Duluth Winter Village features local businesses
Written by Cate Tanner | Archived Nov. 10, 2020
The Historic Glensheen Estate, operated by UMD. Photo courtesy of Duluth Winter Village.
Glensheen will be hosting Duluth Winter Village for a second year on Saturday, Dec. 2 and Sunday, Dec. 3 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. The event features an outdoor market, composed of local businesses nestled in their own Winter Village cabins.
Local businesses operate out of the Winter Village cabins. Photo courtesy of Duluth Winter Village.
The event is organized by Duluth Loves Local, a volunteer group that promotes shopping locally and is sponsored by local businesses. It is meant to bring awareness and support to local businesses, according to Duluth Loves Local member Mallory Moore.
“We wanted to make it easy to shop over the holiday season, and since Duluth is so long and narrow it’s sometimes hard to go [to all the shops],” Moore said. “So we decided it would be easy to put them all in one place for the weekend, so there’s no excuse to not shop local.”
Photo courtesy of Duluth Winter Village.
Moore says that shopping local helps maintain community components, such as the maintaining of the many Duluth trails and outdoor or water-related activities.
“The things we have going on are backed by local businesses,” Moore said. “So to keep what you like to do in Duluth going, it costs money, and the city can't always afford that, and that's where nonprofits need support.”
Carys Jeffrey, a senior studying history at UMD, is an employee at Glensheen. She says that she will be attending the Winter Village again this year.
“I love getting local stuff for my family, my parents especially,” Jeffrey said. “It’s cool to have something with a little bit more sentimental value.”
Jeffrey says that shopping local “is super important”, and many of the local businesses feature limited-edition items just for the event.
Photo courtesy of Duluth Winter Village.
“If you’re a UMD student, you have a free classic tour with your student ID at the mansion, so if you go to Glensheen you can go to Winter Village and go see all the Christmas trees in the house,” Jeffrey said. “Make a whole day of it.”
The event is free to enter, and features bonfires, a beer tent and activities for children and families. There will be free shuttles to and from the event, with pickup and drop-off spots at UMD’s B Lot and Congdon Elementary School. Tours are available every hour until 5 p.m. with the purchase of tickets, sold on-site. There will not be parking available at Glensheen.