People in the northern hemisphere recently observed the winter solstice, and for Minnesotans, that means the days are now getting longer, as we march towards summer. Compass took a trip to downtown Granite Falls, where bonfires line the streets in celebration of the winter solstice.
The celebration in downtown Granite Falls started out as a way for Bethany Naab to thank her customers, but also entice people to pop into her business, Stella and Poppy, which she started in 2004.
"I started actually in a hog barn on my property that we rebuilt, but it was a hog barn. Best smelling hog barn in Yellow Medicine county, probably," Naab said with a laugh.
Naab moved to Granite Falls about four years ago to a building on Second Street. She started her solstice celebrations then, but they weren't community-wide events. "It was a way to get people to notice my business here in town, since I was off the beaten path. I could have been in another county," she said. "Since then, I've bought a building here on Main Street and we have included all of the other businesses, and just tried to get people outside, which I think is always important. Everybody goes inside, which in the winter is a good thing to do, but it's nice to be able to get outside and get fresh air."
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The winter solstice, this year was on December 21, is the astronomical start of winter in the northern hemisphere, made distinct by being the darkest day of the year. Each business participating in the solstice event had fire pits in the street in front of their storefront, where people were encouraged to gather.
"We lose our sunshine quite quickly and so that is something with the fire. It is to bring light to our dark days," explained Naab. "We bring the light outside and it also draws people's attention to our businesses. Lets them know that we're open late. And what I've wanted to do with this event was to make it beneficial, not only for our businesses and to thank our customers, but to be able to make it beneficial to somebody in this community, which this year we decided to help the food shelf out."
Granite Falls Wood Works made the donation boxes that adorned participating businesses' counters, the cash contents benefiting the Neighbors United Resource Center Food Shelf, which Ray Martin runs. He was tending a much needed fire down the street that chilly December evening.
"Beth down at Stella and Poppy, she came to me and said, 'We're gonna have a food drive for you. Is that all right?' I said, 'Yeah, that's fine with me. Anytime I can get food, it's ... Because we feed quite a few people here in town,'" Martin said. "We feed right now about 100 families a month, and that's like 9,000 pounds of food that we give out."
Martin said that $179 was raised for the food shelf during the event and they collected about 140 food items.
Any business in town can partake in the freezing cold fun. There's no entry fee. Naab only has a few requests for participants: "All we ask is that you'll stay open til 8 p.m., have some fun and have bonfires."
Because 'tis the season to be freezing, so gather around the solstice community warmth.
