Ely is your typical northern Minnesota city. It is surrounded by cool camping spots, beautiful scenery, and of course, bodies of water. The Ely Folk School, a community organization that offers various classes and activities to honor northern Minnesota heritage, is hoping to bring the area together through different forms of storytelling, specifically about individuals’ experiences with water.
“We Are Water MN is an exhibit from the Minnesota Humanities Center and some of their state partners, including the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. It’s a traveling museum-grade exhibit that works to really open up dialogue about water and how different communities and individuals as community members interact with it and recreate with it. It’s meant to really kind of develop relationships around the idea that we all recreate with water, even if we recreate differently,” said Lucy Soderstrom, executive director of the Ely Folk School.
The Ely Folk School is hosting the exhibit from April 24 through June 16. The exhibit has already been available in Ortonville and it will travel to Minneapolis, Henderson, and Bloomington later this year. We Are Water MN describes their traveling exhibit as a project that “examines water issues statewide and in local communities through personal stories, histories, and scientific information. It strengthens Minnesotans’ relationships with water, exposes visitors to new perspectives, and increases participation in water stewardship activities.” While Minnesota is a huge montage of various types of people and cities, one thing all Minnesotans have in common is how they are all surrounded by water. How will this exhibit be different from the experience of seeing it in another city, though?
“Between different organizations is this focus on storytelling, and not only storytelling, but also history and the unique watershed of our area,” said Anna Heil, the Ely Folk School program director. “I think we talked about this a lot through the process of bringing the exhibit here, but everybody in Minnesota has a unique connection to water. I think everybody in the world probably has a connection with water, but it’s so relevant to here, our town in Ely, and it’s so relevant to the folk school to really focus on this sort of emphasis on storytelling and this emphasis on personal narrative and this emphasis on connecting through community and through recreation. It feels really relevant to the work of the folk school.”
In current times, when it sometimes feels hard to connect with people different from ourselves, Ely Folk School is hoping this exhibit is relevant to all. “A really wide cross section of this elite community has very generously offered their lives up through those stories. If you are a community member in Ely and know everybody here, you’ll really get to enjoy hearing those stories. If you are new to town, it’s a way to meet some of your neighbors. If you’re visiting, what a great way to learn about where you are,” said Soderstrom.
The exhibit, held from April 24 through June 16, is hosted by the Ely Area Community Foundation at the HUB on Miners Drive. Activities include an opening reception with Reflections Dance Company, a storytelling event, a nature writing class, a DNR fish hatchery tour, a youth water workshop with GreenCorps, a water treatment plant tour, and more. The building and exhibit are open from 7 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, with select events offering extended evening hours. For a full schedule of events, or to learn more, reach out to the Ely Folk School (elyfolkschool.org), or visit: mnhum.org.
