Sheldon Theatre - Holiday Stroll photo booth follow-up

Sheldon Theatre Fundraiser: Exhausting and Fun

This year's fundraiser for the Sheldon Theatre was just like last year's—exhausting and fun at the same time. The small army of diligent photography volunteers formed a well-oiled machine, and the clients were steady all evening. We raised about $500, which is a 30% increase over last year.

The theme was a bit different this time: early morning Christmas in the 1950s. The best images were those where clients fully engaged in the fun. For example, above, Matt (my carpenter in real life) re-creates his proposal to his fiancée.

See? Fun.

Old is still the new new

Retro-Christmas Family Photo Event at The Sheldon Theatre

Last year marked the first year we held a fundraiser for The Sheldon Theatre the Friday after Thanksgiving. We opened the doors of The Sheldon to the public during the Downtown Red Wing Holiday Stroll and used their set and costume departments to re-create a family photo at a 1950's Macy's department store.

This year, we are excited to work with The Sheldon again on another retro-Christmas family photo event. We will re-create the excitement of Christmas morning, circa 1955. To put it in proper perspective, think of the set of The Honeymooners—a Brooklyn apartment with a table, chairs, and a table-top tree. Throw on an old-fashioned robe (maybe with a nightcap or hair curlers) and a few slippers. The photos will be printed using a very dated look (black and white, complete with creases).

This will be way too cool for school. And all for $5.00!

Hard Boiled Art exhibit

Hard Boiled Art: Original Pulp Magazine Cover Art Exhibit

Details have been finalized for our next original art exhibit. "Hard Boiled Art" presents original pulp magazine cover art from the 1930s to the 1960s. The exhibit will run from November 5th to December 6th, 2009, with a reception date still to be determined.

This is a unique art form. Pulp magazine covers were very sensational and were considered the most important aspect of the sales of any particular pulp series. The socially acceptable boundaries were often tested, and the topics reflected the popular culture of the time.

The covers were typically machismo in nature, with elements of evil or danger and at least one hero. The 1930s had strong detective and science-fiction followings, while the 1960s were all about the 'Red Scare' of the communists.

Regardless of the threat, the damsels in distress typically had a torn blouse. :)

Come and enjoy the exhibit. This is a rare opportunity to see the original art used to create the published covers. It's fun and an absolute snapshot of an industry that hardly exists any longer.

New Red Wing Shoe Store and Museum

Red Wing Shoe Company: A Pillar of the Community

Red Wing is a company town, and the name of that company is the Red Wing Shoe Company.

Red Wing Shoe (or 'The Shoe' to the locals) has been manufacturing shoes and boots in Red Wing for over 100 years. The company manufactures and sells purpose-built footwear. Some of their target markets include oil and gas, construction, iron workers, agriculture, hunting, and hiking. Their largest manufacturing plant is in Red Wing, Minnesota. Almost all other footwear today is manufactured and imported from low-cost countries, so a work boot made in the USA is unique.

The Shoe is paternal about the City of Red Wing. When The Shoe announced last year that they were going to purchase a blighted downtown building and create a flagship shoe store and museum, it was a major announcement, especially locally.

This past week, The Shoe moved their World's Largest Boot (20x a normal boot) from a warehouse to the new store. It was an exciting event that garnered a lot of attention. As exciting as that was, the energy level is even higher inside the store as employees scramble to meet an aggressive deadline in opening the new store.

Red Wing Shoe understands the value of visuals and is an image-oriented company. We are proud to have provided the graphics and framing for this exciting new venue. The store opens August 3rd, and the museum later this month.

The tale of the table under the tent

The Picnic Table: Social Networking 1.0

Think of the picnic table under the canopy tent in the parking lot as Social Networking 1.0. It is the most fundamental device for creating community networks.

World problems have been solved, and judgment passed on every local politician at this very table.

Just last month, under this tent, Leah Nesbitt was declared the 2009 Downtown Red Wing Macaroni and Cheese Smackdown Champion (she used all Wisconsin natural ingredients).

At night, the little Japanese lanterns are lit up, and the table becomes more of a 'night spot' where topics are dissected, examined, and reassembled, often over fermented nectar and usually in hushed voices. In the mornings, it is a destination for coffee and a newspaper.

Warren Buffet would appreciate how effective this $70 picnic table is as a marketing tool.

Mac and cheese smackdown

1st Annual Downtown Red Wing Mac and Cheese Smackdown

Tomorrow (August 12), the 1st annual Downtown Red Wing Mac and Cheese Smackdown takes place. We are delighted to host and look forward to a most delicious event. Every small business in Downtown Red Wing is invited to participate.

You might be asking yourself, "What does a mac and cheese smackdown have to do with small businesses?"

The answer is both nothing and everything.

Nothing, because it has nothing to do with business, per se. And everything, because every small business feels the economic challenge these days, and providing a small amount of escapism has real value.

There is always room and time to have fun. And nothing says fun like a mac and cheese smackdown.

New name - new web site - new challenges

Evolving with the Times: Our Business and Website Update

People who invent snappy metaphors to describe business principles might say something like, "A small business today is like a great white shark—always on the move, never resting, never sleeping." That sounds way too contrived. It’s best to simply say that a business must constantly ask itself what it does for a living, and whether it's where it wants to be in doing that thing it does.

The name change is more about acknowledging how this business has evolved. We frame, we print, and we do anything in between. It was also time to freshen up the logo—to shine our shoes, so to speak. This was harder than you might think because the fonts used are fabricated for our needs. They aren’t off-the-shelf fonts, but they do have a basis in the history of this business. It’s too difficult to explain without hand gestures.

The new website is another matter. The changes appear mostly cosmetic, but under the hood, it is an entirely different animal. It would take a rocket scientist to explain the differences, and unfortunately, one isn't immediately available.

With any new website, it’s very easy to be driven crazy trying to chase down every image resizing requirement or some dropped HTML code. This is called 'overhead' and produces no income. Overhead bad. Income good.

But, you do what you have to do, when you have to do it.