Best of the Holidays

Places & Resources

Volunteer Opportunities & Charities 52

Festival of Toys Now Gathering Gifts for Families in Need

Mid-West Family radio stations collecting donations Dec. 3-6

The drive aims to collect new, unwrapped toys which will be distributed to families in need by Family Promise of the Chippewa Valley, which operates the Beacon House family shelter in Eau Claire. Over the past 21 Christmas seasons, the drive has collected more than ...

Tim Davis’ Christmas Extravaganza to Feature Up to 50 Musicians

Dec. 14 music marathon to aid Beacon House

When he was a junior at Memorial High School, budding jazz pianist Tim Davis decided to get some of his musical friends of various ages together for a holiday performance. Now in its fourth year, Davis’ Christmas Extravaganza has continued to grow and is ...

This Season, Charcuterie Is Out, CHEER-Cuterie Is In!

tips on assembling a tasty board to fill all your holiday cravings

When my urges for yuletide outlets crescendo in December, I’ve discovered creating a holiday themed “cheer-cuterie” board the perfect way to satisfy the three seasonal necessities: creative expression, festive decor, and intermittent grazing. My partner and I created ...

Enter or Enjoy the Festival of Lights

annual Christmas decorating contest accepting entries through Dec. 15

With all due respect to Buddy the Elf, “singing loud for all to hear” isn’t always the best way to spread Christmas cheer. You can also invest in endless strings of colorful lights, illuminated Santas, inflatable Abominable Snowmen, and more, than decorate the literal ...

Intercepted Letters to St. Nick: 2024 Edition

our annual peek at Santa’s secret mailbag

For almost 15 years, Volume One has sent an intern to the post office in Eau Claire each holiday season to intercept local letters to Santa Claus, which we publish in our holiday issue. This year, to better understand our entire region, we made our intern hop ...

Holiday Trolley Offers Joyful Journeys

board the Chippewa River Trolley for Christmas lights, schoolhouse memories, and more

For the second holiday season in a row, the Chippewa River Trolley Co. is offering a plethora of unforgettable experiences to passengers of all ages. Consider the vintage-style red trolley a kind of Magic School Bus that can whisk passengers through space and time on ...

Meet the Makers: Claymore Pottery

the man behind the ceramic chickens at Banbury Place

While Claymore Pottery is quite recognizable to locals today – his work ranging from intricate butter dishes to mugs and other functional kitchenware, to Richard Millheiser’s staple ceramic chicken sculptures – Millehiser was not always a ceramics artist. Prior to teaching, he was a sketch artist and painter ...

Meet the Makers: Ashley Walton-Beal Jewelry

embracing individuality and imperfection is the key for this artist

While The Local Store has only been host to Ashley Walton-Beal’s quirky jewelry and metalwork pieces for about one year, crafting has been part of Ashley’s life since she was a kid. Fast forward to around 2019 when her fate was sealed: Wandering through a craft show, Ashley came across the art of metal stamping ...

Places & Resources

Holiday Lighting 6

Holiday Party Places 44

Sledding Hills 9

Check out the Chippewa Valley's many frosty angles

Sweet Stuff 12

A list of the Chippewa Valley's holiday chocolatiers, bakeries and related businesses.

Tree Farms 6

Take the family out to a local farm and hunt for the perfect pine