Above, Cassie Premo Steele and Susanne Kappler attended the 2026 Beaver Day Parade on Sept. 27, welcoming folks in town for BeaverCON. The biennial conference for wetlands and wildlife is organized by Beaver Insitute, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to be a catalyst for advancing beaver management and watershed restoration, training mitigation professionals, supporting scientific research, and increasing the public’s appreciation of the beaver’s critical role in creating climate resilient ecosystems.” Premo Steele said, “I’m here for BeaverCON this week. I wrote a book that tells the story of beavers as a keystone species that can save us and give us hope.” Below, eventgoers made their way from Graco Park to Boom Island to conclude the day. (Mike Madison)
On the back side of Nicollet Island, on the east channel, there’s a beaver lodge, a dome-shaped home for the animal not often seen on the open Mississippi. It’s more common to the river’s watershed tributaries and side channels.
Only humans could dam a river this wide, quipped Dr. Jonah Docter-Loeb. But the Mississippi is a highway for beavers getting to and from other parts of the geography.
On Sunday, Sept. 27, hundreds of beaver fans from all over the country gathered at Graco Park to parade from there to Boom Island Park and back. Northeast resident and artist Kimberly Boustead organized the event with others in the Beaver Puppet Collaborative, which Boustead runs alongside Jessie Merriam and the Fairfax Beaver Lab.
Dr. Emily Fairfax runs the Fairfax Beaver Lab at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory. Mickki Garrity, one of the graduate students at the lab, explained how each of the students concentrates on one aspect of beaver life, such as her research on the impact on wild rice waters. Another student is researching people’s perceptions of beavers.
The event raised public awareness and gave people a chance to know each other prior to “BeaverCON, a Conference for Wetlands and Wildlife.” The every-other-year conference was held in Colorado two years ago, in the Twin Cities this past week. For more information, visit the Beaver Institute’s website at https://www.beaverinstitute.org/professional-info/beavercon/.
Gwen Law wears a rainbow trout mask she made a couple weeks back at a Heart of the Beast workshop. “Parades are pretty fun, beavers are pretty cool, and puppets, of course, are the best.” (Mike Madison)
As Matt from Rosemount put it while jangling a rack of plush beaver toys he’d collected since the 1980s, he got interested in advocating for beavers because they improve their surroundings for other species.
The Bell Museum’s interactive table listed some “keystone” benefits: Fire resistance through creation of wetlands behind their dams; and habitat for other mammals, fish, amphibians and waterfowl. Docter-Loeb pointed out that beavers fell trees, helping other plant species get sunlight.
Event organizers come together with attendees for a few songs before lining up for the parade. (Mike Madison)
Docter-Loeb offered a close-up look at a small pelt scrap rescued from a clothing maker and explained how the tight curly undercoat insulates the beaver from cold. It holds out water along with oils that make the water bead up and shake off when they emerge from swimming.
Among the information and art stations, guests could print bandanas with beaver-themed blocks and paint freehand with “brushrooms” (paint brushes made from beaver-chewed sticks and a particular specie of mushroom). And, of course, there was costume-making. Many costumes were constructed at papier-mâché workshops leading up to the event, but on parade day, people were cutting out and coloring masks and tails while others snacked and learned fun facts. “Beavers don’t eat whole trees or sticks. They eat the soft outer bark and green inner bark (cambium) of sticks and branches,” one sign said.
Joy, a Wisconsin resident, came to the event after hearing about it from her son who lives in Minneapolis. She wore a basket-backpack that she purchased decades ago filled with flowers she cut from her home garden. (Mike Madison)
Dance exercise started the day, then folk music took over the grass stage outside the park building. All of a sudden, it was time to assemble, learn songs and head to Boom Island. The un-costumed could choose lily pad hats and willow branches, or carry cardboard fish and other creatures in the parade.
Along the route, one of the organizers told of Scandia, Minn., where a beaver dam on private property is slowly causing rising waters that might flood the Gammelgården Museum. The museum’s buildings have stood for 150 years. Officials there hope there’s a solution where they don’t have to choose between the industrious animals and historic preservation.
As the day ended, everyone was invited to weave sticks into a dome-shaped lodge frame. It was symbolic not only of the animal being honored but also of the interconnectedness of people to each other and everything in nature.
A sign for the event. (Mike Madison)