2024 Annual Meeting & Special Program featuring Folk Musician Brian Miller

The Beltrami County Historical Society invites all members and the public to join us for our Annual Meeting on Saturday, June 22. This special event will be held at the Beltrami County History Center, located at 130 Minnesota Ave. SW, downtown Bemidji.

The event will begin at 9:30 AM with a catered hot breakfast buffet. Ticketed guests will enjoy a delicious meal while we conduct our brief annual meeting, where we will review the past year's achievements, discuss upcoming and long-term initiatives, and elect new board members. We will also celebrate our volunteers, announce our Volunteers of the Year, and honor outgoing Board President Dan Allosso. 

For those who wish to attend only the annual meeting, admission is free of charge.

Following the annual meeting, we are excited to present a special program by folk musician Brian Miller of the Lost Forty. Brian will share "Folk Songs of Early Beltrami County," a captivating presentation of some of the musical heritage of our region. Through his performance, attendees will gain a deeper appreciation of the rich cultural history of Beltrami County and northern Minnesota.

Tickets for this event are $25 for Beltrami County Historical Society members and $35 for non-members. Advance tickets may be purchased in person at the History Center, by phone at 218-444-3376, or on our website at https://www.beltramihistory.org/event-details/24annual.

Reserve your spot today and be a part of this memorable event! Your participation and support help us continue our mission of preserving and sharing the history of Beltrami County. For more information about the Beltrami County Historical Society's programs and events, please visit beltramihistory.org/calendar.

About Brian Miller

Brian Miller fell in love with Irish traditional music 25 years ago in the crowd at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, moved from his northern Minnesota hometown of Bemidji to St. Paul, and has since become one of the most sought-after musicians in North America’s Irish music scene. Brian provides guitar and bouzouki accompaniment for the acclaimed band Bua.

Brian’s research and revival of Irish-influenced music collected in the Great Lakes region has earned four grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board. He was also a 2014 recipient of the Parsons Fund Award from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. He promotes the revival of regional songs with The Lost Forty and through his blog, Northwoods Songs, where he sings, videotapes, transcribes, and writes about rare traditional songs sung long ago in the white pine belt of North America.

Brian has toured widely throughout the US and Canada with Bua, The Lost Forty, and others. He has been featured on MPR’s All Things Considered, CBC Radio’s Canada Live, and Ireland’s RTE television, RTE radio, and TG4 television. Brian has long been known for his skilled accompaniment of Irish music. Esteemed Irish music critic Earle Hitchner writes: “The backing of Miller on guitar flexes not just muscle but a fully complementary style.” Brian teaches Irish (and north woods) music at the Center for Irish Music in St. Paul, Minnesota, as well as at numerous camps around the US and Canada. He is the founder of the Traditional Singers Club of the Twin Cities. He has spoken on the Irish song tradition at University College Cork (Ireland) and on north woods music at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota. He has also written for the Journal of American Folklore.