While working on a story about Eau Claire swimming holes, Volume One writer and part-time UW-Eau Claire student Ian Jacoby was urged by drunk high school students to jump off a cliff at Mt. Simon Park.

“They told us ‘it’s really deep. You’ve got nothing to worry about,’ ” he said.

For three years, arts and entertainment magazine Volume One has covered a broad range of events and people in the Eau Claire area, putting its writers in some interesting situations along the way.

On March 18, the publication has planned an event at the House of Rock to celebrate its three year anniversary. It continues to cover Eau Claire entertainment, while looking for ways to be more involved in the community, said editor and publisher Nick Meyer.

Volume One was created to cover arts and entertainment in Eau Claire, he said.

“We started (Volume One) because we saw a need for additional community arts and entertainment coverage,” Meyer said. “Some of it was falling through the cracks.”

Meyer said although he thinks the magazine has accomplished this original goal it will continue to change.

“I think we’ve accomplished what we set out to do initially,” he said. “(But) our goals and ideals keep changing and evolving. We kind of are focusing more on things that affect the general tenor of the community, if we could make the community a more interesting place to live.”

Jacoby, who has been writing for Volume One for a year and a half, said his favorite part about writing for the magazine is the chance it gives him to talk to interesting people – not just drunk high school students.

“I get to talk to a lot of people I don’t normally get to talk to,” he said. “I’ve gotten to talk to the guitar player for Twisted Sister. There was a rumor going on that (he) was from Eau Claire. He’s not, but we e-mailed back and forth and it was cool that he took the time to do that.”

Photographer and part-time UW-Eau Claire student Drew Kaiser, who has worked for Volume One for almost a year, said he covers a wide range of events, including bands, events at the children’s theater and local artists.

“(My favorite part of working for Volume One is) the wide variety of things we cover, and the ability to reach a large audience,” Kaiser said.

Meyer said most of the people at Volume One are students, if not from UW-Eau Claire then from Chippewa Valley Technical College or UW-Stout.

He said students working at the magazine are sometimes challenged because they have so much going on.

However, he also said an advantage of having so many students at Volume One is that students are sometimes more aware of their surroundings.

Meyers said the magazine covers a lot of events going on at the university.

He also said university students make up a big part of Volume One’s audience, because so many of the events they cover are of interest to students.

Sophomore Phil Kolas said he reads Volume One every time it comes out, for the calendars, biographies, movie reviews and the articles in the back of the magazine.

“I read the bios every time, they’re hilarious,” he said. “I look through the calendar for anything I need,” he said. “(The movie reviews) those are really good, I read those.”

Kolas said he especially remembers an essay where a woman discussed the attributes she wanted in a man.

“It was really well written, it made me think,” he said.

Meyer said the anniversary event will be a retrospective of the magazine’s last three years and will feature four different bands, raffles and free caricatures.

However, he said they’re most excited about bringing together creative people and people with an interest in Volume One.

“We’re really excited to get everyone interested in the magazine in one room,” Meyer said. “There’s a really big creative community here.”

He said Volume One welcomes input and submissions from students.

“We encourage anyone with an interest to get involved,” he said.