Homecoming: After almost three months away from their families, the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Spar (WLB-206) arrived in Duluth around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday (March 30) during substantial wet snowfall to welcoming signs and a host of media coverage. The 225-foot Juniper class buoy tender itself was "coming home" for the first time. After service in Alaska and a 1-year hiatus in Baltimore for maintenance, upgrades and repairs, it is now assigned to Duluth. It already did some ice breaking on its two-week journey up from Baltimore, through the St. Lawrence Seaway system and the Soo
Locks and across Lake Superior. “For us to get through Whitefish Bay, we needed to get the other vessels through Whitefish Bay,” Lt. Cmdr. Joel Wright said of exiting the Soo Locks. There were at least a half dozen other vessels breaking through the ice there, some also on their way to Duluth. Wright said it’s appropriate this Spar, once stationed in Alaska, is now home in Duluth were the first Spar, a 180-foot sea-going buoy tender, was built during World War II. Today’s Spar, launched in 2000, was built in Marinette, Wis., Marine Corporation like the USCG cutter Alder that it replaced. The crew of the Alder became the crew of the Spar after delivering the Alder last July. They returned to Baltimore in January to become familiar with the Spar and were there until March 10 when the journey to Duluth began. Find more images and information about the Spar, past and present and its homecoming on our website. The Coast Guard also posted this grand video of the Spar entering under the Aerial Lift Bridge. Sweet work!
First Arrivals: The ports of Duluth-Superior and Thunder Bay welcomed their first arriving Great Lakes vessels on Wednesday in the new navigation season. The Great Lakes Fleet’s Arthur M. Anderson (in this photo by David Schauer), the freighter famed for its brave search for the Edmund Fitzgerald during the 1975 storm, came into the Duluth Ship Canal at about noon CT as the first vessel into the ports for the season, arriving from Detroit. It's sporting a special decal (in photo) commemorating its 70 years of service. Steve Sola, owner of the South Pier Range Light near the Aerial Lift Bridge, took this video of the Anderson’s arrival, including the two-blast salute. In Ontario, Thunder Bay welcomed two lakers that arrived early Wednesday, marking the official opening of its season. MV Michipicoten came abeam of the light marking the Mission Bay entrance to the port at 4:31 a.m. ET and Algoma Central’s MV Captain Henry Jackman crossed the north entrance at 5:04 a.m. ET. The Michipicoten, named for the river that empties into Lake Superior near Wawa, Ont., was first across the line and thus is the Port’s Top Hat recipient for 2022. Michipicoten is owned and operated by Lower Lakes Towing, subsidiary of Rand Logistics. Michael Hull was declared winner of the Port of Thunder Bay’s Top Hats 2022 Laker Contest with a guess of the first official laker arriving there by March 30 at 04:30 a.m. The port is still accepting online guesses for the first saltie arrival contest.
Locally Praised: Travel Marquette recently posted a fun compilation of five young transplants to the city and their favorite local experiences and places in an article Eat, Drink & Play Like a Local. “Everything is just a bit more spectacular here," says surfer Reiss, who grew up on Lake Michigan. Mountain biker Alexa, who first came to Marquette for Northern Michigan University and then lived elsewhere for eight years after college, found her way back. "There is something about Lake Superior that always calls you home.” Read all of their fun observations online.
New Look: A new branding for Duluth's tourism has appeared recently with a full presentation expected April 11 at the Duluth City Council meeting. The new logo is prominent on the Visit Duluth website, under control of the city of Duluth. The Duluth Tourism Collaborative (the city of Duluth, the DECC and Visit Duluth) will host an event earlier that day during which marketing firms Bellmont Partners out of the Twin Cities and Lawrence and Schiller out of South Dakota, will rollout the new branding as well as an introduction of tools and resources for visitor-connected businesses and organizations.
