North House Folk School

This page is for a past event. Check the current Winterers' Gathering event page for up-to-date details of the next Winterers' Gathering, or feel free to browse the past details below to get a taste of what's to come!

Winterers' Gathering & Arctic Film Festival is a multi-day educational event that celebrates the crafts, customs, landscape, history and stories of winter travel and traditional life ways in the north. Winter travel enthusiasts and northern culture admirers merge on the North House campus for four days of winter travel seminars, courses and workshops complemented by multiple evenings of inspiring thought-provoking international films about arctic life.

The Winterers—or Les Hivernants as the early North American Voyageurs referred to them– were brave, experienced individuals who signed on after the summer’s end to work at winter outposts scattered throughout the ‘interior’ of North America. In respect for the skills, traditions and spirit of this devoted group, the annual Winterers' Gathering happens each year at the North House Folk School campus on the shore of Lake Superior.

Weekend Highlights

Friday

Friday, 5:30pm | Dinner on a Stick & Outdoor Film Screening
Gather around a bonfire and cook over an open fire as a community. Participants bring their own food. We’ll also enjoy a short outdoor film screening. 

Friday, 7pm family dance, 8pm community dance | Snowshoe Shuffle Traditional Community Contra Dance
Don your winter wardrobe and warm up at this friendly community contra dance. Dances are called and instructed by the music ensemble, “Over The Waterfall.” The dance takes place in the historic timbered woodshop.  **no registration required, free w/ member pass, $5-10 all else
 

Friday, 8pm | 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!

Saturday

Saturday, 10:30am – 11:30am | The Great Gear & Ski Swap
Bring your outdoor equipment to sell or get in on some great bargains & buy. Backcountry skis to winter canvas tents. Ice skates to kites. Winter boots to down jackets. All are welcome!

Registration forms for selling items are available here and in person the day of the event.

Saturday 6pm | The Deep Freeze Chili Feed
Grab your bowl for this traditional winter favorite: chili & freshly baked cornbread. Hot chili (your choice: vegetarian or meat) is cooked up in the kettle and eaten in the warm banquet hall by the woodstove. ($10/person paid at the door)

 

Saturday 7:30pm | Featured Presentation: “Archaeology and the Hunt: Wild Sheep and Long Ago Person Found” with Bill Hanlon
While hunting Dall sheep in the spectacularly wild Tatshenshini/Alsek Wilderness Park in 1999, Bill Hanlon and his two hunting partners discovered the preserved remains of an ancient hunter emerging from the ice on the edge of a glacier. Mummified by the extreme cold, the body was preserved with a number of artifacts, including a gopher fur robe, a spruce root hat, a satchel of personal effects, a walking stick, a copper bead, assorted wooden objects, and a hand tool with a pouch (later identified as a knife and sheath). Now, twenty years later, Bill tells the story of this life-changing discovery and the three subsequent expeditions back to the discovery site of Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi or “Long Ago Person Found”
Free with the Member Pass/ $5 donation at the door.

Featured Speaker Bill Hanlon

Bill Hanlon is a wilderness hunter, backcountry horseman and wilderness advocate. He has been involved with various conservation organizations for thirty years in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia. He is presently the chair of the British Columbia Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and co-founder of the Hornaday Wilderness Society and was recently named to the North American Board of Directors for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. Bill spends as much time as he can spare horsepacking, backpacking and hunting - especially for wild sheep - in the wildest places remaining in British Columbia - because there is no better place to be a backcountry hunter than in British Columbia.

All Weekend

Winter Skill Seminars & 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. Free with Member Pass/ $5 per seminar, paid at the door. Held in the Blue Building. 

Member Benefit: Skill Share Demonstrations
These short intensive sessions focus on particularly handy skills. Dress for a partially heated environment. Free with Member Pass/ $5 per seminar, paid at the door. Locations will be posted outside the Blue Building. 

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 films screenings are free and held in the Blue Building. See the event program for film details!

Harborside Winter Tent Camp
An opportunity for winter campers to set up their shelter near campus, whether it be a canvas wall tent, an expedition or 4-season nylon-grade tent, or a traditional Mongolian yurt, and share information and ideas about winter camping in the elements of cold weather. Participants are invited to be a part of the Winter Tent Tour scheduled on Saturday at 2pm. 

$8/night (non-electric) $15/night (electric) Self-register at campground office upon arrival.

Firewood is available at the campground.

If camping isn't quite your thing, check out our list of Lodging Partners for other accommodations nearby.

Become a member to get the member pass!

North House members get great benefits - event passes at Wood Boat Show, Unplugged and Winterers' Gathering, early registration days, and our Shavings newsletter. Your donation makes you a member! Stop by the info booth to learn more about how you can support the mission of North House Folk School.