March 2024 Marquette Monthly

March 2024

No. 419

Publishers

Jane Hutchens

James Larsen II

Managing editor

Kristy Basolo

Calendar editors

Erin Elliott Bryan

Carrie Usher

graPhiC design

Jennifer Bell

Proofreader

Kingsley Agassi

CirCulation

Dick Armstrong

Chief PhotograPher

Tom Buchkoe

Marquette Monthly, published by Model Town Publishing, LLC, located at PO Box 109, Gwinn, MI, 49841, is locally and independently owned. Entire contents Copyright 2024 by Model Town Publishing. All rights reserved. Permission or use of editorial material in any manner must be obtained in writing from the publishers. Marquette Monthly is published 12 times a year. Subscriptions are $65 per year. Freelance material can be submitted for consideration to editor@marquettemonthly.com. Events can be submitted to calendar@marquettemonthly.com. Ad inquiries can be sent to james@marquettemonthly.com or jane@marquettemonthly.com.

906-360-2180

marquettemonthly.com

About the Cover Artist

Brock Micklow is a watercolor artist based in Negaunee. Art has been a lifelong passion for him. His inspiration comes from the beauty and people of the Upper Peninsula. Explore more of his work on his website at brockmicklowartist.com.

5 City notes

HigHligHts of important Happenings in tHe area

14 then & now

Superior View fourtH street in marquette

15 New York Times Crossword Puzzle

BrigHt ideas (answers on page 45)

16 feature

KriSty BaSolo negaunee man finds unexpected sHipwreck

21 lookout Point erin elliott Bryan u p manufacturers lead flooring industry

25 the arts andie Balenger letterpress remains tHriving craft in local communities

28 loCals

Jennifer donoVan alBerta village Home to woodworking magician

31 sPorting life erin elliott Bryan guts frisBee takes mainstage during 50tH year

35 the arts

Kathy ihde tecH jazz festival Honors don keranen

38 lookout Point deBorah K. frontiera seed liBraries grow across u p

41 in the outdoors

Scot Stewart salamanders: Hiding in plain sigHt

47 sPorting life Jamie glenn adaptive ski, snowBoard event set for second run

50

suPerior reads

Victor r. VolKman A NostAlgic leNs: PhotogrAPhs & essAys from michigAN’s U.P.

52 Poetry

A WiNter’s Poem

troy graham

53 on CaMPus news from u.p. universities & colleges

55 out & about erin elliott Bryan & carrie uSher marcH events and music, art and museum guides

city notes

Deo presentation headlines arts & culture history event

The Lake Superior Art Association will host an evening celebrating the history of arts and culture in Marquette from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on March 5 at the NMU Northern Center’s Peninsula Rooms 1 and 2.

The event will include a presentation by Jack Deo and Ann Hilton Fisher that will highlight Anita Meyland, a prominent advocate of the arts during the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. The program will feature Meyland’s contributions to the Marquette arts scene, including how she initiated Art on the Rocks.

A social hour will include a signature Art on the Rocks cocktail and silent auction to benefit the LSAA Art and Design Scholarship established in honor of Meyland. Meyland’s personal style was retro chic, so guests are encouraged to dress in retro cocktail attire.

Tickets are $25 and are available at the Marquette Arts & Culture Center in Peter White Public Library or at lakesuperiorartassociation.org.

Walking program available in Watersmeet, Baraga

Michigan State University Extension is offering a free hybrid version of Walk With Ease, a program that uses a curriculum from the American Arthritis Foundation. The six-week series will start on March 7 and include in-person and online opportunities.

An MSU Extension leader will coordinate program information by sharing the book Walk With Ease and weekly emails with video links and informational handouts.

Sites in Watersmeet and Baraga will be available on March 7 for participants to work with an instructor to review the weekly information and walk as a group. In Watersmeet, the group will meet at 1 p.m. CST at the Watersmeet Township Hall, N4689 First St.; in Baraga, the group will meet at 12:30 p.m. EST at the Ojibwa Senior Center, 208 Main Ave.

To register, contact Anita Carter at carte356@msu.edu or 906-360-9732.

