North House Folk School’s Unplugged weekend continues to grow in its celebration of music, craft, and community
Sep 20, 2023 08:12AM ● By Content Editor
From North House Folk School - September 20, 2023
North House Folk School’s Unplugged weekend continues to grow in its celebration of music, craft, and community. Over three days, thousands came to campus to enjoy music under the big top tent and the crafts of artisans. “Unplugged continues to be an exclamation point on the North House calendar,” said Executive Director, Greg Wright.
This year’s musical performances were punctuated with the beats of hand drums and the singing of Joe Rainey Sr. and Dylan Bizhiikins Jennings as they debuted new music from an album they have been working on with Sean Carey (of Bon Iver) for the past few years. The second half of the show brought back Pieta Brown to the Unplugged stage as well as a surprise appearance by Jack Torrey of the Cactus Blossoms.
Sean Carey and Pieta Brown headlined this year's concert, which included two nights of music under the big top tent - North House Folk School
“It was a real treat for music lovers,” said Tom Morse, Development Director at the folk school. “Every performer debuted new songs that you can’t hear anywhere else.” North House shares their tremendous thanks to Mike Lewis and Barbara Jean Meyers for their hard work on bringing together such a talented group of musicians to play in Grand Marais.
The second annual Family Concert included early-morning crafts and ice cream followed by a smashing performance by Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players - North House Folk School
The second annual Family Concert included early-morning crafts and ice cream followed by a smashing performance by Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players - North house Folk School
The second annual Family Concert included early-morning crafts and ice cream followed by a smashing performance by Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players - North house Folk School
Saturday morning featured music from Justin Roberts and the Not Ready For Naptime Players for the second annual family concert. By 9am the Blue Building was full of kids and parents working on making their own shoebox guitars and kazoos in the free family craft area, before coming under the tent to dance, sing, and play along with the musicians. “What could be better than 200+ neighbors getting to smile and laugh together?” said Wright. Superior Creamery was a sponsor for the event again this year, helping to make the family concert possible, and was on site scooping ice cream for the excited crowd.
Saturday evening, the event reached its crescendo as Wright unveiled North House’s plans for a new Welcome Center and the kick off of North House’s Framing the Future capital campaign. The effort seeks to build a new Welcome Center, replacing the little Yellow House with a new timber framed structure that will house a new school store and two classrooms, expand the internship program, and bring staff back to the heart of campus.
At Saturday's Birch Bark Bash, Peter Henrikson cut the first timber of North House Folk School's new welcome center - North House Folk School
Following Wright’s presentation, founding instructors of the timber framing program Tom Healy and Peter Henrikson came to the stage to cut the first timber of the new building. As the timber dropped the audience erupted in applause. Tom and Peter will be leading the cutting of timbers for the new building over the next three weeks on campus, with 60+ volunteers lined up to be part of the effort.
Featured speaker Kelly Church taught a mini basket-weaving course, gave a black ash pounding demonstration, and gave a presentation about the effects of the emerald ash borer - North House Folk School
North House would like to thank Visit Cook County for their generous support of Unplugged and all of the events hosted throughout the year, as well as North Shore Winery, Cascade Vacation Rentals, Bluefin Bay Family of Resorts, Voyageur Brewing Company, Fulton Beer, and many other local businesses.
The new welcome center will replace the little yellow house on the North House property. Over the next three weeks, a group of volunteers will be cutting timbers for the new building - North House Folk School
North House will be hosting campus tours for the community at 2pm on Wednesday the 27th and October 4th starting at the School Store in the Blue Building.
