(calm intro music) - Stay tuned for On Q.

For KSMQ, I'm Eric Olson.

We talk with Mower County Assessor, Joy Kanne, about her job and the rise in property values in Mower County.

We learn about the Big 9 Music Festival coming up here in Austin.

And the Bluff County Art Tour in Southeastern Minnesota.

Also we're going to visit with Kris Viesselman from Lanesboro Arts.

It's coming up next, On Q.

♪ Local ideas that matter to you ♪ ♪ Sharing our region's unique point of view ♪ ♪ Telling the stories that you never knew ♪ ♪ On Q ♪ ♪ On Q ♪ ♪ On Q ♪ County assessors are responsible for estimating property values and setting classification for tax purposes.

We're gonna learn a little bit about that now.

Here with us now, Joy Kanne, Mower County Assessor.

We'll talk to joy about how that's done and some changes coming up in Mower County.

Welcome!

- Thank you, Eric.

It's nice to be here.

- [Eric] Yeah.

Thank you too!

I, it's very complicated for me, I'm not an assessment person.

I mean I live in a house, but that's about it.

I know where your office is, in, in the courthouse.

What is your job in a real basic sense?

- In a real basic sense, we value and classify property, and we use that to get to your taxable value, what you pay taxes for the next year.

So you have gotten, the public has gotten in the mail evaluation notice, it's on bright yellow paper.

- [Eric] I saw this.

I saw it and I didn't know.

The yellow, - They're hard to miss.

- [Eric] Yeah, the yellow really caught my eye.

- So Eric, as you open that statement up, we want you to look at the market value and we want you to ask yourself, can I sell my house for that today in this market?

Now, some people might open it with the increases we've had and think, absolutely not.

But that's where we as assessors come in.

Give us a call!

We can explain what's selling?

What's the market doing in Austin?

Or in Greater Mower County?

We take all of those statistics and we should be able to give you a good idea of what your house would sell for.

And we might come and ask for an inspection of your property to make sure our data is correct.

Or you might look at the comparable sales and say, you know what, I might not like the value, but I could sell my house for that.

So that's our job!

- [Eric] And some people, there's a market for this too, you can hire somebody.

- [Joy] Mhmm.

Mhmm.

- I've done that in the past, moving.

- [Joy] Right - And that's a different service.

- [Joy] That's a different type of an appraisal.

You're talking about a fee appraisal, where you would hire that individual to come in, they would look at your house, and they would take three comparable properties and tell you what your house is worth today.

In mass appraisal, we're actually working off of sales that are historical.

So we're looking at sales that occurred from October of 2020 to September of 2021.

We're watching how that market, what that market has done.

And we're applying those increases, that market influence to the value.

So for mass appraisal, we're just trying to make an equitable appraisal in a mass sense.

Whereas a fee appraisal will take your property and compare it to three.

- [Eric] And you're not looking to make sure that fire code in a house or that it's all legal as far as the wiring and that kinda thing.

- [Joy] That's a great question.

No, when we come in to do a property inspection, we're looking at, we're looking at the quality of construction.

We might be looking at the number of bathrooms.

We wanna know what data would contribute to a market value.

Buyers, they have taste, right?

A buyer today might want two bathrooms at a minimum, and they might want a fireplace.

Well, a buyer is willing to pay more for that.

So that fireplace, that bathroom might have more value.

We wanna make sure our data's correct.

We don't want to be incorrect in our data because that's how we base our assessments.

- And in the county, the housing, that's a big part of your business if you will, to use that.

- [Joy] Absolutely.

- [Eric] How does that fit in, in the county government scheme from budgetary?

- [Joy] Absolutely.

That's another great question.

So in the assessor's office we're putting market value on property, which actually serves as the tax base for the whole County.

So once we value it and classify it, it will turn into a taxable market value, which they use against the budget.

So we're trying to distribute the tax base, the taxes fairly.

We wanna make sure we're giving you an equal value so you don't pay more tax than you're supposed to or any less.

- [Eric] Good thing.

- [Joy] Mhmm.

- So why do you keep reading about the market going up, up, up in town?

I know in Austin, I'm assuming a lot of other cities, you can't find many homes for sale!