Tai Chi for Diabetes classes offered for free online Michigan State University Extension and University of Michigan Medical are collaborating to offer Tai Chi for Diabetes at 9 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, March 11-April 10. The online series will be led by certified instructors of Tai Chi for Diabetes

and is free to all participants.

The tai chi program was specifically designed by Dr. Paul Lam, a retired family physician and tai chi master, as well as a team of tai chi and medical specialists. It is designed to be easy to learn and to help minimize the risk of complications of diabetes by improving heart and lung function, muscular strength, flexibility, balance and stress reduction.

To register, visit events.anr.msu. edu/tcdiabetes2024. For details, contact Anita Carter at carte356@msu. edu or 906-360-9732.

Youth theater to perform

‘The Lightning Thief’

Superior Arts Youth Theater (SAY Theater) will stage its production of “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical” from March 7-10 at NMU’s Forest Roberts Theatre. It will feature 78 local youth performers.

The show tells the story of Percy Jackson, the half-blood son of a Greek god who becomes the prime suspect when Zeus’s master lightning bolt is stolen. Percy must find and return the bolt to prove his innocence and prevent a war between the gods.

Performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. on March 7-9, with 1 p.m. performances on March 9 (a Theater for All performance) and March 10.

Tickets are $9 for students and $15 for adults; at the door, tickets are $11 for students and $17 for adults. Tickets are available online at nmu.universitytickets.com, by phone at 906-2271032 or in person at Forest Roberts Theatre beginning one hour before scheduled performances.

For details, visit saytheater.org.

‘Death Café’ provides space to discuss end of life

End-of-life doulas Kathy Anthony and Jennifer Aldrich-Boyle, together with Ann Russ and Nancy Irish, will host a Death Café, a welcoming and supportive space for individuals to come together and engage in open and honest conversations about death, dying and related topics, at 6:15 p.m. on March 7 in the Heritage Room in Peter White Public Library in Marquette.

The organizers aim to break down the societal taboo surrounding these subjects and foster a greater sense of understanding and acceptance. It is an opportunity for community members to come together in a respectful and inclusive environment to explore these important topics.

The gathering is not a bereavement support or grief counseling session. Light refreshments will be served. For details, call 906-361-2998 or email gracefultransitioning@gmail. com. For more on the international Death Café effort, visit deathcafe. com.

Women’s conference begins March 8 in Ishpeming

Apiary Life Studio, a life coaching business in Ishpeming, is hosting the Empower Women Conference from March 8-10 inside the Gossard Building and at W.C. Peterson Auditorium in Ishpeming.

There will be presentations, salon talks and workshops on a variety of issues, including personal and community empowerment, money matters, intimacy, self-connection, generational trauma, moving through change and more. There will also be a community art exhibit and opportunities for social networking.

Various ticket options are available. For details and to register, visit apiarylifestudio.com.

U.P. Home Health & Hospice offers volunteer information

U.P. Home Health and Hospice is offering a free volunteer infor-

mation session at 6 p.m. on March 13 at Messiah Lutheran Church in Marquette. There will be refreshments and a chance to win a gift basket.

Leslie Parkkonen, volunteer and bereavement coordinator, will discuss U.P. Home Health and Hospice’s volunteer opportunities and the ways hospice patients benefit from volunteers of many ages and abilities. Volunteers play a vital role in the care provided to patients and includes clinical and non-clinical opportunities.

For details, call 906-225-4545 or visit uphomehealth.org.

Bird alliance to offer ‘Birding in Thailand’ on March 13

“Birding in Thailand” will be the topic of the March meeting of the Laughing Whitefish Bird Alliance (LWBA).

The program will be presented by LWBA members Mark and Joanie Hubinger and take place at 7 p.m. March 13 in the Peter White Public Library’s third-floor Shiras Room.

The Hubingers’ Thailand trip took place in February 2020 and they covered the northern and southern areas of the country. They saw more than 450 species of birds. The program will mainly show photos of birds, but many other interesting animals will

be included. For details, visit laughingwhitefishaudubon.com.

