White Bear Lake by the Hour

9 a.m.

Start the morning off right with breakfast at one of the many cafes and bakeries around downtown. Locals love the traditional breakfast options at Cobblestone Cafe and Keys Cafe & Bakery. Lighter eaters will find something quick to enjoy in the form of pastries and espresso from Grandma’s Bakery.

10 a.m.

By Zoe Deal

SPRING IS NEARLY HERE, and for local kids, that means one thing: spring break! And while our sights may be set on far-off, warm places as this Minnesota winter comes to an end, many of us will likely find ourselves indulging in a well-deserved staycation.

Yes, there may be an inclination to cozy up at home during break, but let us not forget that White Bear Lake was once a vacation destination in its own right. Even before the lake melts and boats return to White Bear Lake, there’s so much to enjoy about our hometown, and we’re ready to prove it.

“Both residents and visitors are so proud of this community,” says Lisa Beecroft, Editorial Advisory Board member and owner of Beecroft Marketing & Events. “You can see it in the beauty of the landscape and the buildings—all the love that people put into the things that they have. It just makes it wonderful for everybody to come to the White Bear area and enjoy all of the different amenities.”

Wondering where to start? With the help of Beecroft and our community, we’ve come up with some suggestions— one for almost every hour—of the best ways to enjoy your hometown staycation.

In White Bear Lake’s resort days, the area was a mecca for lake adventures. Enjoy the natural bounty of the area before the ice melts with an ice fishing excursion on the lake. If it’s your first time, make sure to keep an eye out for the lake’s natural springs as the weather warms, and hire a local guide. Or take the family skating indoors during open skate at the White Bear Lake Sports Center ($5 per person, $4 skate rentals available; 9–11 a.m., weekdays).

11 a.m.

Embrace the area’s legacy of lake resort leisure by making an appointment at one of the area’s many spas and salons. Families with older children (16 and under, with chaperone/waiver) may enjoy a massage or facial at Sunbear Salon & Medical Spa or Indulge Salon and Spa, both located downtown.

Noon

Once you’ve worked up an appetite, choose from one of many fantastic restaurant options around the lake. Some 2022 Readers' Choice favorites for a sit-down menu include Brickhouse Food and Drink and Washington Square Bar & Grill, or try take-out at Eat! @ Banning and 5th or Alleycat’s Gourmet Sandwiches if you’re not ready to slow down.

1 p.m.

One of the main draws for visitors is White Bear Lake’s downtown core, but it has much to offer locals, too. “I love walking around downtown,” Beecroft says. “... certainly there’s always something to find.” Start off on Washington Square Avenue, and stroll in a square around the block, down Third Street, Banning Avenue and Fourth Street. Don’t miss some of the newer businesses, including Roam Bike Shop, Haus Theory and Oldies & Goodies.

2 p.m.

White Bear Lake is well known for its artistic side, which can be seen in full force with a visit to the White Bear Center for the Arts (WBCA). Along with courses on a variety of mediums, WBCA has rotating gallery exhibitions that are open to the public and an art shop where visitors can purchase works by local makers.

3 p.m.

It’s time to get outside! “My first draw is always the lake,” Beecroft says. “So much of what we build and do is around the lake.” History lovers will enjoy the historic homes and lake views along Lake Avenue near downtown. Bring the kids to Discovery Hollow Nature Play Area at Tamarack Nature Center to enjoy fort building, climbing and other nature-based play.

4 p.m.

After your outdoor explorations, warm up with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate from The Anchor Coffee House or a sweet treat from Orso Bianco Gelato, and enjoy some quiet reading or browsing at Lake Country Booksellers in downtown White Bear Lake or the local branch of Ramsey County Library.

5 p.m.

Enjoy dinner at one of the area’s many premier dining establishments. Mizu Japanese (Beecroft’s top pick for its sushi), Acqua Restaurant & Bar,

Rudy’s Redeye Grill and Manitou Bar + Kitchen are popular destinations for dinner located within walking distance of the lake

6 p.m.

If you have time, don’t miss watching the sunset from a local beach. Even when the lake is frozen, you can expect beautiful colors to fill the sky above the lake on clear evenings.

7 p.m.

Try to align your day on the town with a show at Hanifl Performing Arts Center. March 10 is the opening night of Calendar Girls , a production by the Lakeshore Players Theatre in its 70th season. Families with children age 10 and older will enjoy The Giver , which opens on April 14.

