You may recognize Colin Scharf as a musician. Or a recording artist. Or an event organizer. Or as a writer, professor, or photographer. Perhaps as Clifford Chesnut, a mysterious mustachioed man who only appears around the holidays. 

Most likely, you know him as a combination of all the above. In the nearly twenty years he’s been in the Mankato community, Scharf has worn many creative hats, though his story begins in upstate New York.

“I grew up in the middle of nowhere. I had no neighbors. We lived in the woods off the state highway. We just had to be creative, otherwise you went nuts,” he said.

For him, that meant drawing and writing stories. Colin got his siblings and cousins to act in his productions, and recorded songs on his Talkboy. He joined his first band at 15, and even went on a national tour. Throughout high school and college, he and his friends made movies every chance they got.

“I’ve always been trying to tell stories in different ways. Sometimes they come out in photography, sometimes they come out in funny little movies, sometimes it’s a song or a poem,” he said.

After getting his bachelor's degree at SUNY Fredonia, Colin wanted to pursue writing. A trusted undergrad professor recommended Mankato State, and in August 2007, he made his way to southern Minnesota. He didn’t plan on staying past graduation, but that all changed in a moment. 

“[I] turned around on that bar patio one night and saw Laura Schultz,” he recalled.

Since then, they’ve been on countless adventures together. Marriage, for one. 

They also founded the band Good Night Gold Dust, which went on to perform at venues like the Turf Club, 7th Street Entry, and the Triple Rock Social Club.

The couple has hosted countless house shows and organized events, facilitated by their strong ties in the creative community. 

“I also like to try to find ways to help other artists and people share their stories, experiences, and talents,” he added.

In 2021, Colin was approached by his friend Dan Dinsmore, owner of the Wine Cafe on Riverfront Drive. Dan was eager to bring back live music, and Colin and Laura were more than happy to help out, seeing it as an opportunity to also support local musicians in the tough post-pandemic landscape.

Every Saturday night in July and August, two local bands would perform at the Wine Cafe. Colin and Laura would invite one, and that band would invite the other. The Golden Hour Concert Series had a successful five-year run, concluding in 2025 as their focus shifted to other projects.

“That spurred me on to two more events, which are the Spring Formal–which became the Summer Ball because of a booking error–and the Holiday Classic, which is our rock-and-roll holiday Christmas show,” Colin said. Both are celebrating their fifth year in 2026.

All of the events are themed, drawing crowds as large as 200 to dress up and laugh together as they enjoy the assembly of local musicians, brought together by Colin and Laura.

“It’s as satisfying to open your eyes and look out [into the crowd] and see everyone dancing, and singing along and whatever, as it is to hear people say that ‘I needed that’. I needed to sweat and dance and cut loose,” he said.

Beyond the music world, Colin has worked as an English professor at MSU for years, authored several books, and penned pieces as a freelance journalist. Another Prairie Lakes grant in 2023 supported him in developing a photography series–each photo accompanied by a poem of three lines of four stanzas, mimicking the Polaroid’s 4x3 square–which was on display at the Rural America Contemporary Art gallery.

“From creating my own art, to organizing community events, writing articles for the newspaper, live concerts… I just try to find ways to contain and represent experiences,” he said.

Though his work is expressed across various mediums, the inspiration behind it all remains the same:

“It’s all a question of what moves you,” Colin remarked. “What I’m drawn to is that pang you might get, of pain or emotion, that you’ll feel somewhere in your body. Typically it’s in your heart; maybe it’s a little lower, maybe higher. [It’s about] pursuing that feeling and trying to find ways to be cross-sectional, cross-genre.” 

Accepting that art takes many forms has allowed him to build his career as a multidisciplinary artist. Over the past couple of years, he put his varied skill set to use as creative director of Vision Studios, reestablishing the historic church, also home to the former Two Fish Studios, as a new and improved recording studio and event space. 

And do it he does. Now that his work has wrapped up at Vision Studios, he’s excited to embark on his next chapter. Whatever shape it takes, the future will certainly continue to involve the creativity and collaborative spirit Colin has built his life upon.

“It just gets back to like, what else do you want to do? I want to laugh and have fun.” 

Individual artist grants are made possible from funds provided by the McKnight Foundation. Learn more here