- There, the, after COVID, one would've thought that the market would've slowed down, it went absolutely, absolutely the opposite direction.

So what we saw were mortgage rates were low, right?

Interest rates were low.

Inventory became of very big issue.

Not a lot of houses for sale.

So people would pay more because that house was for sale and there aren't any other choices.

So they'll, the market factors alone, low inventory, we saw people wanting to move outside of the city.

The rural residential market has really grown!

People wanted space.

I think COVID made people have to stay in, and they maybe wanted more acres if they had to be stuck inside.

So we've seen a lot of growth!

- [Eric] Joy in minute here I'm gonna nail some, nail you with some lightning round quiz questions, no I'm not really.

What's worth more for me to do?

Redo my driveway or fix up my basement?

- [Joy] Basement.

- [Eric] For resale?

- Mhmm.

- [Eric] More?

- Right.

But I would say kitchens and bathrooms are probably the, would probably give you the most.

- Kitchen, bathrooms, remodel.

Not that I'm gonna sell the house.

- [Joy] An update.

Well, what's your address?

We'll make sure we stop by next.

- [Eric] (laughs) Yeah right!

Okay, so kitchen, bathroom, then basement?

Before driveway.

- [Joy] Yeah, these are all, - Driveway.

- [Joy] These are, driveways are important don't get me wrong.

- [Eric] But what about curb appeal?

Is that curb a term?

Or whatever that means?

- Curb appeal is huge too.

But you know, we're an HGTV world, where people will look at a property and they will, they'll have a vision for how to make it even better.

- [Eric] Oh!

- So buyers have a really, you know, their visions now with HGTV are.

- So, and they're, they can Google it up and look at the front nah.

- Mhmm.

Absolutely!

- Good!

You passed.

- I did?

- You know your stuff.

- That's good!

I feel good about that.

- Joy Kanne, thank you very much for joining us!

- [Joy] Thank you.

(cheery guitar music plays) - The first Big 9 Music Festival was held in the spring of 1933, in Austin.

Since that time, the State Conference Festival, the Big 9 conference, has been held annually except for three years.

And it is the oldest High School Conference Music Festival in the country.

With us today is Christoph Dundas, director of the Austin High School band, to tell us about the upcoming festival here in Austin.

Welcome, sir!

- Thank you.

- [Eric] The last time I saw you, you didn't see me, but you were wearing a red suit from head, (laughs) (Christoph laughs) - Head to toe!

- Sure, at pep band I'm sure.

Yeah.

- [Eric] At a girls basketball game.

- Mhmm.

- The life of a band instructor in high school is days, nights, weekends, all over the place.

- [Christoff] You name it.

Yep.

- And now comes the Big 9 Music Festival.

So this is the bands from the conference schools all over the area, come to Austin.

- [Christoph] Yes.

- And is it a jury thing?

Like they're, it's a contest, or?

- [Christoph] Sure!

So it's, we have clinicians, but it's a non-competitive event.

It's more of a, a day for all of the bands, choirs, and orchestras to share music with each other and for students to hear from each other.

Every performing ensemble receives comments and feedback, but completely in a non-competitive environment.

Really just a celebration of music.

- So you bring some, some knowledgeable music folks to Austin, so you know anybody who's coming this?

- [Christoph] Sure.

- I mean beside yourself and all of your colleagues?

(Christoff laughs) - Well, the band clinician this year is Dr. Peter Haberman from Concordia in Moorhead.

And orchestra is bringing in a composer and teacher named Joshua Reznicow.

And Mr. Reznicow has actually composed a original new piece for this festival.

The first time in 88 years of the Big 9 Music Festival that we've commissioned a brand new piece of music to celebrate the students in the Big 9.

- [Eric] And will they, will the whole group play it?

Or how does that work?

- [Christoph] Sure.

So the, the program begins with daytime, daytime performances by all the ensembles between 8:15 until 3:15 during the day.

Each group has a half hour slot.

And then some of the students, many of the students will go home after that, but there's a select group of students from each school that will form a band, a choir, and an orchestra of the top students from each school.

And those students will stay, and rehearse, and perform an evening concert of additional music.

- [Eric] So during the day, is there opportunity for people who aren't involved directly in the band programs to come and listen to that stuff?

