In memoriam
Betty Lessard of Betty's Pies fame passed away on Thursday. She was 90 years old. For 28 years she ran the restaurant, growing it from a humble fish shack into a Minnesota icon.
In 2001, we published her cookbook, The Original Betty's Pies Favorite Recipes, and she was a great friend of the magazine. She'll be missed.
The St. Patrick's Day aurora
Duluthian Richard Hoeg reports on an incredible evening of northern lights that began soon after dusk on St. Patrick's Day:
At 2:00 a.m. my Northern Lights app alarm went off. A quick check of the numbers revealed the conditions were looking insanely good. This fact plus clear skies and no moon meant a trip north of Duluth twenty five miles to the frozen ice of Boulder Lake was demanded. By 2:40 am I was on the ice, and stayed there till 5 am. The Aurora filled the sky, even sometimes to my south.
Richard's wife, Molly, writes regularly for us. Here's her take on being married to an aurora hunter:
I’ve gotten used to living with an Aurora Hunter. The constant monitoring of atmospheric indicators. The blips and beeps that go off night and day from apps informing him of favorable conditions. Flinging around mysterious terms like Kp index, solar wind speed, Bz and coronal mass ejection. And the nocturnal trips out into the dark and cold. All in search of Northern Lights.
Meanwhile, in Marquette, noted aurora hunter Shawn Malone sacrificed sleep for one of the best shows in years:
@LAKSuperiorFoto
It was worth it, though:
@LAKSuperiorFoto
Shipping season almost here
Adele Yorde from the Duluth Seaway Port Authority writes:
On Sunday morning, the John G. Munson, with an assist from Heritage Marine tugs, is set to move from its winter berth at Fraser Shipyards in Superior to first fuel at the Port Terminal then shift over to the CN Duluth Dock to load 24,000 short tons of iron ore pellets. On Monday morning, the Munson is slated to depart beneath the Aerial Bridge, destined for Gary, Indiana.
Late Monday afternoon/early evening, the Mesabi Miner is expected to depart from the Superior Midwest Energy Terminal with some 57,000 tons of coal onboard for the power plant at Taconite Harbor. After making that delivery, the 1,000-footer will return to the Twin Ports for a couple of days of scheduled maintenance work and to load its next coal cargo.
The Munson and the Mesabi Miner will be the first two lakers to leave the port this spring. The Soo Locks open on March 25. Though there's much open water on the western end of Lake Superior, ice in Whitefish Bay remains up to 3 feet thick.
“There are still some formidable ice challenges along the Great Lakes-Seaway, but nowhere near what the fleets were facing at this same time last year," said Vanta Coda, Duluth Seaway Port Authority executive director, in a news release.