Friends of PWPL book sale scheduled for March 14-16

The Friends of Peter White Public Library will host its spring used book sale March 14-16 in the library’s Community Room.

On Thursday, March 14, the presale will run from 5 to 8 p.m. Admission is $5. On Saturday, March 15, the sale will run from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

On Sunday, March 16, there will be a half-price sale from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; from 1:45 to 4 p.m., books will be sold for $5 per bag. Admission is free. For details, call 906-228-9510 or visit pwpl.info.

LSAA event to highlight photography for biodiversity

The Lake Superior Art Association will host ecologist Chris Burnett as he leads a photographic field trip exploring the meadow, orchard, creek and woodland ecosystems of his Chocolay Township homestead.

Burnett will highlight some familiar and little-known species of these habitats and share some of the photographic techniques he uses to capture their essence at 6:30 p.m. on March

19 in the Marquette Arts & Culture Center Studio in the Peter White Public Library.

In addition to serving as the Conservation District Forester for Alger and Marquette counties, Burnett has worked with the Upper Peninsula Resource Conservation and Development Council, the Forester Stewardship Council and the Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy.

Online dementia caregiver training begins March 19

Dementia Caregiving Series, a three-part online program designed for caregivers of people with dementia, will take place from 10 to 11 a.m. EDT on Tuesdays, March 19-April 2 via Zoom.

During the three online sessions, participants will learn basic information about dementia and its impact on brain function, how to communicate more effectively with someone who has dementia, recognize stages of dementia, how to provide meaningful daily activities based on the interests and abilities of the person with dementia, how to better understand and address dementia-related behaviors, and strategies and benefits of selfcare.

Each session is an hour long. There

is no charge for the program, but registration is required by March 10; visit upcap.org or call 2-1-1.

DeVos Art Museum to host Family Night on March 21

NMU’s DeVos Art Museum will hold a Family Night from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on March 21.

Guided tours with curators Emily Lanctot and Sydney Sarasin will take place at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. and an all-ages art activity will be available with supplies and guidance provided.

Family Night events will highlight current exhibitions “By Design Looking at Living,” featuring artwork from the museum’s permanent collection, and “Fred Brian: Lake Gogebic Memories and Myths.” “U.P. Focus, featuring work by Carrie Flaspohler VanderVeen and Catherine Benda,” will also be on display.

The event is free and open to the public, and the curators will be available to chat and answer questions. For details, visit at nmuartmuseum.com or call 906-227-2235.

Joy Festival returns to Peter White Library on March 23

The second annual Joy Festival: A Community Celebration of Voice, Creativity and Camaraderie will take

place from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on March 23 in the Heritage Room of Peter White Public Library in Marquette.

This day of inspiration, expression and laughter will “usher in the spirit of joy as we transition from winter to spring.” Attendees can enjoy chair yoga, an intention-release ritual, presentations on healing and opening up one’s soul, an exploration of poetry, and the popular Out Loud, a platform to share songs, ideas or creative expressions with the community.

Light refreshments will be provided during the festival and attendees are encouraged to bring their own brown bag lunch to enhance the communal spirit. For details, visit pwpl.info.

Gwinn VFW to sponsor Think Spring craft show

The Think Spring Craft and Vendor Show will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 23 at the Gwinn VFW.

Crafters and vendors who are interested in reserving a table can call Angie at 906-236-1322.

Online workshop for caregivers begins March 28

Powerful Tools for Caregivers, a six-week online workshop designed for the informal family care-

Copper Dog events continue

The CopperDog 150 dog sled races were cancelled, but the spirit of the event continues with the annual Block Party on Friday, March 1 featuring new additions. There will still be music, dogs, races and entertainment. Copper Drag Racing will take place on the snow road in Calumet as two dogs go paw to paw on a short race track down 5th Street in Calumet. Kids can hug a husky, and sled dogs and their owners will be available for meet-and-greets from 5 to 8:30 p.m. CopperDog Kids Sled Dog Rides are still happening in Agassiz Park from 5 to 7 p.m. At 7 p.m., kids can catch a ride on “The Bus” at CopperDog until it runs out of gas. Fireworks and other events will take place; visit copperdog.org for details.

giver, will be held via Zoom from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Thursdays, March 28May 2.

