Rhymes With Decorah

  Crystal Duffy, Community Developer for the Postville Community Heart and Soul program joins us on this episode to talk about one NE Iowa communities journey through the Heart and Soul framework.  Postville, a small town of 2,500+ in rural Allamakee County, has been slowly growing for well over a decade as local processing plant jobs and various industries have continued to work to fill out the w...

Located on a stately corner of Broadway and River Street in downtown Decorah is the former home of Adelbert Field Porter (1879 – 1968) and Grace Young Porter (1880 – 1964).  Both single children of early Decorah and NE Iowa business families, Grace and Bert Porter left their home as a Museum of worldly collections that inspire exploration of history, nature, and art.  Join Museum Docent Erica Reyn...

Rhymes With Decorah is back after our fun mini-series of shows from Lansing , Iowa - and what better topic to talk about than the Service of Rotary International and the Decorah Rotary Club ! Join Ward Budweg, Brecka Putnam, and Benji for a conversation about Rotary and all that this incredible organization does - Service above Self! Decorah Rotary Road Cleanup Project  Rotary is 1.2 million neigh...

Sangerfest 2022 , Photo: Beth Skogen Dr. David Judisch, Director of the Luren Singing Society and Director in Chief for the Norwegian Singers Association of America joins us for this episode to talk about Sangerfest - and so much more!  Sangerfest is a celebration and gathering of Norwegian Singing Societies from across the country that happens every two years in rotating venues across the upper m...

Welsh's Village Farm & Home, Lansing Iowa - Photo Benji Nichols Welcome to "Rhymes With Lansing" - a mini-series of podcast shows featuring just a few of the amazing folks that call Lansing, Iowa home. Recorded in the Spring of 2024, these shows represent a snapshot in time of life in one of Iowa's great, rural, Mississippi River towns. Find the intro show to this series here . Welsh's Village...

Welcome to "Rhymes With Lansing" - a mini-series of podcast shows featuring just a few of the amazing folks that call Lansing, Iowa home. Recorded in the Spring of 2024, these shows represent a snapshot in time of life in one of Iowa's great, rural, Mississippi River towns. Find the intro show to this series here . Melissa & Nick Hammell are both business owners (and spouses!) on Main Street i...

Photo Courtesy of Walking Space Welcome to "Rhymes With Lansing" - a mini-series of podcast shows featuring just a few of the amazing folks that call Lansing, Iowa home. Recorded in the Spring of 2024, these shows represent a snapshot in time of life in one of Iowa's great, rural, Mississippi River towns. Find the  intro show to this series here . Andrew Boddicker is the Executive Director of Main...

Erin Cubbon, Naturalist, Allamakee Co Conservation Welcome to "Rhymes With Lansing" - a mini-series of podcast shows featuring just a few of the amazing folks that call Lansing, Iowa home. Recorded in the Spring of 2024, these shows represent a snapshot in time of life in one of Iowa's great, rural, Mississippi River towns. Find the  intro show to this series here . Driftless Area Education &...

Maryann Baldwin, Lansing Entrepreneur Photo by: Brittany Todd Welcome to "Rhymes With Lansing" - a mini-series of podcast shows featuring just a few of the amazing folks that call Lansing, Iowa home. Recorded in the Spring of 2024, these shows represent a snapshot in time of life in one of Iowa's great, rural, Mississippi River towns. Find the intro show to this series here . Maryann Baldwinn's st...

Lansing, Iowa - Courtesy, Driftless Visitors Center Welcome to a special mini-series of shows we're calling "Rhymes With Lansing" - bringing you stories from " where Main Street meets the Mississippi " in Iowa's very NE Corner. Located in Allamakee County, Lansing is a town of almost 1,000 people ideally tucked into a wooded valley along the Mississippi River.  Photo Courtesy of Main Street Lansin...

Valerie Reinke,  Executive Director of Allamakee County Iowa Economic Development & Tourism joins us for this episode of "Rhymes With... Allamakee" Iowa's most Northeastern County is a treasure trove of outdoor beauty, recreation opportunities, and some very dynamic communities. With just over 14,000 people, Allamakee County consists of six small towns: Waukon, Lansing, Postville, Harpers Ferr...

  Join us on this episode of "Rhymes With Decorah" as we take an awesome opportunity to talk with Decorah Community School District Nutrition Director and Culinary Specialist Chad Elliott.    With deep roots in the Decorah area, Chad brings a background in the commercial food service industry to what may be any communities most important food source - school meals! It takes a village to provide th...

