Another Big Turn Music Fest, Another Grateful Year
Another Big Turn Music Fest has come and gone.
This was our eighth year participating, and every year teaches us something new. We’ve learned how to rearrange the space just a little better, how to welcome the rush between sets, how to embrace the beautiful chaos that comes with hundreds of music lovers moving through downtown. Most importantly, we’ve made many, many new friends along the way.
Our venue happens to be the smallest in this wonderful festival and we’ve come to see that as a gift.
Small spaces change the experience. They invite intimacy. They quiet the room. They allow acoustic instruments to breathe and voices to carry without strain. When a songwriter leans into a lyric or a guitarist softens their touch, you can feel it. There’s no distance between performer and listener. It’s shared, immediate, and real.
That kind of closeness is something special.
Like every year, it was an exhausting weekend; long days, quick turnarounds, and very little downtime. But it’s the kind of exhaustion that comes from doing something meaningful. The kind that reminds you why you opened your doors in the first place.
We’re grateful to the artists who trusted our little space with their music. Grateful to the festival organizers and volunteers who make the entire weekend possible. And grateful to the community that fills every corner of downtown with energy and joy.
Eight years in, and it still feels fresh.
Until next year, Big Turn.
Making Room to Do Better Work
Growth has a way of sneaking up on you.
When we moved into 312 West Avenue, it was the right space for the work we were doing at the time. Over the years, though, something changed — not just in volume, but in scale. Projects have become larger. More complex. More ambitious. And frankly, much bigger.
That’s a good problem to have.
But it also meant we were running out of room.
Navigating the shop was becoming tighter than it should be. Large projects require space — not just physical square footage, but breathing room for careful handling, thoughtful design decisions, and proper staging. As a business built around craftsmanship and preservation, we don’t rush work and we don’t compromise process. So something had to change.
We evaluated a number of options. Move everything? Expand the current building? Reconfigure production entirely?
In the end, the simplest and most thoughtful solution was this: separate design from production.
We’re excited to share that Red Wing Framing Design Studio will open at 327 West 3rd Street in Downtown Red Wing, just two blocks from our 312 West Avenue shop.
The new studio will be dedicated to:
Design consultations
Project planning
Customer pick-ups and drop-offs
It will be a quieter, more focused environment — a space designed for conversation, collaboration, and creativity.
Meanwhile, production will remain at 312 West Avenue. By shifting design and customer traffic to the new studio, we’re able to expand production within the existing shop without relocating it. That means more space to build, more room to handle larger projects safely, and a better workflow overall.
The first half of 2026 will involve some restructuring and reorganization as we fine-tune both spaces. We appreciate your patience as we dial things in. Transitions take intention — and intention is something we value.
In the meantime, it’s business as usual.
This move isn’t about getting bigger for the sake of it. It’s about creating the right environment to continue doing careful, handcrafted, preservation-minded work — and doing it well for many years to come.
More room. Better flow. Same craftsmanship.
We’re looking forward to welcoming you to the new studio.
Big Turn Music Festival - 2025
This year, we downsized our Big Turn Music Fest programming to minimize disruption to the shop, as we had several projects in progress. There were no helium balloons, neon signs, or graffiti picnic tables. We booked six acts (instead of eight), started an hour earlier than in past years, and featured smaller performances. However, the spirit of BTMF couldn't be contained, and we reached building capacity for four out of the six performances.
Meet Mr. Big
Or, if you prefer the informal, Biggie, or just Big.
Last September, we faced a heart-wrenching loss as our beloved frame shop dog, Pi, succumbed to a very aggressive cancer. For seven years, Pi captured the hearts of our customers, often being specifically requested when clients scheduled appointments. Her absence left a void that seemed impossible to fill.
However, fate had other plans. Our incredible veterinarian reached out to us with an unexpected opportunity to rehome Biggie, a five-year-old border collie. For the past three years, Biggie has served as a soothing presence for both animals and humans at the vet clinic, making him an ideal candidate for our shop.
Biggie's patience and attentiveness are remarkable, and we are thrilled to welcome him into our frame shop family. He will soon become a familiar face at all of our shops. Being a border collie, Biggie thrives on having a job to do, and we are more than happy to have his help. The rehoming process will take about three months in total, but we invite you to stop by the shop and say hello to Biggie.
A nice vise vice
I have a vice for vises. I enjoy hunting down and salvaging old and ugly Stanley 400 framing vises, restoring them to their former glory and making them look beautiful. I cannot resist. Hence, I have a vice for nice vises.
Patented in the 1880s, these vices were produced without design changes for 100 years. They are heavy, made of beautiful ductile cast iron and precision machined.
They're very easy to disassemble, clean, repaint, and relubricate. I like trying various 3-color schemes.
Pi, the Frame Shop puppy, 2017-2024
Pi grew up in the frame shop. She always politely greeted all customers and she quickly became a customer favorite. People would often stop by just to say hi to Pi and share their own rough collie stories from their childhood. One of Pi’s favorite shop chores was to simply watch the traffic and anticipate the next customer drop-in. She always loved to accompany any customer deliveries because that would usually mean some very positive attention.
Pi's stubbornness was adorable at first, but it could be quite challenging at times. We had to develop specific techniques to get her to cooperate when she was unwilling. Since she wasn't motivated by food, that approach was entirely ineffective. However, we discovered that Pi had an exceptional ability to understand intent. By explaining our intentions and requesting a compromise, we usually managed to gain her cooperation.
Sadly, Pi developed a very aggressive lymphoma and we had to euthanize her before her quality of life significantly declined. It was incredibly hard to lose her because she was so unique, and she was only seven years old.
Free Little Art Gallery, v2.1
Being an engineer is quite simple. There are three basic rules:
Learn from your mistakes.
Don’t repeat the same mistake.
Don’t fear making mistakes.
With these principles in mind, the Free Little Art Gallery is trying something new. Initially conceived as a 'depot' for public art exchange with an unlocked box, the concept faced repeated abuse and disheartening outcomes.
So now, we're introducing a rotating exhibit space for the public. We will curate the exhibit with invited artists and print 'minis' of their creations. Every four to five weeks, we'll refresh the gallery with new art.
Our first featured artist for the Free Little Art Gallery is Ray Cook.
Ray Cook was a renaissance man with a wide range of interests, including art, handcrafts, and long-distance running. He was a licensed pilot and had a long career as an Air Traffic Controller.
Ray pursued art and painting at State Fair Community College after retirement, focusing on one of his lifelong favorite subjects: barns.
His straightforward and unpretentious watercolor paintings showcase his practice of perspective and definition, favoring a unique and distinctive color palette.
Ray passed away in 2023 at the age of 87. His light continues to shine through his art and his creative legacy.