May 04, 2012
By Peter Schuneman, Reporter

Photo courtesy myfox47

LANESBORO, Minn. (FOX 47) – They are the priceless gems of the deep forest… Definitely a sign of spring.  And for those who enjoy Morel mushroom hunting, time may be running out this year.  Put on your hiking boots, it’s time to hunt for Morels… with our guide of course.

One could call Frank Wright a professional mushroom hunter.  Morels don’t grow on trees, especially dead ones.  However, that’s what you want to find if you hope to be lead to the valued fungus.

The forests in southeast Minnesota have been known to produce the finest morels available thanks in part to high levels of limestone.  Wright knows these forests inside and out.

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"Pillars of Society" — the featured production by Commonweal Theatre in Lanesboro — will be held during the Ibsen Festival April 13 to15. Seen from left are Jeremy van Meter, Stef Dickens, Scott Dixon and Catherine Glynn. (Bluff Country Newspaper Group photo courtesy of Jason Underferth)

By Lisa Brainard, Republican-Leader Newspaper

The 15th Annual Ibsen Festival will be held Fri, April 13 – Sun, April 15 in Lanesboro, Minnesota. Commonweal Theatre will open its 2013 season with a world premiere adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher of Ibsen’s powerful “Pillars of Society.” Secrets from the past threaten to engulf a prominent businessman about to embark on the greatest project of his career. As always, the festival will include lectures, fine art, music, post show discussions and many other events to put this Ibsen work into context.

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Commonweal Theatre Ibsen page

Posted at 1:02 PM on March 23, 2012 by Michael Olson

– Lis Pedersen, contributor, Minnesota Today

Lanesboro — The Metal Children

This weekend the Commonweal Theater Company in Lanesboro, Minnesota will celebrate the opening of the play The Metal Children, written by the American playwright Adam Rapp. The cast includes Gary Danciu, Brandon Grayson, Carla Joseph, and Rachel Kuhnle, who are all a part of the 2012 Apprentice Company. The Metal Children presents a powerful story about the influence of literature, art, creation, and expression.

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By Steve Harris

Steve Harris is director of philanthropic communications for the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities. With his wife, Susie, he is owner and innkeeper of Anna V’s Bed & Breakfast in Lanesboro, Minn.

Are Minnesotans welcoming to newcomers? Over the last four decades I’ve “moved back” here four times, so I can offer an opinion. My answer sounds, well, Minnesotan: “Yes, kind of.”

MPR Story covers Steve’s first 3 moves “back to MN” and Lanesboro, Mn was his 4th MN move.  Read the whole story

My fourth Minnesota move was three years ago, to the little village of Lanesboro in southeastern Minnesota. Small towns (all towns?) are built on family connections. But even a small town has places where you can find friendliness and friends. It takes time. But it will happen if you work at it.

How do you do that? You volunteer at the Beer Garden at Buffalo Bill Days. You eat breakfast with the locals at the “Chat and Chew” restaurant. You walk your dog in the park and shop at the Farmer’s Market. You get out there and keep smiling and keep “visiting.” Minnesotans like that. And they will like you.

Sometimes they’ll even surprise you. A few months after we moved in, while on an out-of-state trip, we got a call from Dean, our new neighbor (whom we really didn’t know yet), telling us that a big storm had knocked down our large maple tree.

“We’re returning in a few days,” I said. “Can you call someone to take care of it?”

“Sure,” he said.

We returned to find the tree mess entirely cleaned up, and learned that Dean and his wife had done all the work themselves. When we offered to pay them for time and labor, they refused. “We’re neighbors,” Dean said. “That’s what neighbors do.”

Are Minnesotans friendly to newcomers?

Generally speaking, yes, but not in an overly expressive way. A unique combination of ethnic roots, family-centered culture and climate color that. But there are good people here, helpful and kind people, who are ready to do what they can for others, even the others they don’t know yet.

Maybe that’s why I keep coming back.

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Could you work up an appetite to rally around the cause of expanding access to local foods? A rallying of 70 community supporters came together in Lanesboro, MN in Fillmore County recently to do just that. Peggy Hanson (hilarious blow-by-blow how-to-use-a-CSA blogger for Featherstone Farm from 2009 to 2011) and Frank Wright (local gardener extraordinaire and rhubarb crop specialist) hosted the event in their home, the former Cady Hayes House bed & breakfast establishment in Lanesboro. But the real engine behind the affair was a cluster of passionate 20-somethings who recruited food donors, planned the menu, signed up cooks and orchestrated all the logistics. The dinner was a gala of volunteers, each sharing his or her authentic specialty, be it food, food prep, or flying through a pile of dishes.