The online program will provide caregivers tools to help reduce stress and increase relaxation, make tough decisions, reduce guilt, anger and depression, communicate effectively, set goals and problem-solve, and take better care of themselves while caring for a relative or friend. The workshop will focus on self-care for the caregiver, not on specific diseases or handson caregiving.

Powerful Tools for Caregivers is offered by Upper Peninsula Commission for Area Progress (UPCAP) in partnership with Lake Superior Life Care and Hospice. There is no charge for this online workshop, but registration is required.

To register by March 17, visit upcap.org (click on Events) or call 2-1-1. Superior String Alliance to host a performance March 30

The Superior String Alliance Chamber Players will host a performance by the Tuuli Quartet, featuring Danielle Simandl and Lauren Pulcipher on violins, Ria Hodgson on viola and Kelly Quesada on cello at 7 p.m. on March 30 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Marquette.

DiD You Know

...

who are notable alumni of Finlandia University?

They include ice hockey players Trent Daavettila and Ryan Donovan, labor activist and feminist Sanna Kannasto, Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo and John Raymond Ylitalo, the 29th United States Ambassador to Paraguay.

Submitted by Dr. Russell M. Magnaghi, history professor emeritus of NMU and author of several books, including Classic Food and Restaurants of the Upper Peninsula.

The Tuuli Quartet will perform Beethoven’s “Harp” Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74 and Caroline Shaw’s “Plan and Elevation.” The TaMaMa Dance Company will join with the Tuuli Quartet during the Shaw piece.

Admission is free and donations are accepted. For information, visit superiorstringalliance.org.

Bob Ross-inspired 5K supports forest protection Runners, walkers and riders can register for this spring’s Run for the Trees: Happy Little (Virtual) 5K. The program supports tree planting and forest protection in state parks.

Registered participants have between April 22 (Earth Day) and April

26 (Arbor Day) to complete the race on foot, or by bike, skate or paddle or using a mobility device and their desired pace and place, anywhere outdoors.

In addition to a T-shirt, medal and bib, racers will receive a “happy little sticker” as a thank-you for the support of tree plantings. To guarantee shipment before the race, register by April 1; online registration closes April 15.

For information and to register, visit michigan.gov/dnr/places/stateparks. When registering, designate the state to receive the proceeds.

Solar eclipse glasses available at Ishpeming library

In preparation for the solar eclipse on April 8, free glasses to safely view it

are available for free at the Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library. Guests can stop into the library anytime during open hours to pick up eclipse glasses while supplies last; there is a limit of two pairs per household.

Viewing of the Great North American Eclipse will be partial in Ishpeming with a magnitude of 82 percent and glasses should be worn to safely view the eclipse. Glasses were provided by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the NASA@MyLibrary project and the Space Science Institute’s STAR Net team.

For details, call 906-486-4381.

Writers conference will include workshop for youth

The Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association will host its first-ever full-day workshop for middle school and high school writers in conjunction with the 2024 UPPAA Conference.

The Young Writers Storytelling Workshop is open to U.P. fifth through 12th graders who want to improve their writing craft and learn from established authors. The workshop will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 18 at the Peter White Library in Marquette.

MRHC offers film, book talk

A film showing of “Cooperatively Yours” will take place at 6 p.m. on March 13 at the Marquette Regional History Center. Following the film, director Kristin Ojaniemi will talk about the cooperative movement in the U.P. that had a significant impact on many communities. There is a $5 suggested donation. The screening will be held in conjunction with MRHC’s current exhibit, “Consumer Co-operatives in the Central Upper Peninsula: A Middle Way,” which shows how co-ops were involved in more than just selling goods. The exhibit is on display through April 27. On March 27, Gregory Lusk will discuss his recently self-published book, The Great Seney Fire: A History of the Walsh Ditch Fire of 1976. Lusk tells the story of the largest fire in Michigan since 1908, which burned from late July until winter. There is a $5 suggested donation for Lusk’s talk, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. For details, visit marquettehistory.org or call 906-226-3571.

