Kiger's Notebook

Dance studio waltzing to a new home

It might take two to tango, but you also need plenty of room to dance.

A Rochester dance studio is waltzing towards a new address with a special new dance floor.

Construction is underway at 4204 U.S. 52 North for a new home for the Dahl Dance Studio.

Owners April and Gary Dahl hope to move in October to the spot next to Harbor Freight Tools. Jaguar Communications last occupied the 2,800-square-foot space.

Darci Fenske, of Paramark Real Estate, brokered the deal for the space.

For the last seven years, the Dahl's have been teaching ballroom dancing and coaching a competitive team at 1619 N. Broadway in the Riverview Center.

So why pack up their dancing shoes to move to a new studio?

"We needed a larger dance floor. For competitive ballroom dancing, you need a 60- to 70-foot run of dance floor," says April Dahl.

In their current studio, the Dahls have two separate smaller dance areas.

"The new place won't have any walls or columns in the way," she says.

What it will have is a special new floor designed specifically for competitive ballroom dancing. The floor is being shipped in from the capital of fancy footwork, Las Vegas.

When it comes to competition, the Dahls have had students ranked among the top five dancers in the U.S. due to their performances in the Dancers Cup Circuit.

Gary Dahl has also been ranked among the top five dance instructors in the country.

Of course, the Dahl Dance Studio is about more than just competitive dance. They offer a wide variety of ballroom dancing courses — five to seven group classes a week — for children and adults.

"We're having a great time with it," says April Dahl of the couple's business.

Including the Dahls, the dance studio has five on staff.

Comic convention coming to Rochester's ' Underground city'

Local comics and fantasy fans have long been envious of the attention that larger cities in warmer places get from pop culture conventions, like the recent San Diego Comic Con.

Now it looks like they will have their one piece of the action right here in the Med City.

Bill Willingham, the creator of the wildly popular comic Fables as well as being a southern Minnesota transplant, recently told the Comic Con crowd that this was his last appearance at the San Diego event.

Most importantly for local comic and fantasy fanatics like myself, Willingham announced that he is organizing his own three day convention to be called, "Fabletown and Beyond."

It will focus on "mythic fiction" like his dark retelling of fairy tales and Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series.

Here's the happy ending to this tale. This young Midwestern sibling of Comic Con will be held in downtown Rochester in March.

I got a kick out of how the comics site, bleedingcool.com, described the choice of Rochester as a venue.

"… The show will be held in Rochester, Minnesota. The facilities that have been chosen have been chosen specifically for the expansive indoor space, an underground city built for the wealthy visitors of the Mayo Clinic. This space will enable convention goers to remain indoors in the bitter Minnesota March."

Heh.

The Post-Bulletin will have more on this as it gets nearer. For more information, check out fablescon.com.

Olive Juice profiles 2nd Street Waver

This caught my attention Thursday when Rochester's Olive Juice Studios  emailed out their newsletter.

Olive Juice co-owner Scott Schoeberl and Jessica, who manages the photo studio, stopped on a whim to chat with Rochester's famous "2nd Street Waver."

Here's a little of what Kelly Schoeberl, who owns Olive Juice with her husband Scott, wrote about that visit plus, of course, some photos of the colorful Waver himself.

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Scott and I have lived in Rochester for nearly 10 years.  Rochester is best known as the home and birthplace of Mayo Clinic and, to the dismay of some, the corn cob water tower.

The Rochester Convention and Visitors Bureau publishes a magazine, Experience Rochester, to promote the many amenities that make Rochester a "Best Place to Live" (Money Magazine).  And, if you ask someone on the street, they are more than happy to tell you where the nearest park, bike trail or golf course is.  What no one knows, however, is the story behind the guy on 2nd Street.

He stands on the sidewalk, wears the most outrageous outfits and happily waves at cars as they pass by.  We drive down 2nd Street every day.  It takes us to our gallery and it's the same road patients use when they visit Mayo Clinic.  Sometimes we see the "2nd Street Waver" in the morning and sometimes we see him in the afternoon.  No matte r when, he always makes us happy.  So happy, we feel compelled to honk and wave back.

