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Kids take fort building to a new level

Kids take fort building to a new level at Prairie Creek Community School near Northfield. They've done it for more than 25 years, as this photographer can attest. At recess, they race to their wooded "village" along the creek and get about their business. "Sticks for sale, two corncobs," a group of girls chanted recently by the woods' "community center." I was among the first generation to buy sticks using the currency of corncobs to build a wooded dream house. Decades later, the fort community still lives by its rules, mainly: 1) Everyone's included, and 2) No running with sticks.

March 20, 2011 at 4:53PM

Jillian Ros reached to located the perfect spot for her stick as her worked on fort during recess at Prairie Creek Community School recently. Ros had joined a fort made by fifth-graders who were happy to have little kindergartener join them. For more than 25 years, the woods surrounding Prairie Creek Community School near Northfield becomes a bustling village in the fall. Children race towards the small wooded area along the Prairie Creek at the beginning of recess each day buying and selling sticks for their forts using corncobs. (Dml - Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Kids take fort building to a new level at Prairie Creek Community School near Northfield. They've done it for more than 25 years, as this photographer can attest. At recess, they race to their wooded "village" along the creek and get about their business. "Sticks for sale, two corncobs," a group of girls chanted recently by the woods' "community center." I was among the first generation to buy sticks using the currency of corncobs to build a wooded dream house. Decades later, the fort community still lives by its rules, mainly: 1) Everyone's included, and 2) No running with sticks.