7 minute read
Music in the trees
from The Lowdown
Music in the Trees: Belwin’s bird’s-eye view
BY CORINNE STREMMEL STAFF WRITER
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Belwin Conservancy wants to bring attention to its red pine forest, and it’s doing so by placing dozens of musicians in tree stands 16 feet above the ground for the aptly named “Music in the Trees.”
From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Aug. 13 and 14, visitors can come to Belwin’s educational site at 1553 Stage Coach Trail South in Afton to see music performed from new heights.
“It celebrates our red pine forest, which is starting to die. I wanted to bring in people to appreciate the forest,” said Belwin’s Program Director Susan Haugh. “It’ll be mostly duets, who (will) improvise based on how they feel or the sounds they hear in the forest.”
Belwin Conservancy wants this to be an opportunity to educate visitors about the forest while they enjoy some unique music. The conservancy is working to transition the forest from red pine to a more diverse set of trees including oak, white pine and other native trees and plants.
“Eco patches” of 10 feet by 10 feet each contain one tree to replace the many red pines that have been lost because of damage by bark beetles.
“We want to prevent having a monoculture,” said Haugh. “These trees were dying because of the bark beetle, and (red pines) aren’t really supposed to be in this kind of climate.”
From the early to mid-1900s, red pines were planted all across the U.S. to prevent soil erosion and because the trees were known to grow quickly. Belwin’s red pine forest was planted in 1933,
Instead of a stage, these musicians play from 16 feet in the air.
SHARON SYKORA | CONTRIBUTED
Meanwhile, on the ground, dancers perform a routine at Belwin.
but Minnesota’s climate wasn’t conducive to the health of these trees. The red pine forest is now nearing 100 years old and has started to become crowded, cutting out other plant life that would support biodiversity.
“The goal is to get people out in the forest to love it and appreciate it and learn what a healthy ecosystem should look like,” said Haugh.
Belwin Conservancy adopted this combination of music and conservation education in 2019. Since then, Belwin has brought in a wide range of diverse artists who also share an appreciation for nature.
‘Music in the Trees’ was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, one that I will treasure and replay many times in my memory,” said musician “Reggie” Armond Neal, who performed at the event in 2021. “The opportunity to interact with the audiences and to be sheltered by the trees (in all senses of the word) in the natural, spiritual environment was very humbling and cannot be overvalued.”
This year, Belwin is inviting singer-songwriters Barrel Flash and Tricky Position to create songs and instrumental pieces with audiences. Dance troupe Young Dance will spend the final hour of each day helping visitors of all ages and abilities to engage with the dancers. Titambe West African Dance Ensemble of Minnesota will close out the event on Sunday.
The event is intended for people of all age groups and abilities who are interested in enjoying a unique musical experience in the trees.
Staff Writer Corinne Stremmel can be reached by calling 651-407-1226 or emailing lowdownnews@presspubs. com.
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The dream house: Venturing into the ‘Barbie Room’
—Lynne Abbott
BY NOELLE OLSON SHOREVIEW PRESS EDITOR
For 10 years, Lynne Abbott’s Barbie collection was hidden from the world.
“The Barbies have taken a few international journeys,” Abbott said. “When my husband John and I sold our home in Sydney, Australia 10 years ago, we packed up the Barbie collection and took them out of storage when we moved here to Shoreview.”
Over 1,000 Barbie dolls and accessories are displayed in a room Abbott affectionally calls “the Barbie room.”
“There are Barbies of all shapes and sizes,” Abbott said. “I also have 200 more Barbie dolls that are not on display in the Barbie room.”
Abbott said she started collecting Barbies years ago for one of her daughters.
“My middle daughter Kristi is one of the reasons I became interested in Barbies,” Abbott said. “When she was 2, Kristi discovered Barbies when her older sister was given a Barbie who played with it for about five minutes. Then Kristi played with it for about three hours and she was hooked.”
Kristi then would get Barbies for Christmas and birthdays. She had her Barbie collection by time she was 14 years old.
One year the family went on vacation and Kristi put all of her Barbies in a backpack and left it in the hotel on the way to the airport.
“She was devastated because she lost all of her ‘80s Barbies,” Abbott said. “Right after that I found out I had a form of cancer and I decided I would like to leave a legacy for each of my children. I asked Kristi if she wanted me to build her a Barbie collection and reinstate all of her ‘80s Barbies. And that opened up Pandora’s box.”
After a year of radiation therapy, Abbott was cancer-free. She continued to find Barbie dolls for Kristi in Australia.
“When I started doing this collection for Kristi, the availability of dolls in Australia was just not there,” Abbott said. “So, I started purchasing them when I came back to wAmerica.”
John, a Mounds View High School graduate, had family in Minnesota so the couple traveled back and forth from Australia to the U.S.
Before they retired, the couple owned a management training business.
“We used to run leadership programs and finance programs and one of our big clients was Mattel in southeast Asia,” Abbott said. “I took a tour of the Mattel factory and was amazed how Barbies are made.”
“Like the natural eyelashes where a woman sews the hair eyelashes in and then another person cuts them according to the length they want for that each particular doll,” she added. “My appreciation for them grew when I got to see what went on behind the scenes.”
Some of the Barbie dolls and accessories in the Barbie room include — holiday, Disney, Marilyn Monroe, Skipper, Ken, “Gone with the Wind,” Barbie vehicles and a 1961 all cardboard Barbie house.
There’s even a tree with hanging Barbie ornaments in the Barbie room.
One of Abbott’s favorites in the collection is the ethnic Philippines Barbies. “They are extremely beautiful and unique,” she said.
“In the beginning, I wasn’t quite as properly focused on what to collect,” she said. “Occasionally I would see something that would grab my fancy.”
For the last few years Abbott has focused on collecting vintage Barbie dolls.
“It has been an education and I see the influence it had on Kristi where she’s gone with her career,” Abbott said. “She went on to get an arts degree and an MBA. Now she’s a fully-fledged artist. I think Barbie had something to do with that.”
Shoreview Press Editor Noelle Olson can be reached at shoreviewnews@presspubs.com or 651407-1229.