8 p.m.

It’s been a long day! End your tour of White Bear Lake with a nightcap at The Alchemist or Big Wood Brewery before settling in for the evening at your home or local lodging.

Retiree’s art collection takes shape and color.

Settled in a colorful home in White Bear Lake, a 5-foot-tall ceramic giraffe sports a cigarette hanging from its mouth. Dangly diamond-like earrings and gaudy gold boots complete the look.

“It’s fun, and I get a kick out of her,” says Kathy Hoelscher. “That’s why I bought her.”

Hoelscher collects art but doesn’t consider herself an art collector, never mind the eyecatching glass pieces and vibrant paintings that dot her Lake Avenue home.

“It just happened,” Hoelscher says. “I’m not an artist, and there’s no theme or anything like that. If I see something I like, I’ll try to get it.”

Hoelscher’s collection, pieced together over some 30 years, is best described as eclectic. There’s blown glass; vibrant oil, soft watercolor and encaustic (hot wax) paintings; and rudimetary metal sculptures. There’s even a garden sculpture shaped with old bowling balls.

Hoelscher’s pieces have come from all over the world. She purchased a watercolor in France and a smaller painting in Ireland. There’s a piece from Venice and several from London.

“I like to buy from street painters,” Hoelscher says. She’ll often purchase the art and then have a photo taken with the artist.

How does she know when she wants to make a purchase? Does she consider the difficulties of carrying art up and down the cobbled streets of foreign countries?

“You never know if you’ll ever be back,” she says. “I usually buy small paintings. They’re unframed, and they’re easy to carry.”

Though she’s had pieces shipped back to the states, more often she comes prepared. She always starts a trip with empty space in her luggage. She also buys local. In fact, White Bear Lake artist Mike Judy is one of her favorites. She enjoys going to the American Craft Council show in St. Paul each year and also fancies Art at St. Kate’s, Saint Paul Art Crawl and the Art-A-Whirl in northeast Minneapolis.

She really loves the crawls, as that’s a format that allows attendees to visit one gallery after another. “Going to studios and galleries [is] like going to art museums,” Hoelscher says.

Hoelscher’s passion for art comes, in part, because of the opportunity for different interpretations.

One of her favorites, a piece titled Boys, Girls and Oranges from Russian-American painter Alexandra Rozenman, is a perfect example. A pair of baby carriages can be found in the lower right corner of the painting, but the viewer’s eye immediately goes there. The carriages are illuminated from what could be a harvest moon. There is a tapestry and a grouping of four oranges.

A flowing glass sculpture sits on the wall of Hoelscher’s kitchen. It reminds her of a fish at sea. To her neighbor, it looks exactly like an electric guitar. They’re both right.

“What would we do without art?” Hoelscher says.

Collector James L’Arbalestier wrote in his autobiography, “Beware of acquiring things of the same nature: two is a coincidence; three is a collection.”

Hoelscher has an art collection by any definition.

“I’m running out of space,” she says. As a remedy, she’ll relegate some of her tired pieces to less-used places in her home. “I have a couple pieces I only see when I do the laundry, but I still like seeing them, and they still make me happy,” she says.

She also has pieces displayed (stored) upstairs. What she won’t do is part with any of them. “Oh, no, I’m not selling,” she says.

Her philosophy, first and foremost, is to purchase art that makes her happy. Whether she has a place for it is a consideration, but not a major factor. And, yes, she likes functional art like lamps and tables (one of her treasures, purchased in Door County, Wisconsin, is a handcrafted end table made from authentic beaver-gnawed sticks), but she doesn’t seek them out. Instead, functionality is a bonus.

One of her oldest collections consists of 10 antique water pitchers. They’re each unique and very colorful. They sit in an inviting sort of way atop her kitchen cupboards.

Hoelscher isn’t comfortable calling herself a collector, nor is she comfortable admitting her art has a theme.

But to anyone who visits, her theme is obvious. It’s colors. Bright, bold colors. The reds are rambunctious, and the blues are boisterous. The yellows yell. And somehow it all fits together. The flat art, waxy art and glass art all get along. The square pegs (willow lamp base, beaver-gnawed table and patinaed brass bear) fit right in.

