Welcome to Living St.

Louis.

I'm Brooke Butler and this week we're in Laumeier Sculpture Park, where the art is big, the trails are winding, and around every corner feels like you're stepping into someone's imagination.

Since 1976, Laumeier has been inviting people to explore creativity outside museum walls.

Pieces like The Way behind me prove that scale alone can allow us to rethink what's possible and that's a great way to start our show today.

From a runner who took pushing your limits to a whole new level, to a historic concert hall stepping into its next chapter, to a hands-on approach to healing with plants, and a moment in St.

Louis history when the sun practically disappeared.

It's all next on Living St.

Louis.

♪♪ - This sculpture park has almost one and a half miles of trails through its outdoor art installations.

But that distance doesn't even scratch the surface of what one local runner recently accomplished.

I spoke with Cody Poskin, who embarked on a grueling race that most people wouldn't even dream of.

Imagine having to run 250 miles in the desert, all by yourself, with no clear path to follow.

To most of us, this sounds like torture.

But for 24-year-old Cody Poskin, it's a hobby.

I like the challenge.

It's an opportunity to really push myself to the limit and figure out where that limit is.

I really like the fact that I get to explore just really awesome parts of this country and now other countries.

Poskin is an ultra-marathon runner from Cedar Hill, Missouri.

In October, he competed in the Ultra Gobi 400 kilometer, a nearly 250-mile endurance race in China's Gobi Desert.

It was a super unique race.

It's not like anything I've ever done before or ever even heard about before.

He not only won the race, but also beat the previous course record by more than four hours.

A cross country and track runner in high school, Poskin says he never expected to run such long distances.

It just kind of kept getting exponentially longer and longer after high school when I really learned that there was races longer than the 5K, the 10K, the marathon, and then up to 100 miles and beyond.

He ran his first ultra marathon in 2023, a 50K, which is about 31 miles.

And the race distances have increased dramatically since then.

If I keep growing at this rate, like, I don't know how many, like how much longer the races can get, but I am excited and scared, I guess, to figure that out.

Poskin was selected for the Ultra Gobi after running the Cocodona 250-mile race in Arizona, the first time he'd ever run that distance.

That was my first time, like, having to figure out how to sleep during a race and how to do, like, multiple days.

- Only 50 athletes are chosen for the Ultra Gobi 400 kilometer.

The race organization invited him and offered to pay for his entry fee through an Instagram DM.

- And I was like, that sounds like a pretty cool thing.

So we had a video conference to make sure it was real.

And I was actually going to a place that had a race and they weren't gonna kidnap me or anything.

- As if running 250 miles wasn't enough, the Ultra Gobi is also a self-supported and self-navigated race.

- They had aid stations and checkpoints.

They had 37 checkpoints.

Most of them were just water only.

You had to pack like a tote, basically.

You could put extra shoes in there.

You could put some food in there, some drinks, like medicine, whatever you wanted in the box.

But you got to the aid station and all you were given was your box.

So if you wanted something and it wasn't in your box, you were just out of luck.

Poskin also had to navigate the trail without signs or markers.

This course was just wide open.

They gave you a recommended route and as long as you hit checkpoints in order, as long as you hit one, then two, then three, all the way to 37, you could take whatever path you wanted in between.

There was one big mountain at the beginning, but we did it in the dark.

So we went from about 5,000 feet of elevation up to maybe a little bit over 11 in the first 50 miles of the race.

And then we went up and came back down and the rest of it was almost dead flat.

Like there was hardly any ups and downs, which sounds great when you think about it, but in reality, you kind of like to use different muscles when you're running that far and running the same flat terrain really fatigues the same parts of your legs.

But there were a couple areas that were really cool.

There was about a 20-mile section we ran directly underneath like a humongous wind turbine field.

So I could see, and it was at night too for me, so I saw all those blinking red lights just surrounding me as far as I could see and that was pretty cool.

Poskin also slept very little.

On the second night of the race, after running 125 miles, he laid down for the first time, but he only got about 15 minutes of sleep.

- And then I just woke up with just phantom pains everywhere.

My hips were sore all of a sudden.

All of a sudden my ankles were sore.

So then I just kind of tossed and turned for the next 40 minutes.

But it's more of a mental break than a real sleep, just to let your eyes rest.

After that, Poskin was only able to squeeze in a few more short naps.

Were you hallucinating at any point in the race?

Unfortunately, not really.

Everyone talks about these hallucinations, and I want to see something cool sometime, but I never have seen anything cool.

So I kept thinking rocks were mice, which is kind of lame.

