The Marine Mills Folk School Fall Festival will be on Saturday, September 20, 2025. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., attendees are invited to stop by and enjoy a variety of activities at the free outside community festival focused on craft and traditional skills, at Marine Mills Folk School (MMFS), a nonprofit arts education organization.

Celebrating community and art in the St. Croix Valley, festival activities include an Artists’ Marketplace featuring hand-crafted items from local and regional artists; a demonstration tent featuring artist demos and hands-on activities for all ages; children’s activities; live bluegrass music; a raffle of artisan items to benefit Marine Mills Folk School; sheep dog–herding demonstrations; Icelandic pony petting; food and beverages and more.

“It’s an opportunity for visitors who love to see the Fall colors of the Valley to interact with our incredible artists and teachers at their booths, where they are selling beautiful hand-crafted items,” says MMFS founder and board chair Robin Brooksbank. “Attendees can learn more about our traditional skills classes for adults as well as intergenerational classes. The sheep-dog herding demonstrations are especially crowd pleasers, as many younger folks have never seen working dogs other than on a screen. It’s easy to get to and just lots of fun – it’s a great family day!”

Since it first opened in October 2018, Marine Mills Folk School has continued to grow, increasing the number of classes offered, artisan-instructors it works with and community events it offers. Today, more than 120 instructors teach at the folk school, sharing their knowledge in woodcarving, fiber arts, fine arts, culinary arts
and foraging.

Popular classes that are held regularly at the folk school include Build a Wooden Paddle, Bread Baking, Barn/Hex Signs, Basket Weaving, Knitting, Spinning Wool,and Welding. At the 2025 Marine Fall Festival, artists will be demonstrating several of these art forms in a large ‘demonstration’ tent, including knitting, woodworking, and the making of socks on ingenious vintage machines originally from the late 1800’s.

Performing on the entertainment stage throughout the day will be the North Shore Trail bluegrass band, led by Randy and Sandy Gildersleeve. Randy is the leader of the folk school’s monthly Bluegrass Jam Sessions, whose participants will also perform on stage.

In addition, other local nonprofits are invited to share information about their missions. Food and beverages are available from the Scandia-Marine food truck, as well as from the Marine General Store and other vendors.

Details & More
The Marine Fall Festival takes place at Marine Mills Folk School, 550 Pine Street, Marine on St. Croix, MN 55047. This annual, family-friendly event is free and open to the public.

MMFS is grateful for our sponsors: the Scandia-Marine Lions Club provides tents and food for purchase. Security State Bank of Marine is a sponsor of the event. More information is available at MarineMillsFolkSchool.org.