Reporting & Anchoring

Eagle River is a small town in Northern Wisconsin that relies heavily on tourism in the summer months. The town saw a big increase in new businesses opening starting in 2020, including The Craftsman American Tavern, a restaurant owned by two brothers.

The opening of more small businesses filled the vacant buildings in the downtown area, making it more appealing to visitors.

For this story, I interviewed the Eagle River Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, a director of the Eagle River Revitalization Program and the Bar Manager at The Craftsman.

The 25+ new small businesses that opened around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic helped the community flourish with tourists and entrepreneurs.

Patchouli Garden is a booming woman-owned speciality store that sells patchouli-based products like soap, essential oils, body spray, candles and more.

Each product is made completely in-store by a team of five local women, including owner Tara Tervort, who says the business blossomed when they made their products available online at retailers like Amazon.

The business is also taking advantage of social media through TikTok, where it has over 177,000 followers and 11 million likes on its videos.

I spoke with one of the business' candle makers and the owner to hear why they're passionate about running the business.

Patchouli Garden thrives on its unique scents and product lines.

Mosquito Spraying Controversy

This specific story required some prior research to learn about the risks of mosquito spraying from a scientific and environmental perspective, and the recent popularity of mosquito spraying in Wisconsin.

For this story, I set up interviews with a mosquito spraying business owner and a UW-Madison Extension entomologist. I conducted and filmed the interviews and shot b-roll for the story, which included clips of mosquitoes, pollinators and equipment the business owner uses to spray areas.

I edited the video and interviews to create a two-minute broadcast story for the evening newscast, where I also presented the story live. I completed all of this in one workday. Although this story was more challenging than some stories because it involved a lot of controversy, it was rewarding to inform the public about both sides of the argument.