“A Cluckin’ Masterpiece: Best of the Chippewa Valley 2025“ by Volume One staff

“A Cluckin’ Masterpiece” (2025) • digital photo • This year’s cover and visual theme were ideated and executed by Ma Vue, Allison Buchli, and Jade Juedes • From Ma Vue: “What started as a joke quickly became one of our favorite ‘Best Of’ cover photo shoots. With all the chicken chatter in local news over the past year, we thought, ‘Why not put a chicken on the cover?’ Graphic designer Allison Buchli suggested adding a blue ribbon, and just like that, our theme of ‘Best in Show: The County Fair’ was born. The V1 crew selected our winning roo-star from five gorgeous contenders, including a couple of Silkies, a Frizzle, and a Thai Game Foul. Everything was fun and games until the reality set in: we were about to photograph a live rooster – a literal dinosaur. I’ve had my fair share of encounters with mean roosters, so the anticipation of the shoot was a bit more nerve-wrecking than usual. And my nerves didn’t exactly ease-up when the rooster arrived. He was big. Like, really big. Luckily, Jade Juedes, another of our graphic designers and resident beast wrangler, worked her magic and got him comfortable in no time. Apart from the ... well, mountains of poop, the photoshoot went off without a hitch. He wasn’t shy in front of the camera or lights and even crowed when we needed him to. Needless to say, we all fell in love with him by the end.  We hope you enjoy the cover as much as we loved creating it! Huge thanks to Claire and Stanton Farms in Mondovi for letting us work with this magnificent creature!”