And then there was a couple times where I'd look back and could have swore I saw a headlamp, like coming up on like a different runner catching me.

And according to the trackers, they were like 15, 20 miles back.

So it was never a runner.

- Was there ever a point during this race where you were like, why did I agree to this again?

- Oh yeah.

(laughing) Yeah, it's usually about halfway when all the fun is pretty much over and all you're thinking about is a chair or laying down or stopping.

Yeah, so I spent about a day just being like, "Why did I do this?"

So for you at 125 miles, that's when the fun starts to go down?

That's when it starts to go down, yeah.

And then definitely the last 50 miles is just complete, there's no fun anymore.

It's all focused on finishing so I can sit down and not get back up.

Despite all of the challenges, Poskin finished in 64 hours, 49 minutes and 32 seconds.

This picture shows him before and after the race.

And though he beat the course record, Poskin still thinks he could have done better.

I would like to go back eventually and take a shot at running under 60 hours because I think it's possible but all in all I cannot complain because we won and set a record so it was a really good time out there as well.

Though they were alarmed at first, Poskin says his family and friends support his hobby.

I think I'm slowly desensitizing my family and friends as I do more of these things.

At the beginning it's like 100 miles are you insane?

200, what are you 200 miles now?

- I think I was a little bit, but now it's more, they realize that I can do these things and that's where my heart is and I'm gonna keep doing them.

So I think they're more supportive and like they've always been supportive, but I think they're more on board now than they were before.

- But I'm sure you also have people who come to you and say you're crazy, you're gonna hurt yourself.

I mean, what's your response to that?

- Part of you is like, you're right, this is stupid.

This is an insane distance to do.

But at the end of the day, like there's that draw to do it.

It just was overpowering.

And like these people who tell me I'm crazy now are usually, it's like, you're crazy, but also like, this is awesome.

No one's really trying to talk me out of it anymore.

I think they're just surprised and maybe confused on why I'd wanna do something like this.

But for me, it makes sense and that's my passion.

- Laumeier is all about making art accessible in unexpected ways.

You show up as you are and make your own connections to the work.

This isn't too far off from what's happening at Powell Hall.

The symphony's reimagined space is all about welcoming audiences with a fresh point of view.

♪♪ After nearly two years under renovation, the St.

Louis Symphony Orchestra and its dedicated patrons are finally able to return home.

The red velvet, crystal chandeliers, and grand ceiling remain the same in Powell Hall, but everything else looks a little different.

You see the doors to the side?

That door takes you to the new lobby.

For SLSO's President and CEO, Marie-Hélène Bernard, this project was 10 years in the making.

We spoke with her before they reopened to hear about the changes, accessibility being a driving force.

Meeting this kind of desire to create access from all angles and throughout for people, whether you push a baby in a stroller, baby stroller, or that you push a parent, a grandparent in a wheelchair, it's really easy to access every level.

It was not the case before.

It was very challenging.

The 100-year-old building first opened in 1925 as a movie theater.

In 1968, it was renovated and reopened as Powell Hall.

Since then, it hadn't really been touched, making it difficult to serve their growing and modern audience.

So that's really a game changer.

Now were seats just here?

Yeah.

They were just, wow.

It was just a continuous.

So imagine before, you could go from the back to the front, but never sideways.

And on that side, you see the new Delmar entrance.

I was insisting on having a street-level entrance on Delmar that would bring people in from that side, also signaling to the north of our city, "This is your home too, and you're welcome."

And this was a very important part of our project.

Making the music accessible to those who have not always felt included in symphonic culture is the whole purpose of the project, Music for All.

And with the addition of the Jack C. Taylor Music Center, there's room for more restrooms, elevators, gathering spaces, and a new backstage for musicians, something that was non-existent before.

- It's 120 people who need to come backstage to go on set.

And sometimes we have two choruses, sometimes we work with a children's chorus, so it's a lot of people.

And then we're, you know, we're gonna present shows with our orchestra, we're gonna do rentals.

When rock shows pass through town and perform here, they will need the space to set up and so on and so forth.

- What's most essential to these renovations is the sound.

Project manager, Anna Levy, shares that there was one aspect that needed some enhancing.

- They did a lot of testing prior to the renovation and we found that the sound was hitting the back wall, but then dispersing and not coming back to the stage as quickly.

So what you were hearing in the audience was slightly different than what the musicians were hearing on stage.

And so part of their recommendation was to move the rear wall closer to the stage.

It may sound like a lot to move a whole wall, but that's how important the acoustics were.

They also added curved walls on the sides.

