Wooden Boat Show
& Summer Solstice Festival
 The 12th Annual
** June 19-21, 2009 **

 

What a weekend!  North House extends its thanks to the many volunteers, friends, partners, participants and supporters who made our 2009 WBS event a huge success.

Want to plan ahead??
June 18-20, 2010
Take a look below at info about 2009!

              

Celebrating the North, Traditional Crafts
and the Joy of Summer!

 

 

The big weekend!!

The Wooden Boat Show and Summer Solstice Festival at North House Folk School kicks off the season of light in the North.
The weekend includes programs, courses, speakers, demonstrations, workshops, food, dancing, displays and endless opportunities for great conversation.

 

Downloadable Resources
Flier - 2009 Wooden Boat Show
Full Descriptions - 2009 Weekend Program Schedule
2009 Wooden Boat Display
Sunday's Steambent Brunch - Join Us!
I

AUCTION  FLIER & LISTING  NOW  ON-LINE
Learn more about the Wooden Boat Show's
Boats to Tools Auction!
Saturday - June 20

 

2009 Featured Event Courses
* these courses are scheduled to align with
the Wooden Boat Show weekend, offering an ideal opportunity
to both participate in hands-on learning and
be part of an inspiring special event weekend!

Visit the course description pages to learn more!!
 

Starting June 15 or 16  
Primitive Rug Hooking
   (3 days – see Fiber Art)
 

    Starting June 17
Primitive Rug Hooking
(3 days – see Fiber Art)
Handcraft A Wool Braided Rug
(3 days – see Fiber Art)
Raku Pottery Experience
(1 days – see Traditional Crafts)
Scandinavian Work Shirts
(3 days – see Clothing & Jewelry)
 

Starting June 18  
Birch Bark Weaving - An Introduction
(2 days – see Basketry)

   Starting June 19
All Packed Up - Craft Your Trail Stove
(0.5 days – see Outdoor Skills)
Craft of Sail - FULL
(1 days – see Sailing)
Ropework - Knot Tying Workshop - FULL
(1 days – see Sailing)

Starting June 22  
Crafting a Traditional Longbow and Arrow
(3 days – see Outdoor Skills)
Help Yourself To Knitting!
(2 days – see Knitting)
Spinning Fibers On A Wheel
(3 days – see Knitting)
Step 1 - Lofting For Boatbuilders
(2 days – see Boatbuilding)
Sustainable Harvest of Tree Bark For Basketry
(2 days – see Basketry)
Textile Craft Workshop
(3 days – see Fiber Art)

    Starting June 23
Cedar-Strip Boatbuilding - Build Your Own
(11 days – see Boatbuilding)