Or is it more in the evening time?

- [Christoph] A little of both.

The day program is open to the public.

There's not generally a large quantity of people that come in to see the day performances.

But we do see fairly large crowds for the evening concert.

People that want to hear the top musicians of the best of the Big 9 schools.

350 to 400 of the best music students from 12 high schools makes for an incredible event.

- [Eric] And the evening is big too.

- [Christoph] Yes.

Yeah.

- [Eric] I want to get off just a little bit, I don't know what the band situation is, but I've been a chorale singer for a lot of my life, and that, so I talked to the chorale directors and yes, COVID 19 hit their numbers.

It just, even now.

And the explanation is kind of, they found other things to do, the young people.

Or the excitement about being in band, in choir, isn't really translated from class to class, what, what is the band situation along those lines?

- We've been fairly fortunate here in the band in Austin.

As far as the, the students that we had, that it experienced what it is like to be a high school band student, knew what, what was coming back, when things started to loosen up and open up again.

So we've seen some dips in numbers, but not nearly what, what we worried could be the case.

And we've heard of schools that have lost 40% of their band programs.

And here it's just a slight dip that seems to be bouncing right back.

- It's one of the finest programs in the area really, the band and the orchestra.

Orchestra really unheard of to have that kind of thing at a public institution frankly.

- [Christoph] Right?

Yeah.

There are fear, very few schools smaller than Big 9 schools that have orchestra programs and even not all of the Big 9 schools have an orchestra program yet.

Here in Austin, we are maintaining three high school orchestras, which incredible in today's day and age.

- And your bands, they sound great, and they all, since the advent of McPhail, the McPhail, how does that, does that change your world at Austin High School?

- Not as much in the high school, but it impacts the students coming into the high school a lot more.

They're able to fill a lot of gaps with beginners when there is one beginning teacher working with 120 fifth graders, for example.

They're able to send a flute specialist over to go work with the flutes for a couple days and, and really help kids get the individualized instruction.

Not that we're lacking so much in the school, but really the enrichment to help, help the kids come along.

- [Eric] Okay.

So, and maybe when you get them, there are more, they've been along a little more, have a little more skill maybe?

- [Christoph] I think so.

Our, I see that in our students coming into the high school, that there are far fewer students that are able to slip through the cracks when there's somebody checking up on them more often.

Having that support from McPhail, and both on the, on the, on that side of it with students that may have slipped through, but also some of our top students are able to take private lessons with an instructor in town.

And, and kids that really want to put in far more above and beyond what we would do in a typical day in school.

There's an opportunity for those students to really shine as well.

- [Eric] Great!

Christoph Dundas, thank you.

Check out the Big 9 Music Fest.

In Austin.

How about that?

And stay with us.

We'll be right back.

Thank you Christoph.

- [Christoph] Thank you.

(cheery guitar music plays) - The Bluff County Studio Art Tour is an annual weekend event where artists from Southeastern Minnesota open their studios and their homes to the public.

Artist Joan Finnegan is here to tell us all about it.

Welcome.

- Thank you.

Nice to be here.

- [Eric] Yeah!

Tell me about your background.

You brought some articles to show us.

But you have a, a relationship to our region, Austin, as well as Lanesboro talk a little bit about it.

- I lived in Austin for 18 years.

I had a business on Main Street in, in the Serendipity Gallery, downtown Austin.

And 22 years ago, my husband and I moved to, to retire in Lanesboro where I finally got to develop my own dream of being a full-time artist.

- [Eric] And it seems like it's become fully realized.

- [Joan] Oh, it has.

Yeah.

I have a beautiful studio in my home.

The lower level of my home is a walkout studio.

- [Eric] And you brought one of your paintings actually here to the studio.

It's an oil work.

- [Joan] I did.

- Is that primarily what you work in?

- Primarily.

I work in all kinds of mediums, but mostly in oil paints.

Mostly because you don't have to put glass over them and they're easier to haul around.

- [Eric] Oh, I never thought about that.

- Yeah.

- And this piece you brought along is very nice.

Talk about it a little bit.

- Thank you.

That's one of my Fabric of the Landscape paintings that I do.

I do the real classic traditional style paintings as well.