  Cover image by Anne Butera / MyGiantStrawberry.com Join the WHOLE fam on this show for a rundown on the Spring 2024 Issue of Inspire(d) Magazine ! Here's Aryn's editors letter for this issue as well. Don't miss a tiny bit of this beautiful issue (inside and out!). Thanks for listening, reading, and supporting our mission of sharing positive news! Find the new "Spring 2024" Inspire(d) Playlist he...

Photo Courtesy of WinnMed Emergency Management Services are often not thought of until there is a time of need. Police, Fire, Ambulance, First Responders – all provide essential community services, and face unique challenges in much of our rural regions. Steve Vanden Brink has been serving Decorah and NE Iowa for over 30 years as an EMT and Director of Ambulance Services at WinnMed in Decorah, as...

The Oneota Valley Community Orhestra has been bringing incredible performances to NE Iowa for 10 years! Join founder and musical director Matt Cody, along with musician and board member Benjamin Kratchmer as we talk all things OVCO. The organization, started in 2014, was brougth to life to present live classical music to the residents of the Oneota Valley, promote music education, and provide the...

Liudmyla Skorlupina is a Ukrainian English teacher, currently living with her son Zhenia in the US. They are from Bucha, Ukraine, and were able to participate in the “Uniting for Ukraine” Federal humanitarian program, which allows them to spend up to two years in the US with a host sponsor family. Liuda and Luther College Professor of Anthropology Maryna Nading have known each other since their up...

Olivia Lynn Schnur is a writer, Mental Health Counselor, and yoga teacher, with roots in NE Iowa! You may have read some of Olivia's pieces in the pages of Inspire(d) over the past 4+ years, as she and Aryn have partnered to present various themes and topics throughout each issue. Olivia has a wealth of experience to draw from with her background as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Licensed Pro...

Decorah Native Kim Karr started her professional career in high school education, and quickly realized a need in the digital world - social media specifically, and the way that young people interact. Fast forward, and Kim has been the Executive Director of Digital4Good and #ICanHelp for a decade - making positive impact on a world wide audience. Digital4Good and #ICanHelp are agents of change comm...

Decorah Community School District Superintendent Tim Cronin joins us for this episode of "Rhymes With Decorah" to talk about his long family ties to Decorah, generations of educators, the successes and challenges our School district faces, and the perfect "Decorah" day!  Dr. Cronin's path found him attending Luther College for undergrad studies (and basketball!) before making his way to UW, and th...

Welcome to 2024 - and welcome back to "Rhymes With Decorah" !  On this episode Roxie, Aryn, and Benji work to shake off the end of holiday school break while running down the "Winter 2024" issue of Inspire(d) , and looking at 2024 bucket lists. This show is loose as a goose -and funky as a chicken, but we hope you enjoy it as a way to roll on into 2024 before we hit some harder topics and episodes...

Founded in 1988 by the late Bob Anderson, the Raptor Resource Project (RRP) is a non-profit that preserves and strengthens raptor populations, expands participation in raptor conservation, and educates people around the world about raptors and their habitats. Photo courtesy of Raptor Resource Project With the core goals of education, conservation, and research, RRP was at the forefront of peregrin...

Since 1975, New Minowa Players (NMP) have been creating community through theatre in Northeast Iowa. From the founding days of friends Bette Greedy, Donalee Burns, and Helen Schmidt meeting up to present true community productions wherever they could find a space, to almost half a century later featuring an annual season of 6 productions, NMP has built a theatrical legacy in rural Iowa. Join us on...

Aryn Henning Nichols joins Benji for a rundown of the Fall 2023 issue of Inspire(d) Magazine - which also marks 16 years of Inspire(d)! Aryn likes to say the magazine is finally old enough to drive - even though it's been driving our lives for 16 years! Truly - we're grateful for everyone that has made this "experiment in positive news" possible - readers, advertisers, our amazing contributors, an...

On today’s show we welcome Liz & Jim Fritz, both (mostly!) “retired” music educators from Decorah, and longtime members of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. As it turns out, Liz & Jim also have a long track record of home improvement, efficiency, and sustainability projects, stemming from lifelong interests and opportunities to make their corner of the world a better place. Listen in to hear...

Run. Fish. Beer. > Help  Benji reach his fundraising goal -  Donate here to the Driftless Flyathlon <  Ryan Rahmiller and Scott Stimmel join us to talk about the Driftless Flyathlon – a favorite annual event of Benji’s that happens each fall at Yellow River Forest in rural Allamakee County, Iowa. Ryan and Scott are not only part of the six person planning crew of the Flyathlon event, but are...