17-years-3,000 saunas later…

I love the look in people’s eyes as they remember their first real Sauna. These stories almost always spark lively Sauna talk on the bench.

I also love to follow these conversations wherever they lead. So much so, however, that I seldom get around to telling my own Sauna story. So it was a treat to be asked to speak at the Brittingham Viking Organization (BVO) Convention last weekend in Madison, WI.

The BVO is responsible for my introduction to Sauna back in 2004. The organization provided me the opportunity of studying in Helsinki and traveling throughout the nordic countries during my junior year at UW-Madison’s School of Journalism.

Sauna was literally the first thing I did when I got off the plane. Our host, a former BVO alum named Jussi, picked us up at the international airport and drove directly to the closest public sauna just out side of Helsinki proper.

My first Sauna was at a Public Sauna in Helsinki

After returning from Helsinki and graduating from UW-Madison in 2005, I moved to Indonesia for a Fulbright fellowship in Sumatra. I returned to the Midwest and was working at Heritage Farm (Seed Savers Exchange headquarters in Decorah, Iowa) as their Communications Coordinator when I realized I was the only person in my office who didn’t know how to build things, which quickly led to an obsession with Tiny house blogs. Of course one of my coworkers was already working on his—and made it look pretty darn easy too. Two years later, I was already 12 months and many thousands of dollars over my head into my first build—a mobile Sauna-tiny-house mashup called The Firehouse.

Luckily, I had the help of this guy, master Sauna builder, Glenn Auerbach.

Discussing Hot Room thermodynamics with seasoned Sauna builder Glenn Auerbach during the construction of The Firehouse.

My friend Stu working on the Firehouse at a shared workshop space called The Hack Factory in South Minneapolis.

It took more than a year to build the Firehouse—much of it from reclaimed materials found in the alley — but by January 2014… We. Were. Rollin’!

The Firehouse on its maiden voyage from the Hack Factory, where it was built, to my backyard in the Powderhorn neighborhood of South Minneapolis.

I opened the doors to family and friends in February, 2014.

Friends kept showing up and bringing their friends. Pretty soon, their was actually a waiting list for benchtime. A few months later, Sauna actually made the front page of the Sunday Star Tribune for the first time with Kim Ode’s piece about our emerging community, title “Minnesota millennials stoking revival of ancient Nordic tradition of a cleansing sauna,” November 22, 2015.

The next big milestone was when Molly Reichert and Andrea Johnson asked me to become the official “Sauna Meister” at Little Box Sauna, a beautiful Sauna they designed and built with a grant from the city of Bloomington. We teamed up with local Placemaking consultant (and future 612 Sauna Society Founding Board Member) Max Musicant to take the project to public hot spots like Como Park in Saint Paul and Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis.

Little Box Sauna on its way to its first residency, a month of reservations at Westminster Church on Nicollet Mall.

Sauna guests enjoying some camp-fire camaraderie on a frigid January evening in downtown Minneapolis.

By the time the snow angles melted that season, it was clear something special was happening. I formed the 612 Sauna Society Cooperative Steering Committee that summer, and in October 2016, we launched a successful Kickstarter Campaign to build the nation’s first community-owned mobile Sauna.

Founding 612 Sauna Society Board Member and fundraising mastermind Teke O’Reilly leading our successful Kickstarter campaign.

We surpassed our Kickstarter goal on November 7, 2016 and construction began on The Forge the following week.

Volunteers and future Founding Member-Owners building The Forge, the nation’s first community-owned mobile Sauna.

With help from over 50 volunteers and future Founding Member-Owners, we completed the build in less than two months.

Glenn Auerbach leading a team of volunteer builders on a frigid January work day.

Founding Member-Owner Darrin Gee (aka “The Cutman”) gained a reputation for precise measurements and cuts despite the subzero temps.

Local businesses stepped up too. Omar Ansari, the owner of Surly Brewing Company, sponsored a special opening for our Kickstarter community.

Surly sponsored our first opening to help us celebrate with the public and thank our Kickstarter supporters.

We officially launched the Co-op in March of that wintry spring and named the sauna The Forge at the kickoff residency at the American Swedish Institute in April.

612 Sauna Society Co-op Member-Owners enjoying sub-zero temps between Sauna rounds at The Forge last winter during a pop-up at the American Swedish Institute.

Today, the Co-op has 141 Member-Owners. We’re working together to create another exceptional sauna season for 612. The first step is training a team to operate The Forge this winter.

Reservations at the The Forge are hosted by trained Sauna hosts, aka “Sauna Meister.”

Sauna Meister Training kicks off September 8th and will be open to anyone who wants to learn about Sauna and help us share the experience this winter. The September program will be a deep-dive into hosting, consisting of a Public workshop series. October will be focused on pop-up operations and Placemaking.

Stove training at The Forge

In the meanwhile, my personal sauna building education continues. I’ve teamed up with 612 Sauna Society President Rod Buhrsmith and Omar Ansari (the owner of Surly Brewing) on a “thesis” project, of sorts…

Omar asked me to build a Sauna for his family’s cabin. Unfortunately I didn’t know how to build the quality of Sauna he was asking for—and, the build required an additional $15–20k in start-up costs (above the budget for materials and labor) because we wanted to hire these two guys:

From boot-strapped backyard builds like The Forge, to the breathtaking rooftop Sauna at the new Hewing Hotel, Architect Michael Gordon is the man with the (Sauna) plan.

Master Carpenter Bobby Soileau is leading our build team. He specializes in highly customized mobile assets.

Friend and 612 Sauna Society President Rod Buhrsmith shares my love for Sauna building and developed his own obsession with mobile design while converting his Sprinter van into a mobile office and adventure machine.

Rod (right) enjoying a weekend adventure with friends, and of course his trusty sidekick Couv.

Rod offered to invest the capital for the project’s startup costs if I invested my time helping managing this ambitious project.

Just two weeks into the build, our Sauna studies are already producing results…

I’m not sure where all this sweat equity is leading, but I know I’ll consider it a success if it manages to inspire a fraction of the fellowship, generosity and opportunity that the BVO has achieved since its inception by Thomas Brittingham in 1953.

Thank you for inviting me to share my story (and now these images) along with my heart-felt THANK YOU.

In the bonds and on the bench,

John Pederson