourself and contribute amazing things! If there’s one thing I want people to know it’s that you should always have hope, because things will always get better if you wait long enough and hang in there. 

6. Can you tell us a little more about The Rainbow Fish?

Yes! The show is going to be a lot of fun. The actors will be ages 12 and up, but the show is great for children and families. The Rainbow Fish was originally a children’s book that was later adapted into a stage version. It is a one-act play, and it tells the story of a young beautiful fish that has rainbow scales, but never wants to share them with anyone. By the end of the story he learns to share his scales by giving some of them to his new friends. The story has a beautiful message of sharing and friendship that all ages can enjoy! 

For show tickets or to register classes and events (actors please register at least a week in advance), go to linktr.ee/sugarloaftheatre