Celebrating the Ely Folk School's 10th Birthday

Lucy Soderstrom
Jun 13
4 min read

The Ely Folk School celebrated its tenth birthday last week and I do believe it was one of the most beautiful weekends we’ve seen in Ely. Each event filled me with gratitude - I am so lucky to be part of this marvelous web of craft and connection. I am proud to be part of the community carrying forward the legacy, impact, and dreams of the Ely Folk School.

This past weekend clarified a truth I have known - the Ely Folk School is a patchwork quilt of individual passion, and dedication. Our community is sewn together via the interconnected efforts of many. It was an honor to spend time leading up to our birthday remembering our history and going through past photos and classes. It is heartwarming to see the same types of smiles and newness in those photos. We had a lot of fun remembering and learning from the classes that have cycled through our Folk School curriculum.

We are very proud to share a short film made by Brett Ross detailing the story of the early days of the Ely Folk School. It is poignant to remember how many people have been teaching with us for a decade and striking to see how many people have been learning, building, and dancing with us for just as long. This community is truly something special and it feels like such a blessing to be connected to and get to be in friendship with each of you. Together, we continue to build a community gathering space based on story, curiosity, and respect. Watch the film, linked below.

At our birthday potluck on Saturday, we reached our matching fundraising challenge! Thank you to everyone who has given to help us reach our goal. We feel so supported and energized to continue reaching and working toward our mission.

Thank you for being part of the journey with us- here's to many more gatherings, potlucks, dances, paddles, and more in the years ahead. Read on for a fuller recap of the birthday weekend.

10 Years of EFS: A Retrospective Short Film by Brett Ross

How'd We Celebrate?

We were excited to celebrate our birthday in some of our favorite ways - spending time with one another, sharing stories, on the water, over food, and while dancing!

Thursday was a "Makers After Hours" Happy Hour - folks who regularly attend or regularly wish they could attend our Thursday Makers Mornings gathered over Happy Hour for a little crafting and a little reminiscing over early and favorite folk school memories.

Friday we paddled the 20ft birch bark canoe built by EFS. We always had a next crew ready to paddle and had a great mix of veteran Birch Bark Canoe Project participants and folks very new to the wiigwaasi jiimaan (birchbark canoe). The weather was beautiful and Burntside appreciated being on the water. (You can read more about our BBCP by scrolling down the page here)

On Saturday, we blew out our birthday candles as 95 community members sang and potlucked. The Folk School kitchen was full once more of delicious homemade dishes brought to share with one another. Conversation was lively and some folks spilled from the doors into the EFS Pocket Park, dining at our outdoor picnic tables. Once everyone had a chance for a first round of food, we began our birthday program by honoring our instructors who have taught for all ten years of EFS. Some instructors, like Johnnie have transitioned from their first class of Flatwater Canoeing Skills to new topics, like Spring Edibles; while others, like Dy have taught many adaptations of the class Nature Writing over the decade. The 10 year instructors are: Autumn, Bert, Dy, Erik, Jaime, Johnnie, Ken, LynnAnne, Mark, and Peta. Congratulations!

I am grateful to say we hit our fundraising match challenge on Saturday evening! $25,000 was matched, bringing in $50,000 for this year’s Ely Folk School programming! Thank you to everyone who contributed toward that challenge! We are still taking donations to fund current and expanded programs, so if you didn’t get a chance to donate last month, consider making a donation here.

We held an Old Time Strings Jam Session at EFS on Sunday afternoon, with community members coming out to play their banjos, fiddles, mandolins, and more. The music and joy of playing together spilled out the front doors and passerby stopped in to listen, relax, and enjoy.

Since the beginnings of the Ely Folk School, community dancing has been a treasured tradition. While the first couple years of EFS saw community dances held in the folk school itself, diagonal floor and all, as our numbers grew we transitioned to utilizing the Ely Senior Center. This month however, EFS had its community dance in a proper barn! Rosa Oesterreich, board member, recently purchased the horse farm down Robich Road. She and her family generously invited EFS out for a dance and my oh my was it a magical time.

We’re grateful to Rosa, Grayson, Sal, and Loretta for hosting; Emily, Abby, and Maggie for cleaning, prepping, and decorating, and Heidi for her leadership in prioritizing dances and live music. Thank you also to Terrence and Molly, who called the dance for us and musicians Joe, Gracie, Roz, Ava, Abby, Martyn, Maggie, Nick, Clarence, and Alex.