Where Bear?: As of Friday (April 1), fully vaccinated visitors into Canada no longer need a COVID test just prior to entering the country, but a mom bear from Minnesota apparently ignored all the protocols when she decided to take her long winter's nap on the other side of the international border. This week, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry posted about its aid to the Minnesota DNR in checking on an 11-year-old collar bear that's part of its 40-year study on bear population dynamics. "Earlier this month," posted the ministry, "Fort Frances District staff from both the Atikokan and Fort Frances offices, assisted Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in locating an 11 year old female bear who decided to den across the border in Canada. When they found the sow, she was denning with her 3 cubs. … Ministry staff, along with local Conservation Officers helped to locate and assist with collecting the data to support the longstanding study. This included taking measurements and weighing the three resting cubs. Following that, the momma bear and her cubs were placed back into their den to continue their slumber until they emerge from hibernation in late April or May." Heather Kitching of CBC News did a story on the border-crossing mom, quoting Andrew Tri, the Minnesota bear project leader, as lamenting of the bear's trip, "I'm a little bit jealous. I've been itching to cross the border and get some fishing in."
27th annual Photo Contest Winners
Picture Perfect: We have posted all of the winners, the honorable mentions and, for the first view, the finalists in the 27th annual Lake Superior Photo Contest. This image by John M. Niska, Ontonagon, Mich., taken near Green is our Grand Prize winner. Submissions came in this year from 15 states or provinces and two additional foreign countries. It’s obvious from these beautiful, funny and amazingly captured photos that the Big Lake and its environs provide ample joy. Congratulations to all of those winners and to all who entered – the quality was superb and made a delightfully impossible task for the judges. Entries for the 28th contest must be uploaded by Oct. 10.
Make Plans: Put these upcoming events and activities on your fun-do list:
Michigan
Friday, April 1: New maps of state forest roads upload Friday with updates by the Michigan DNR. The maps are updated "to improve accuracy and protect the environment, and then notifies the public of any changes," according to the DNR. Maps show where state forest roads are open or closed to off-road vehicle use and which roads are open only to conventional vehicles. It’s important to stay on these roads when using motor vehicles to reduce erosion and damage to wildlife habitat. Starting Friday in the U.P., about 5,498 miles, or about 98% of the total 5,594 miles of forest roads, will be open.
March 31-April 29: The Great Lakes Poetry Festival kicks off tonight (Mar. 31) with a free open mic from 6-8 p.m. in the Peter White Public Library in Marquette. The festival continues with readings and workshops throughout April, including an Underground Open Mic from 1-2:30 p.m. Saturday (Apr. 2) for Northern Michigan University undergraduates and a free Poetry Workshop led virtually by two-time U. P. Poet Laureate Marty Achatz from 7-9 p.m. Sunday (Apr. 3). See the two dozen festival events on the library's Facebook events pages.
Saturday-Sunday, April 2-3: Three maple syrup producers in the eastern U.P. will host a Maple Syrup Weekend with family activities and special deals. Postama Brothers Maple Syrup, Besteman Maple Products and RMG Maple Products, all in the Rudyard area and in coordination with the Michigan Maple Syrup Association, are inviting people to see their operations in action.
Monday-Wednesday, April 4-6: The first Computing[MTU] Showcase will feature experts from Adobe and Amazon to Microsoft, Netflix and the National Counterterrorism Center to speak, teach and share what’s next in the world of computing on campus at Michigan Technological University in Houghton as well as virtually. The showcase is jointly hosted by Michigan Tech’s College of Computing and the University’s Institute of Computing and Cybersystems. More than 20 speakers will cover topics from counterterrorism, health informatics, machine learning and security.