A few weeks ago, curiosity got the best of Scott and Jessica.  They had just finished a photo shoot and were driving back to the gallery when they saw him, the 2nd Street Waver.  Camera in hand, they stopped and introduced themselves (first name then last and middle, per his request).

Turns out, his name is Joey and he's 44 years old.

…

Joey has battled diabetes, high cholesterol and a depression that kept him locked in his apartment for years.  It wasn't until he "got a calling from God" that he went outside to wave. 

Joey wears a different outfit every day and gets limitless energy from the can of Pepsi he holds as he waves.  He taught Jessica to hold the can with 2 fingers outstretched to signify 2nd Street.  He also put his hats on her head and let her wave his flags.  He said she was the first person he ever let do so.

Joey hopes to start a movement.  Waving makes him feel better and he thinks people all over the country would feel better if they did it too.  It would be easy to dismiss Joey as "crazy" but we think he's pretty darn smart and can't help but wonder if the rest of us are the challenged ones.

Jeweler preparing to shine on Broadway

A new sign on Broadway shows that a new jewelry shop is getting ready to shine.

John Hasseler, a jewelry, goldsmith and artist, is preparing to open Broadway Jewelry and Visual Arts at 325 S. Broadway at the corner of South Broadway and Fourth Ave.

I wrote about Hasseler and his new project back in March.

His move into that high profile spot was made possible when Cheri Brinson moved Cheri's Boutique out of the space and across the intersection become a store-within-a-store at Art Bitz in the Riverside Building.

Broadway Jewelry joins other nearby art businesses, including Cheri's, Artbitz and Carson Framing among others.

Back in March, Hasseler predicted that "Rochester is going to have a little art district downtown."

Yarn shop ready to roll soon

Knitters, get your needles ready.

Rochester's new yarn shop — Hank & Purl's Creative Nook and Knittery — will start rolling soon.

Look for Hank & Purl's to open the doors on Nov. 22 at 1615 N. Broadway, in the River Center Plaza. That's just a few doors down from the Quilting Cupboard.

The owners Deb Zipse and Catherine Aagenes are busy tying up loose ends as the opening day comes closer.

Signs should go up in a week or two.

In addition to shelves of yarn and accessories, the new shop will have a spot for the area's roving bands of knitters to gather to share a stitch or two.

Hank & Purl's will have a sitting and knitting area set up for groups or individuals to put their products to work right away.

Commercial condo sells for $90,000

A couple weeks ago I wrote about Rochester's A-Z Embroidery & Screen Printing moving from 7 Ninth St. N.E. to a new, larger studio in a commercial condo at 4481 U.S. 14 N.W. 

I just noticed that the sale of the U.S. 14 Northwest condo went through on Oct. 10.

For the record, Plaza 14 West LLC sold the 1,300 square feet of space for $90,000.

A wooly ride - A new Roch. yarn shop is all sewn up

I know many roving bands of free-style knitters (I'm looking at you, Courtney) have been forced to raid other cities since Kristen's Knits closed in Rochester earlier this year.

So the rise of a new specialty yarn shop will probably spur celebration among the needle and yarn crowd.

Check out the print version of my column where I tie up all the loose ends and unravel all of the details. Heh.

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Rochester has a been a little less colorful for the large contingent of local knitters, since the Med City's only specialty yarn shop closed earlier this year.

Now two women are opening a new store to brighten things up again for Rochester yarn fans.

Deb Zipse and Catherine Aagenes, two avid knitters, are stitching up Hank & Purl's Creative Nook and Knittery in the River Center Plaza at 1615 N. Broadway.

That puts it just a few doors down from another destination for local fans of fiber arts, the Quilting Cupboard.

Downtown Roch. art shop growing naturally

A clever buy is giving Jim Krom a blank canvas to display more and larger artwork in downtown Rochester.

