Once a year I get to experience what it is like to wake up on Christmas morning...if Christmas morning was a little piece of Williamsburg in the Twin Cities.

I get to see mustaches and beards. Drink coffee made from items from chemistry class. See a moose dressed up as an explorer and watch Ben wish that he could pull off a camo fur puffy vest paired with a knit skinny tie matched with carhartts and Red Wing boots. I get to ooh and ahh over beautiful handmade leather goods made right here in Minnesota and I get to to do all of this while a DJ is spinning some pretty awesome music in the James J. Hill Reference Library in St Paul.

In all seriousness, NorthernGRADE is fantastic. It is a beautiful pop-up event filled with american-made products and a great crowd. While J.W. Hulme and Martin Patrick are usually my favorite, a new shop from Detroit, called Shinola, was there this year with some beautiful leather goods, bikes, and watches.

Shinola from Detroit

Analog Hero from Minneapolis