Tag: Weiser

Bee Tree Folk School, Innovative, Creative, and A Vision for the Future!

Pythian Castle, 30 E Idaho St, Weiser, ID
Photo by Jaz Fagan

When you travel down Idaho Street in Weiser, you come upon this beautiful castle. It seems like you have walked out of a dream and stepped into an Arthurian legend of Camelot and Knights of the Round Table. It’s the Pythian Castle, which used to house the Knights of Pythias, Star Theater, and a mortuary. It seems almost surrealistic. This building at 30 E Idaho Street and another building at 8 E Idaho Street make up the Bee Tree Folk School.

Masonry work and stained glass windows commissioned by The Knights of Pythias
Photos by Jaz Fagan

The Pythian Castle was commissioned by the Knights of Pythias and was completed in 1904. The amazing masonry work is beautiful and seems daunting. Each stone block was quarried from Sand Hollow, Idaho, and carried over in wagons by Roberts and Sheff. The masonry work was done by Hamilton and Reader Masonries of Weiser. This architectural masterpiece will stand the test of time.

Great architectural structures at Pythian Castle
Photos Jaz Fagan

Pythian Castle had been what is now Star Theater, which was moved across the street. Going upstairs into the Grand Ballroom of Pythian Castle, you see theater seats, a movie screen, and a projector room. Many have argued that the theater wasn’t originally at the Pythian Castle, but here is proof positive that silent movies were indeed watched in the Grand Ballroom.

Movie seats, screen against the amazing ceiling , and projector holes for Star Theater.
Photos by Jaz Fagan

This is where the Knights of Pythias had their ceremonies and rites. The cub scouts probably met there as well. The Knights of Pythias donated their beautiful Grand Ballroom for silent movies and different community endeavors. There were 3 skeletons found in the Grand Ballroom, a real male skeleton, and a real female skeleton, as well as a plastic baby skeleton. There is some thought that they may have been used in the rites of the Knights of Pythias.

The building is owned by The Weiser Architectural Preservation Committee at this time. Dennis and Sandra Cooper hope to take over ownership of Pythian Castle before their four-year lease agreement comes due.

The Innovators; Dennis and Sandra Cooper

Dennis and Sandra Cooper
Photos by Jaz Fagan

Dennis is a well-known musician, sound technician, and computer tech. Sandy is an executive director of the Old Time Fiddlers, entrepreneur, and is self-made. They are both art patrons. They have been heavily involved in the Weiser community, supporting the Weiser Fiddle Festival for years. They have been working on the Bee Tree Folk School for about 20 years. It had been in the back of their minds, and circumstances being what they are, the dream was finally brought into fruition around 2017 when they got their NPO set up as a charitable and educational entity by Sandy.

Thanks to endowments from Roderick Emerson Simpson and the Robert Vassar estate, they have a collection of historical music manuscripts, a collection of Nigerian African art, beautiful pianos and organs, and many other wonderful artifacts that will comprise the museum portion of the school. They have also received a beautiful collection of glass bottles and antique furniture that make up the Simpson-Vassar Collection. This huge collection set the school back from opening by about a year and a half due to the urgency in getting the music instruments in place and getting items on display.

Various artifacts from the Simpson-Vassar Collection at the Bee Tree Folk School
Photos by Jaz Fagan

The Simpson-Vassar Collection is huge! When Dennis and Sandy received the endowment, they had no idea how large it truly was. It included 9 inventoried collections and 7 collections that had not been inventoried yet. The inventories had several rare antique pianos, organs, music manuscripts, Nigerian African Artworks, Nigerian African artifacts, antique glass bottles, furniture, paintings by Violet Simpson, as well as rare books. There is no way to put this entire collage on display at one time, so the Coopers, with help from the members of the board, and volunteers, will rotate the inventory of the museum by changing the displays out from time to time.

The collection of pianos, organs and other musical instruments.
Photos by Jaz Fagan

A Vision and a Dream Realized

Sandra and Dennis have a wonderful vision of what we would think of as a community college, but nothing about the Bee Tree Folk School is typical. With all of their hard work and stamina, they are seeing the dream become a reality with their soft opening on January 17, 2020. They will host a jam session at the school located at The Hive with musicians from all over southwest Idaho.

The Bee Tree Folk School is based on Frederik Grundtvig‘s theory of a folk school. He was a Renaissance man in the 18th and 19th centuries. He was a very forward thinker, and many embraced his ideologies. While he didn’t open a school of his own, many followed his philosophies of a learning center without tests, without exams, no passing grades, just a simple meeting of the minds where a person can grow and learn different crafts such as culinary arts, sewing, playing music, and learning various other crafts while in a setting with other like-minded individuals. The concept grew and became the folk schools of today.