He is expanding his well-known James Krom Natural Images art shop in the Marriott Hotel subway under First Avenue Southwest.

His glass display kiosk in the subway by the Mayo Store and the Chocolate Oasis has been a landmark for local art lovers as well as for visitors to Mayo Clinic for the past 14 years.

In July, he purchased inventory of the Clever Kids toy store and across the hall from his art kiosk.

Krom has now sold off all of the toys and is creating a small gallery there to complement his kiosk. He will still use his longtime glass kiosk to display artwork.

"Now I'll have space to display larger bronzes, pottery and more paintings," he says. "This gives me room to show about 40 artists. Right now, I display work from about 30."

As an example of what is to come, Krom says he plans this fall to display a life-sized statue of an older woman created by an award-winning wood carver.

Passers-by in the subway should see displays being installed this week as he prepares the new space. Look for it to fully open later week.

In addition to space for more art, the new space will give him room to create. He plans to set up his own easel and work on his art projects as he staffs the gallery.

Krom's expansion is the latest example of the artistic activity growing downtown.

Virginia Woodruff, a master book binder, is moving her Artpacks store from the Marriott Hotel subway to a larger space on the lobby level of the Kahler Grand Hotel. Look for the specialty arts store to open in early September.

Carson Framing is moving to 211 S. Broadway in early October. Owner Mike Carson moves to eventually create an art gallery there to operate with his framing business. He hopes to have that going in 2012.

In May, Barbara Truax launched Gallery On First in the Marriott Hotel's subway.

Those are just a couple of examples of downtown Rochester's colorful artistic side that also include places like the SEMVA Art Gallery on the Peace Plaza, Art Bitz on South Broadway and, of course, the Rochester Art Center.

Framer to fill furrier's famed front

While it won't be as warm and fuzzy as the last tenant, look for a Rochester art business to move into a high-profile downtown slot this fall.

After 28 years at the corner of Broadway and Fourth Street Southwest, Carson Framing will hang up its sign at 211 S. Broadway in early October.

That's the spot that was left empty after Jim and Anne Galazen retired and closed the iconic Kersten's Furs.

"We're really excited about it," says Mike Carson, owner of Carson Framing. "We need more space. And we'll have a lot more walk-by traffic there." Carson says this new spot will give him more options for his business.

While the shop always will focus on framing, he hopes to eventually establish an art gallery in the South Broadway building. Don't look for that to happen soon since getting the framing business up and running in its new home will be the first order of business. Carson says it will probably be 2012 before he gets to that project.

Once he and his two staffers make the move, the framing shop will extend its hours.

Of course, the framing shop will bring its artistic touch to its new home. Carson has made plans with Rochester muralist Greg Wimmer to brighten up the back of the building's exterior.

Change is not a new thing for Carson. In his years of doing business downtown, he has made a few.

His business was originally Carson Art Supply Co. As the market for such products changed and shifted online, he switched it to Carson Framing.

In 2009, the framing shop pulled back from its Broadway storefront into a smaller space.

Cheri's Boutique stepped into the gap to take over the front half with its sidewalk retail display windows.

Color me vine - Wildflowers Ceramics to open in N.E. Roch.

Here's some from my column today as well as a nifty little video clip of me abusing a poor flower. Heh.

Look at today's print edition for the entire piece about this project as well as more business news.

 

Color is returning to northeast Rochester. Two sisters — Deb Bebee and Vicki Hiley — are firing up Wildflowers Ceramics at 3160 Wellner Drive N.E.

That address might be familiar to many local ceramic fans.

That's where Color Me Mine, the paint-your-own-pottery franchise, worked with amateur artists for nine years until it closed in May.

While the sisters will not have the Color Me Mine name over the door, their studio will be cast in its likeness with do-it-yourself ceramic painting for individuals and groups like wedding parties or birthdays.

"It will basically be the same business at first," Hiley says. But they would like to add some flourishes onto the Color Me Mine base as they create Wildflower Ceramics.