Winter is the longest and most defining season in the North. With snowy days and dark nights, this season is a time both for outdoor adventure and for gathering to share traditions, meals, and stories.

The Winterers’ Gathering and Arctic Film Festival celebrates the crafts, customs, history, and stories that have been inspired by winter. Featuring winter-centric coursework, a winter tent camp, gear sale, film festival, speakers, and more, this is a classic event to welcome the start of the chilliest season.

The 2024 Winterers’ Gathering will welcome special guest instructor Niilá Omma to teach a knifemaking course. Niilá is duojár, a traditional Sámi craftsman, from Skelefteå, Sweden. He uses mainly reindeer antler and birch to make knives, cups, boxes, jewelry and other traditional items, and sells his work in Sweden and internationally. This is his first visit to North House Folk School.

All Weekend

Presentations
Event Seminars are 45 minute presentations that cover a variety of winter-related topics: from camping tips to travelogues, cultural reflections to winter sport secrets, these inspiring talks offer something for everyone and take place throughout the weekend.

Skill Share Demonstrations
These short intensive sessions focus on particularly handy skills. Dress for a partially heated environment. Free to attend, materials fee occasionally applies, payable at door. Blacksmith Shop.

Arctic Film Festival
This one-of-a-kind festival features films from around the globe that visually tell the story of the North. Documentaries, features and shorts showcase arctic landscapes, traditional cultures, northern adventures and changing climates. All film screenings are free and held in the Blue Building.

Schedule of Events:

Open Fire Dinner on a Stick and Outdoor Shorts Film Festival
Gather around a bonfire and cook over an open fire as a community. Participants bring their own food; we’ll provide the fire and the pointy sticks. Sausages to steaks, pudgie pies to home fries, it’s all welcome. Beginning at 6:00pm, we’ll enjoy a selection of winter-themed short films.

Snowshoe Shuffle Traditional Community Contra Dance
6:30pm - Family dance
7:30pm - Community dance
Don your winter wardrobe and warm up at this friendly community contra dance. The dance takes place in the historic timbered woodshop.

Cold Snap Poetry Slam
Cold Snap Poetry Slam is a friendly celebration of the spoken word and the glories of the frozen North! Join in the fun by reading one of your own works or any selected seasonal poetry of your choosing. By sharing your favorite hibernal verse, presenters will receive wide recognition as cultural icons, as well as a free bottomless bag of popcorn for the weekend! Check back later this fall for information on registering.