Founding of the 612 Sauna Society

An early and earnest spark in North America's thermic bathing revival

I started building my first mobile sauna in the alley of a maker space in South Minneapolis called The Hack Factory in the fall of 2012.

Installing foil bubble wrap in the hot room of my first sauna build. The Hack Factory. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Fall 2012.

It took me almost two years to finish.

But eventually—and with lots of help from the Hack Factory maker community, tiny house builder Jim Wilkinson and Glenn Auerbach of Saunatimes—I got the sauna fired up and rolling by Christmas 2014. I named it The Firehouse and started hosting family, friends and neighbors and dubbed the club the 612 Sauna Society.

Hosting backyard sauna sessions at The Firehouse in Rachel Hiltsley’s backyard. Winter 2014.

Me and Jim Wilkinson installing a trailer under The Firehouse. Fall 2012.

Glenn Auerbach (left) explaining hot room ventilation and the virtues of trim (especially for a novice sauna builder). Firehouse build. Fall 20012.

The Firehouse is part sauna and part tiny house with a loft that made it so tall I had to find a route without low wires or bridges before each move, which I did with a fishing pole duck taped to a stick on my roller blades. Yes, I got lots of honks.

From 2013 to 2016 I hosted thousands of guests at The Firehouse (parked in friends’ backyards) as well as at Little Box mobile sauna, which propelled the project further into the public domain thanks to a collaboration with Placemaking firm The Musicant Group.

Mom’s Fridge. Fall 2016

612 Sauna Society at Little Box Sauna. Nicollet and 38th Blackbird residency. Winter 2015.

In 2016, I decided to transform the growing club into a formal cooperative to carry on the group’s tradition of transforming backyards, driveways and parking lots into sanctuaries of wellness, fellowship and thermic bathing stewardship.

612 Sauna Society’s residency downtown Minneapolis at Westminster Church. Winter 2016.

So I teamed up with Sauna Society pal and Orphan Wisdom mentor Margie Weaver to complete the City of Minneapolis’s first technical assistance course for Cooperative start-up businesses.

Me (far right) and Margie (middle) at the Cooperative Technical Assistance Program (CTAP) graduation, June 2016. Special thanks to Tom Pierson for all this guidance on cooperative business formation and operations.

In September of 2016, Teke O’Reilly led a success kickstarter campaign raising $33,810 for a new mobile sauna the cooperative would operate at public residencies through the Twin Cities.

Teke O’Reilly producing the Kickstart campaign video with volunteer Lindsay Kuehn. Fall 2016. A gifted writer and long-time thermic bathing enthusiast, Teke beautifully memorialized and launched the co-op into the public eye with this Kickstarter video.

View launch party photos.

Construction on the new sauna began in November 2016 led by Glenn and a team of volunteers.

Glenn Auerbach (right coaching volunteers during a frigid two months of building during the winter of 2016/17. I am forever grateful to Glenn for introducing me to the joy and fellowship of backyard sauna with quality heat.

Architect Michael Gordon provided critical guidance throughout the build.

Volunteer and the first President of the Board of the 612 Sauna Society Cooperative, Rodney Buhrsmith, searching through lumber at Menards for knot-free cedar for the Forge sauna benches.

The 612 Sauna Society celebrated the Kickstarter’s success at the Surly Launch Party and debuted the new mobile sauna—named The Forge” by volunteer Sara Hill—during a month-long residency at Surly Brewing in January of 2017.

Host extraordinaire and future Board Member Kirk Jensen (far left) greeting guests and hosting at The Forge’s debut residency. Surly Brewing, January 2017.

Forbes reported on the cooperative’s launch ceremony at ASI as well as the broader the Twin Cities sauna movement:

”While Pederson sometimes de-emphasizes his own role and talks up the co-op team, many recognize him as the progenitor of the 612 Sauna Society, a local Pied Piper of sauna enthusiasm. It started as a private thing led by John, says Rod Buhrsmith, currently president of the co-op. ‘Then several friends joined in.’ ” Read More

(Pied Piper of sauna enthusiasm — I think I’ll put that on my next run of business cards!)

ASI Director of Director of Exhibitions, Collections and Programs, Scott Pollock (left) and myself at the Cooperative Kickoff Ceremony. February 2017.

In April of 2017, Teke O’Reilly, Glenn Auerbach, Margie Weaver, Max Musicant, Rodney Buhrsmith and I became the Cooperative’s Founding Board of Directors.

The complete roster of the Founding Members of the 612 Sauna Society Cooperative are listed on a plaque that was installed in the Forge during its first season providing community sauna reservations at The Loppet Trailhead.

The hardest working guy in the sauna industry, Darrin Gee, displaying a plaque with names of the Founding Members of the 612 Sauna Society Cooperative.

Darrin provided critical and consistent build support throughout frigid winter outdoor build of The Forge—and whenever else help was needed to keep the fires burning.

Together we sparked a thermic bathing revival that—not only deserves the headlines it’s getting in Vogue and The Guardian—but is also built to last and provide others the joy of hosting sublime sauna sessions for their friends and neighbors.

See you on the bench,

- JP

For more history on the 612 Sauna Society, check out author Garrett Conover’s book Sauna Magic. Conover conducted extensive interviews with founding members and volunteers of the 612 Sauna Society throughout a two year period and and included a beautifully written and photographed chapter documenting the founding of the nation’s first Sauna Cooperative.

Notes:

• The very first article on the Twin Cities sauna revival in 2014 by Jacob Wheeler of the City Pages. (City Pages went belly up a few years ago but you can still read the article here on Saunatimes.com.)

• Special thanks to Lynn Derby, Rachael Hitsley, Scott and Anne Pollock and especially Lynn Smith and Chris Dykstra for opening up their backyards and giving the original 612 Sauna Society its deep roots of hospitality and neighborly fellowship.

Photo albums:

• The early years: 612 Sauna Society at the Firehouse 2012 - 2016

• 612 Sauna Society at Little Box Sauna, Winter 2015/16

• Forge Build, Winter 2016/17

• 612 Sauna Society Kickstarter campaign party & residency at Surly Brew

• 6 12 Sauna Society Cooperative kickoff gala at the American Swedish Institute

• The Coop’s first season at the Loppet Trailhead, Summer 2017

• Misc 612 Sauna Society Cooperative residencies 2017-18
  

Working on a hot room build with Glenn near his house winter of 2014.

612 Sauna Society volunteer and stoker (ie fire tending) extraordinaires Lee Sarkela (front with the shakes), Ben Hecker and Sara Hill (back) helping stack firewood at the Firehouse. April 2017, Lynn Smith and Chris Dykstra’s backyards along the Minnehaha Creek in South Minneapolis.