by Logan Gruber
operations@thenewsleaders.com
Steve Zapf has been making canoes since he was 14 years old.
“I started helping at the age of 5, though my first job was to get in the way,” Zapf said with a laugh.
Zapf’s father, Al “Mike” Zapf, started the canoe-making hobby and fostered a love for it in his seven children.
“I grew up not knowing you could renew a canoe license,” Zapf said. “We would just sell one canoe and build another.”
Zapf really took a liking to it, and he and his wife now make both practical and decorative canoes as a hobby under the name Zapf Legacy Canoes. Two out of three of Zapf’s daughters have built canoes as well. One even had the opportunity to build a canoe with grandpa Mike.
Zapf and his wife, Amy, will have a tent set up at the Millstream Arts Festival in St. Joseph Sunday, Sept. 27. This is their third year participating at Millstream, though they have been in art shows in central Minnesota for about five years.
“It’s an art show, not a craft show,” Zapf said, emphasizing though many items at the art show might have utility, they are all things of beauty first.
Zapf said he and his wife like the Millstream Arts Festival because of the set-up. The booths are the perfect size, and spread out far enough that an artist can converse with passersby without disturbing other booths.
Their first year at the festival they received third-place for Best in Show.
“There’s something at the festival for everyone . . . from woodwork to pottery, metal work to photography, stained glass and more,” Zapf said.
For more information, head to their website at www.zapflegacycanoes.com. Visitors are always welcome at the Zapf Legacy Canoe shop as well.
To read other stories about artists who will be at the Millstream Arts Festival this year, see Jacobson’s spinning wheel by heading to www.thenewsleaders.net/2015/09/24/millstream-arts-festival-features-local-artists-jacobsons-spinning-wheel/, and see Poff’s art by heading to www.thenewsleaders.net/2015/09/24/millstream-arts-festival-features-local-artists-poff-drawings/.
Festival
Millstream Arts Festival in downtown St. Joseph is an outdoor art show held annually from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on the last Sunday in September, rain or shine. The festival always has a large array of visual art, music, dance, hands-on art activities for children and great food.
This year, 59 artists will be at the festival, including 17 new and 42 returning. Sauk Rapids has contributed three artists, including Sarah Drake, 2-D painting/drawing; David Barthel, photography; and the Zapfs in the wood category. Rice will have one artist at the festival, Cynthia Stupnik in the literature and poetry category.
Musicians will be on stage during the festival and additional performers will be in the street, including cloggers and street artists. Other activities include horse-drawn trolley rides, a children’s art area, history tours of Art and Heritage Place at St. Benedict’s Monastery and of the St. Joseph Area Historical Society along with a vintage car-and-tractor show.
For more information on the festival, head to www.millstreamartsfestival.org.
The Millstream Arts Festival has a new logo this year. The design kept the signature oak leaf, though.
Steve Zapf navigates a duck boat he built around his pond.
Steve Zapf coats with resin a duck boat he built.
Steve and Amy Zapf hold a canoe they made with a diamond feature in the center.
This canoe was custom-built for a customer in Michigan and is based off an old Native American tale of a mother bear and her two cubs.
