Bill White, Eagan, Minnesota, was one of about a dozen people to set up a tent and camp at the Grand Marais Rec Park over the three days of Winterer’s Gathering festival held last weekend at North House Folk School. White is an avid camper, and he said he prefers winter camping to summer camping because “there are no bugs!” Between 30- 40 people took a walking tour and listened to White and other winter campers explain what is needed to stay warm, dry and safe during a winter outing.
There was plenty of winter this year for North House Folk School’s 12-plus Winterer’s Gathering festival held November 18-20.
Hardy winter campers in the Grand Marais Rec Park had their tents tested by big winds on Friday night when winter arrived in all of its furious glory. Trees were downed around the North House campus during the hard blow, but by Saturday mid-morning the big winds were gone, and snow painted the school grounds white. As for the 160 students on campus, they came to participate in the 16 classes offered and to celebrate the cool crafts, customs, and landscapes and learn some history and hear some stories of winter travel.
An added attraction this year was the addition of an arctic film festival.
In between films and seminars the annual Gear and Ski Swap took place in the red building while in the blue building, more than 40 people earnestly built Ojibwe snowshoes out of ash.
At 2 p.m. guests took a walking tour, visiting some of the winter campers in the rec park to see how they stayed warm, and how they kept their tents upright in big winds. Dick Swanson put on a cross country ski waxing clinic at 3 p.m. and at 4 p.m. Becky Fitzpatrick taught people how to make ice cream by hand. Nearby, a group of mostly men was making chili outside in a giant steaming, bubbling pot. More than 180 people enjoyed the chili.
While classes were conducted inside the blue and red buildings at North House Folk School during Winterer’s Gathering, outside four hardy souls made enough chili in this huge pot to feed more than 160 people for supper on Saturday night. Dave and Amy Freeman gave a talk following the chili feed that attracted more than 200 folks interested in learning about Freeman’s one-year camping stay in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA).
For those who were lucky enough to stick around, a crowd estimated to be more than 200, Dave and Amy Freeman talked about their year in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCAW) and at 9 p.m. the film Gold Rush was shown.
North House Folk School Executive Director Greg Wright felt the onslaught of winter helped to fuel the theme.
“This (Winterer’s Gathering) has become a capstone event for us,” said Wright. “The Cold Snap poetry reading on Friday night was a real hoot for us, and Dave and Amy did an incredible job in talking about their year in the BWCA. One lady asked Amy what it was like to be back in the real world and Amy replied that she felt like when she left the BWCA she had left the real world. I thought that was a neat answer.”
Hard at it, a group of earnest wood carvers fashioned wooden spoons and other utensils using traditional woodcarving methods and tools. This was one of 16 classes taught at Winterer’s Gathering.
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