Photo Gallery A picture is worth 1000 words - the following images capture some of the event's character and hint at the possibilities for the future.  Special thanks to contributing photographers Layne Kennedy, Stephan Hoglund, Betsy Bowen, David Grindstead, Robert Meyers, Deborah Morse-Kahn, Lonnie Dupre: Please click to enlarge   Learn more by reviewing these resources to from the 2008 Wooden Boat Show (click to download): 2008 Program Flier UPDATED 2008 Schedule with Program Descriptions Boat Display Information & Form Boats To Tools Auction Form 2008 Steam Bent Brunch (reservations recommended) Learn more about an important part of the Wooden Boat Show: The Boats to Tools Auction!   Free Event Member Supported & Volunteer Hosted This special event is largely free and open to the public thanks to the involvement and support of many people.  It is one of several special events that we host throughout the year, celebrating the North and our educational mission.  Strong membership support makes this event and others like it possible (new members are always welcome!)  A team of dedicated and spirited volunteers host the event (call 218-387-9762 if you'd like to help out). * * Featured Guests - John Jennings * * Boats to Tools Auction - an auction with a cause, learn more * * Northern Craft Demos - by North House instructors * * Wooden Boat Slide Series - please download program descriptions * * Handcraft Workshops - please download program descriptions * * Wooden Boat Display - focusing on traditional wooden craft * * Summer Solstice Festival - featuring the Good Harbor Hill Players * * Delicious North Shore Cooking - a harbor-side barbecue, the     Chowder Slow Down, the Steam Bent Brunch (arrive hungry) * * and So Much More! - the weekend's offerings continue to evolve! 2008 Featured Guest   John Jennings, Canadian Canoe Historian “The canoe is the carrier of our myths and our images of landscape, reaching deep into our history and into the future as a symbol of stewardship of the land.  It is the greatest gift of the First Peoples to all those who came after, and a symbol both of exploration and discovery and of a quite harmony with nature.”  John Jennings, is a recently retired professor of history at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.  He was one of the founders of the Canadian Canoe Museum and for many years the Canoe Museum’s Vice Chair and principle fundraiser.  He received the Ontario Museum Association’s Award of Merit for Lifetime Service for his work with the Canoe Museum.   Jennings is the author of the award winning The Canoe: A Living Legend and Bark Canoes: The Art and Obsession of Tappan Adney and is co-editor of The Canoe In Canadian Cultures.  He is currently working on another book dealing with the northern canoe explorations  of the Geological Survey of Canada.  He was recently appointed to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.  He and his wife Nicola and children, Julia and Michael, are avid canoeists and have traveled many wilderness rivers.  ** John Jennings' visit is funded in part by the Dr. Donald Walker Memorial Fund. Wooden Boat Display   All Wooden Boats Hand-Built or Restored Welcome! Wooden boats of all types are displayed during the event. Individual boat builders (both novice and professional) are welcomed to display either wooden boats or related items. North House boat building alumni are especially encouraged to attend and be part of the events Wooden Boat Parade! Download the Details!! Get plugged in today Read more about our featured guests and review the weekend's calendar of events.  Click on these PDF downloads: 2008 Program Flier 2008 Schedule with Program Descriptions Boat Display Information & Form Boats To Tools Auction Form 2008 Steam Bent Brunch (reservations recommended) If you are unable to open these forms North House will happily send you forms by mail - please send your request, name & address to info@northhouse.org or call North House at 218-387-9762 Chowder Chowdown  Experience the Tastes - Eat Well and Support North House Saturday at Noon, $10/person Special thanks to the North Shore chefs and restaurants who make this delicious dimension of the Wooden Boat Show a reality: ** Angry Trout ** Beth's Fudge & Gifts ** Birch Terrace ** Blue Water Cafe ** Bluefin Bay ** Coho Cafe ** Crooked Spoon ** Dockside Fish Market ** Gun Flint Tavern ** Gunflint Lodge ** Naniboujou Lodge ** The Pie Place

A Look Back Without question, one of the highlights of the the Wooden Boat Show event are the special guests we welcome to campus each years Skip Snaith, Skin-on-Frame Boat Builder, Researcher and Revivalist Skip has been a professional boat builder for over 35 years. With experience as a canoeist, kayaker and ocean racer he has sailed, paddled and rowed a wide variety of craft, and has built anything from a glued-lap Rushton Canoe to a fiberglass trimaran. Snaith has been traveling to native villages in Alaska since 1998 as a skin boat teacher, student, researcher and revivalist, spreading the ballistic nylon gospel wherever he goes.  His book, Umiak, An Illustrated Guide, has inspired experiential boat builders like North House Folk School’s own Mark Hansen and has been called a “concise, straightforward, and handcrafted book…giving the umiak some of the recognition - and reconstruction - it deserves” (George B. Dyson, author of Baidarka).    Garrett/Alexandra Conover For 26 years Alexandra and Garrett have been professional canoe and snowshoe guides based in Willimantic, Maine. Garrett is the author of Beyond the Paddle. Together, they co-authored, the Snow Walker's Companion. Now in it's third edition the book continues to serve as the leading guide on extended winter travel. The Conover’s method of travel reflects traditions refined by generations of wilderness guides. In 1999, Outside Magazine profiled Alexandra and Garrett along with five others under the heading of "The Great Ones: 20th Century Heroes for a New Millennium." Together, they live in their permanent wall-tent home on the Big Wilson Stream.  Learn more about their 2006 Winter Walk in northern Maine.   In 2005, Becky Mason, "Canada's First Lady of the Wooden Canoe" was our special guest. Becky has journeyed in canoes for as long as she can remember and learned to paddle before she could walk. She acquired her paddling skills and her love for canoes from her father the late Bill Mason, the author and filmmaker of the "Path of the Paddle" series. To learn more about visit the Red Canoe web site.     In 2004, Joanie & Gary McGuffin from Canada shared their passion with North House for three full days. Their experience paddling in the north, stunning wilderness photography, and compelling program made the event even more memorable.    In 2003, three special guests: , Jerry Stelmok (canoe builder & author), Deborah Sussex (professional photographer) and Joe Seliga (canoe builder) - pictured below left to right. The three cooperated on the book The Art of the Canoe with Joe Seliga (copies available through the North House school store).