And those new walls are shaped in a way that are taking sound from the stage and sending it more evenly distributed to the main floor.

So we changed the surface to take that sound energy earlier and more evenly distribute it.

So if you're familiar with the main floor of what it sounded before, everyone we've talked to has noticed a significant improvement of what you can hear and it's a much more balanced hearing.

These changes are about blending the old with the new and preserving history with specialized care.

You can see all the plaster work, which is really spectacular.

Not a lot of plasters who can do this kind of work, and so we actually set up a plaster shop in the foyer, so they made everything on site to try and match the exact detail, the plaster detailing Also, the other craftsmen that were here, the masons Not every day you build a building out of brick that is canted and curved.

and so that was a complicated part of the project.

but, we feel like we got the right team and they're local to St.

Louis.

When visitors first see the 64,000 square foot expansion, it may be overwhelming.

There are now four entrances, a brand new lobby and box office, an education and learning center, and so much more.

Marie-Hélène Bernard wanted to create a world-class music destination, but with the St.

Louis region in mind.

You know I really see the symphony as like, I don't know if you sew or if you do quilt or whatever, but it's like that thread through generations and we go way back to 1880 and I like to think that we connect generations and we tell stories and music and we connect way back to the people who built this in 1925 and the people who moved us here in 1968 and now we're shaping this also for the next generation.

Combining art and nature is what Laumeier is best known for.

The sounds, the textures, the landscape, it's all just as much part of the experience as the actual sculptures.

It may be subtle, but it changes your mood.

Our next story is about just that, a therapeutic horticulture program that combines art and nature to support the well-being of those in need.

♪♪ Sometimes healing doesn't require high-tech medical equipment or groundbreaking treatment.

Sure, a plant can't fix everything, but it can brighten a room, spark a memory, or quiet a restless mind.

Those moments are exactly what the Therapeutic Horticulture Program is delivering from the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

What I will tell most people is it's similar to music therapy or art therapy.

You're using nature and plants as a therapeutic tool.

Our definition is to use nature and plants to increase well-being for someone going through a difficult time.

Jennifer Smith-Simms manages the Botanical Garden's Therapeutic Horticulture Outreach Program, which serves the senior living community, the healthcare community, and social service agencies.

The goal is really pretty simple, to create moments of calm, connection, and dignity through plants, though the impact is more deep and complex.

Well, there's a lot happening in our brain.

You know, research has proven being out in nature, being grounded in the soil, breathing fresh air, there's so much research out there that shows that it just improves people's well-being and how they feel about themselves.

There's research that we quote often in hospitals when a patient is in their room and they're looking out at nature versus a parking lot.

They heal faster, they use less pain medication.

So that's, you know, mostly what it's all about is just reminding people that we are connected to the earth and the land and it will make you feel better.

Just the aroma and the color and touching things, it all makes a difference.

Judy Goedeker is a resident of Bethesda Garden Senior Living in Kirkwood, one of the outreach locations.

But Judy has been participating in the program long before moving in.

How do you know Jennifer?

Jennifer's my niece.

Yes.

Yes.

A longtime volunteer with the program, Judy still assists when Jennifer comes to Bethesda.

For participants living in senior living facilities, particularly those with dementia, these activities aren't just crafts.

They're sensory anchors.

Touch, smell, color.

They can study a moment.

Sometimes they spark a story.

They can be an opportunity to focus, to succeed at something, to simply be cared for in a way that feels natural instead of clinical.

Around here, there's not a lot of opportunity to connect with nature, especially if you're someone who's kind of stuck in your apartment and you can't get out a lot.

You know, when we do these flower arranging programs, we each have a little shelf outside of our door and a lot of people will put it on their shelf because they're so proud of their little arrangement that they made.

♪♪ - This is called peppermint willow.

So when I put this in the center of your table, I want you to feel the softness of these leaves and then crush a little bit in your hands and smell that peppermint.

And you'll know why it's given that name.

- Oh yeah, I can smell the peppermint all right.

- Your sense of smell is tied to your memory, part of your brain.

So if I have you smell, you know, like the millet behind me, if I have you smell that and I say, you know, smell this, it smells like pancakes or maple syrup, you know, you'll smell it.

And you might be transported to a time when your mom made you pancakes on a Sunday morning.

We do a lot of harvesting from the garden, specifically the sensory garden.

We're gonna harvest plants that are, you know, very tactile, that have great smells, that are just visually stimulating, maybe big, bright, bold colors.

You know, all of our clients have different ability levels, so we wanna work with their abilities, and so maybe they can't see the plant, but they can smell and they can feel the textures.