During the workshop, four award-winning authors will work with the young writers on skills such as building conflict, creating characters and establishing a setting.

The workshop fee is $15 per student and children of UPPAA members with family packages can attend for free. A limited number of need-based scholarships are available; email storytelling@uppaa.org for information.

Workshop attendance is limited to 24 young writers; to register, visit uppaa.org/storytelling.

LSCP, GINCC announce vision for West End expansion

The Lake Superior Community Partnership (LSCP) and the Greater Ishpeming Negaunee Chamber of Commerce (GINCC) announced a shared vision for continuing and expanding direct, local access to business support services in western Marquette County.

Ensuring the continuation of business support services, including Business After Hours, ribbon cuttings and informational events, has been a priority for both organizations to maintain the economic momentum in western Marquette County as the GINCC addressed internal matters.

To guide implementation, the LSCP will establish a West End Advisory Council comprised of six to eight small businesses from western Marquette County who will work directly with LSCP staff to develop a West End Services Strategy for delivering networking and informational events.

Additionally, the LSCP will establish the West End Business Hub in the current office space occupied by the GINCC. The space will be staffed part-time by LSCP employees and be available for other economic development organizations to provide a convenient local space for in-person meetings and services.

For 2024, the LSCP will offer discounted membership to businesses who were GINCC members as of the day its operations ceased if they join the LSCP before July 1.

For details, visit marquette.org/ WestEndForward.

NMU’s DeVos Art Museum calls for art submissions

Artists are invited to submit work to be considered for “North of the 45th,” an annual juried exhibition of artists living in the geographical area north of the 45th parallel in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The 2024 exhibition will be juried by Shawn Powell and Annie Wischmeyer based in Kent, Ohio. Together they run Gazebo Gallery bringing in artists from around the country to stage ephemeral outdoor exhibitions.

There is a $20 fee to submit up to five images; the juror will select specific artworks for the exhibition based on these submissions. Artists are invited to submit work made in the last three years.

The exhibit is open to residents of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin who are 18 or older and who are living north of the 45th parallel with up to +/- one degree of this area. Cash prizes will be awarded and artists must apply by March 13.For details or to apply, visit devos.slideroom.com.

Applications sought for fundraiser jewelry program

Beth Millner Jewelry is accepting applications for its Fundraiser Jewelry program. Nonprofit organizations in the U.P., especially those with a special interest in arts and/or environmental protection and sustainability, are encouraged to apply.

For each selected applicant, Millner will create a custom design that

will be available for purchase online and in the store in downtown Marquette. A portion of the sale from each pendant will then be donated back to the organization.

To date, Millner’s fundraiser programs have generated more than $58,000 for local organizations and nonprofits. Applications are due by May 1; visit bethmillner.com/pages/ fundraiser-program.

The Gallery in Marquette undergoes annual makeover

The Gallery, located in the Masonic Building at 130 W. Washington St. in Marquette, has undergone its annual makeover and is open with new offerings.

The Gallery is a project of the Marquette Artist Collective and provides regional artists with venues to exhibit and sell their work. The gallery is run by its members and has exhibited the work of more than 150 artists since its founding in August 2017.

Currently, the work of about 20 artists is represented, including jewelry, painting, ceramics, photography, woodwork, fiber, original prints, mixed media and more.

The Gallery is open Tuesdays

through Saturdays, including late on Thursdays. For details, find The Gallery on Instagram and Facebook or visit thegallerymqt.com.

Scholarship established in memory of Barbara Forsberg

Anew college scholarship in memory of Barbara (Golenda) Forsberg will be available this year from the Alger Regional Community Foundation.

Forsberg graduated from Mather High School in 1949. Seniors at Munising, Superior Central and Burt Township Schools who are planning to pursue a higher education degree in the arts, education or music are encouraged to apply.

Forsberg attended NMU and worked at Marquette’s Michigan Fair Gift Shop, where her talents were used to create store displays. The scholarship’s guidelines can be found at algercf.com.

Kiwanis Club announces grant applications

The Kiwanis Club of Marquette is accepting grant proposals from Marquette County groups for programs and projects that benefit children and youth, the elderly, the disabled or other community needs.