And then I have a series that I call Fabric of the Landscape, and they're just a playful side of the world.

And you notice, I, I always look at the, the rolling hills and valleys of the Bluff Country area as a quilt, because the, you know, when you look at the colors in the land, it looks like a fabric has been draped over the land and it forms these amazing quilt patterns.

So I have a whole series of paintings that I've done with, that I call the Fabric of the Landscape series.

- [Eric] And since your formative years were in Austin, we'll take credit for you.

- (laughs) Thank you.

- [Eric] For your skills.

How about that?

- All right.

- The art tour.

- [Joan] Yes.

- How did that come about?

Talk a little bit about it.

- [Joan] The Bluff Country Studio Art Tour started 22 years ago, this is his 21st.

This will be our, its 21st tour.

And it started by a group of artists, just a volunteer gang of artists that said, hey, we need to open up our studios and let visitors come into our studios.

And it's grown and evolved, it involves, it incorporates Winona, Lanesboro, let's see, Peterson, the whole area.

Houston, that whole area there.

It needs to stay in Minnesota for, because we are funded in part by the Southeast Minnesota Arts Council.

Thank you!

- So folks go from one place to another.

- [Joan] Yes.

- From one home to another!

- [Joan] One home to another.

There are a few galleries that are involved as well, too.

That, but you get to walk into our studios, you get to see where the magic happens, where our ideas come from, and you get to, as an artist, we get to meet with the, the people that are interested in art.

And that's, that's really a joy as an artist because every piece we produce, whether it, like this is one of the art forms that you'll see on this show.

- Is this your work also?

- No.

This is not.

This is Helen's Daughter's Studio.

And, - Oh that's lovely!

- They're beautiful!

This woman does amazing work.

All the artists involved in this really do a nice job.

I'm wearing jewelry by one of the artists in the show.

And here's another, a different artist.

There, you, you'll find a wide variety of things.

There are, there are fabric artists.

There are several painters.

There are potters.

Incredible work.

So people get to walk into our studios and see where that magic happens, and how our art is created.

They can ask us questions about it.

And that's really very rewarding as an artist to be able to do that.

- [Eric] And I'm sure you have a website.

How do people find out about it?

And how do they get to it?

- [Joan] Bluff Country Art Studio Tour has a website, just Bluff Country Studio Art Tour.

And we also, last year, have an app.

You can go online to your app store and look for the app for Bluff Country Studio Art Tour, download the app for free, and that'll give you directions.

Or on our website, we have have, we have a downloadable map.

A printable map.

So you can go from place to place.

- This is very organized.

So I'm, was this your, did you do all this?

- [Joan] No.

- [Eric] It's so organized.

With an app!

- I did not!

I know.

I did not.

Actually, our, I'm on the board, but the organization skilled person is Sue Pariseau and she's amazing.

She's the one that really took this from a bumbling group of artists, to all right, we need to do this, we need to do that, and she's amazing.

She's also an amazing potter, and my neighbor.

And so when you go to my place in the country, then you just a few miles away from Sue's place.

And her, now this is the magic of the Studio Art Tour.

One of the magics is when you drive, when you are driving around Southeast Minnesota there are beautiful bluffs and hills and valleys, and you go into the small communities and they're lovely.

But then some of us artists live outside of town.

I live five miles south of Lanesboro.

And you get to scenes and views that you would never see ordinarily because you're going onto private property.

And it's, it's a treat.

It's a treat for us to share it with, with visitors.

And it's a treat for visitors.

People always walk in my door and go, (gasp) this is amazing!

It's so beautiful over here!

And then you go over to Sue's place from mine, and she and her husband been own a vineyard.

So you not only have this amazing vineyard that you're driving into, but you see this amazing pottery.

And the story just continues on with every artist that you meet.

- [Eric] Joan Finnegan, we certainly appreciate all the extra effort it takes artists like yourselves to open it up to the public.

Thank you very much.

- You're welcome.

- [Eric] For informing us for just a few moments.

And check out that website folks, and, and take the tour!

Get out, and, now that we can, get out in the country and enjoy it!

- Yes.

(cheerful guitar music plays) - Lanesboro Arts is a nonprofit, multidisciplinary arts organization activating the people and places of Lanesboro.

