Feature Stories

The Fox Cities area is full of surprises

Who would have thought that in 1882, the beautiful Victorian Hearthstone home overlooking the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, would be the first home in the world to be lighted by hydroelectricity from a central station using the Thomas Edison system?
The event put the area on the map and launched unimaginable changes in how people cooked, cleaned, lived and entertained themselves in their homes.

I searched my closet for anything purple — my school color — and came up with a few shirts, a jacket, socks and even shoes to wear for my 50th college reunion at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois — the first reunion I’ve ever attended.

Whenever I visit the Chicago Art Institute, I make sure to re-acquaint myself with French Impressionist painter Claude Monet's "Haystack" paintings.

'Worthwhile' subject?

It's beautiful country, steeped in history and a half-day drive away
While the winters may be extreme, Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula is beautiful year-round. Its hilly terrain is covered by hardwood and conifer trees; scenic waterfalls mark its rivers, and it boasts of miles of shoreline and many inland lakes. Wherever you are on the peninsula, you’re never more than 10 miles from Lake Superior. It’s a haven for people who enjoy nature and outdoor activities – no matter what the season.

Pete Mogren rides 3,000 miles to raise funds for MS
It’s been over a month since Oakdale cyclist Pete Mogren dipped the back tire of his bicycle in the chilly Pacific waters off Washington State and embarked on a cross-country adventure he hoped would take him to the opposite coast in northern New England.
As of July 16, Pete, an Oakdale resident, had completed over 70 percent of his 4,250-mile ride from the town of Anacortes, Washington, to Bar Harbor, Maine, to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Roseville malt shop hosts Hollywood production
It’s not often that a strip mall off Larpenteur and Lexington avenues in Roseville makes like a Hollywood studio backlot, but on June 23, that’s exactly what happened.
At around 6 a.m. that Tuesday, Snuffy’s Malt Shop owner Mike Mueller ushered in a production crew working on a film called “Wilson.”

Owners blend passion for sweets with healthy living
When Susanna, 50, and Ilya Gorodisher, 52, set out to craft a sugar-free ice cream, they began surveying what other cultures use for sweeteners. With family ties to Italy and Russia, respectively, their research brought them around the world.
It wasn't until they reached South America that they found a substitute they thought could rival refined sugar. But they knew it couldn't stand on its own.

Dolls and lakeside mansions
As I leaned back in a rocking chair on the wide veranda of the historic Rowland Inn watching the waves and the sunset over Cayuga Lake in upstate New York, my mind wandered back to a trip to Chicago with my two school-age granddaughters several years ago.
They were obsessed with going to the American Girl doll store, which I had never even heard of. I was thinking about museums.

When we were kids, my sisters and I sat with Grandma and Grandpa Streelman at their kitchen table pitting cherries with old-fashioned hairpins after going to the orchard earlier in the day to pick the fruit.