Courtesy Sault Ste. Marie Convention & Visitors Bureau
Mist of Avalon in Sault Ste. Marie
The Mist of Avalon spent several days in Sault Ste. Marie before sailing to Grand Portage, Minnesota, for Rendezvous Days.
Tall ships begin arriving on Lake Superior
With Tall Ships Duluth less than a week away, several of the participating tall-masted ships have already sailed onto the Big Lake.
The Mist of Avalon spent several days in Sault Ste. Marie late last week, docked beside the museum ship Valley Camp, and then sailed for Grand Portage, Minnesota, to participate in Rendezvous Days this weekend. It arrived on Thursday.
Pride of Baltimore II passed through the Soo Locks on Tuesday evening on its way to Bayfield and Madeline Island, where it’ll be available for public viewing (but not tours) over the weekend.
When and If reached Lake Superior on Thursday morning. The 80-foot schooner has now sailed on all five of the Great Lakes.
El Galeón, the enormous Spanish galleon that we suspect may be a showstopper this year, is due to arrive in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, today. It’ll spend the weekend at the Roberta Bondar Marina. Tours will be available from 4-9 p.m. today (if it arrives on time), and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
Tall Ships Duluth begins on Thursday afternoon with the Parade of Sail, featuring all eight ships and the World’s Largest Rubber Duck, and continues through Sunday, August 21.
+ Great Lakes pilots, who faced much criticism amid the recent Viking ship drama, have now told their side of the story. Lisa Kaczke of the Duluth News Tribune reports: “A Great Lakes pilots’ association is alleging that the leadership of the replica Viking ship Draken Harald Hårfagre knew months ahead of leaving Norway that it would need a local pilot aboard to traverse the Great Lakes — and that the pilotage costs cited by the ship's crew in recent appeals for support are inaccurate.”
Needed funding coming in
Two announcements this week will mean federal aid for local towns. First, a federal disaster declaration was made for Northwestern Wisconsin to help with recovery from the deadly July floods that wiped out some roadways, damaged a local marina and resulted in three deaths. The Duluth News Tribune quoted FEMA saying that this declaration “makes federal funding available to state, tribal (and) local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities.”
The Wisconsin National Guard just concluded its debris cleanup at Saxon Harbor, hit especially hard by the flooding. Local officials say the rebuilding could take up to four years, reports the Ironwood Daily Globe’s Richard Jenkins.
Second on the funding front, through the EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Ashland, Wisconsin, will get $175,000 and Duluth will get $58,000 for storm-water runoff projects. Ashland plans to plant native vegetation to introduce infiltration swales (depressions to slow runoff) to help filter stormwater running into Lake Superior at Maslowski Beach. Duluth will add rain gardens and plant trees and other vegetation at Park Point.
Tragedy in the Apostles
A local Wisconsin teenager drowned on Wednesday after a current pulled him into deep waters off Stockton Island’s Julian Bay in the Apostle Islands.
Search-and-rescue teams recovered his body after five hours.
“There were heavy seas from the northeast and a small craft advisory at the time,” the National Park Service said in a news release.
Lake Superior’s waters can be dangerous even on the calmest of days. Minnesota Sea Grant has some good info for staying safe at the beach.
Regional artist on Wisconsin waterfowl stamp: Marengo artist Sara Stack’s canvasback ducks over Chequamegon Bay took the top spot for the DNR Waterfowl Stamp Design Contest, reports Kevin Murphy of the Ashland Daily Press.
Duluth’s newest, largest dog park opens: The new park at 3567 Riley Road, off Jean Duluth Road, was accomplished with grants, some city worker help and largely with volunteer labor and donations. There’s a grand opening planned for later this month.
Travel Channel comes to Marquette: “Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations” is filming in town next week, writes Word on the Street’s Brian Cabell. (Pasties, by the way, are not bizarre.)
Canadian Coast Guard vessel makes rare stop in Duluth: Limnos, a research vessel, came into port because of a crew member’s illness, according to Duluth Shipping News, but the crew made good use of the downtime when some local youngsters visited.
Marquette Astronomical Society proposes “dark sky” park: The west section of Presque Isle Park would become “a designated place where people could go to observe the stars, sky, and planets, without any artificial lighting,” reports Justin Razavi for WLUC-TV. (P.S. The Perseids are out in full force now for meteor viewing.)
Tourists can’t get enough of Thunder Bay, says the Chronicle Journal. The Terry Fox Information Centre set a new single-day visitation record.