BISMARCK, N.D. (KXNET) — A fun way to celebrate the return of fall is by picking up hobbies you might’ve forgotten about over the summer. One local group is hosting a symposium to celebrate their hobby.

Every year, the Dakota Woodturners hosts a Fall Symposium where they bring in guest artists to demonstrate all the different woodturning techniques.

This year is pretty special for the Dakota Woodturners. They’re celebrating their 25th anniversary, and they’ve got an artist joining them all the way from the northeast of England.

“My specialty is thin wall turning,” said professional woodturner, Helen Bailey. “When we’re creating bowls and things like that, I turn it down to a wall thickness of about a millimeter and a half and then use tools to cut pieces out of it, it’s called piercing, and it looks a little bit like lace doesn’t it? So that’s what I enjoy doing, so I’ve traveled here to demonstrate for the guys, tomorrow.”

Dakota Woodturners member John Warren says the hobby of woodturning is like a gift that keeps on giving.

You may have even seen the Dakota Woodturners’ group around at craft fairs, but they also teach students at the career academy how to use a lathe.

“We probably see in the vicinity of a hundred students a semester,” said Warren. “They are just excited to have a chance, because they’ve got lathes up there now, and the first time you watch a young person walk in and work with their hands, create a pen in one session, create a screwdriver handle in one session, they really do enjoy it.”

Their Fall Symposium is open to the public and will begin Saturday at 9 a.m. at the career academy at BSC.

To learn more about the Dakota Woodturners, click here. To learn more about Helen Bailey, click here.