Just thought I'd explain why things are being a little slow on the site at the moment.  I'm attending 3 different conferences this week - one as an attendee, one as press, and one as a speaker -- so I'm on the run with my laptop at the moment.  Things will pick up again next week - keep those events and emails about things coming in in the meantime!

The Chippewa Guide Photo Contest has ended, and we're happy to announce the winners -

A couple of the entrants will rake in the prizes since two people won in two different categories.  Our congratulations to the winners  - here the are, and the prizes they will be receiving:

Grand Prize Winner - Claude Schilling of Altoona for his photo Liquid Violets  in the Abstract Category - Claude will win a $50 Gift Certificate from the Menomonie or Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce for this photo.

Claude Schilling also won the Landscape category with his Bloodroot photo in the Landscape Category.  For this photo he will win a 1 Gbyte SD storage card for his camera.

Lissa Marsolek of Menomonie won the People category and tied for first in the Kids category with her photos of her two children, and her son and husband.  Lissa will win two tickets to any show at the Mabel Tainter Theater for these photos, along with a pair of movie tickets and a T-shirt donated by Clear Channel Radio.

Jessica Agustin of Menomonie also tied for first place in the Kids category with her photo "Are You Listening".  She will win two tickets to any show at the Mabel Tainter Theater in Menomonie for this photo.

The Pets category was won by Normal Larrabee Gabriel of Menomonie, for her photo of two horses.  The Prize for this category is two tickets to any show at the Mabel Tainter.

The winning photos are shown below.  

Again, congratulations to all the winners, and our thanks to everyone who entered.  You may view all of the entries by clicking on the camera above.

Our thanks also go to the Mabel Tainter Theater and Clear Channel Radio for their generous donations of prizes for the contest.

We want to know what's happening in the Chippewa Valley so that we can tell everyone else.  Know of a great upcoming event?  A favorite restaurant?  An interesting story about something that is going on?  Let us know. 

We're also looking for anyone who'd like to write about the Chippewa Valley.  We'll offer a blog to anyone who can convince us that they have something interesting to say - just let us know. 

You can send press releases, or any other information to us with the contact form at the top of the guide, or just email us at sales [at] chippewaguide [dot] com.

Keep in touch!

We're on the lookout for web sites in the Chippewa Valley.  If you have a favorite site, or you publish a site, let us know.  If the site has an RSS feed and you'd like to see it aggregated in with our Local Blogs section, that's even better.

In general, if you know about anything interesting going on in the Chippewa  Valley, we want to know about it and spread the word.  So please fee free to send us anything of interest through the contact form, or just email us at sales [at] chippewaguide [dot] com

Keep in touch! 

Yeah, I know we've been promising it for a while, but the photo contest is finally in the works.

Chippewa Guide is going to be starting a photo contest on April 1. It's not an April Fools joke, it's real.

The idea is that this will be a totally on-line photo contest. You'll upload your pictures to the web site, and we will have an on-line competition. You will be able to upload your photos starting on April 1, and running through April 30. On May 1 we will open the contest to judging. On June 1 we will announce the prize winners. You'll be able to rate the pictures and leave comments on them. There will be several different categories of photos, and each category will have it's own prize. There will also be a grand prize of a $50 gift certificate from the Eau Claire or Menomonie Chamber of Commerce, good at any Chamber of Commerce merchant.

The Guide has discussion forums . They've been here for quite a while, but they haven't gotten a lot of use.

So - if you have something you want to talk about - it might be this web site, it might be the state of arts in the valley, or whatever it might be - go over to the forums and have your say.

People who have accounts registered on the site can post immediately. If you don't have an account, you can still post in the forums, but your post won't appear until our staff approves it.

So come on over and say what needs saying!

Norad, this year partnering with Google, is again letting young web addicts track Santa's whereabouts all through Christmas Eve

The Chippewa Guide is interested in promoting local businesses. We are starting the Local Shop project on the site to help with this. The idea is simple:

We will have a special section on the site for local businesses. In our definition, a local business is one that is locally owned, and has something special to offer. It's probably easier to define what is not a local shop than what is. But to start ---

• A local shop is not owned by someone far away
• A local shop is not part of a big chain
• A local shop cares about the community and its sustainability
• A local shop tries to promote local goods - items that are produced in the area.
  
• A local shop is owned by people you can identify, not a nameless hedge fund or conglomerate

So - who's to judge? Well, for the time being at least, our editors and staff. And of course you - if you know of a business that meets these criteria, let us know, and we'll be glad to feature them in the guide.

Read the new Local Shop Page.

The Chippewa Guide is your web guide to the Chippewa Valley of Wisconsin. We provide a Business Directory (and you can add your own business to it for free), an Events Calendar, special monthly features, guides for each major town, local bloggers, and more. If you're looking for restaurants and businesses in the Chippewa Valley, this is the place to go.

We are unique in the Chippewa Valley because we're a do-it-yourself guide. Businesses and people in the valley can add their own business listings, events, and other information to the guide. We're expanding the guide to cover more topics, and to include more input from the community.