Activate Rural Storytelling Project: Rusty Rock Community Guild
Rusty Rock Community Guild provides activities in community spaces in Buhl, Minnesota.
The Community
Nestled in the Mesabi Iron Range of northern Minnesota, Buhl (population 947) is a small community defined by its unique natural resources. The community began as a logging camp and was incorporated at the turn of the century, when it began to prosper as an iron ore mining town. Eight mines were at one point active in the Buhl area, and the population grew to over 2,000. With this influx of citizens and wealth, the community built beautiful public structures, as seen below in photos from the Minnesota Historical Society.
Today Buhl is known by its tagline boasting the "Finest Water in America" because the city water, which comes from a 700-ft deep glacial aquifer that is encased in 300 feet of solid granite, is one of the only municipal water supplies in the world that does not require treatment.
The Context
Though the exhaustion of the mines has changed the community’s economic landscape, Buhl is committed to sustaining its identity and its connection to nature. The former mines surrounding the community now serve as recreational areas for swimming, biking, disc golf, and more, and citizens of Buhl are working to create new uses for its vacant buildings.
A diverse group of local leaders, most of them mothers to young children, identified a need for a youth-focused community gathering space. They envisioned a place where young people could go after school to just hang out, do art projects, and commune with friends. Without a school in town, or even a restaurant, it was especially difficult to find organized things to do for youth ages 10-16.
Visit the community of Buhl on the Minnesota Iron Range, filmed during the Activate Rural site visit in 2023.
The Opportunity
These volunteers with a vision for a youth center saw an opportunity to activate the underutilized basement of the library building, a major hub of the community. They applied for the Activate Rural Learning Lab under the fiscal sponsorship of the City of Buhl, led by City Councilwoman Renee Loeffler. As a former juvenile probation officer and youth counselor, Renee had seen firsthand the positive influence that community care and adult leadership could have on youth and teens.
The group became known as the Buhl Youth Center and began holding activities in the library basement; soon after, however, they ran into some challenges securing the space and decided to begin utilizing other community spaces for their programming. While still focused on youth, they broadened their scope and changed their name to the Rusty Rock Community Guild (RRCG). RRCG began partnering with other sites all throughout their community, creating new opportunities for multigenerational connection and learning.
The Activation
The RRCG partnered with a number of other community organizations to host a diverse repertoire of programs, including:
Filipino lumpia-making classes at the senior center
Decorative wire-wrapped wine bottle class at the library
Teen Halloween dance at the community center
4th of July activities in the park
Throughout this series of events, the RRCG began a partnership with Cornerstone Villa, a senior living facility in Buhl. They offered space for art classes and events, creating a unique opportunity to host youth and people of all ages in a space typically reserved for the elderly. In total, the RRCG hosted nearly 20 events throughout their time in the Activate Rural Learning Lab, engaging over 150 individuals from their community along the way.
The Transformation
In addition to testing out many types of programming, the RRCG team helped their community discover that Buhl had a wealth of community spaces to be activated; they just needed the leadership and capacity to get things done. RRCG has spent the past few years refining their vision, building community partners, and developing their own organizational capacity to carry their programming forward. The group has applied for their own 501c3 status, created a website, brought on new volunteers, and received grant funding from their county to support programming.
Learn more about the creation of the Rusty Rock Community Guild and its programming throughout public spaces in Buhl.
The Future
Today, the Rusty Rock Community Guild continues programming and has put forward a proposal to the Buhl Public Library to pilot an ongoing youth center in the basement of the building–a full circle return to their initial vision. The goal is to create a safe place for kids to hang out after school until the library closes at 6pm, creating opportunities for young people to gather at the library in a space all their own. After all of the success of the multigenerational arts programming, the RRCG will also continue hosting monthly community events.
Follow Rusty Rock Community Guild’s journey at www.rustyrock.org