Grant applications must be submitted by April 30. Forms are available at bit.ly/KiwanisGrants. No other form for grant requests will be accepted. Kiwanis grant funding is primarily received from its chicken BBQ fundraiser, which will be held this year on June 9 at Lakeview Arena.

For details, email mqtkiwanis@ gmail.com.

New program aims to address teacher shortage

The Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching, a nonprofit committed to preparing, supporting and mentoring aspiring teachers, is accepting applications for the inaugural cohort of the Golden Apple Scholars program in Michigan.

The teacher preparation and mentorship program will build a pipeline of highly effective teachers to help address the teacher shortage crisis in the state. Targeted at high school seniors and freshman and sophomore college students, the Scholars program is a teacher preparation program that recruits and supports students who commit to earning an education degree and teaching license from a Michigan college or university and teach for five years in a school of need.

The inaugural cohort will include 30 to 50 scholars, who will receive up to $15,000 in financial assistance,

extensive classroom teaching experience, instruction from Golden Apple’s teaching faculty, job placement assistance upon graduation and mentoring.

Michigan residents who are high school seniors, freshmen or sophomores in college, or enrolled in community college are eligible to apply through April 1 at goldenapple.org/ scholars-michigan.

DNR Wildlife Habitat Grant application period now open

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Habitat Grant Program is accepting applications through March 18.

Funding is available for local, state, federal and tribal governments, profit and nonprofit groups, and individuals through an open, competitive process. The minimum grant amount is $15,000, with the maximum being the amount of funds available for that grant cycle, which is approximately $1 million.

Applications must be submitted through the MiGrants system to be considered. The program handbook and additional information are available at Michigan.gov/DNRGrants.

Additionally, the DNR is accepting applications for the Upper Peninsula’s Deer Habitat Improvement Partnership Initiative, an effort to enhance deer habitat on private lands in the U.P. Those applications also are due March 18.

New gun safety laws now in effect in Michigan

Astate law requiring secure storage of firearms went into effect on Feb. 13. The law, Public Act 17 of 2023, requires individuals to keep unattended weapons unloaded and locked with a locking device or stored in a locked box or container if it is reasonably known that a minor is likely to be present on the premises.

If an individual fails to store a firearm as required and a minor obtains the firearm, they may be guilty of a crime. Penalties could be imposed in addition to charges for other criminal offenses arising from an incident.

In 2020, firearms became the number one cause of death for children in the United States and Michigan, surpassing motor vehicle deaths and those caused by other injuries. Secure storage can also serve as a suicide prevention strategy.

To ensure federally licensed firearms dealers communicate the new requirements to their customers, MDHHS is working with the state Attorney General’s Office to provide dealers with safety information on the use and

storage of firearms, requirements and penalties of the new laws and lethal means counseling literature.

To help defray the cost of purchasing firearm safety devices, additional legislation made these devices exempt from sales and use taxes through Dec. 24, 2024. Free gun safety kits can also be obtained through Project ChildSafe law enforcement partners across the state. MDHHS is also working with the Michigan State Police to make gun locks available; additional details of this will be announced soon.

Filter First program addresses drinking water in schools

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) announced plans to implement new protections against lead in school drinking water under the Filter First legislation passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in October 2023.

The bipartisan legislation will direct $50 million in funding and other resources to support the installation of lead-reducing water stations at schools and child care centers.

Under the new state legislation, schools must develop a drinking water management plan (DWMP), install lead-reducing filters on all drinking water fixtures, and test filtered water annually. Child-care centers must follow the same protocols and test their water every two years.

Schools and child-care centers are expected to complete DWMPs by Jan. 24, 2025, and have approved filters on all drinking water sources by the end of the 2025-2026 school year.

News from the desk of U.S.

Senator Gary Peters

• Sen. Peters voted to advance bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) out of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. The bill contains key investments to help support airports in rural communities, including a significant funding increase for the Small Community Air Service Development grant program to help small communities attract new air service. This legislation also includes provisions to strengthen the Essential Air Service (EAS) program, which provides resources to ensure small and rural communities receive scheduled air service. Michigan has nine communities eligible for the EAS program, including five in the Upper Peninsula.

