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Building Community Through Storytelling

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Recent Posts >
Essay | A ‘National Park’ Could Be as Close as Your Own Backyard
Lanesboro Arts Celebrates 25 Years of Artist Residencies
Photo Gallery | Wildlife Moments from Summer in Southeast Minnesota
Community Voices / Essays / Land & Water​

Essay | A ‘National Park’ Could Be as Close as Your Own Backyard

Regional Arts

Lanesboro Arts Celebrates 25 Years of Artist Residencies

Community Voices / Photo Gallery

Photo Gallery | Wildlife Moments from Summer in Southeast Minnesota

Business & Work / Culture & Community

Young Entrepreneurs Show Wares at Business Fair in Spring Valley

Root River Current is a nonprofit digital magazine providing paywall-free local news and storytelling from Southeast Minnesota's greater Root River Valley.

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Culture & Community

  • A woman in a blue patterned shirt browses a display rack filled with small packaged items while three girls stand on the opposite side of the table. Beads and other small items cover the tabletop.

    Young Entrepreneurs Show Wares at Business Fair in Spring Valley

  • A cement wall with words and a handprint chalked with blue chalk.

    Essay | 1911 Handprint Holds a Fillmore County Mystery

  • A black and white photograph of a man with a full beard wearing a dark overcoat and tall top hat. He stands in profile on an elevated overlook, facing left, with a town of buildings, streets, and trees spread out below him in the background.

    The Doctor Who Loved Birds: The Legacy of Dr. Johan Christian Hvoslef

See all stories in Culture & Community

Business & Work

  • A woman in a blue patterned shirt browses a display rack filled with small packaged items while three girls stand on the opposite side of the table. Beads and other small items cover the tabletop.

    Young Entrepreneurs Show Wares at Business Fair in Spring Valley

  • A person wearing a gray polo shirt and baseball cap sits on a bench at an upright piano with the front panel removed, smiling toward the camera. The piano's hammers, strings and tuning pins are exposed. A living room with a large window, couch and side table is visible in the background.

    Keeping Southeast Minnesota in Tune

  • A large group of adults and children stand inside a livestock show arena with wood shavings on the ground. One child at the center holds a framed certificate. Two people stand to the left near a microphone, and metal livestock pens and wooden support posts are visible in the background.

    Jim and Janet Kappers Family Honored as Farm Family of the Year

See all stories in Business & Work

Policy & Government

  • Aerial view of a restored wetland and floodwater storage area surrounded by green farm fields. Floodwater fills the wetland and spreads across low lying areas, with trees, winding channels and a gravel road visible in the foreground beneath a cloudy sky.

    State Grant Funds Mower County Flood Reduction Projects

  • A water safety instructor wearing a life jacket kneels on a blue tarp outdoors while demonstrating rescue equipment to a group of elementary age students seated in a circle. Bright orange rescue ropes are spread across the tarp as children in hooded sweatshirts and jackets watch closely. The hands on activity teaches water safety and emergency response skills during a youth education program sponsored by the Winona County Soil and Water Conservation District.

    Winona SWCD Education Outreach Programs Reach More Than 575 Local Students

  • photo of a lab researcher working on equipment

    Inside Fight Against CWD, Scientists Confront Changing Politics

See all stories in Policy & Government

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Regional Arts

  • A smiling woman in a long pink dress stands and waves outside the St. Mane Theatre. A sidewalk sign beside her advertises a storytelling workshop.

    Lanesboro Arts Celebrates 25 Years of Artist Residencies

  • a cropped photo of the cover from the book Dying Man Suite

    Essay | Creating a Distinct Blend of Voices to Tell a Difficult Story

  • music ensemble performing in a church setting

    American Composers Celebrated During 2026 Chamber Music Festival

See all stories in Regional Arts

Land & Water

  • a collage of photos with kids and adults in prairie settings

    Essay | A ‘National Park’ Could Be as Close as Your Own Backyard

  • Close view of a black, white and yellow dragonfly clinging to a vertical grass stem. Its four transparent wings have large dark patches against a softly blurred green background.

    Essay | Prairie Butterflies, Wildflowers and the Whimsical Names of Nature

  • A deep blue night sky filled with stars above the dark silhouettes of leafy trees along the horizon.

    Annual Dark Sky Festival Returns to Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park

See all stories in Land & Water

Community Voices

  • a collage of photos with kids and adults in prairie settings

    Essay | A ‘National Park’ Could Be as Close as Your Own Backyard

  • A buck with large velvet covered antlers peers through dense green leaves and undergrowth in a wooded area. Much of its face and body are partially hidden by vegetation.

    Photo Gallery | Wildlife Moments from Summer in Southeast Minnesota

  • Close view of a black, white and yellow dragonfly clinging to a vertical grass stem. Its four transparent wings have large dark patches against a softly blurred green background.

    Essay | Prairie Butterflies, Wildflowers and the Whimsical Names of Nature

See all in Community Voices

Inside Root River Current

Root River Current tells stories about the people, communities, land and life in Southeast Minnesota.

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Find your next adventure or promote your next event on our Local Events Calendar—FREE.

Have a story idea? Contact us!

  • collage of arts photos

    Inside Root River Current | Know Your Neighbors Arts Initiative

  • two men in front of audience

    Inside Root River Current | Folks Behind Our Stories

See all stories in Inside Root River Current

Health

  • A group of healthcare workers gather around a table in a care facility.

    Public Health Delivers Vital Services for All

  • A close-up, highly detailed image of a fuzzy black-and-yellow bumblebee collecting nectar from the center of a bright purple flower. The bee’s body is covered in fine hairs and dusted with pollen, especially around its legs and underside. The flower has long, thin purple petals radiating outward from a dense yellow center. The background is softly blurred green, making the bee and flower stand out sharply in focus.

    Saying No to Neonicotinoids

  • Woman with brown hair and blue eyes leans on her right hand. Behind her in the background is an enlarged photo of her book cover.

    Local Story of Surviving Abuse Premieres Nationally on PBS

See all stories in Health

Education

  • Two high school girls leap into the air while competing for a football during a flag football game. Players in colorful uniforms watch the contested catch from the field.

    Photo Essay | Spring High School Sports

  • Wide view inside the Chatfield Public Library showing three clear plastic STEAM activity bins displayed on a long bookshelf table. One bin contains colorful craft and sensory materials, another holds wooden blocks, and a third contains building toys and supplies. A bright yellow sign in the center promotes Yoto Players available at the library for children’s educational audio stories and music. Rows of children’s books fill the shelves below and behind the display. Large windows along the left side bring natural light into the modern library space while a patron browses books in the background.

    Unique Library Programs Show Evolution of Borrowing

  • A woman stands in the middle of a wide field filled with bright yellow sunflowers stretching to the horizon. Only her upper body is visible above the flowers. She wears a dark visor and smiles, surrounded by dense blooms under a hazy sky. The landscape is flat and expansive, emphasizing the vast sea of yellow flowers.

    Citizen Scientist MJ Hatfield Fights Insect Decline

See all stories in Education

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Root River Current is a nonprofit digital magazine serving the greater Root River Valley area of Southeast Minnesota.

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