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Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm Saturday 9am - 5pm

Ely Folk School

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Ely, MN
Ely Folk School

People are geared to create. Our ancestors survived by procuring or crafting all of life’s essentials. Our mission is to inspire, not compel.

Building community by providing learning experiences that celebrate the wilderness, heritage, art, history, culture, & craft of the people of northern Minnesota on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in downtown Ely. Work with Your Hands - Learn from Your Peers - Create Something Lasting

The Ely Folk School offers classes, workshops & events for folks of all ages involving hands

-on, cooperative learning. That hard-wired propensity for creation may no longer be critical for our survival, but it enhances our well-being. The contemplative nature of handwork skills still provides an enormous sense of satisfaction that allows people to lose themselves in time – an increasingly rare experience in today’s fast-paced lives. The Ely Folk School is a haven for interaction and renewal. We are also inter-generational and non-competitive with no grades and no credits. We encourage learning for life instead of for exams

08/28/2026

This summer, our youth programs included Chickadee Club mornings filled with art activities, story time, and making snacks to share together, and Creative Kids classes where participants learned how to bake bread, dye fabric using natural sources, and build a treasure box.

As we start planning for next summer, are there particular classes or skills you (or the littles in your life) would like to see? Let us know in the comments below!

As always, a huge thank you to Jen Toddie, our Youth and Family Program Coordinator for creating such warm, welcoming spaces for our littlest folk school community members.

08/27/2026

Riley Kleve does a little bit of everything when it comes to fiber and textiles, including - but not limited to! - handspinning, weaving, dyeing, and embroidering. They are a resident artisan at North House Folk School and have taught fiber classes large and small in settings ranging from biweekly library get-togethers to large dusk-to-dawn community arts festivals, and teach at folk schools around the country. We’re excited to welcome them back to Ely!

Back in April, during Riley’s first visit to the Ely Folk School, they taught a creative mending class, which was one of our more popular spring classes. One student shared this after class: “I loved the teaching style - perfect balance of instruct, then do! Riley answered questions articulately, they were super helpful and encouraging, and had a great sense of humor!! They had the whole class laughing multiple times. I would absolutely take another class by Riley again in the future.”

For this visit, Riley will be teaching two classes on Wednesday, September 9th:

First, learn about making yarn in Handmade Yarn on a Drop Spindle (10am-3pm).
Transform wool from fluff to yarn by using a drop spindle, a tool that humans have used for thousands of years in nearly all corners of the globe. Along the way, instructor and yarn fanatic, Riley, will share plenty of tidbits about wool production, sheep stories, and more. You’ll leave class with finished yarn ready to knit, crochet, or weave into your next project!

Then, in the evening, they’re teaching another session of Darn It! Intro to Creative Mending (5:30-7:30pm).

Extend the life of well-loved clothes using basic darning techniques! Class will start out with a hands-on overview of basic darning before branching out into individual mending projects. Bring in some of your own items in need of mending, and you’ll go over how to fix them together in class. This is perfect for giving your sweaters and socks some love before the weather turns.

Join Riley for one or either if you’re interested in extending your knowledge on what goes into making the yarns we use or how skills to repair favorite items of clothing for years to come.

08/26/2026

Ten years ago this week, we completed construction of our first wiigwaasi jiimaan (birch bark canoe). This 13-ft canoe was crafted in summer 2016 with all the materials - from birch bark and pine pitch to cedar planking and black spruce roots - gathered responsibly from our bountiful forests.

Thank you to the hundreds of hands that built this canoe! This was a true community build - under the care and instruction of Erik Simula, many students showed up weekly to buggy bogs and hot afternoons at EFS to harvest roots, steam cedar into ribs, and share what they've learned with curious passerby. Many people visiting town got to learn about the history, construction, and culture of canoes while peeling bark off of roots or sieving dirt out of spruce pitch.

To learn more about our wiigawaasi-jiimaanan, you can stop in at the Ely Folk School, peruse our blog posts, or simply stay tuned to our email newsletter for additional Northwoods Skills and Crafting classes.

If you played a part, large or small, in the crafting of this canoe, we'd love to hear your stories! Comment below or come on in to EFS and celebrate with us.

08/24/2026

It’s somehow already back to school time, and if you too want to relive that feeling and join in for some classes yourself, we invite you to check out our September program schedule. 😉

🍁Ease into fall by taking time to write and reflect in one of DyAnne Korda’s writing classes: Writing for Your Life or Nature Writing with the Listening Point Foundation.

🔨The Forging Co will be here during Harvest Moon Festival, you can check out their booth and then try blacksmithing for yourself! They are offering two Taste of Blacksmithing classes and an Intermediate Decorative Wall Hooks class for students who have previously taken a class with them (or have other experience).

🫚Expand your culinary skills through The Whole Hog: Pig Butchering basics or through learning traditional and modern uses of a number of Wild Spices.

🎭 Or perhaps you’d like to play around in our Introduction to Improv Theater class. Improv may be a type of performance, but it's also a valuable transferable skill, which can help make you a better conversationalist, expand your creative thinking, and boost your confidence.