A hush of anticipation preceded dessert. Short heart-felt greetings by Laura Nethercut, representing the Eat 4 Equity volunteer team, expressed their nonprofit’s mission and thanked the rooms filled with donors and volunteers. A few more words by Loni Kemp, Lanesboro Local board member (and Laura’s mother), offered an encouraging tribute to the sustainable economics of patronizing our local food-producing neighbors (see newsletter entry “Loni Kemp on Living Local”).

Story & Recipes

Loni Kemp on Live Local -Live Well

February, 2012

February is a good time to hunker down and give ourselves time to reflect. Days are short and nights are long, while the wood stove beckons us to draw near and sit a spell.

As I think about our three decades of living in the country, it strikes me how utterly grateful I am for the blessings of a life lived here amongst our Fillmore County rural communities. The daily benefits are so abundant that one might easily take them for granted. I vow to be more observant and appreciative for the rural life we live here.

The motto adopted by Lanesboro Local is “Live Local. Live Well.” It captures the organization’s hopes of expanding the regional rural economy by connecting rural producers and rural consumers. But it is not just about helping our neighbors earn a good living. Nor is it just about our opportunity to eat some of the most delicious food produced anywhere, or to buy meaningful crafts and gifts. It is also about the joy of being part of communities that look inward to solve our own problems and create our own well-being.

I often write of the gifts of nature. Our wooded hills, verdant valleys, and productive farms form the setting for ever-changing delights. These are free to everyone who can open their eyes. The seasons, the weather, the moonrise and the sunrise provide new wonders every day. Black cattle against the snow; white lambs on green pastures; a soaring black eagle with white head and tail-all are just outside my window. Even the changing smells throughout the year say, “Wake up! Pay attention.”

I treasure the can-do, help-your-neighbor mentality that thrives here. It seems we all raised our children to make things, fix things, and grow things. I believe that a very satisfying life is created when we make it ourselves.

An increasingly important pleasure for me is buying some of our food and goods from local producers. Our neighbors bring me fresh brown eggs every week and homemade sausage when they butcher, gifts at which I never stop marveling. Another neighbor sold us a quarter beef of the finest, leanest, tastiest meat we’ve ever had.

Lanesboro Local brings in a whole new dimension, where we’ve created a Marketplace for local goods and foods. I’m totally hooked on delicious Kapper’s milk, Liz’s salad greens, and a variety of excellent cheeses, meats, and chips, all made within this region. I’d much rather spend my money here than a faceless Walmart.

As I reflect on rural life, I guess what I’m most thankful for is the sense of place. We feel firmly rooted, here in this particular landscape, in these overlapping human communities. It is not paradise here or anywhere else; people die tragically, and tornados and floods devastate. Yet we can trust that our communities will care and the seasons will turn. I’d rather live here than anywhere else on earth.

More on Lanesboro, Minnesota

Eat for Equity is coming to cook up a local feast in Lanesboro, to benefit Lanesboro Local’s Marketplace.

You may have read about this incredibly fun and conscientious non-profit funding-raising group based in Minneapolis. Founder Emily Torgrimson and board vice president Laura Nethercut both grew up here and attended Fillmore Central, Class of 2002. The Eat for Equity concept is simple. They organize volunteers to prepare a special meal, tied to a cause, engaging the generosity, ingredients, cooking skills and good will of many individuals to raise funds and create a better, more equitable world.

Eat for Equity has volunteered to put on a pre-Valentine’s Day spread of locally produced delectables in Lanesboro. The dinner will benefit Lanesboro Local, which helps rural southeastern Minnesota growers, producers and artisans secure better opportunities to produce local goods and find local markets for their products.

The evening begins at 6:00 pm on Saturday, February 11, at the home of Peggy Hanson and Frank Wright at 500 Calhoun Ave S, Lanesboro (formerly the Cady Hayes Bed & Breakfast establishment). Drinks and dinner will be prepared and served by volunteers.

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Lanesboro looks good in snow.  We received a fresh covering in the past week that has transformed the Root River valley into a winter wonderland.  The Root River Trail is groomed for cross country skiing for over 20 miles.  There are also two great snowshoe trails nearby.

Lanesboro Decked out in Snow 

Schedule your two night winter getaway at the Hillcrest Hide-Away B&B or Anna V’s Bed and Breakfast.  We’re ready to help you with your winter getaway.  Cedar Valley Resort rents cross country skis and snow shoes.  Enjoy a horse drawn sleigh rides in the bluff tops. Savor a couples massage at the Prana Healing Center.  Chef Brett from the Pastry Shoppe has his smoker going on weekends at the “Smoky River Barbeque”.  It is a quaint joint near the river that has received rave reviews. You can check trail conditions at: http://www.lanesboro.com/lanesboro-rootrivertrail.php

In February Lanesboro begins to wake up from its winter hibernation.

