Arts and Crafts in Little Falls, Minnesota

Little Falls Arts & Crafts and Market Place Fairs

One of the biggest and most highly anticipated events in Little Falls is the annual Little Falls Arts & Crafts and Market Place Fairs. With over 600 artisan, food, and market place vendors, it is one of the largest arts and crafts fairs in the Midwest that has happened the first weekend after Labor Day for 49 years. There’s something for everyone at this massive event. You can find handmade signs, clothes, jewelry, bags, hats, toys, decorations, and so much more! And while your browsing through the hundreds of different booths, you’ll also find several different food vendors serving up anything and everything from kettle corn and ice cream to cheese curds and corn dogs. This event stretches from Downtown Little Falls across the Broadway Bridge and spills over into LeBourget Park where you can find even more arts, crafts, and antiques.

The Gail & Ax Mural

While you’re walking around the arts and crafts fair, you’ll also notice several murals throughout the city. One such mural is The Gail & Ax Mural. Many people, upon first seeing this mural, believe that it is in favor of tobacco use, but it actually shows awareness for when people started to discover the harm tobacco causes. If you look at the headstones in the cemetery, you’ll see, in place of names, there are words and dates. The words, “asleep,” “awake,” and “awareness,” are meant to signify the times in which people were unaware, starting to learn, and became aware of tobacco’s harmful effects. This mural was completed by Frank Gosiak with the help of students in 2000.

Days From The Past Mural

Another mural you might see is the Days From The Past Mural on what was formerly Pete and Joy’s Bakery and is now the Little Falls Bakery and Deli. Upon first glance, the mural seems like a simple depiction of a city street, but if you look closer, you’ll notice that there are older vehicles, tepees, and even Charles Lindbergh’s plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, in the background with more modern buildings and cars appearing at the forefront. This mural was completed in 1994 by Frank Gosiak and a group of around 25 kids ranging in age from 10-18 years old. The children were used as models to create the people in the artwork as well as some other Little Falls natives appearing in the painting including Gosiak’s niece, Gabrielle Meyer, who is now a published author.

The Lumber Mural

As you cross the bridge to the west side of Little Falls, you may notice a large mural to your left. Appearing on the side of the Hennepin Paper Co. warehouse on Broadway Avenue West across from the Northern Pacific Railway Depot, this mural, also completed by Frank Gosiak, shows Little Falls from the logging era. In it, you will find the Larson Boat factory on the left side of the mural which is now Wabasha and the Hennepin Paper Mill on the right. The ruins of the paper mill are now known as Mill Park.

The Main Street Mural

On the street side of the Hennepin Paper Co. warehouse, you’ll find another mural by Frank Gosiak completed in 1991. For this, The Main Street Mural, Gosiak used adult volunteers to complete the large painting which depicts the main street of Little Falls in the 1900s. Although people’s initial reaction to the mural as it was being painted was negative, people began to respond differently as it reached completion. It quickly became, and still is, a favorite.

To learn more about other art and murals around Little Falls, click here.

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