North House Folk School (NHFS) had another banner year, said Greg Wright to the Grand Marais City Council on May 8.
Wright, NHFS director, was at the meeting to present the 2018 annual report and enrollment statistics.
Student enrollment in 2018 was up 27 percent over 2017, the largest growth in years. Only December, with 73 students, stayed the same as 2017, but all of the other 11 months saw higher student enrollment than the previous year.
All told, the 2018 enrollment was 7,058 versus 5,557 in 2017.
Last year more than 100 volunteers lent their time and their talents to the school, said Wright, adding that more than 400 classes were offered to the year-round institution.
While NHFS doesn’t pay property taxes due to its nonprofit status, its lease payments to the city for the main campus, are based off what it would pay in property taxes if it were located on private land.
Last year the school received 48 percent of its revenues from tuition payments; 18 percent from donations; 18 percent from grants; and 16 percent from gifts or endowments or from purchases made at the school store.
While NHFS is a magnet for attracting people to the county, it makes sure not to forget the local population.
Cook County I.S.D. 166 industrial arts and culinary arts students come to the school to learn how to timber frame or smoke meat or bake from a wood-fired oven. And since 1998, the 3rd-, 4th-, and 5th-grade students take yearly field trips to the school to make wooden boats and learn other crafts. There is also a new seven-week after school handwork craft club for kids 10-16 with this year’s theme being woodcarving.
From October to March the school offers free weekly (or nominally priced) skill shares, demos, and films for the public to enjoy. All yearround residents of Cook County receive 25 percent off tuition. Wright said there are over 80 local businesses that actively support North House because they believe in the vitality created at the school.
Wright told council that North House was “thinking aggressively about our future,” and three field trips were taken to “visit our peers to find out what makes them great.”
The city council thanked Greg for his report and lauded the school’s continued growth and the vitality it brings to the community.
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