- The idea for the Folklore Village
began with one woman's love for art, dancing,
and bringing community together.
Today, a diverse array of cultural traditions
are being explored and celebrated at the village,
according to executive director Terri Van Orman.
- All kinds of wonderful things go on here
from folk dancing to singing to craft making.
We host special groups who come here.
They're usually musical groups or dancing groups.
Another thing is something started just three years ago
and it's-- we're calling it our folk school
where people sign up with a particular artist or instructor
to spend anywhere from half a day to several days,
and generally, they are focusing on
learning skills by making a thing.
I mean, it allows a lot of different types of expressions
and that's one thing I love about our mission.
- Another learning opportunity and ongoing project on-site
is the Norwegian Cabin Rebuild.
Originally constructed by hand in the 1840s,
and recently saved by the Folklore Village.
We did that and they took the building down
and they numbered every log
and they did a big schematic
about how to put it back together.
Mr. Nels Diller,
he wanted to do it because he had just retired
and he needed a project
and he would like to adopt this project.
- Since I finished my career as a carpenter,
I've doing Norwegian woodworking
and I like to explain that actually, I may be Swedish,
but I'm a born again Norwegian, I feel.
- Soon after, the work to rebuild the cabin began.
Volunteers and interns like Lauren Newby
had the opportunity to experience
using tools from another era.
- I would say my favorite part about this experience
is learning from Nels.
He's really has a lot of really amazing information,
both about what it means to work with wood,
the way he approaches life and building;
I feel like should not be lost in this generation.
And I think that's really surprising
to see how far we can take hand tools.
And to make something so large and so useful [laughs]
has been really, really amazing to see it come into fruition.
[sawing]
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