Warm, Fuzzy, and Brown: Free First Saturday February

With this year’s field spotted with large brown patches instead of snow drifts there was little to do but make the best of the unseasonably warm Saturday.  Local artist Andy DuCett and our own Scott Stulen led Snow Solutions, an answer to those aching to roll sticky snow into satisfying spheres and cubes and fulfill their snow-sculpting needs.  Instead of snow the medium this year was cardboard.  Kids folded and shaped brown slabs into magnificent winter creations.  At the end of the day all that was missing was a cardboard snowball fight.

 

 Local artist Amanda Lovelee graced us with her presence again after an inspiring FFS event in September and returned with the idea for an Emotional Warming Hut.  Kids made valentines for residents of local nursing homes and enjoyed freshly baked cookies while they learned how bees cuddle to stay warm in the winter, a workshop taught by Terry McDaniel, president of the Minnesota Hobby Beekeepers Association.

 

 

In the Cowles Conservatory kids constructed their own imaginative gardens by using yarn to wrap branches and other shapes while the film Lost & Found played in the U.S. Bank Orientation Lounge.  Based on the book by Oliver Jeffers, the film illustrates a touching friendship between a tenacious penguin and a little boy.  Also Kare 11 stopped by to showcase our enthusiasm.  

 

Though the field was brown this month the spirit was celebratory and smelled of homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Join us for another community building event at the next Free First Saturday in March!