Somehow I managed to pass three winters in Minnesota without visiting the Art Shanties.

Boy, was I missing out.

I finally went yesterday, and I can’t recommend the shanties emphatically enough. At some point—maybe it was while watching people pedal stationary bicycles attached to generators powering coffeemakers in the Ped Pex Power Pod; eating a $1 hot dog in the warming house; reading the Post Secret-style confessions stapled to the outside of the Confessions Shanty; watching countless dogs and children on sleds skitter across the ice; witnessing a spontaneous dance party outside the Dance Shanty; admiring the origami hanging from the ceiling of the Paper Shanty (the shanty itself made entirely from paper projects); getting my picture taken in the Snap Shot Shanty; or, most likely, standing at the top of the Third Level shanty and looking out at Medicine Lake and the hundreds of people, animals, structures, and vehicles scattered across what is, I kept having to remind myself, nothing more than a few feet of frozen water—I decided I wanted to promise myself I’d never take anything (namely my creative instinct, my friends, and my surroundings) for granted again. I wanted to promise myself I would create at least one new thing every day. I wanted to promise myself I’d never complain about winter again. And I grew good-naturedly angry with myself and anyone else who isn’t as imaginative as the people who built the shanties.

I promise I’ll stop merely wanting to make those promises and actually make them.

More here.