Annual Winter Solstice Celebration of Local Musicians + Community
Sunday, December 21, 2025
Doors @ 6:30, Music @ 7pm
FREE to attend & open to ALL!
Each year on the Winter Solstice, the Cultural Center opens its doors for an evening of music, food, drinks, and community connection. Local and regional musicians come together on the longest night of the year to share their talents and celebrate creativity, warmth, and light in the heart of winter.
🌙 Annual Winter Solstice Celebration of Local Musicians + Community
đź“… Sunday, December 21, 2025
🕢 Music at 7:00 PM | Doors at 6:30 PM
đź“Ť New York Mills Regional Cultural Center
🍻 Cash bar + refreshments available
🎟️ FREE to attend & open to ALL!
This free-to-attend, informal, and joy-filled gathering has become a beloved community tradition—a chance to pause and connect with neighbors and friends amidst the holiday season. Come as you are, stay as long as you like, and enjoy an eclectic mix of live local music in our cozy gallery listening-room setting.
All are welcome to join us for our winter solstice celebration of local musicians and community connections held annually on the LONGEST NIGHT of the year!
This concert is FREE to attend and ALL are welcome. The night begins at 7:00. Doors open at 6:30. Refreshments available!
This event is our way of celebrating local artists and saying THANK YOU to the community for your ongoing support of the arts. Refreshments and a cash bar will be available throughout the evening.
✨ Free admission | All are welcome | No reservations required
While the Longest Night has always been free to ensure accessibility for all, it is not without cost. If you’d like to sponsor a Longest Night artist or support this community tradition, please click below.
Click to sponsor a Longest Night artist >
An eclectic group of local, beloved artists will share their gifts of musical talent with the community. This year’s line-up currently includes:
Kevin Mastel (NYM)
Kevin taught himself how to play guitar at age 7 and began piano lessons at age 9. He has been in various choirs most of his life, and he grew up listening to John Denver, Carol King, James Taylor, The Eagles, Chicago, and many other great artists from the 1970s. Music Kevin listens to today includes rock, pop, blues, bluegrass, Americana, folk, musicals, and gospel. Kevin is happy to be performing at the Longest Night Festival this year.
Dave Virnala (NYM)
Dave Virnala began playing guitar at the age of eight. His influences include John Prine and Guy Clark.
Dave has performed at every Longest Night Music Festival held at the Cultural Center over the years.
Ken Waldman (Alaska)
Ken Waldman has drawn on 40 years as an Alaska resident to produce poems, stories, and fiddle tunes that combine into a performance uniquely his. 12 CDs mix Appalachian-style string-band music with original poetry. 24 books include 17 poetry collections, a memoir, 3 children’s books, a creative writing manual, a short story collection, and a novel.
Since 1995 he’s toured full-time, performing at leading festivals, concert series, arts centers, and clubs, including the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Dodge Poetry Festival, Woodford Folk Festival (Queensland, Australia), and right here in Minnesota where he’s performed through A Center for The Arts in Fergus Falls, the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, Central Lakes College in Brainerd as well as at venues in Duluth, Minneapolis, and Rochester.
“Like a Ken Burns movie . . . Always recommended” –Austin Chronicle
“Renegade Americana.” –Denver Post
Ken is the Cultural Center’s current artist-in-residence, and we are thrilled that he will join us for the Longest Night!
Amanda Standalone (Crosby)
Amanda Standalone is a writer and folk musician from Minnesota who has become a fan favorite at the Cultural Center, performing at many Longest Night Music Festivals as well as several solo shows. Standalone’s music is a soulful blend of acoustic folk and blues strongly influenced by American Roots music. She skillfully attacks the guitar, banjo, and her single-stringed washtub, while packing an extra punch with her rich vocals.
Standalone has released three albums, one of which bears the title track Bird Flew Hard for the HBO documentary Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert. Learn more at facebook.com/amandastandalonemusic/.
Nick Bordwell, Aaron Johnson & Keith Johnson (Moorhead, Henning)
Nick Bordwell, Aaron Johnson, and Keith Johnson are pumped to play The Longest Night! Nick and Aaron are Moorhead residents and play together in the Americana group Justice for Stringbean. Keith is from Henning and is Aaron’s dad to boot. Aaron and Keith were here last year, but this is their first appearance as a trio. Guitar, bouzouki, and mandolin will back up some straight-ahead harmony singing.
Zac & Sarah (Ottertail roots)
We know Zak and Sara is the title of a Ben Folds song, but that’s not us! We are of the Harding clan, with roots tied to NYM since 1896 and 1928. Farmland and Finnish settlers.
Zac plays and Sarah sings, this past April they exchanged rings. Zac has a background in audio engineering, and Sarah performed in the Ottertail Lakes Area from 2023-2024. This is their first Longest Night together. Sarah performed previously in 2023 with Dan Whitehead.
Elliot Frost (NYM)
Dude Central aka Elliot Frost’s Longest Night debut was in 2022 and we’re glad he’s back!
In his own words, “Hi, my name’s Elliot! I am 18 going on 60, and I’ve been playing since the age of 12. I play just about everything, I hope you enjoy!”
Kip Peltoniemi (NYM)
Kip Peltoniemi defies stereotypes as an accordion player. “I hardly play any accordion music,” he confesses. “I play music from many genres—ethnic Finnish tunes, blues, country, rock, my own compositions, and more. I just see the accordion as a means of expression—its sound can be big or subtle.”
Kip has performed in several states, recorded in Finland, and his songs have received airplay in many European countries. His album “Minnesota Tango” was named “Folk Album of the Year” in 2002 by Helsingin Sabomat, Finland’s largest newspaper. Kip has been the subject of two documentaries on YLE, Finland’s public television network, and he has also been a guest faculty member at Finland’s top music school, Sibelius Academy, in 1995 and 1999. Kip is also the current Building Supervisor at the Cultural Center!
Don’t miss your chance to see and hear all of these talented local musicians live in concert on Sunday, December 21, 2025, at the Cultural Center! We hope you can join us for this free community event, the last Cultural Center concert of 2025, and a wonderful chance to PAUSE + CONNECT with neighbors and friends amidst the flurry of holiday activities.
Questions? Call 218-385-3339.