• Peters helped to lead introduction of the bipartisan Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2024, which would reauthorize the Great Lakes

Restoration Initiative (GLRI) through 2031 and increase the program’s annual funding levels. The GLRI combines federal and nonfederal efforts to stop the spread of carp and other invasive species, restore coastline and habitats connecting our streams and rivers, clean up environmentally damaged areas of concern, and prevent future contamination.

Local business news...in brief

• Contrast Coffee opened its newest restaurant at 541 US-41 in Negaunee; all menu options are available for dine-in and drive-thru service.

• Smith Holistic Care opened in L’Anse, offering health coaching insights and personalized strategies to enhance health and well-being.

• Elevate Athletic Training is now open at 610 Lakeshore Drive in Ishpeming; owned by Kari Getschow, a licensed athletic Trainer, Elevate provides sports medicine services after an acute or chronic injury.

• The Superior Health Foundation (SHF) announced Executive Director Jim LaJoie will retire in May; LaJoie has led the nonprofit organization since its inception in 2012.

• Megan Murphy, a native of Ironwood, has been named the new executive director of the Superior Health Foundation (SHF).

• Siren, a woman-owned strategic communication firm, recently opened its second office in Marquette; the company renovated a space in the historic Rosewood building to create a collaborative space for team members and clients.

• UP Health System – Bell announced it has been recognized as a 2024 Top 100 Critical Access Hospital by The Chartis Center for Rural Health.

• Partridge Creek Farms Executive Director May Tsupros has accepted a state-level role as the new Director of Farm to Institution Programs at MSU’s Center for Regional Food Systems.

• UPHS – Marquette welcomes Chris Liakonis, DO, a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon, to its Heart & Vascular Center; Liakonis provides treatment for heart and lung conditions that may require surgical intervention.

The deadline for event and press release submissions for City Notes is the 10th day of the month prior to publication. Email your press release to editor@marquettemonthly.com.

Photos provided by Superior View Studios, located in Art of Framing, 149 W. Washington Street Marquette viewsofthepast.com

This 1929 view of Marquette’s Fourth Street features the towers of St. Peter Cathedral. The church was destroyed by fire twice — once in 1879 and once in 1935. This Romanesque Revival structure was completed in 1864.

After the 1935 fire, St. Peter Cathedral was rebuilt and expanded, adding light blue and red domes with gold crosses on the front towers.

RepRinted

BRIGHT IDEAS

By PETER KoETTERS

58 Having knobby bumps

59 Heretofore, poetically

4

7

12

21

60 Metal receptacle by a fireplace

61 College student’s earnings

62 Student’s do-over

63 Table scraps

65 Absinthe flavoring

66 1974 C.I.A. spoof

67 Brand name on a Go-Gurt box

70 Hovers menacingly

71 Like a tuxedo bib

75 Athlete Arthur 76 Alley ____

78

79

41

42

51

53

No. 1210

17 ‘‘Easy on Me’’ singer

19 Activist Chavez

22 Director Walsh of old Hollywood

28 Bygone tape type

29 Seeming eternity

32 Italian dipping sauce

34 Netflix series starring the Fab Five

36 Legacy of 72-Down, seven of which appear among this puzzle’s answers and one more suggested by the black squares in the middle of the grid

