Local Voices Project

The St. Croix watershed is rich in stories. Each person who lives here carries a whole world around inside of them, whether they came to this place from somewhere else or whether they have lived their entire lives here. With the Local Voices Project, we get to meet some of these people, to hear where their personal paths have taken them, what they value about this place. We learn about their families, their work, their experiences. We learn how they define home. Each person arrives to the conversation from a different stage in their lives: sometimes the histories overlapping—as with the Mettlers—but always with a unique perspective.

Settle in. This is the listening equivalent of slow food, of individual lives unfolding through time, of reflecting. As it turns out, that person you just passed on the street or at the grocery store might be spending their days coaxing smooth tones from a bassoon, making libraries a welcoming space, restoring wetlands, raising funds to bring solar power to remote hospitals in Africa, building a two-story bronze sculpture, shaping their hands around clay to make a bowl to hold the food on your kitchen table, keeping alive the tribal traditions and language that connect native youth to their culture, dedicating family land to become a public park, illuminating local history, or turning an organic orchard and cidery into a community hub. Every bit of it adds to the beauty of this place.

I am convinced that this is where hope lies: in listening to each other’s stories. Thank you to those who have generously joined me in conversations for this project. You have inspired me.

Laurie Allmann
2024-25 Artist in Residence
North Woods & Waters of the St. Croix Heritage Area

Note to listeners

These conversations were recorded in many “quiet-ish” community settings. You may hear the sounds of a cat bumping the microphone, wind, the clicking starter of a motorized cart, talking and laughter from people gathered in office hallways and cider barns, a little table thumping for emphasis now and then. Let’s pretend it was intentional.

Music Credits

• Rubber Duckie in Alex Legeros piece performed by Artrio, recorded at Franconia Sculpture Park
• Singer featured on Robert Dunkley piece is Kayden Buckanaga-Jackson, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
• Local Voices piano theme music provided by John Gorka

This project is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the East Central Regional Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.