Sandy and Dennis have a Grundtvig-like concept where people within their community of all socioeconomic circumstances can meet in a center of learning. You may not know what your passion is in life, but you can find it at the Bee Tree Folk School. It is nestled between two different buildings that will host different programs and events. You can become a musician, an artist, a culinary expert, a linguist, or anything you set your mind to do. There are no limits as to how far you can go.

There is a class on conversational Spanish already in place with an instructor and students. The Bee Tree Folk School isn’t going to be one particular thing, not just traditional arts. There will be classes offered that teach gardening, sewing, husbandry, and much more. The entire concept is about enabling people to be creative, doing something with their hands, and seeing a positive result at the end of the day for themselves and the community.

There are scholarships available for people in the community that don’t have the means to pay for classes. These scholarships are sponsored by various members of the Bee Tree Folk School board and members of the community. Bee Tree Folk School is partnering with the local after school programs and offering classes and various programs for different age groups.

They have a full kitchen at Pythian Castle, as well as a full kitchen at The Bee Hive. An individual can learn culinary arts and basic cooking skills. There is also a sewing machine set up where Sandy is teaching sewing skill classes. The concept of getting back to the roots of survival in an age of computers and the internet is endearing and vital. Learning to do something beyond pushing or swiping a button on a phone or computer teaches people that we are not mindless monkeys. We can do something with our hands that is far beyond the age of computers, things that are vital to our survival. These skills also teach us to communicate in a cooperative environment.

The kitchen at Pythian Castle, Bee Tree Folk School.
Photo by Jaz Fagan

The really beautiful thing about a local folk school is that classes are offered at a very affordable rate for everyone and a subsidized rate through scholarships for people that can’t afford to go to such a prestigious school. People of any age can go in and try many different things until they find their niche.

For some, their niche may not be art, it may be culinary art, or it may be crafting, it may be woodwork or pottery. We are constantly reinventing ourselves and evolving. We build something and then completely reinvent ourselves. Every avenue you explore in life gives you a different set of tools that may lead you down a street that you never thought to explore before. The Bee Tree Folk School offers people the opportunity to explore different avenues of thought, no matter what their age, be it 2 or 102. It was surely a vision that Robert Vassar would have greatly approved.

Robert Vassar

When Roert Vassar was sent to Nigeria to integrate IBM computer systems, he probably never realized how beautiful the experience would be culturally and how much it would affect his future endeavors.

His lifelong friend, and companion, Roderick Emerson Simpson took amazing photographs of their life there. He was a lover of life and took great photographs that captured his day in and day out realities in Nigeria and other far away lands.

Photos by Roderick Emerson Simpson
Photos by Jaz Fagan
Paintings by an unknown artist
Photos by Jaz Fagan

The Vision Begins

Dennis and Sandy already have the layout planned for both buildings. In the Pythian Castle, there will be an art studio that will comprise some of the more messier skills such as pottery, jewelry making, ceramics, and painting. These will be at the back of the Pythian Castle on the main floor. At the Bee Hive, there will be individual studios for music lessons and the main stage for jam sessions and performances by local and renowned musicians. Dennis will also be opening a recording studio at the Bee Hive. They also have a huge library at the BeeHive where patrons can come in, relax, and read.

They already have some classes up and running, but bigger and better things are yet to come. There are open jam sessions planned for the Bee Hive, classes of every nature that you can think of at either the Pythian Castle or the Bee Hive, and endeavors to improve the community and the people within that community. If you know of someone who would like to instruct a class or participate in a class please contact (208) 414-2667 and leave a message. They will return your call ASAP. You can also visit the website at Bee Tree Folk School.

No matter what you want to do in life, there are people to assist you on your journey. Whether it’s a path of enlightenment, a path of understanding, or an epiphany. If you look closely, some people have been put in your path for a reason. Dennis and Sandy are exactly those types of people. You have no idea why you met them, how you met them, but one day the light goes on, and it makes perfect sense. Dennis and Sandy Cooper are two of the gems of Idaho. I have a closing photo I want to share. It is the photo I took of the stained glass window. What’s ironic here, isn’t so much the photo, it’s the concept of being on the inside looking out. This is how we should view life. There is beauty outside of us if you only seek to find it. Cheers!

Beautiful stained glass window at the Pythian Castle from the interior
Photo by Jaz Fagan

Sandra Cooper, The Amazing Executive Director of National Oldtime Fiddlers’, Inc. It’s Never A Dull Moment!

Sandra Cooper, Executive Director, NOTF, Inc. 

I met Sandy Cooper 4 years ago when I was doing a solo project and played the Festival that year. This is our 3rd year back working together and you couldn’t ask for a nicer person to deal with. She is warm, inviting, and just a lovely person to be around and talk to, I wish all festival directors could be so easy. I swear she needs to be an octopus to handle all of the great things she does for The Weiser Fiddle Festival. She gives 100% of her time and energy to all the musicians and performers she juggles. She’s an amazing friend and a beautiful spirit. I am going to reprint her bio, as she puts it, because that is so much easier than me trying to put words in her mouth.

