Around the Circle This Week: March 17, 2017

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Lake Superior icebreaking begins

Brady Slater reports for the Duluth News Tribune:

The locally stationed U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Alder will break ice in the Duluth-Superior harbor before heading north to Thunder Bay over the weekend, said Mark Gill, Coast Guard director of vessel traffic services based in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., where the Soo Locks are set to open at 12:01 a.m. on March 25.

+ Michigan Radio has a good story on the Great Lakes’ heavy icebreaker, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw.

Celebrating saints

Sure, today is St. Patrick’s Day, celebrated around the world and also in the many Irish pubs dotting the Lake Superior shores. Yesterday, though, we whooped it up for our homegrown saint, the Finnish missionary St. Urho who banished the grasshoppers from Finland in time to save the grape crop.

What? You don’t believe in St. Urho? Well, you can just head to Wikipedia, where it describes his origins (which apparently has something to do with a Ketola’s Department Store worker in Virginia, Minnesota, who took umbrage when co-worker Gene McCavic taunted him about Finland’s sad lack of a well-known saint. That’s when Richard Mattson set him straight about the revered St. Urho and his cry “Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen!” (“Grasshopper, grasshopper, go from hence to the devil!”)

At least that’s the Wikipedia version. On the saint’s own website, SaintUrho.com, the story is similar and there are photos of some cool statues in Menahga, Minnesota, and in, of course, Finland, Minnesota.

One day cannot contain this saint, and the parties continue this weekend around the Big Lake neighborhood. A few options (and there are many) are in Minnesota at Finland’s 42nd annual St. Urho’s Celebration (including Miss Helmi Talent contest and a parade) and Menahga (including an appearance by Miss Minnesota 2016 and mojakka) and with the Finlandia Association in Thunder Bay (including a concert, a parade and a variety show).

Today Hancock, Michigan, will be visited by Finnish actor Antti Holma, who will don Urho garb at a fundraising dance (who knew Urho was such a handsome fellow?). The town has wisely combined St. Urho’s and St. Patrick’s days for a major bash, as reported by ABC10up.com.

– Konnie LeMay

Local impacts of proposed federal budget

Among the cuts to fund a $54 billion increase in military spending, the Trump administration’s budget blueprint eliminates the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (a $300 million cleanup effort) and Sea Grant (which has offices in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin and does research, outreach and education). MLive’s Garret Ellison has more on the blueprint. Ultimately the budget must be approved by Congress.

The proposed cuts are deep at the Environmental Protection Agency overall – $2.6 billion, a 31 percent reduction in funding. Climate change programs would be eliminated.

Other programs of local interest on the chopping block include the Essential Air Service, which subsidizes commercial flights to small cities like Sault Ste. Marie and Ironwood, Michigan, and the Department of Transportation’s TIGER grants, which funded major commercial dock upgrades in Duluth.

+ From Michigan-based Associated Press writer John Flesher: “Republicans in Great Lakes states push back against Trump’s EPA cuts.”

Ice stacking on the shore: We don’t have much Lake ice this year, but earlier this month Dawn M. LaPointe and Gary L. Fiedler of Radiant Spirit Gallery captured a wind-blown ice floe shattering against the Duluth shore and stacking up like shards of broken glass. Watch the video on YouTube. (P.S. Dawn and Gary will be featured in our June/July issue, due out in mid-May!)

A piece of history returns to Russ Kendall’s: A dealer at Lost Dutchman Rare Coins in Indianapolis found an “encased” 1908 coin advertising Minnesota’s Russ Kendall’s Smoke House. Rather than sell the rare find, he returned the coin to the smoked fish shop, which has been in business since 1908. Kendall’s sent a note of thanks in return – along with some smoked fish.

Preparing for a change: This week’s annual St. Louis River Summit in Superior looked at ways communities can “better withstand effects of climate change,” Danielle Kaeding reports for Wisconsin Public Radio. Among anticipated effects: Storm events are expected to become more intense and frequent in our region, researchers say.

Saxon Harbor rebuilding plan progresses: The popular marina on the Wisconsin shore will get funding from FEMA to build a new campground, writes Richard Jenkins for the Ironwood Daily Globe. Saxon Harbor was devastated by floodwaters last year.

Paddler starts 8,600-mile journey: A Missouri woman hopes to set the world record for most miles kayaked in a single year, the Associated Press reports. Traci Lynn Martin’s route includes a leg on Lake Superior.

Superior storm: Paul Sundberg snapped these dazzling photos in Grand Marais, Minnesota, during last week’s storm.