From the ecstatic moment a person arrives at Holden Village, an iconic retreat center located in the heart of Washington’s North Cascades Mountains that offers visitors a unique opportunity to step into the wilderness they are greeted with a “Hosti”. This person designs a sign with your name on it to welcome you to the village and answer any questions you may have. From the moment the school bus with Holden Village written on the side was in sight of the village entrance all the way to the time I stepped off said bus I was greeted by most, if not all, of the village waving at me and cheering for my arrival. Before even getting to the village I was required to complete a Child Safety Training which is crucial to the safety, comfort, and well-being of the children that reside in Holden Village. 

I realized that I’ve been saying Holden Village a few times now and some people might not know anything about it. First I want to acknowledge the original people living on this land. We live and gather upon the homelands of the Chelan, the Entiat, the P’Squosa, the Wenatchi-Colville and the Wenatchi-Yakama Tribal Nations. And we commit to resisting erasure of Indigenous people and stories, following Native leadership, and centering tribal voices. Here is some more info on the history of Indigenous people in the area of Holden Village. The official organization “Holden Village” started as a copper mining town. Here is a little bit about that copper mining history. 

Everyone’s travel choice is different when coming to Holden but my journey getting here was very elaborate. My mom and I drove two hours to the airport with stops. We took a 4 hour plane ride from Chicago to Seattle. Then we drove another 4 hours to Chelan, Washington where we stayed in a hotel for the night to then get on at a different boat landing than originally planned. The boat ride was about 45 minutes and then we got on a 45 minute school bus ride to Holden Village.

After finally, arriving at Holden my first thought was, is this a commune? But I later came to learn and humbly understood that it is simply a very rustic, community oriented place where everyone plays a role in the village. After 10+ hours of travel it was overwhelming but comforting to arrive to a warm welcome. I started at Holden around mid-May and I have been working as an Education Assistant where I have accomplished: making flyers to promote the incoming presenters(“teaching faculty”) and guest musicians for each week, setting up housing accommodations for teaching faculty and their guests for each of the 12 weeks of the summer, and setting up info about each faculty session/program per week. Soon I will move to working in “Narnia” the Village school where I will be working with the youth program coordinator. There I will be helping create curriculums and helping out with youth programming.

Esai Hernandez, Holden Village

It’s now been almost a week that I’ve been at the Grunewald Guild here in the mountains of Washington state, and I’m thoroughly excited for the months ahead. I’m staying in what’s called the Riverhouse, as it directly overlooks the river flowing 50 feet away from the back porch. This porch is one of my favourite places so far to sit and enjoy the area, as it’s fully screened in to keep the bugs away (mosquitos remain my arch-nemesis) and is beautifully lit with string lights in the evenings. The quiet rush of the flowing water is a constant and peaceful sound, and a wide range of birds fill the trees and air with their calls too. (There’s one critter that makes a fascinating little clicking sound sometimes and I can never find it, but it intrigues me.) I was surprised by how windy it gets here in the side of the valley given the mountains on either side and the tall pines packed pretty densely around us, but the breeze is nonetheless refreshing and gives the sense that the forest itself is breathing. There’s really just so much about the space here that I love, everything seems so contentedly alive and welcoming – the bright purple and red-orange flowers, the neon lime green moss, and the spiders weaving intricate lace across the corners of the porch.

Most of the projects I’ve been helping with so far have been focused on organizing and cleaning up some of the studio spaces in preparation for the start of summer programming, but today I helped ‘turn’ a bunch of the bedrooms, larger shared spaces, and outdoor landscaping to get them ready for when more guests come in a couple weeks. With the help of 3 other full-time staff members and a resident artist, we cleaned bedrooms, bathrooms, and studio and living spaces in four different buildings. Making beds and preparing bedding bundles were some of my favourite tasks, as well as wiping down all the surfaces and cleaning mirrors. We also walked quick loops around the buildings to check for wasp and other pest nests, and made sure all supply cabinets were stocked, whether with linens or a wide range of art supplies.

When I’m not helping organize and prepare spaces though, the staff here are really supportive and encourage me to explore my creativity and express the inspiration I experience. The campus is beautifully curated to inspire this sort of reflection and thoughtful consideration of the surroundings and one’s place within them, and that’s one theme I’ve been pondering more recently. The experience I’ve already had here in the mountains of Washington has been overwhelmingly one of intimate connection and intentional relationships both with the natural environment, and with the staff, volunteers, and guests here at the Guild. I’ve been trying to develop a better understanding of my relationships with the communities around me, and the time I’m spending here is definitely a helpful stepping stone in crossing that river.

Bianca Olfert, Grunewald Guild