Courtesy Sault Ste. Marie Recreation & Culture
Sault Mural
Creating a community mural
Sault Ste. Marie kicks off its celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Canada’s confederation with a painting party on Valentine’s Day. The Sault is one of the communities across the country joining in the Canada150Mosaic project. The painting continues the following day with another one-hour workshop.
Mayor Christian Provenzo and city councillors Susan Myers and Judy Hupponen will join other community members Feb. 14 at the Ermatinger•Clergue National Historic Site to paint 400 four-inch tiles that will compose an 8x8-foot mural that will be unveiled during Multiculturalism Day, June 27. One of the Sault’s best-known natives, Canada’s first female astronaut, Roberta Bondar, will contribute a tile.
That mural will later be virtually connected to those of other Canadian communities for a giant representation of the country.
The idea of Canada150Mosaic is that all of these pieces, in all of these communities, build together to create a single virtual image, much like diverse people and cultures connect to create Canada itself. It is the brainchild of Alberta artists Lewis Lavoie, Paul Lavoie and Phil Alain. They have done similar, though less ambitious, mural projects for two winter Olympics and other major events.
“Our community has truly embraced this event,” reports Margaret Hazelton, the city’s supervisor of recreation. “Registrations to paint flooded in and all sessions to paint are now full. We have started a waiting list.” Those interested in getting on the waiting list can go to the Recreation and Culture Department website.
Exploratory drilling in the Porkies
Michigan Radio reports on a permit that allows exploratory copper drilling in a one-square-mile quarter of the western edge of Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. While mining would not be allowed on the surface of park property, it might be allowed under it via an adjacent property owned by Highlands Copper. The Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition has released a statement strongly opposing both the test drilling and the fact that it was permitted without allowing public comment first.
First, you gotta build the boat
Bill Hable lives in Bloomer, Wisconsin, a good couple hours from Lake Superior, but the idea of a Big Lake voyage has occupied his free time for three decades. Bill was in his 40s when he started building his boat for cruising Lake Superior. Now at 78, he’s almost finished (maybe), reports Boyd Huppert for KARE-11.
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Courtesy Michigan Tech
Snow Sculptures
Phi Kappa Tau’s “In the Snow It Shall Appear, a Town of the New Frontier” won First Place Overall and First Place in Men’s category in the Month-Long Statues divison. It’s the ninth time in 10 years that the PKT has earned that honor.
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Courtesy Michigan Tech
Snow Sculptures
Working together, Sigma Tau Gamma and Theta Chi Epsilon took First Place in the Co-Ed category and Third Place Overall of the Month-Long Statues division with “Leaving the ’80s High and Dry as We Hit ’88 with Marty McFly.”
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Courtesy Michigan Tech
Snow Sculptures
Tau Kappa Epsilon earned Second Place Overall and Second Place in Men’s category in the Month-Long Statues division for “In This Icy Condition, We Mourn Prohibition.”
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Courtesy Michigan Tech
Snow Sculptures
In the Men’s category of the Month-Long Statues division, Sigma Phi Epsilon took Third Place with “The Keweenaw’s Silver Lining is the Decade of Copper Mining.”
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Courtesy Michigan Tech
Snow Sculptures
Recreating a drive-in (along with a snow car you can sit it), Alpha Sigma Tau earned First Place in the Women’s category of the Month-Long Statues division for “In Tonight’s Feature Presentation, A Phenomenon Sweeps the Nation. The ’50s Tradition Captured in Snow, Where American Teenagers Love to Go.”
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Courtesy Michigan Tech
Snow Sculptures
Delta Zeta created a familiar looking takeout meal and took Second Place in the Women’s category of the Month-Long Statues division with “A ’60s Dinner Meal of Ice and Show, Fills Your Belly When It’s 10 Below.”
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Courtesy Michigan Tech
Snow Sculptures
Delta Phi Epsilon won Third Place in the Women’s catergory of the Month-Long Statues division with “Let’s Have a Blast Though Michigan Tech’s Past.”
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Courtesy Michigan Tech
Snow Sculptures
In the Co-Ed category of the Month-Long Statues division, 4 Wheelers of MTU got Second Place with “Off-Road Upgrades Across the Decades.”
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Courtesy Michigan Tech
Snow Sculptures
An unnamed entry by Raptor and Armada took Third Place the Co-Ed category of the Month-Long Statues division.
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Courtesy Michigan Tech
Snow Sculptures
Recreating its own building in one night, St. Albert the Great Campus Ministry took First Place in the All-Nighter Statues division with “An Icy Glimpse of ’64 when St. Al’s Opened Its Doors.”
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Courtesy Michigan Tech
Snow Sculptures
Concordia Student Ministries took Second Place in the All-Nighter Statues division with “Despite Taking a Decade of Decades to Complete, Noah’s Trust in God Sustained Life Within an Ark.”
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Courtesy Michigan Tech
Snow Sculptures
Strange Crew’s “Great Scott” earned Third Place in the All-Nighter Statues division.
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Courtesy Michigan Tech
Snow Sculptures
The Huskies Pep Band won the award for “Interactive Statues.”
Snow sculpture winners: Michigan Technological University in Houghton announced the winners of its 2017 Winter Carnival Statue Competition. See the winners in the slideshow above. The theme this year was “Snow Cascades Across the Decades.”
What’s up with the moon? Duluth News Tribune’s resident skywatcher Bob “Astro Bob” King writes: “Friday evening, the Full Snow Moon will look a little weird when it rises in the eastern sky at sundown. That’s because for much of the United States, the moon will already be in eclipse. Our favorite and only natural satellite slides through Earth’s outer shadow, or penumbra, that evening.” The post explains lunar eclipses and what to expect tonight.
Courtesy Rob Karwath
Lake Superior Zoo
A grinning genet? At the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth, Jenner, a 5-year-old genet, got some DLT (dental loving care) from Dr. Michael Overend of the Lake County Veterinary Clinics and the zoo’s vet technician, Amy Gallagher, and veterinarian, Dr. Louise Beyea. WDIO-TV has video. The crew used cleaning and digital X-ray equipment that was part of a $9,500 donation from the Foundation for Veterinary Dentistry's Make Me Smile Program.
Thunder Bay tops HGTV list: Thunder Bay, topping the HGTV list of 15 Canadian cities best for home buying, is a center of health care, business and education services, important buying considerations along with potential rental prices, according to writer Doug Murray. “In the five years up to 2016, average house prices appreciated by 8.4 percent, while average rents increased by 22.5 percent. With the average home costing 2.7 times the average income, buying here is still affordable, too.”
Latest Canadian census numbers: The Thunder Bay metro area population, which includes surrounding communities, grew by 25 people from 2011 to 2016 to reach 121,621, considered zero growth by Statistics Canada, which released its five-year census data this week. In the preceding five years (2006-2011), population in the metro area had dropped modestly by 1.1 percent. The city itself experienced a decline of about 450 people (0.4 percent) during that five years, bringing its population to 107,909.
Elsewhere in the Lake Superior region, from 2011 to 2016: Algoma region grew by 221 to 5,739; Marathon declined by 80 to 3,273; Nipigon gained 11 to 1,642; Red Rock dropped 47 to 895; Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, metro area declined by 1,641 to 78,159. The city of Sault Ste. Marie itself declined by 1,773 to 73,368; Schreiber declined by 67 to 1,059; Terrace Bay grew 140 to 1,611; Wawa declined by 70 to 2,905; White River grew by 38 to 645.