Going deeper in Fairbanks with Fairbanks Folk School

Kelsey Bearden Eagan joins Jennie to talk about programs visitors can take part in with the Fairbanks Folk School as well as her favorite places to go and things to do in Fairbanks.

The Folk School

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Transcript

 Welcome to the Alaska Uncovered Podcast with me, your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, my occasional co-host and full-time husband, Jay, and I bring you accurate, helpful, and entertaining information about Alaska Travel and life in Alaska.





 



The Alaska Uncovered Podcast is supported by our Patreon members. We are so grateful for our Patreon members who keep us going. You can join them at patreon.com/alaska uncovered, and as a monthly member of the planning club, you can get your questions answered by me every single week.

It's a weekly ask me anything, and every week there's an extra episode with answering everyone's questions. It's really fun. So find us over there.



Before we get into the show, it's March now and summer is approaching, and if you're visiting Alaska this summer and you don't have a plan yet, you need my help. So please book one of my planning sessions. Let me help you get your plan going or finalize your plan if you've already started,, the.

URL is too long to read, so you'll just have to follow the link in the show notes. I love meeting you and I'd love to help you get going, so find me there

alright, enjoy the show.

 My guest today is Kelsey Bearden Egan. Kelsey is the executive director of the Fairbanks Folk School. So today we're gonna have a really fun conversation about their work. Kelsey, welcome to you Alaska uncovered. Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me. It's wonderful. It's wonderful to finally meet you after emailing for a while about this.

To start off with, can you introduce yourself a little bit to everyone and tell us how did you get to Alaska? Well, I got here because I was, , born here. I was born and raised in Fairbanks for the first part of my life. And, uh, then. With a couple of stints in northwest Mexico. I am now back in Fairbanks, uh, this is going on my second year back in Fairbanks after.

12 years away. And, uh, what brought me back this time was I fell in love with my now husband. So it's a love story. 

Oh. So it's a birth story and a love story. That's awesome. 

Yeah.

, That's a great story, Kelsey. So can you tell me a little bit about the folk school and like, what's the story of it? How did it get started? What kind of things do you do? 

Yeah, of course. Uh, so the folk school has quite a long history in maybe more than 20 years ago.

It started very informally.. People teaching some classes, you know, just out of their homes or garages. Um, and specifically founded by a couple of, uh, folks including John Manai, who's a master woodworker and cabinet maker, and, um, all around woodsy, , important elder in the Fairbanks community and also Mariana Stoltz, who is

amazing crafts woman in her own right and, uh, she actually went to folk schools growing up in Germany. And so the two of them are really instrumental in the story of the folk school. And yeah, just, uh, teaching crafts people were interested in, and really, folk schools in general at their core are always a.

Product of the place and time that they exist in. So folks, schools unlike, uh, you know, a traditional school that you might think of,, they, so we, we work with instructors in the community who have something that they want to teach and that they're passionate about teaching and sharing with the wider community and the people who come are, uh, by and large local, but also from.

Elsewhere in Alaska and beyond. And so, yeah, it just evolves over time. And, uh, over time the folks school in Fairbanks, uh, became sort of more consolidated and, and now we exist, uh, with a full workshop and that has a full woodworking, shop and a print shop with print presses and,. Printing presses and also classroom space for all kinds of other classes.

And we run about 150 classes a year and in all manner of subjects, and it's all people in the community who teach and sometimes from afar as well. 

That's awesome. So you mentioned, um, woodworking and printmaking, and Jay and I actually got to try like a mini version of one of your printmaking workshops a couple years ago.

Oh, cool. And that was really fun. Yeah. Are there any other specific skills that I know there's a wide variety of like. Things that come and go, but are there any other big categories of things that you are frequently, um, having programs for in teaching? 

I was actually thinking about this question, um, before the conversation because it, one of the characteristics, like key characteristics of the folk school is that we offer such a wide range of topics.

Um, and so I was trying to think of some of the main, main ones, so I didn't miss any. 

Right. 

Like 

how do I capture this without like reading 

the 

catalog? 

Yep, exactly. So, um. Everything from, so like I said, printmaking, woodworking, weaving, um, several classes per year that work with birch bark, like making birch bark baskets and, uh, other local materials.

Sewing Flint, napping. Make your own snowshoes. , Smoke salmon, kombucha, knots, um, how to build a log cabin. It goes on and on. 

That's amazing. That's so cool. 

Yeah, 

I'd love to know. So, , of course, like many people who participate in your programs, of course, live in Fairbanks or near Fairbanks, what are some ways that visitors who might be in Fairbanks for a shorter amount of time can interact with the folk school?