Feb 4: 20th Annual Whalan Candle Light Ski - The Root River Trail is lit with candles for a mile with bonfires at both ends.

Feb 4: Flamenco, Pure and Strong at the St. Mane Theatre, with dancer Deborah Elias and guest singer Vicente Griego - feature raw, soul-baring solos, lustrous and spirited company dances and driving guitar rhythms.

Feb 4: Dinner on the Bluff Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center hosts dinner and and a presentation by Gene Merriam, of the Freshwater Society sharing the status of the protection, enhancement and restoration of our freshwater resources.  Dinner menu include: strawberry-orange salad, roasted red pepper & tomato soup, trout, wild rice stuffing, roasted asparagus and cheesecake with assorted fruit topping.

Feb 10 7PM. Over the Back Fence - locals call this Lanesboro’s version of A Prairie Home Companion, An hour and a half of fun entertainment plus 30 minutes of pre-show live music.

Feb 10, 11, 14, 17, 18 The Old Village Hall features a special four course dinner with optional wine pairings to share with your special Valentine.

Feb 27, 28: Lanesboro Community Theatre presents: “Moon Over Buffalo”-upIt’s 1953 and a washed up acting duo, George & Charlotte Hay, are touring New York.. BUFFALO, New York.  They just one shot at leading roles in a film by THE Frank Capra, and he’s coming to see today’s matinee!  Everything goes wrong – with hilarious results!  This plan is nothing less than a love letter to live theatre.

Lanesboro is a quiet destination for your winter getaway.  Comfortable inns, great food, and beautiful scenery all await your visit.

More than 21,000 theatregoers attended Commonweal’s mainstage shows, from the riveting drama An Enemy of the People to the romantic-comedy Parfumerie. In between, audiences howled at the antics of a stray dog in Sylvia, laughed (and screamed) as man-eating plants threatened the Earth in Little Shop of Horrors, and took a hard look at prejudice through the eyes of an innocent child in To Kill a Mockingbird. Overall, some 3,000 households visited the Commonweal for the first time in 2011 – the company’s largest ever single-season increase in first-timer attendance.

Two shows this year – Sylvia and To Kill a Mockingbird – also ranked in the top three for best-attended productions in Commonweal’s history in terms of average per-performance attendance. “Artistically, this has been an amazing season,” adds Cropp. “In my twenty years, I don’t know if I can think of another year when every single show hit such a high mark in terms of quality.” The Commonweal also welcomed nearly 2,200 high school students from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and South Dakota to special student matinees of its mainstage shows and gave a special benefit performance of its holiday comedy, Parfumerie, for Habitat for Humanity Winona-Fillmore Counties. Both programs were made possible by the generous support of F&M Community Bank in Preston and Chatfield.

The theatre’s success onstage has also been supported by generous giving from individuals and public and private foundations. In the final quarter of 2011, the Commonweal Theatre Company was awarded $10,000 from the Southeast Minnesota Art Council through the Arts and Cultural Heritage program, and $38,250 from the Minnesota State Arts Board for programming support in 2012. Funds from the MSAB are made available through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and private funders.

“We’re excited to hit 2012 running,” says Cropp, “with a slate of shows that includes some titles we’ve wanted to produce for a long time.” The Commonweal’s twenty-fourth mainstage season begins in April with a world premiere adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s drama, Pillars of Society, then followed by the fast-paced comedy The 39 Steps, the romantic-comedy The Philadelphia Story, the heartwarming drama The Drawer Boy, and ends with Commonweal Theatre’s own distinct imagining of Charles Dickens’ immortal classic, A Christmas Carol.

For more details, including information about schedules, tickets, and other Commonweal programs, visit www.commonwealtheatre.org or call the Box Office at (800) 657-7025.

December 12th, 2011 by David Reeck, Amil’s Inn Bed & Breakfast

This past November, my fellow Innkeeper, Jennifer Dunn from The Franklin Victorian Bed and Breakfast in Sparta, Wisconsin and I went on the Lanesboro Inn Christmas Tour in Lanesboro, Minnesota. They were all very delightful and full of decorating ideas. 

One of our favorite Inn’s on the tour was the Hillcrest Hide-Away B & B.  We commented on the array of plates filled with the different flavors of Biscotti’s served with Cider Wassail.  Marv and Carol Eggert were great hosts and kind enough to share the recipes with us.

Last week Jennifer visited Amil’s Inn Bed and Breakfast and we managed to make 5 different Biscotti recipes.  For those who don’t know, a biscotti is an Italian cookie baked twice and served with something hot.  They are commonly dunked in the hot coffee, tea or hot cider to soften them a little before eating.  What makes the biscotti special is the white or chocolate coating on one end which makes them delicious to enjoy with friends and family.

Here is one of the recipes:      

Carol’s Almond Biscotti