Last year North House Folk School purchased the former U.S. Forest Service building across the road from its main campus because it needed more space for offices. The school continues to grow every year.
With the 20th anniversary of North House Folk School coming soon, plans are being made to commemorate the special occasion.
North House Folk School Executive Director Greg Wright came before the Grand Marais City Council with a report on the previous year’s activities at the folk school, and plans for next year.
“At the end of the year we were (class registration) about 10 percent up,” said Wright. “So we have had a great year,” he said, adding 2015 class registration was up 12 percent over 2014.
Wright told the council that he would like to come up with some projects for North House to do that could help the city. For the school’s tenth anniversary, said Wright, “We built some timber frame benches for the community. That was fun. People still use them and they look beautiful.”
For the 20th anniversary, Wright asked, “Where does that next poetic project land? We do not have to have a timber frame. We’re not set on timber framing.
I am proposing convening a group and coming up with a project,” Wright said, adding, “We need to figure out what might be needed and who should be partners.”
Next Wright brought up the city’s lease with North House, which largely sits on city owned land with the buildings owned by the city. The current lease is 25 years. It was written 10 years ago. Wright said signing that first agreement was important for the growth of North House because, as he said, “Pondering expanding our campus and spending a million dollars,” that couldn’t have happened without signing a lease.
“We’re 10 years in, we’re down to 15. We’re not done shaping our future. I don’t know how else to say it. There is work ahead. Pretty glorious work,” Wright said.
Although there are 15 years left on the current lease, North House accomplished almost all the goals it had set out for the quarter century agreement. With that Wright said it might be time to revisit the lease and possibly update it to benefit both the city and the school.
Mayor Jay Arowsmith DeCoux, City Administrator Mike Roth, Wright and another member from the North House board of directors will form a committee to explore the lease to see if it needs to be tweaked for the future.
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