Launched as a small arts and culture “zine” in the early days of 2002 in downtown Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Volume One has evolved into an integrated media company and community action agency that has received numerous local, regional, and national awards, recognitions, and widespread praise for its community aesthetic and unique voice. A voice that not only reflects the hearts and minds of the community, but gently pulls them in new directions.
We’re an editorially led, public-driven group of staff and contributors creating content, experiences, and connections for readers and leaders across a broad demographic spectrum. In short, we use media — print, digital, video, social — to positively impact and shape the region we serve with community-sourced ideas, stories, and design. It’s a collective feedback loop geared to inspire us all to reach toward a better future — culturally, socially, and economically — for our little piece of Wisconsin.
First created in 2002, our flagship, multi-award-winning publication, Volume One, is a twice-monthly magazine packed with both heart and brains. Each issue contains impactful feature stories, the latest on community developments and happenings, special themed sections, the most robust event listings found anywhere in our market, and intentionally-designed ads from a broad range of businesses and organizations. 14,000 copies are printed and distributed at more than 400 locations throughout Eau Claire, Menomonie, Chippewa Falls, and points between.
An online destination and network of websites updated daily with fresh editorial, breaking civic news, community events, photo sets, a restaurant guide, short-form video features, and much more, all garnering millions annual page views and linked in to thousands of email subscribers. Our events calendar is the premier source for the Chippewa Valley.
You’ve likely seen those gold “Best Of” badges everywhere – on billboards, vehicles, ads, TV commercials, and more. Well, that’s us. And our readers. We’ve been running the Best of the Chippewa Valley Reader Poll since 2007, with votes cast by thousands of local people each year for a wide range of topics from restaurants and entertainment to retailers and service providers. Getting that badge is a sought-after honor by hundreds of businesses in this region, plus, they get to come and celebrate it all at our annual massive and creative cocktail party, Best Night.
Volume One events are known across the community as high-quality productions that push the Chippewa Valley forward in new and impactful ways, delivering significant value to both attendees and partners alike.Each year tens of thousands of locals and visitors attend our beloved community events like the Sounds Like Summer Concert Series, Chalkfest, Restaurant Week, Burger Week, Best Night, Winter After Hours, and Food Truck Fridays.
Our historic, 4,000-square foot retail, art, and event space is an iconic downtown shopping and cultural center offering apparel, art, gifts, books, beer, wine, foodstuffs, and other notable items either created by the people of this community or somehow inspired by them and this place we call home.
For years, Volume One owner Nick Meyer dreamed of offering the Chippewa Valley community a variety of unique trolley experiences — like those often available in larger cities and major tourist towns. With so many amazing local stories to share — including a robust trolley history of our own — and so many beautiful spots to visit throughout Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls, Meyer knew our community was worthy of such an investment.So in 2023, with The Local Store as a great home base and the area’s considerable continued growth in tourism, it finally seemed time for the idea to leave the station.
Our custom ticketing website provides a simple yet highly customizable online (and real world) platform for selling both general admission and reserved seating tickets to virtually any kind of event. It has sold tens of thousands of tickets for more than 50 local organizations, including clients like the Chippewa Valley Airshow, Pre-Eaux Claires Festival events, Leinenkugel’s, and more. Using this localized engine, sellers are automatically connected with Volume One’s entire media network for built-in promotion and exposure.
Over these twenty years we’ve become a media company with publications, websites, social media fees, videoand marketing capabilities, and more. We’re an event production company creating hundreds of community happenings for thousands of locals and tourists alike. And we’re a downtown retailer with our place-based shop, The Local Store, featuring thousands of products from local makers and beyond. So we’ve changed a lot since that first black-and-white zine came out in 2002.
