What This Is
The Anoka Current is a storytelling project centered on community life in Anoka. It highlights the people, places, and shared experiences that bring individuals together — from neighborhood walks and gardens to local events and civic participation.
Stories are shared primarily through a monthly newsletter, with plans for small print editions that can be read, shared, and kept.
Why It exists
After moving to Anoka, it became clear how much this place values participation — in local events, public spaces, gardens, and everyday civic life. There’s a strong sense of pride here, but not always a shared space to reflect on it together.
This publication exists as a way to strengthen those connections — between neighbors, between people and place, and between newcomers and long-time residents. It’s about paying attention, building familiarity, and creating something that helps a community see itself more clearly.
Justin Goetz is the founder and editor of The Anoka Current, a local storytelling project exploring life in Anoka through people, place, and everyday observation.
Justin moved to Anoka recently with his partner and now lives just five doors down from his sister-in-law — a small detail that quickly made the city feel less new and more connected. As a newcomer, he’s been drawn to Anoka’s strong sense of community, its layered history, and the way traditions quietly carry forward from block to block and season to season.
With a background in marketing and communications, Justin created The Anoka Current as a way to learn a place by listening — documenting the rituals, stories, and moments that make a town feel lived-in rather than simply lived-in-by. The publication is rooted in curiosity and care, with the belief that paying attention is one of the fastest ways to belong.
The Anoka Current is published monthly as a newsletter, with occasional print editions planned throughout the year.
MEET THE EDITOR
Get in Touch
The Anoka Current is built with and for the community.
If you have a story idea, a photo, a memory, or simply something you’ve noticed lately, we’d love to hear from you.