Photo: Art Along the Lake

By Laura Durenberger-Grunow - Boreal Community Media - September 25, 2025


The Art Along the Lake Fall Studio Tour is an annual event in Cook County, Minnesota, which provides public access to the studios and working environments of local artists. This year's event is scheduled to feature 32 artists and five galleries and will begin on Friday, September 26. 

The event began 28 years ago as the Crossing Borders Tour, which included participants and locations that extended into Canada. The tour later transitioned to the Art Along the Lake format, which limited the event to Cook County.

Until 2024, Visit Cook County managed the tour; however, due to the event's growth and staff shortages, they announced that they could no longer operate it successfully. With the loss of the main event organizer, there was a possibility that Art Along the Lake would have to end indefinitely. 

To ensure the event's continuation, a group of local artists joined forces to form Cook County Creatives (CCC). According to Rebecca Barrett, one of the current event organizers and the artist behind The Wilder Woodshop, "With the threat of Art Along The Lake's possible end in sight, a group of local artists joined arms to form CCC in 2024."

CCC assumed ownership and management of the annual studio tour with goals to secure funding, manage event planning, and act as a resource to support local artists. Barrett said that the 2025 CCC Board "is a volunteer group composed of eight members, including representatives from host sites, a local gallery, a guest artist, and a community member."

Participation in the Art Along the Lake tour is determined through an application process open to new studio hosts, guest artists, and galleries. The planning cycle for the event begins early in the year. Barrett stated, "Because this event is run strictly by volunteers, we start the planning early to maximize our time, which means applying for this event happens between late January and mid-February." A Selection Committee, comprised of Cook County Creative board members, scores the applications based on criteria including composition and design elements, clarity of artistic vision, marketability and customer appeal, and feasibility of location.

The event structure is designed to allow visitors to view creatives within their studios (or as a guest at a host studio or gallery), providing attendees and artists with direct interaction and engagement.

Barrett notes that the event "allows the opportunity for direct conversations with the artists, offering valuable insight into their creative processes and sources of inspiration." This provides an opportunity for artists to establish connections with their audience and share the context of their craft.

Overall, Barrett says that the CCC group hopes that attendees "will leave our community with a feeling of connection and tangible pieces of artwork created by local Cook County, MN artists."

Event brochure maps are available online or at the Visit Cook County office. Given the remote location of some tour sites, visitors are advised to download the route map to their mobile devices prior to travel to account for potential areas with limited or no cell service.

Art Along the Lake runs from September 26 through October 5, with studios and venues open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.