A Downtown Bemidji Weekend Through the Sculpture Walk

Walk past Tutto Bene on Third Street some morning this month and you'll see a new bronze piece parked at the corner, something you might not remember from last summer. That's because it isn't from last summer. In early June, volunteers with the Bemidji Sculpture Walk pulled out last year's rotation and installed 19 new works across downtown, the 27th year they've done this, according to the Brainerd Dispatch. The new works offer a fresh way to explore downtown.

Here are a few details to know before you set out.

What actually changed this year

The nonprofit board that runs the walk installed 15 official new pieces plus four special contributions in early June, joining roughly two dozen sculptures that stay up year-round. For the first time, there's no printed brochure. Every piece now carries a QR code that links to an artist profile on bemidjisculpture.com, a cost and carbon-footprint call the board made this cycle. A large-format map is also in the works for the blue kiosks scattered downtown, though that project is still in progress.

Some of what's on the ground right now:

• "Mer/Man" by Andrew Pudas, outside Tutto Bene at Third Street Northwest and Beltrami Avenue
• "Bam Bam" by Canadian sculptor Jordan Bouchard, installed inside myBemidji at 301 Bemidji Avenue North, a new twist on the walk this cycle
• "Rusty," part of the walk's emerging-artist track, also at Third and Beltrami
• "Will Weaver" by Milligan Studio, across from the Beltrami County Courthouse at Fifth Street Northwest and Beltrami
• "The Moon Dreaming of Itself," also by Milligan Studio, outside Wild Hare Bistro at Sixth Street Northwest and Minnesota Avenue
• "Pierre" by Josh Daily, in front of Raphael's Bakery on Minnesota Avenue
• "Flower Power" by Keith Raivo, outside Harmony Natural Foods Co-op at Third Street Northwest and Irvine Avenue
• "Alegria" by Sue Suess, in front of Patterson's Clothing at Third and Beltrami

Together, the locations offer a route through downtown. The sculptures listed here are displayed at downtown businesses, including one installed inside myBemidji. The walk's stated goals include drawing foot traffic downtown and supporting host businesses.

The walk's history and purpose

The Bemidji Sculpture Walk started in 1999, developed by volunteers working with what was then the Bemidji Community Arts Center. That organization is now the Watermark Art Center, which still sits at 505 Bemidji Avenue North and still, in a roundabout way, keeps a hand in the walk's original mission. One of the board's stated goals has always been to draw foot traffic downtown and support the businesses that host the work. Tim Nelsen, a board member and longtime contributor to the walk, put it simply a few years back:

"I don't think people here realize how unique that is."

— Tim Nelsen, as quoted by the Bemidji Pioneer

He was talking about having a sculpture walk in a town this size, a point that gives the annual downtown route its broader context.

This year's sculptures are displayed at Harmony Natural Foods Co-op, Patterson's Clothing, Raphael's Bakery, Wild Hare Bistro, myBemidji, and Tutto Bene, including one inside myBemidji, providing a route through downtown.

The calendar closes the loop this fall

The timing lines up in a way that makes late August through October the one stretch where the whole cycle is visible on a single loop through downtown.

Watermark also runs a recurring First Friday Art Walk, which means the same organization that started the Sculpture Walk in 1999 is now hosting its own gallery openings a few blocks from the sculptures it helped put on the map decades ago. If you walk the market on a Saturday morning and swing by the art center for the September 4 reception, you're covering most of downtown's current art and retail footprint in one outing.

Other downtown businesses to know

A handful of downtown businesses have opened or changed addresses in recent seasons, offering additional places to explore.

As the Bemidji Pioneer reported, the old Elks Lodge building at Fourth Street and Beltrami Avenue Northwest was rebuilt into the 4th Street Lofts, a boutique hotel and event venue. Chef Keng Dechawuth opened Blue Oyster inside, a Thai-American fusion restaurant named for the mushrooms he grows and cooks with himself, with a second concept, Chick N Rice, planned for the Fourth Street side of the same building. A few doors over, Accidentally Cool Games moved to 214 Third Street Northwest, a relocation co-owner Drew Hougard has said brought in new customers, and Ajijaak Creations, a laser-engraving gift shop named for the Ojibwe word for crane, has become a regular downtown stop. Bemidji Brewing at 211 America Avenue Northwest already has a foot in the arts calendar, regularly hosting Watermark's StorySLAM nights.

The Sculpture Walk offers another way to explore downtown alongside these businesses.

Walk it before the leaves turn

If you haven't been through downtown with fresh eyes since spring, this is the window. The sculptures are new, the market keeps running Saturdays into October, and Watermark's next show opens the same week most people are settling back into fall routines. Start at Third and Beltrami, work your way past Tutto Bene, myBemidji, and Patterson's, loop down to Harmony Co-op and Raphael's Bakery, and you'll see many of this year's sculptures and nearby downtown businesses.

Whenever you're ready to talk about what a home near this stretch of downtown is actually worth, or what's changed in the neighborhoods around it, The W Group is a call away. We watch this market the same way we watch the sculpture rotation: closely, and with an eye for what's actually changing versus what just looks the same from a distance.