Yeah, sure. Well, our classes range from just a couple of hours to several days, so. If you are planning a trip to Fairbanks and you take a look at our calendar, there might be a class that you could jump in on. Yeah. The classes almost always are register in advance, but you can do that easily through the website.

Mm-hmm. Um, 

and so that's, I would say that is actually a really great way to engage. That's maybe the. Best experience of mm-hmm. , Of the folk school. Yeah. But also, , we sometimes do, shorter events depending on what's happening around town. And so you might see us tabling or doing some little interactive.

Craft or something at, at a, at an event around town. But I also wanted to say that we are located in Pioneer Park, which is Yes. Right in the middle of Fairbanks. And that is a primary destination for people visiting even for just a few hours in. Yeah. 

Um, 

because it has such,, sort of a concentration of.

Different things to learn about and visit, and you can see all the old cabins and um, whatnot. And we are, uh, one of the only entities in the park that is open year round. So a lot of people come to the, to the park in the winter and they see a bunch of snow and wonder why everything's closed. But,, we're here and, and so you can always,, just stop by and say hi.

Um. I can't guarantee that we're, someone will always be here 'cause we're quite a small staff, but we do try to be here as much as possible. Yeah. 

Um, 

and the other big thing that I wanna mention is, um, our yearly program in the summer called Week in the Woods. And going back to a little bit, the history of the folk school and how it got started week in the woods is really an important part of what.

Sort of brought things together with, , the folk school because some of those original, um, people were teaching classes and, and talking amongst themselves and basically saying, what's the, the, the problem with these classes that we're teaching is that we show up with all the materials already.

Collected and processed, like whether that's birch bark or spruce root or um, willow or what, what have you. And that's the reason we love doing this because we love going out in the woods and we love Yeah. You know, the

relationship that comes from that and the care and attention and basically we're taking that away from our students by doing it ourselves. So. From that this program Week in the Woods was born. And that is a very unique and for many people, transformative experience. It's six days, five nights in the Boreal Forest.

It's an immersive experience. We explore basically the forest through natural history and craft, and there are., Sort of primary instructors and visiting instructors, and you get to live in the best of all classrooms, which is the woods. And that is happening June. That is really cool. Yeah. 12th to the 12th to the 17th this year.

Um, and that of, what, what month is 

it? 

June. June, okay. To the 17th. 

Cool. 

Oh. So that's a really cool thing. And people from outside of Alaska do, , often come to that. 

Oh, cool. So people who aren't living in Alaska visitors are welcome to 

Oh, 

definitely finitely that. 

Yeah. 

Oh, that's so fun. I love, it's really cool. And so is that, is that focused more on. Wood related things. 'cause you mentioned like harvest, harvesting, spruce and birch, or is it wider than that? And that was just an example. , 

It does have some of that as the focus for sure. 

Yeah, that makes sense. 

But it's, it depends. Other things that, uh. Often happened there.

It's like, um, someone comes who we work with often and she gives a talk on mushrooms or we go walking around looking for, you know, different fungi and lichen and or,, maybe archeology and the, the geological history of that particular valley and bluff. 

Yeah. 

Um, or botanical dying with, . With local plants from the area.

So there are other, yeah, other pieces, but it's all, it's definitely all focused on the materials. Yes. And the environment where we are. 

Cool. That makes sense.

So it sounded like what you were saying, Kelsey, is that part of what's so valuable about this week in the woods is that you're not only learning the skill, but you're learning like the skill behind it of like, where do these materials come from and how do I. Harvest them or gather them. Not only what do I do with it, and that's kind of making me think about just Alaska travel in general and how, how for people who are looking for like a deeper and more.

Authentic connection to Alaska and its land and its people on their trip. Um, in addition of course to the programs that you offer and, you know, week in the woods and that kind of thing. Are there any other pieces of advice you have for travelers for, for how to do that when they're in Alaska? I'd, I'd love to hear what you think about that.

It's a great question and it seems like it is something I would say finally that people are more interested in. Yeah. Lately, which warms my heart for sure. 

Me 

too. Um, 

yeah, 

I, I'm not gonna speak for all of Alaska because as you know, Alaska's really, really big and super diverse in all kinds of ways. Yes, that's so true.

Yeah. 

, So for me in Fairbanks, when people come to visit and I want to take them and they've never been here before and I wanna take them somewhere that feels special and that, , feels really important sort of to their understanding or experience of, of this place, I think of the rivers and.

