A New Ride: A new $4 million ferry made its first official passenger run at 7:30 a.m. (EDT) today in the greater Big Lake neighborhood. Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry line began using the William Richard (named for “chairman, dad, grandfather, captain, teacher, coach and mentor” William Richard Shepler in this photo). The line showed off a video of the ferry in a shakedown cruise in July. The 60-ton jet ferry can carry 210 passengers at 30 mph. It was built at the Moran Iron Works down in Onaway, Mich., and will join the ferry fleet running between Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island. The launching comes just in time for this year; the ferry service closes Oct. 26, ending its 75th year of seasonal service. An official christening is scheduled for spring. Quite a number of visitors coming up from the Lower Peninsula to visit the Upper Peninsula make a side trip to the famed Mackinac Island, so we’re tickled to wish them well with a new ride.
Meanwhile, another hard-working ferry service, Madeline Island Ferry Line in Wisconsin, will continue its early fall schedule until Oct. 18, with limited extra evening trips (those after 5 p.m. to the island and after 5:30 p.m. to the mainland) on Thursdays-Saturdays. We hear that the island had a healthy visitation, once COVID restrictions were lessened, and that a few seasonal families may choose to winter at the island this year. It should be an interesting season for those first-timers.
First Chance at Thanksgiving : To be proper good neighbors, we really ought to celebrate both Canadian and U.S. Thanksgiving, don't you think? At least that's what we're going to tell our U.S. selves on Monday when Canada has its Thanksgiving meal this year. Beth Dooley, the James Beard Award-winning cookbook author who does our Recipe Box story each issue wrote about the double bounty in Lake Superior Magazine a couple years back. She shared a recipe for Canadian Tourtière (seen here) as an alternative to a turkey dinner. You can find her recipe for a side dish of Squash & Leek Gratin, too, online.
Light to Light for Nibi: From point of light to point of light, the People of the Heart Water Walkers will do a three-day, 90-mile journey over this weekend to honor water resources. On Saturday, a core group of walkers will gather at Baraga, Mich. "The People of the Heart Water Walk will join people of all colors, faiths, and philosophies to work together for life’s most precious resource, Nibi (water)," writes organizer Kathleen Smith of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. "The Water Walk is conducted through Anishinaabe ceremonial protocol and ways of understanding the natural environment. In this work for the water, the women lead the ceremony, carrying a copper vessel filled with Nibi from the Sandpoint Lighthouse located in Baraga, MI, to the Copper Harbor Lighthouse. The water continually moves through the 1842 ceded territory throughout the day starting at sunrise and into the afternoon. The men support the women by carrying an eagle staff beside them as their protectors." You are encouraged to create your own walk to participate, organizers note. Walkers might travel in family groups along any body of water, taking time to share Walk photos, videos, creative journaling, poetry and art inspired along the way. The virtual People of the Heart Walk can be accessed online, too. Sponsors of the Walk include the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Campaign of Upper Michigan, the Western Upper Peninsula Planning & Development Region, the Copper Harbor Improvement Association, and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. The walk ends on Monday, which is Indigenous People's Day in many cities and states.
A Lovely Folk Tale: Duluth Folk School, started in 2016 and based on the success of the long-standing and beloved North House Folk School in Grand Marais, has outgrown its shared space with Dovetail Café & Marketplace in the city's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Just recently reopened for in-person classes, the folk school's most recent newsletter discussed its priority search for a "rural campus" (maybe like this one in the artistic imagining by Danielle Rhodes). "We're hoping to find a site within 20 miles or so of the Dovetail Cafe, with sizable acreage and a mix of fields and forest. Ideally, we can find a way to make this a creative transaction, since most of our resources are currently tied up with the Dovetail Cafe," the newsletter notes. The fundraising, too, is underway.