👌Rebecca Pauly is offering a 102 American Sign Language class! Have you taken her 101 class and wanted to learn more ASL from Rebecca? This is your chance!

💫And more! Classes subject to change. Please check our website or call for the most up to date class schedule. Registering early helps instructors prepare class plans and materials.

08/21/2026

We are so excited to have Sophie Hiroko and Lu Starr performing here at the Ely Folk School for an intimate, acoustic concert on Sunday!

Sophie has recently been making waves in the Twin Cities Music scene after being awarded the 2025 Palomino Grant - a $5,000 award given by Trampled by Turtles annually to a musical artist based in the Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin. She also opened for them at the Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth in July!

Born and raised in northern Minnesota, singer-songwriter Lu Starr currently performs in the Duluth area. Composing original songs, she explores themes of divine femininity, navigating grief, and reflecting on true friendship and love. Starr’s voice is full of depth and soul found in the likes of Norah Jones, while her songwriting mimics the poetic charm of Joni Mitchell.

All ticket sales will be donated back to the Ely Folk School for this summer fundraiser performance! Tickets are available on a sliding scale price.

Don’t miss this opportunity to see these incredible up-and-coming artists right here in Ely!

Sunday, August 23rd, 6pm

08/20/2026

Why host a kraftskiva party here at the Ely Folk School?

Well, of course we love any excuse to host a potluck, and this one requires party hats and silly songs! But beyond just the opportunity to wear fun hats, this event is actually a great example of our mission here.

It’s an opportunity for our community to come together to learn and celebrate culture and heritage - whether or not their identities you hold or you’re simply interested in learning more - while also placing it in the context of where we live now. On the same day we hosted this Swedish-inspired party, we had a pie dough class that discussed the “American-ness of pies,” and the next day “Around the Samovar: Insights into Folk Embroidery of the Slavic World” explored regional symbolism and embroidery across Ukraine and Russia.. This upcoming weekend we have a Foundations of Mead Making class that explores mead and fermented beverages in the context of human history.

We also use the Kraftskiva to learn about crayfish species in our area. Liz from the Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District and Matt from the 1854 Treaty Authority, shared information on aquatic invasive species, which include the rusty crayfish. (They also caught and cooked the rusty crayfish we ate during the potluck!)

08/18/2026

🦋 We released the last of the monarchs from our little nursery set up. Pictured here is one that decided to hang out for a while during story time on our last Chickadee Club morning! 😍

We wish them best of luck on their migration journeys and thanks for following along with us!

08/17/2026

If you’re ready to look this stylish during your next sauna session, Shelly Tahija is back teaching her Wet Felted Sauna hat class on Saturday, August 29th! She is offering both an afternoon class (1-4pm) and an evening class (5-8pm). These classes do tend to fill up so we’d recommend registering on the early side, which you can do via giving us a call at 218-235-0138 or via our website.

(The hats featured are the ones she has for sale at our Mercantile if you’re interested in one you see here. 🧙)

08/14/2026

🍻 New Class + New Instructor Highlight 🍻

Foundations of Meadmaking with Karin Beauclair
Saturday, August 22nd, 9am-3pm

Mead is one of the oldest fermented beverages in the world—crafted for thousands of years from just honey, water, and yeast—yet it’s experiencing a modern revival as both an art and a science.

If you’ve ever wanted to create your own mead but didn’t know where to start, this class will give you the confidence to begin.

In this hands-on introductory class, students will explore the history of mead, taste a range of honey varietals, and learn how core ingredients shape the final product. Students have the option to select if they want a “take home kit” to bring home after class to implement their new mead-making knowledge!

About your instructor: Karin Beauclair is a meadmaker, educator, and BJCP Rank-Pending Mead Judge with a passion for both traditional techniques and locally inspired fermentation. She is a member of the American Homebrewers Association, Minnesota Homebrewers Association, and the American Mead Makers Association.Kari specializes in small-batch meads that highlight honey varietals, seasonal fruit, and foraged botanicals from northern Minnesota. Her approach blends historical practices with modern fermentation science, with a strong emphasis on balance, structure, and ingredient expression. She is an active mead judge and competitor, and is passionate about helping others create high-quality mead—whether it’s their first batch or their one hundred and fiftieth.

*Please note that mead is an alcoholic beverage; students must be 21 or older to participate in this class.*

Register via our website or give us a call at 218-235-0138.

08/12/2026

Our friends over at Driftless Folk School are celebrating turning 20! Congrats!
They were featured by the magazine, Edible Madison and it’s a wonderful article on Driftless, folk schools in general, and of Martha Buche (who was just up here teaching classes with us). We’d recommend a read! (Link in the first comment)

Photo is from last summer when we visited the folks at Driftless on our way to the Folk School Alliance Gathering. 🙂

Address

209 East Sheridan Street
Ely, MN
55731

Opening Hours

Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm
Saturday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+12182350138

Website

http://www.elyfolkschool.org/

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