And so the sensory garden is unique for that.

- The team tailors every visit to the people they're serving.

Mobility limitations, cognitive differences, emotional stress, the common denominator is choice.

Everyone decides which of the materials they want to use, how to use it, and when they're done.

- Whoa, you did that.

It's all blue and planty.

- We love the partnership with the Missouri Botanical Garden.

They bring some amazing volunteers in for the therapeutic horticulture program.

- RJ Crunk is the CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities of St.

Louis, where families from around the world stay while their children receive life-saving medical care.

The therapeutic horticulture team visits the house, engaging kids and their parents in hands-on plant activities, and now even introducing a new children's book that helps explain the calming power of horticulture therapy and was written by Missouri Botanical Garden's Liz Byrde, who you see reading here.

At the Ronald McDonald House, family stays can be chaotic, exhausting, and deeply uncertain.

A few minutes smelling herbs and flowers doesn't solve those problems, but gives them a pause, a breath, a choice when everything feels out of their control.

- We know that a sick child is a sick family.

And one of the reasons we exist is because the research shows that when the family's actually going on the journey with that sick child and is there with them, the outcomes are better.

And but while they're doing that, there's a lot of stress and a lot of anxiety.

So when they have these kinds of programs, it allows them to decompress a little bit and provide some of that relief from having to deal with those situations.

So these are critical to what we do.

I think they're critical in the process of healing.

And it also just helps them have a better experience while they're here in St.

Louis.

- There was a woman from Panama, very quiet, and we were doing global spices.

So there's things like anise, star anise, and cardamom, and cinnamon sticks, and allspice.

And she put them all together in a small bag, and then she held it up to her face to smell it all together.

And when she looked up at me, she just started, tears started coming out of her eyes.

And we didn't communicate, we didn't say anything about it, but I realized it like transported her home.

And she was homesick.

And that's when I went back to my office and just started researching flora of the Caribbean, flora of South America, flora of Honduras, just so that I can, you know, bring plants, maybe that is growing in their homes, and we can talk about that and make them feel better.

'Cause really what sets us apart as a hort therapist is the connection that we're having, right?

It's not just about me putting flowers in front of you and you're gonna get that joy.

I will talk to you, we will share stories, and it's our connection and our conversation that is half of what we're doing.

You know, half of the joy, half of the helping that person through whatever it is that they're going through.

♪♪ I'm Veronica Mohesky and I'm here with Jody Sowell, President of the Missouri Historical Society and today we're talking about what was literally a dark time in St.

Louis history.

That's right.

You know, we always say if St.

Louis could introduce itself, it would say, "I'm more fascinating, sometimes more infuriating, always more interesting than you could possibly know.

If St.

Louis could introduce itself, it would say, "I'm the place that once nearly choked itself to death."

The early 1900s, St.

Louis was an incredibly polluted place.

Veronica, I don't know what kind of image that conjures in your mind when I say a polluted place.

I can guarantee you it's worse than you are imagining.

Smoke would fill the skies of St.

Louis, oftentimes making the middle of the day look like the middle of the night.

The worst was November 28, 1939.

That has gone down to be known as Black Tuesday.

And if you look at pictures from this day, St.

Louis' tallest buildings, you can only see the very top.

Streetcars have their lights on, cars have their lights on in the middle of the day.

And these figures who are walking through St.

Louis, they look like they're out of a horror movie.

There's so much smoke and pollution.

But that is also when St.

Louis became serious about the problem.

Passed a smoke ordinance that would help clean the skies.

Six years later, St.

Louis had reduced coal smoke by 75%.

And this smoke ordinance had become a model for cities across the country looking to clean their skies.

- Wow, that's amazing.

Why is it important for us to remember this story today?

You know, I talk to St.

Louis audiences today and I tell them, "I know you're facing all sorts of challenges.

You're facing challenges about population loss and crime and city-county divide, and sometimes those feel insurmountable."

But then I tell people about the people of the 1930s and 40s.

Those people had literally blacked out the sun and figured out a way to fix it.

St.

Louis' past is filled with those lessons, but that's why it's so important to know our own history.

And that's Living St.

Louis.

We want to know, what's your favorite sculpture at Laumeier?

The Deer?

The Way?

The Eye?

We love hearing from you.

Let us know at ninepbs.org/lsl.

I'm Brooke Butler.

Thanks for joining us.

♪♪ Living St.

Louis is funded in part by the Betsy and Thomas Patterson Foundation and the members of Nine PBS.

♪♪