“There’s no rhyme or reason, but my art makes me happy,” Hoelscher says. That’s reason enough.

Kassina Folstad is paving her own path with design studio and shop

Hello Norden.

WRITTEN BY ZOE DEAL PHOTOS BY TAYLOR HALL O’BRIEN

Sitting in the black-walled office of her St. Paul home, architectural and interior designer Kassina Folstad oozes an effortless cool. Her wavy hair is pushed casually atop her head, just grazing her slate gray Guns N’ Roses T-shirt. In the portrait on her website, Folstad is sporting big glasses and a bold lip; today, she’s fresh faced yet looking just as enigmatic. And if it wasn’t for the occasional coughing fit (she has a cold), one would think her gravelly voice just another layer to her self-described outlier status.

Though Folstad characterizes herself as both modest and introverted, she speaks about her business and personal life with a measured self-assurance. It’s well deserved. In seven years as owner and principal designer at Hello Norden, a Minneapolis design studio and shop, she’s staked her place in the industry through a distinct business offering and rugged Northern style.

That Folstad found her way into this work has much to do with her upbringing in Mahtomedi in a family of building hobbyists. “Nights and weekends, they would build their own homes,” she says of her parents and uncles. Over the years, their impact added up. “On the street that we lived on, for example, my family built, probably, I would say around 10 of the houses,” Folstad says.

When a young Folstad, known then as Sina Zimmerman, wasn’t biking around town, drinking root beer floats at Four Seasons or playing competitively in the local soccer league, she recalls the long days helping her family build homes and cabins from the ground up. “There’s video footage of my cousin and me being on the second floor of the house, no railings of course … just hammering nails in the subfloor,” Folstad says. “It was just kind of a cool family thing.”

Building a Business

The skills honed over the decades, from both her family and schooling (Folstad has degrees in computer science and visual communications/business from the University of St. Thomas) have given her a unique perspective when it comes to home and interior design. “It bred a lot of hard work,” she says.

Though she spent years in advertising and as an independent consultant doing large program development, Folstad never stopped pursuing the family trade in her free time. “I bought my own first house when I was 25 and ripped the roof off it, put a second story on it and completely changed the main level layout,” she says.

But it wasn’t until complications arose during the birth of her daughter in 2015 that Folstad considered capitalizing on her building and design skills.

“I started [Hello Norden] out of necessity when my daughter nearly died in childbirth,” Folstad says. After the traumatic birth experience, her daughter spent the first weeks of her life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Minnesota and later spent months in and out of appointments with a handful of specialists. The emotional toll and financial strain of the situation led Folstad to pivot the course of her life and career to support her daughter.

“I suffered a lot with the trauma of what happened to my daughter. I was just a deer in the headlights for the first three years because I just had to make money,” Folstad says. “I just had to make it work.”

Initially, Folstad would walk through homes with Realtors and potential buyers, giving them ideas and renovation dollar amounts on the fly. When the home sold, she was hired to do the work. A year in, she was doing $100,000 projects. “It didn’t surprise me because that’s literally what I did my whole life, so I thought, ‘Cool, here we go!’” Folstad says.

Homes that Heal

Though Hello Norden’s scope has changed in the years since—now honing in on complete architectural and interior transformations—the presence of mind and heart in her designs stems from this origin story.

“When something happens to the magnitude of what happened to me, it changes you forever and makes you appreciate life,” Folstad says. She simplified her approach to work and life in Hello Norden’s first years, tuning into what made her feel whole.

To Folstad, this apothecary bath reflects the signature Hello Norden look. With a stunning array of textures, high-end finishes and a vanity made from found materials, this modern yet vintage space communicates the warmth and ingenuity that Folstad seeks to bring to every project.

Originally a living room, each wall of Folstad’s bedroom received its own architectural update. Windows were removed, then added; materials were repurposed from other areas of the home; doorways switched walls. The updated space is both moody and cozy, with each wall being home to a distinct architectural element: traditional beadboard (painted a soft black), historic Midwest street pavers and (not pictured) wood paneling, a vintage barn door and a reclaimed University of Minnesota bookcase. With a desire to keep the architecture as the focal point, Folstad chose simple, bold furnishings. One of her favorite elements is the distinct lighting fixture made up of various sizes of hanging, exposed light bulbs tied in a knot.