Martha Archer has a flair for marketing. Her love of kohlrabi helps, too, as she manages Minneapolis’ Mill City Farmer’s Market.
Buoyant and responsive, and aspirational by nature, Martha understands that the pageantry of a street fair is the perfect venue to elevate even humble root vegetables.
Read More“Stories bring about change,” says storyteller, writer and urban placemaker, Jay Walljasper.
Walljasper’s story began in suburban Illinois, in a neighborhood housing development he calls “cool in a way, with empty fields behind my house that we kids thought would be that way forever. It was kind of walkable, but not out where I lived.” Eventually, suburban sub-divisions filled in, erasing those open spaces for active, imaginative play.
What imprinted on Waljasper’s imagination instead, in terms of place, was his grandparent’s town of Ford Madison, Iowa. “Fort Madison was a river town, on the Mississippi, and there were corner groceries, corner taverns, it was kind of a historical town,” Walljasper recalls. “What I loved was I would walk into one of the local stores and hear ‘You must be one of those Walljaspers. You all look alike.’ I really loved that sense of belonging, that familiarity.”
Read MoreA cab ride changed his life.
Content to remain in Texas, Mark Addicks came to Minneapolis to interview for a job he never thought he’d accept. Seeing Minneapolis only from the backseat of a cab, he thought it looked like most other cities: lots of freeways, lots of cars, nothing noteworthy.
Then, with a bit of time to kill before his return flight home, his cab driver took a right turn into Wirth Park: Trees. Pathways. And most importantly, people everywhere. “It was a nice day at the end of March, people were out running, walking their dogs. The driver took me around the Chain of Lakes. The parks drew me in. I accepted that job. Parks are what kept me here.”
Read MoreFor Anthony Taylor, building community starts by building capacity.
A life long athlete, Taylor’s build is solid; his conversational tone focused, precise, strategic - apt qualifiers for a former football player-turned-cyclist, and fitting for someone who invites social change, one neighborhood at a time.
Before Taylor built a social bike club or began planning community rides, Taylor found a book in his basement about Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor (1878-1932): not a long-lost relative of his, but a professional cyclist hailed as America’s “first great black celebrity athlete.” Anthony learned that Major’s life was full of triumph and trauma. A decorated competitor and world cycling champion, Major Taylor experienced prejudice and systemic racism, and fought to make his story known.
Read MoreNext to the bees, the most active attendant of the Kenwood School vegetable and stone poem rain garden is Angie Erdrich.
A pediatrician by trade, Angie is skilled at both problem solving and care giving. And she has an abiding affinity for tree frogs.
On a quiet residential street in the Kenwood Neighborhood, the public space surrounding the garden erupts with kids, neighbors and parents hurrying by multiple times each day. A popular bookstore, art gallery and studio, a restaurant, and a veterinarian’s office front the urban schoolyard across 22nd Street.
Read MoreSometimes, building community begins as simply as asking, “Hey, wanna go for a bike ride?”
For 30 years, that’s what Judd Larson and Monica Smith have done.
Started as a way to provide a bit of exercise and a “mental break” before tackling the frenzy of Thanksgiving Day with too much food (and maybe too much family), Judd and Monica offer solace by way of two wheels: a group bike ride for friends, and friends of friends, living in Uptown.
Read More“To find a city without art, would be to find a dead city.” Candida Gonzalez is determined that Minneapolis is alive with public art and strong communities to make it.
As administrator and project manager at GoodSpace Murals, Candida dispels the myth that art is privilege, or somehow out of reach for the average person. “Public art is exciting because it is accessible to all,” she offers. “I don’t need a ticket to see a public mural. I don’t even need to leave my neighborhood. I can stay right here and experience art, and even be part of making it.”
Read MoreJohn Munger got an early taste for adventure on a bike ride from Minneapolis to Duluth.
John’s dad initiated the ride, a kind of spur-of-the-moment thing. The two left about 3 o’clock one afternoon, with John’s dad sporting an external-frame backpack with provisions. That afternoon, they made it as far north as White Bear Lake, about 15 miles from home. Over the next two days, the duo covered the remaining 135 miles riding regular bikes pulled from their garage, just to see if they could do it.
Age 10 at the time, John wasn’t sure he could. “There was a lot of crying on that final leg. My dad kept saying ‘after the next hill we start going down into Duluth.’ Hill after hill kept coming, more up than down, and I was bawling. Not much of the last bit was fun, but I made it.”
Read MoreVerve. Building great places for people.
Who are the people who get up each day and get busy making great places? Fueling connection, fun, commerce, population health, diversity, curiosity and joy, these featured placemakers give kick to the places we love. Do you know a person or place that adds verve? Tell us!
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