This weekend's ever-popular St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour goes virtual

Above: Pottery at the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour. Image provided.

For 27 years, the annual St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour has offered a unique springtime experience, with visitors to artists' studios slurping homemade chili out of handmade pots while browsing tables stacked with the latest shiny wares.

This year, though, 57 potters will present their new work at the Minnesota Potters' "online shop," located at minnesotapotters.com/online-shops-directory, starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 8. The pots will be available for sale through May 10.

Visitors may come to the website store, email the potter directly, or get a closer look by booking a one-on-one video call appointment on FaceTime, Skype or Zoom.

After much deliberating, the potters decided that this made the most sense, given concerns about the coronavirus. Many of them are older and in the high-risk categor.

As it turns out, there's a silver lining to this ethereal reality.

"It's kinda wonderful because a lot of people will have access who can't travel here on a normal tour year," said participating potter Guillermo Cuellar, who would normally welcome visitors to his hilltop home and studio overlooking the St. Croix River near Shafer, Minn. "This year they are going to see all the inventory photographed and up online — it's an adventure."

For many potters, this is a crucial annual event, accounting for nearly half of the year's income. Although the virtual tour is a new endeavor, Cuellar estimated that the internet wasn't unknown territory to potters, and that about 80% of potters in the valley are used to selling their work via websites or Etsy.

Started in 1993, the St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour began as a way to invite the public into local potters' studios. Aside from the selection of pots, the tour is known for delicious homemade food, camaraderie, and peaceful naturalistic setting of rolling hills and antique farmsteads located about an hour from the Twin Cities. Famous Minnesota potter Warren MacKenzie, who passed away in 2019, was responsible for transforming the St. Croix Valley into a thriving pottery community.