When Father Damien Schill retired in 2023, it was the perfect time to slow down and pursue his many other passions: renovating homes, cooking, and caring for and curating a collection of family heirlooms and sacred cultural and religious artifacts. Relocating closer to family, the published cookbook author found an entertainer's kitchen and the ideal renovation project — a beautiful Fargo condo with generous wall space to house the hallowed collection he'd been building since childhood.

With the demolition of an aging strip mall, Great States Development embarked on the rebuild of an entire city block along Fargo's South University Drive. Through a collaborative infill effort led by T.L. Stroh Architects, with interior design by Trever Hill Design, BLOC fuses old neighborhood tradition with new lifestyle amenities. Here, residents can enjoy tree-top views outside, a rooftop patio above, and the new home of Duane's House of Pizza and Pop's Soda Shack below — serving up a fresh slice of city life, with a side of nostalgia.

In this neighborhood, the story quite literally begins and ends with a trip down Memory Lane. Touring Rivers Edge in Horace, ND, we doubled down with Dabbert Custom Homes’ newest model homes. From front door to next door, Dabbert’s interior designer, Sarah Philipp, architectural designer William Ortmeier, and project manager Cole Kringstad led the way — showing us two new homes built to kick off a beautiful new year.

From her studio in Grand Forks, ND, artist and art educator Karena Ness works between intention and discovery, where layers of wax, paper, and pigment turn space into story. Inspired by the vast skies and quiet boundaries of the rural Midwest, Karena creates encaustic and mixed-media environments that feel both familiar and newly unearthed. Her work doesn’t just depict the natural world; it behaves like it — drifting through fields and flight. From her new studio and within her exhibitions at NDSU’s Barry Hall and West Acres, Karena invites us to look to the horizon as she plots the complex layers of land and life.

It’s not easy planting roots seven stories high at the heart of the city, but good architects always find a way. Recently, JLG Architects relocated and reunited their two downtown Fargo offices in the 19-story RDO Tower, designing a shared, free- address workplace around 360 degrees of high-contrast horizon. Here, we met with Principal Architect and Workplace Design Specialist Tracy Jordre, who led the employee-owned team in a movement to reimagine the everyday office. It wasn't just about reflecting the farms and fields JLG originally grew from back in 1989 in Grand Forks; it was about creating common ground in the sky — a welcoming, neuroinclusive space where everyone would feel right at home at work.

On Melody Drive, Lindsey Christie invited us inside an extraordinary abode balancing active family flow and architectural ingenuity, thanks to the dream team of Epic Built, Mevold Studio, and Lindsey Grace Interiors. While refined from the street, it's brimming with grace inside, with 11,600 square feet of well-played detail spanning three thoughtfully layered levels — complete with a two-story sport court hiding in plain sight below.

Once upon a tasty time in Fargo, ND, there was a deli unlike any other — where fresh-baked New York-style bagels cozied up to handcrafted matzo ball soup, rugelach, pönnukökur, vegan Reubens, and pickled everything. Just over a year after closing the doors, Chef Andrea invites us back to the table, sharing nearly all the recipes that made BernBaum’s Fargo-famous. Grab your ima's apron and butter up your challah pan — BernBaum's: Recipes from Fargo’s Nordic-Jewish Deli is a 289-page love letter feeding both heart and soul.