Community Builders

Paul Reardon is hard to chase down. If he’s not traveling the world as a mechanic for various bike races, he’s back home in La…

A main street barbershop is so much more than a place to get a haircut. Dave Dudek, a barber who’s been cutting hair in his hometown…

Decorah music educators Nicole and Matt Cody see firsthand how music can act like a glue, binding a community together in harmony – both figurative…

Communities aren’t measured by clocks or calendars. Some book clubs, garden circles, and service groups meet for years, decades even. You can find choirs whose…

The six owners of the Bridgeview Plaza, Rick and Michelle Beyer, Jim and Karen Christenson, and Todd and Deb Page, had a space to fill…

Since the advent of the biblical term, “Good Samaritan,” the moniker has been used to describe the unsung heroes throughout history who cared enough to…

It is said the art of teaching is in leading others to discovery. And Molly Holkesvik, longtime English teacher at Decorah High School, has helped…

Community-building happens in all kinds of places. A church. A local café. A bowling alley. Even an old garage, like Ernie’s Station, owned by Ernie…

Alison Bunge Leathers is a boomerang. No, not the Australian hunting tool that flies back to the place where it was first thrown. The word…

For many years, tattooing was synonymous with masculinity. Tattoos were often associated with the military or prison, and tattoo shops were run by men. But…

“Laundromats have a bad reputation, and frankly, many deserve it,” says Laura Patten, co-owner of County Seat Laundry in Viroqua, Wisconsin. “They’re dirty, machines are…

Caitlyn Konze had a vision for a new kind of space in the downtown business-scape of La Crosse, Wisconsin. A one-of-a-kind, welcoming place for people…