National Oldtime Fiddlers’, Inc. Executive Director Sandra Cooper is a Weiser native who grew up on a cattle ranch north of Weiser. She brings experience garnered from diverse business ventures and careers. She spent ten years in farming, ranching, and real estate sales after graduating high school, then moved to Southeastern Idaho, married and opened a daycare center in Shelley, Idaho. In 1988, she purchased a hotel and restaurant, the Nezperce Inn, in Nezperce, Idaho, operating there until returning to Weiser in 1990 to help with the care of her mother.

From 1990-1997, Sandra worked for Hillcrest and Vencore Corporations as an occupational and physical therapy aid, working primarily with geriatric patients. She spent many weekends and evenings attending Idaho School of Massage Therapy and The Dynamic Arts Institute in Boise, Idaho, from 1993-1996 and became a Certified Massage Therapist. She continued to work full-time for Vencore as she built her massage therapy practice, eventually splitting the working hours between the two until 1997 when she opened her practice full-time in downtown Weiser. In 2001 and 2002, she operated Enrituals School of Massage in Weiser, teaching others healing arts and anatomy and physiology.

She continued with her massage therapy practice until 2005 when she and her husband, Dennis M. Cooper, attended “Income Builders International” training in Los Angeles.  Inspired by the program and the concept of “Super Teaching,” they spent two years traveling, as Dennis, a musician, entertained at resorts in the Southwest.  Sandra spent her time booking his appearances, selling his CDs and other merchandise at their booth at the Arizona Marketplace in Yuma, AZ.  Between customers, she wrote a beginners’ harmonica instruction book entitled “Harmonica Boot Camp.”  The first printing was sold out before it was printed. 

The Coopers recorded an accompanying 75-minute instructional CD demonstrating the techniques taught in the book, enabling many students to experience “break-throughs” in their playing when concepts of “Super Teaching” were employed. The book and CD are entirely self-produced, from its design and printing to its marketing. As a result of the book and CD’s popularity, she was contracted by Bass Pro, Inc. to write the accompanying instruction booklet for their Special Edition “Camo” diatonic harmonica in their 2007 Holiday catalog.

She became active in the Weiser Little Theater beginning in 2002 as an actor, then as director of five plays, and is a past president of the Theater Board.  She remains active in that organization.  In 2010, she wrote, directed, and acted in a play, “All the Best- Love, Daddy” for a special program presented by the Weiser Architectural Preservation Society that honored the history of the Little Theater. She is currently writing a comedy, “Runnin’ for the Gumbo,” based on her grandparents’ lives during the Great Depression.

In the spring of 2007, Sandra went to work with National Oldtime Fiddlers, Inc. as an administrative assistant. In the Fall of 2007, she was promoted to Festival Director, a position she held until 2010 when she became the Executive Director. Since taking that position, she has worked to broaden the scope of activities within the organization, including the purchase of a permanent headquarters, historic Slocum Hall, where developing the National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Hall of Fame is a cherished project. Additional events are now being held throughout the year, such as concerts, workshops, and music camps.

Sandra believes strongly in using the organization’s influence and reputation for perpetuating old-time music to further nurture and preserve the knowledge of related traditional arts. She has had a long-standing vision of creating a place where families and individuals can come together to study and perpetuate traditional music, folk arts and crafts, creative writing, and other artistic means of expression.

This vision is being fulfilled in the creation of Co-Opportunities, Inc. a 501 (c ) 3 corporation that is the parent company of The Bee Tree Folk School, currently being developed in two historic downtown Weiser, Idaho buildings. Founded by Sandra and husband Dennis, along with Gary Eller, the school became recipients of nine collections from the Simpson-Vassar Collection, gifted by the estate of Roderick E.Simpson. The non-profit’s volunteer staff is creating a museum with music and reading libraries, African Folk Art collection and many other items of artistic, educational and historical significance that will enhance the offerings at the Folk School, which will re-open in mid-summer at the historic Pythian Castle in downtown Weiser.

The National Old Time Fiddlers’ Contest Begins Monday, June 17th, and wraps up Saturday, June 22. There are 46 performances at Memorial Park by musicians, dancers, cloggers, magicians, and storytellers. The contest in and of itself is a different venue up at the high school that is organized by Cindy Campbell and Aimee Burdett and all of their very hard work. Dennis Cooper and his band of merry men and women run sound for all the musicians playing at Memorial Park and help bring the music to life! It’s an amazing time, and there is also a carnival and parade to keep the kiddies happy. For the adults there is a beer garden near the stage hosted by Crescent Brewery in Nampa and owner Jerry Ferguson, as well as other beer hosts. I am going to try to cover as many performers as I can before it kicks off, so stay tuned. I felt that Sandy was the best place to start, as she is responsible for lining everyone up at Memorial Park. It is due to her work as well as all the other volunteers that this turns out to be the best week in Weiser, Idaho.