If you've been a resident here for any time, any length of time, there's no doubt you've been there.

So I'm not telling you anything you don't already know!

Joining us from Lanesboro Arts, Gallery Director, Kris Viesselman.

Welcome!

- Thank you!

Thanks for having me.

- [Eric] You have a beautiful community and a thriving, it would seem, arts community of which you are a part.

- Yeah, we certainly do.

It's a place that supports two professional theaters, an art gallery, lots of programs, festivals, and, you know, without tourists, there's only 700 and some people there.

But yet we host 25,000 plus, you know, over the course of the year.

So it's, it's a really engaged little town that has a real strong sense of identity.

- [Eric] You grew up in the region, away for a while doing professional, came back.

- [Kris] Yeah.

- Is Lanesboro, do you think it's the water?

The, the beauty that propels the arts community, that brings people here?

Is it that scenic beauty that drives it all?

- I definitely think that's a big part of it.

Also the bike trail, which I guess is related to that.

Cross country skiing, which is related to that.

There's excellent trout fishing.

And then there's a lot of really great little festivals, both Lanesboro and the nearby towns as well.

So during the summer, there's something going on every weekend.

- [Eric] And that's how the artists, the, the unique part of it, I think, is that the artists found out about Lanesboro and connect with your organization and keep coming back because they get enough people to frankly, make sales.

- [Kris] Yeah.

- And, and that whole little, wheel keeps going around despite the small size of the community.

- [Kris] Yeah, it's true.

It's really cool.

The Lanesboro Arts Organization actually started around 1980 and then merged with another gallery and became a bigger organization, and took on a, a professional theater as part of that.

And so at that time it became a multidisciplinary operation and we are able to represent 80 some artists at our gallery.

A lot of 'em are local.

Most of 'em are from Minnesota, and a few are from Wisconsin and Iowa.

- And how do you, Kris, engage with these art folks in your gallery?

How does that work?

- [Kris] Sure.

Well, once a year, we look at accepting new people to come in, both in our sales gallery and for exhibitions.

We plan a couple years ahead, so we're on the lookout for folks who want to be represented in the gallery full time, and we help sell their work, and help so support their, their artistic journeys.

And then we have four solo art shows during the year where we have a pretty competitive process for determining the right mix of folks who will bring different things to the table.

- [Eric] Oh, so they're not all the same kind of painting.

You mean a variety of media?

- [Kris] Yeah!

Exactly.

And a variety of perspectives.

We want everything to feel local and feel like Minnesota, but we still, you know, have some things that are more representational, and some things that are a little less representational.

So we wanna kind of offer a full slate.

- [Eric] Few Steps Ahead.

Talk about that a little bit.

- Sure.

It's installed right now, and it runs through May 29th.

We have a printmaker, Amy Rice, who opened the show for us on Saturday.

She's from the cities, but she has a flower farm about an hour north of the cities.

And a lot of her work really reflects on how she spent her time over lockdown out on her farm with, you know, critters and plants as company.

And so there are a lot of really beautiful natural scenes.

She does sort of a combination of printmaking, combined with some painting and some paper cutouts.

And it's a, it's a really beautiful exhibit.

We had, I think, 90 some people in on Saturday to celebrate the opening with her.

- [Eric] Akiko Ostlund.

- [Kris] Akiko Ostlund!

She's an artist in residence, who'll be joining us soon.

Akiko is work shopping a puppet show she's doing about racism.

And during that time, there'll be a few hands-on workshops, there'll also be chances for small groups to give Akiko feedback on what she's doing.

There's a whole schedule of events on our website, lanesboroarts.org.

And opportunities for both adults and kids to engage with Akiko and hear her perspective, share some ideas, et cetera.

- [Eric] That's wonderful.

Challenging for folks a little bit too.

Talk about tough issues.

- [Kris] Absolutely.

And in packaging them in a different way, I think that'll be fresh.

- [Eric] Lanesboroarts.org?

- [Kris] Yes.

- Kris Viesselman, thank you.

- [Kris] You're welcome.

- That's it for today.

Thank you for joining us On Q.

For KSMQ Public Television, I'm Eric Olson.

See you next time.

(cheerful guitar music plays)