Fairbanks as a settlement, basically. Uh, the, the rivers are a really important part of why it exists here. Yeah. And, um, and so whether that's, you know, the sort of dramatic wide, kind of terrifying Tana River or the Yeah. Or floating through town on the chin, or, you know. Doing some fishing or camping up in the kind of splashy upper chin, like the, the rivers are, I feel like at this point in Fairbanks, is history sort of an underappreciated part?

Yes. 

That really define this place? Yeah. So. I would say I would put a plugin for the rivers. 

Yeah. You know, I, I was so curious what you were gonna say. 'cause you know, we didn't talk about this ahead of time, like I didn't know. But I feel that way too. And I think living in Fairbanks is something that really helped me appreciate that actually.

But I've noticed that in other parts of Alaska too. And I remember last summer. One day kind of sitting by the Nana River, like in, uh, in the Denali area and like just kinda right at the edge of the park and just thinking about like how cool rivers are just in general and how Alaska and the Yukon have so many great rivers.

And I feel like that's something I totally agree with you. I think that's a very underrated feature of Alaska. Definitely. 

Yeah, for sure. And we used to do a program called Week on the River, sort of modeled after week in the woods. And that's something that I would love to, um, revive again at some point.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. '

cause really, I mean, just to go back to the folk school classes and, uh, they play I think such an important part. In helping people here have an avenue to connect with the place. Um, and whether that's someone who's just visiting for a short while, or, um, more commonly someone who lives here, the the craft is what draws people to take a class or come to the folk school, but.

In the end, it's really a vehicle to connect with people in the community. 

Yeah. 

With the place, uh, with kind of your own agency and creativity through your hands, and that's so important. Mm-hmm. 

Yeah. It really is. Yeah, definitely. Okay, so. You were talking about the rivers, you talked about floating the chino and I know that there, um, that you can rent, um, I know canoes, but also kayaks, right?

To like float down to the pumphouse. 

Yeah. I, I should know this 'cause there are neighbors in Pioneer Park. I know, but um, canoe Alaska 

Yes. 

Is right there at the edge of the river, at the edge of the Pioneer Park., Yeah. And they are definitely. Who you should go talk to. 

Yeah, totally. And that's like a cl.

If you're looking for an experience in Fairbanks and it's like June or July and you're like, I wanna do something that locals do, like floating the Chena is definitely one of those things. Yeah, for sure. It's so fun. It's one of the funnest things about Fairbanks Summers for sure. Okay, so. You're at Pioneer Park where you can do this floating thing and where you can participate in folk school experiences and classes.

I I, speaking of things that are a bit underrated, I actually think Pioneer Park is a super like, it. It's not on like everybody's itinerary in Fairbanks, but it's a really cool place. So Kelsey, I was wondering if you could just share a little more about like why Pioneer Park is there and some of the things that people can see.

And for this episode, let's stick with summer. Um. You know, you are open in the winter and Soar is Boreal Sparks the Kick sledding. Um, folks that we had an episode with, um, a couple years ago with Morgan, that was really fun. But for right now, let's focus on summer. What are some of the things that people can, can see there and do there in the summer that we haven't talked about yet?

Yeah., Pioneer Park. I am gonna forget the exact dates and timeline of things, but, um. It started out as Pioneer Memorial Park, um, and has sort of a long and storied history and changing hands from the borough and this group and that group and pioneers of Alaska. And, um, so there's quite a, there's quite a story if you know, if anyone wants to look into it.

Yes. But. It's a funny place. Yeah, it's a strange little microcosm of Fairbanks in some ways and has sort of survived throughout the years., And in the summer it's quite a hopping place to be. Uh, lots and lots of people come for the playground, like with kids. It's a great place to come with kids.

Yeah. I have brought kids that I was babysitting here many times. 

Yes. 

When I was younger and, uh, definitely came here as a kid myself, and they just put in a brand new playground last. This last summer that people are really liking. So that's a big deal. They've got lots of like picnic pavilions and stuff, so if the weather's funky, then uh, there's places to get outta the rain barbecues and all that.

Um, there's a mini golf, uh, course right behind our cabin. 

Yeah. 

There's, um, a train that you can ride, that's like. Some, I don't remember the history somehow connected with the Tanana Valley Railroad. Yeah. 

Um, 

and there's also a whole little village of historic cabins that in the summer are all businesses with all kinds of things selling ice cream and .

Antique, uh, get your like old timey photo and Yeah. 

Yep. 