Good Catch: Tribal commercial fishermen at Red Cliff and Bad River in Wisconsin first experienced severe income losses this year after COVID-19 dried up their restaurant customer base. The commercial fishing operations, established over generations, next got caught in a bureaucratic squeeze, explains Sam Rikkers, the deputy secretary and COO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, in a blog. "In early August, I met Don Livingston (in the photo), a member of the Red Cliff Band, at the tribe’s commercial fishing docks. At 39 years old, Livingston is a fourth-generation fisherman. He began fishing Lake Superior’s waters as a boy and has led his own operation for the last 14 years. 'It’s hard work and not for everyone,' he told me. His days begin before dawn. 'It’s tough on your body, definitely a young man’s job,' he added. These days, Red Cliff commercial fishing has all but ground to a halt. A father of six, Livingston has scrambled to make ends meet, as have many of his fellow Red Cliff commercial fishermen. To support his family, Don has been busy hustling between various carpentry, mechanics and plumbing side gigs." The WEDC came up with We're All In Small Business Grants that looked like they could provide some relief for the fishing operations, but the grants required federal documentation that tribal fishermen do not have. Thankfully, according to Sam, a workaround addressed the unanticipated glitch. Meanwhile, visitation has increased in the northern Wisconsin area, and, we hope, improved sales for Lake Superior whitefish.
Laying Ground for Cobblestone: It was masks on and shovels out as dignitaries turned the ground at the site of the new Cobblestone Hotel and Wissota Chophouse in Superior. The $8 million development will occupy the former space of Ekstrom's and the Palace Theater, reports BusinessNorth. The Cobblestone company quoted Superior Mayor Jim Paine on its website announcement of the groundbreaking: "This is a big deal; I have been excited about this since I first walked into the Cobblestone in Chippewa Falls,” said Mayor Jim Paine. “I knew right away this fit every vision that I had for a vibrant downtown community, and that the Cobblestone corporation was really onto something, that they were going to define the future of downtowns.” Said Brian Wogernese, president & CEO of Cobblestone Hotels, “Five years ago, we began talks of this project. Five years ago, we had 63 open locations, and now are over 150.”
Honest as a $4 Bill: In 1900, The American Bank Note Co. in Ottawa decided to honor Sault Ste. Marie on the front of a $4 bill. Problem was, in the first printing, the company used the Soo Locks on the Michigan side (as seen in this image from the Canadian Numismatic Company). According to Coinworld.com, a wrong-lock note came up for auction in 2017 and fetched a cool $51,750 (Can.) Not a bad return on the original $4. The original erroneous printing was for 420,000 of the bills, and the proper Ontario Sault graced the corrected version in 1902. SooToday has an article with the history of the gaffe done by the staff at the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library (on the Ontario side).
Goodbye to a Longtime Friend: It's with sadness we share the passing on Sunday, Oct. 4, of Jim Erickson, patriarch and a gregarious lead promoter of Erickson Orchards and Country Store near Bayfield, Wis. Jim and his wife, Muriel, took over the family farm in 1954 from his parents. He was a founder of the Bayfield Apple Festival after a broken down truck some 60 years ago with deliveries for Duluth inspired Jim to help organize a festival to bring the customers to Bayfield. Jim, 90, was born in Duluth on May 7, 1930, and moved with the family to the Bayfield area, where he attended school. He helped with the family farm and commercial fishing operation. He married Muriel Roffers in 1954 (they year they took over the farm) and they had six children. He had been a member of the Bayfield Fire Department, Town of Bayfield Supervisors, a member of the Commercial Fishing Association, Bayfield Trolling Association, Fruit Growers Association, and Bayfield Chamber of Commerce. On the orchard's Facebook page, the family posted this memoriam: "There are no words to explain how we feel right now. We lost an amazing man. He was caring, loving, compassionate, and accepting. He loved his family more than anything, always saying how fortunate he was to have a family that loved him so much. He was one of the hardest working men we had the pleasure of knowing. We already miss you so much. We love you Jimmy; great grandparent, grandparent, father, husband, brother, uncle, and friend." There will be a private memorial this afternoon followed by a community celebration at the farm starting at 2:30 p.m. The family requests memorials to the Bayfield Holy Family Church or the Bayfield Heritage Association.
SHANNON HART
Pics for the Picking: The deadline is upon us … almost … for the Lake Superior Photo Contest. All photos must be submitted by midnight on Oct. 12 (that's Monday). You can submit up to 10 images across five categories. A Grand Prize also will be chosen. The categories are Nature, Lake/Landscape, People/Humor, Artsy/Altered and Maritime. This photo by Shannon Hart of Miner's Castle in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore won the Grand Prize last year.
Photo & graphic credits: Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry; People of the Heart Water Walkers; Danielle Rhodes/Duluth Folk School; Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation; Ron Brochu/BusinessNorth; Canadian Numismatic Company; Erickson Orchards and Country Store; Shannon Hart