Minnesota
Thursday-Sunday, March 31-April 3: Duluth is hosting two funky, fun events this weekend. Already under way is the Arrowhead Home & Builders Show with all you'd expect of such an event at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. It runs through Sunday with vendors, exhibitors, entertainment (including the Fur-Tastic K9s) and food. On Saturday, Beyond the Barn is sponsor of the Northland Horse Fair at the Miller Hill Mall from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Touted as the "the Twin Ports only horse expo event," it features demos, vendors, a 4H Used Tack Sale, guest animal meet and greets, guest speakers and, yes, horses. Horse lovers might also like to take note that at 1 p.m. Sunday the Nordic Center will host an afternoon presentation by Dr. Kydee Sheetz of Aslan's Country Icelandic Horse Farm to talk about the history and culture of that iconic horse.
Saturday, April 2: Keep Going is a community event from 1-2 p.m. at the Grand Marais Art Colony when folks are encouraged to drop by and join artists-in-residence Kris Musto and Michelle Miles in Founders Hall and jot down a few words (or one or three or 10) that express what you have experienced in the past two years. Then return on April 9 for a celebration of community resilience and to see how the words of the community have been transformed.
Sunday & Tuesday, April 3 & 5: Zenith Bookstore in Duluth will host conversations with two local authors in the next few days. On Sunday at 4 p.m., Connie Wanek will talk about her book, Marshmallow Clouds: Two Poets at Play Among Figures of Speech. Duluth Poet Laureate Ellie Schoenfeld will facilitate the conversation. Then at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, author Linda LeGarde Grover joins the Zenith Book Club to discuss her book Gichigami Hearts: Stories and Histories from Misaabekong, which is also the One Northland Book choice for 2022. Part memoir, history, poetry and myth, the book is being discussed at area libraries, which made it this year's choice.
Wisconsin
April 1-3, 7-10: Chequamegon Theatre Association, Ashland's longest running non-profit, premier community theater, presents "The Island of Dr. Libris" in a series of performances that Friday at 7:30 p.m. This action-packed adventure celebrates the power of imagination while exploring what might happen if your favorite literary characters came to life. The performances features an energetic, young cast, including 11-year-old Mirabel Jurewicz (in third photo at top) as Robin Hood.
Saturday-Sunday, April 2-3: The Hayward Figure Skating Club presents "Skating through the 80s" with special guests the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Synchronized Skating Team for matinee performances at 3 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Hayward Sports Center.
Saturday, April 2: Copper Falls State Park near Mellen will explore the magic of maple syrup with an interactive demonstration. With DNR forestry staff and volunteers, you can tap a tree, collect maple sap, boil sap, make maple taffy and learn tree identification, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Tuesday, April 5: Learn to bake carrot cake bars, about Superior's historic treasures and lumberjack creatures of the Northwoods during the free, 10-15-minute virtual Coffee Break Courses offered by the University of Wisconsin-Superior Center for Continuing Education. Registration is required and one time covers all the monthly sessions that continue through December. The first presentation, slated for release on Tuesday, is baking with Annette Jacobson of Twisted Pastries Coffeehouse.
Ontario
Monday-Sunday, April 4-10: Throughout next week, The Loft at the Algoma Conservatory will host a series of concerts for the Sault Ste. Marie Music Festival. All instruments and voices, all ages and all genres from local music students are welcomed. Entry fees for musicians are based on the performance times, from 5 minutes to more than 30 minutes. The concerts are recorded and can be submitted for professional review. Find the full Thursday-Sunday recital schedule online
Saturday, April 2: Thunder Bay author Jean E. Pendziwol will launch her latest children's book, When I Listen to Silence, during an event at Goods & Co. Market from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. The book is illustrated by Carmen Mok. There will be craft activities for kids, readings, refreshments and book signing. Entershine Bookshop will be on-site with books to purchase. Also, Jean E, will visit Entershine Bookshop at 7 p.m. April 7 for a reading, conversation and book signing.
Photo & graphic credits: Bob Berg; Charles Howard Smith Photography; USCG; David Schauer; Port of Thunder Bay; Travel Marquette; Visit Duluth; Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry; John M. Niska; SPOTLIGHT: Michigan DNR/Northland Horse Fair/Chequamegon Theatre Association/Sault Ste. Marie Music Festival