All kinds of stuff like that. And the, the thing that I, I mean, I think it's a contentious topic because it takes so much maintenance to, to keep it upright, but the. The stern wheeler, the Indiana. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. That is really cool. It's a really kind of amazing centerpiece of the park.

And then on top of that, there's the Civic Center, , that has the Bear Gallery, which always has amazing stuff going on in it. And, and just the civic center hall that. That there are often many events that happen and explore Fairbanks, which I think you mentioned before. But, um, that's a great place to find out what's happening, where and when and 

yeah.

Um, 

yeah, like events, 

lots of stuff to do in the summer here for sure. 

Yeah, definitely. I feel like Pioneer Park is really, kind of a hidden gem in Fairbanks. I sometimes take, um, my guests there on tour, um, especially like at lunchtime 'cause. We sometimes go downtown for lunch, but like sometimes if it's like golden days and it's crazy down there or we don't have enough time, we'll go to, you know, 'cause eating lunch, sit down in a restaurant downtown takes a while.

And so sometimes we go to Pioneer Park instead. And yeah, people are always like, I had no idea there was this little thing in there. And then at sometimes I'm like, oh, I didn't know that was there either. You know, there's a lot of stuff in there. It's really cool 

and there's, it's nice 'cause there's trees and the river is right on the back door and there's a path along the river and, um, and lots of grassy areas.

So if you're, if you just kind of want a place to hang out and not have to do anything Yeah. It's also nice for that. 

Yeah. Definitely. Wonderful. Okay, so Kelsey, let's get beyond, uh, pioneer Park a little bit. I would love to have you, especially since you are a born and raised Fairbanks in, what are some of your like recommended things for visitors to do in Fairbanks that we haven't talked about yet?

Well. I'm gonna say the rivers again. No. 

Yeah. No. Say it again. You could, you can talk about the rivers as much as you want. 

Yeah. Um, I think another, I mean I think you talked about downtown a little bit, but, um, Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center is. Definitely a place that I recommend to 

Yeah, 

pretty much anybody who comes to visit, I, I think they have done such a fabulous job of really capturing kind of the essence of Fairbanks and especially the, you know, confluence of cultures that we have here.

Um, so Morris Thompson. And then, another thing that I think is,. Really wonderful about Fairbanks is we have such a great, uh, network or many different little systems of trails all around. Yes. 

Yep. 

And so that is a really nice way to get, I mean, even some of them in town, but a little bit out of town.

Yep. 

But within, you know, easily within reach and there are tons of trails in different kinds of environments and, . It's a really cool way to see Fairbanks. 

Yeah. 

Not in a car. 

Totally. Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Those are some great suggestions. Anything else before we move on? 

It just so depends on the time of year.

Yeah. It really does. Yeah. 

And I know that you've talked about this in other podcasts, but , it just so depends on the time of year. Yeah. , We. This winter have had such an intense cold snap. 

Yeah, 

I know. You know, sort of back in the old days, I mean, we had a full month of. 35 to 45 to 50 below. So 

yeah, 

it's been a minute.

It's different what you do at that time of year than midsummer. But 

yes, 

we also had some really fabulous Aurora. So checking out the Aurora when that's good is, I mean, unreal. It, yeah. It was so amazing the other day. 

Yeah. Yeah. 

And in the summer, obviously staying up basically all night and. Watching the sunrise, sunset, or, , sunset, sunrise happen.

Yes. 

That little, 

that little 

short little fake night thing that happens. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. 

You know, bonfire by the river there. I mean, I'm telling you the things that I do or that Yes. You know, my, my family and friends and I do and mm-hmm. I think it's, it's the small things. I mean, Fairbanks is, is an interesting place because there's, it's so spread out.

Yeah.

And so doing, it's sort of like, it's the small things that count around here. 

Yeah. Absolutely. I totally agree with that., I think too, you know, when you were talking about it, depending on the time of year, I think even in summer, it depends, you know, 'cause Fairbank's more than, like if you're in, say, catch a can or Seward.

It's rainy a lot, right? So yeah, there's a difference between June and August and September, but it's not as dramatic as it is in Fairbanks. You know, where like June and July you can have those like really hot days and it's. Usually sunny and the, and it's light all the time. And then August is kind of rainy and September thero.

So even like within like the typical visitor season, you know, like when we were talking about floating the chin, like that's awesome, but like there's not a lot of days in like late August and September when you're gonna wanna do that even though you technically could. 

Yeah, it depends. And I mean the weather.

Has become so variable and unpredictable. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. At this point mm-hmm. That it's kind of hard to say anymore. 

Yeah. 

