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Storytelling has always been a part of Walter LaBatte Jr.’s life. Growing up in the Upper Sioux Community, Walter says that there were many childhood evenings spent listening to his father’s stories. “When I grew up, we didn’t have electricity, and so the only entertainment we had was my dad telling us stories,” Walter recalls. “We have a mythical creature called Unktomi, which means spider, and he’s a trickster. There are tons and tons of stories and he would tell us those Unktomi stories at night. These stories had morals in them. Because he was a trickster, he would do bad things, and through telling those stories they were sending a message how to act, how to behave.”

Miles Taylor never anticipated that he would be moving back to his hometown of Wood Lake before reaching retirement age, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed his plans. Miles and his wife Jessie were building careers centered around the arts in the Twin Cities when the pandemic began. Having learned how to DJ in Los Angeles more than 15 years ago, Miles moved to the Twin Cities after college and worked over the next eight years DJ’ing burlesque shows, bars, and events while also working on visual art. “I worked with a lot of different galleries presenting my art, but also curating shows. Eventually, I built up to four residencies a month, which paid all of the bills. I was making a name for myself and working with high profile producers in the cities,” Miles says. “I had finally started my own picture painting shop and gallery in the Northeast side in January of 2020. Everything was going pretty good and I was making the most money I think I’ve made in my life.” But then, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the state, and Miles and Jessie, being independent contractors and small business owners were left with all business halted for months. At the same time, the couple found out their landlord had decided to sell the home they were renting. Miles's family had been using his grandmother’s former home on their family farm as an Airbnb, but because COVID had halted that as well, the couple made the decision to move temporarily into the home.

Karen Jenson began painting when she was just 20 years old - a venture that would lead to a career as a professional artist and teacher. Jenson and her husband purchased a home in Milan in the early 1960s, and Jenson spent years designing every nook and cranny of the home with her Scandinavian-inspired artwork amidst her 50-year career of painting and teaching art around the United States and Canada. The work was done with the help of two identical twin brothers Jenson met early on in her homeownership. The contractors/artists, Arvid and Aron Swenson helped to complete the home, called the Trestuen Gallery. The word Trestuen is Swedish for “Tree Room”. “When she bought the house, it was just a typical little small-town house,” says Milan Village Arts School board member Ron Porep. “When she met the twins, Arvid and Aron Swenson, they built a whole new section on the house. They actually cut down these big conifers in the garden and they used those as the beams. The whole concept of the house is built around nature.”

It was a bitterly cold weekend across the state of Minnesota. We had the coldest air of the season to ring in the New Year. High temperatures on Saturday ranged from -8 to -18 F for most of Greater Minnesota. Overnight low temperatures early Saturday were from -15 to -25!