September can be my absolute favorite month here. 

I know. 

It's so pretty Or it can be awful. 

I know. 

Um, I mean it can, the, when the colors are happening and the sky is blue and the temperature's getting crisp, um, yeah, 

it is 

really 

magic.

It's magical. Um, and. And you start to, it's like you remember that there are stars 'cause it finally gets dark enough at night that you are like, oh, I've missed you. 

Stars Auroras, hello friends. Yeah, 

yeah, 

yeah, for sure. Okay, so Kelsey, I wanna wrap up with a couple questions that I ask everyone who comes on the podcast.

So the first one is, what's your favorite restaurant? In Fairbanks. 

Ooh, 

good luck. 'cause there's a lot of good ones. 

That's hard.

I don't know if you're gonna count it as a restaurant, but it's Marlowe's Bakery.

Mm. It is kind of tucked away. You probably wouldn't run into it. , It's like behind the news mine building. Oh 

yeah. Okay. 

Unless you were looking for it. But man, they have some really, really good, I would say. Some of the best at this, like at this point in time in Fairbanks, according to me, baked goods, including very delicious rhubarb, mini tart thing.

What? I'm going, 

yeah, 

I'm going 

tomorrow with it. 

Oh, that's okay. So Kelsey, can you explain where that is to people who are like, what the heck is the news miner? Like where, where are we talking about? 

You're testing my skills because I 

mean, it doesn't, I don't necessarily mean like the address, but like roughly where is it?

Yeah. 

So 

listeners, when you're somewhere like Fairbanks or kind of anywhere that's not Anchorage, people tend to say like, oh, it's by this other thing. Or it's like, at the end of town, or the beginning of town, or, and Fairbanks is really spread out, so people don't say that. But um, yeah, it's like a different way of talking about where things are.

Okay. So where, how would you try to explain it, Kelsey? 

Sure., So if you're downtown, downtown is on the south side of the river basically. And this is on the north side of the river, across the river from downtown. On, uh, if you basically taking Cushman North and you take a, uh, left. By, well, what's the big I is kinda a big, uh, landmark.

The bar. Yeah. The big I and then past that is the news minor building, and so it's kind of tucked away back there by the railroad depot. 

Yes. That makes sense. Good job. Way to go. Okay, so last but not least, Kelsey, if you're thinking about someone who's preparing to visit Alaska for the first time, what's your top piece of advice for them?

Well come to Fairbanks obviously. 

Obviously Fairbanks is kind of 

overlooked, the folk school 

destination. It is way more awesome than people think it's gonna be. Unless they're expecting Tidewater glaciers, which Fairbanks doesn't have. 

Right? Yeah., But we have other glaciers nearish to us. 

Yeah, for sure.

I think the thing that I would say, which feels slightly like repeating myself, but don't try to do it all. Yeah, there are such huge distances in Alaska there. , Just to give an example, I get, . I get messages from friends in the lower 48 being like, oh my gosh, there's a big earthquake.

Are you okay? Which is really sweet and I appreciate people caring and asking. Yeah. But I'm like, there was an earthquake where, and then I look it up and I realize that it's like in the illusions or something and I have to tell them, okay, you live in Texas. That's like if there was an earthquake, , in the Dakotas.

Yes. 

Um, 

right. 

It's really far away. 

Yes, 

yes. And so the distances are huge. It's hard to get, you know, it takes time to get between places. The geography is super varied, it's super diverse. Ecologically, socially, culturally, all of it. Just plan to come back again. Don't try to do it all because it's, each place is so unique and there's so much to dig into that.

Yeah, just you'll hurt yourself trying. Yes. 

Yes. I feel like some variation on what you've just said, Kelsey is like the most common answer for people who come on the pi, some, some variation of I believe it. It's huge and you know, I have to say. I've told this story on the podcast before about how long my list of things is, of places I'd like to go in Alaska and I lived there for eight years and I spend like three months a year there.

So like, and that list gets longer every year, not shorter. 'cause I meet more people and get more ideas and. You know, that's just how it is. And like there's plenty of people who were born and raised and have lived in Alaska their entire life and are seniors now and are like, oh, I haven't even seen a tiny percentage of this state.

You know? 

Totally. 

Yeah. Well, Kelsey, it was so wonderful having you today. Thank you so much for sharing about Fairbanks, sharing about the folk school and how travelers can have a deeper experience. Thank you so much for being here. 

Yeah, thanks for having me. It was nice chatting, 

and I'll put the, link to the Fairbanks Folk School and their programs in the show notes.

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