38 Something that’s big with the current generation?

39 Actress Sorvino

40 Some nights of celebration

42 Ethically indifferent

43 Tangential remarks

44 When the original Big Five ruled Hollywood

45 Magical objects

46 Union members

49 Those, in Spanish

50 Cereal-box abbr.

52 Designer Miller

53 Relative of Ltd.

54 Hosp. areas

56 Unleashes upon

64 Bygone tape dispenser

66 Failed device meant to communicate with the dead

67 Swerves at sea

68 Org. that sets worker exposure limits

69 Object in the classic painting ‘‘His Master’s Voice’’

72 With [circled letters reading clockwise], American icon born 2/11/1847

73 Common spot for a wasp nest

74 Primatologist Fossey

77 You can trip on it in the desert

79 Didn’t stop

82 Sharer’s possessive

85 Late harvest mo.

88 Novelist Brown

91 Tilling tool

94 Without gender, in Latin

95 Egyptian god of death and rebirth

97 Barbershop sounds

98 Kind of bond

99 Seasonal inflatable

101 Chaos

103 Tastes

104 Board of a cosmetics company?

106 Bard’s instrument

107 Cougar

108 Hideki ____, W.W. II prime minister

109 P.I.s, e.g.

112 Gender abbr.

114 Cat’s pa

Answer Key

See Page 45 for answers.

feature

Negaunee man’s research produces unexpected underwater find

Unraveling the mystery

By Kristy Basolo

Dan Fountain of Negaunee didn’t set out to find the final resting place of a WWII-era boat In fact, he was looking for another shipwreck entirely, and the reported site of what he did find was many miles away.

“We drove the boat out there, 35 miles out of Copper Harbor,” Fountain said. “That’s why I recruited the shipwreck museum for this. They have a big boat; it’s a long way out for my little boat.”

Aboard the David Boyd, the research vessel of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS), Fountain had the technology he needed at his fingertips — Marine Sonics Dual Frequency SideScan Sonar, a Phantom S4 Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV) and other underwater imaging equipment that gave his time-consuming research legs.

“We were looking for a shipwreck, and the research told us that would be a good place to look,” Fountain said.

Indeed, his research led him to an area in the vast depths of Lake Superior where the equipment revealed strong indicators pointing toward

“shipwreck.”

“We had a spot to go to because of the data,” Fountain said. “So we drove right to it. Right away, we knew we had something standing off the bottom.”

More than 600 feet under the water sat a vessel that no one had set eyes on for more than 80 years — one that

was attached to an unsettling story of a captain who went down with his ship.

But the GLSHS crew on the David Boyd didn’t know that yet.

Captain Burke’s curious choices

Captain Frederick John “Tatey Bug” Burke’s reputation preced-

ed him. Described as “big,” “roughtalking,” “stubborn” and “impulsive,” Burke was larger than life. “On the other hand, he was extremely generous, fiercely loyal, and … always ran a ‘happy ship,’” according to accounts from his crew as recorded in Dwight Boyer’s “True Tales of the Great Lakes.”

The Arlington was found more than 600 feet under Lake Superior based on the research of a local ... who was looking for another vessel altogether. (Photo courtesy of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society)

“The nickname itself is worthy of attention and was the result, he once confided to a fellow shipmaster, of a frustrating speech impediment he had endured as a child,” Boyer wrote.

Burke’s family called him “Teddy,” but he admitted it was a name he was unable to clearly pronounce in his youth. So “Teddy Burke” morphed into “Tatey Bug” to his listeners … and it stuck. The name didn’t seem to bother him at all in adulthood, and he went on to a seasoned career on the Great Lakes, embracing it.

“In spite of these strengths and frailties, shared by many of this earth’s inhabitants, Tatey Bug Burke was, in a sincere tribute paid him by one of his early shipmates, ‘a hell of a sailor,’” Boyer wrote.

Captain Burke had a storied career as a sailor that started when he was 15 years old. He spent decades learning this difficult trade, starting out on logging tugs in the Georgian Bay area and moving on to big bulk carriers, working for the Playfair fleet for 25 years. He had survived two shipwrecks: the Metamore, which struck a shoal and caught fire near Pointe Au Baril in Georgian Bay, and the Glenorchy, which went down near Harbor Beach, Mich. following a collision with the Leonard Miller in 1924. More than one of his crew members owed their lives to him due to his actions during those incidents.

While he was manning vessels and saving lives for other companies, his brothers David and Edward, had started their own marine business. Eventually, “Burke Towing and Salvage

Company” acquired the Arlington to lengthen their shipping season — it was big enough to haul other cargo. It only made sense to the brothers to convince Tatey Bug to pilot that carrier; the year 1940 would be “the beginning of a new era in the career of Captain Burke,” Boyer wrote.

Captain Burke took the helm of the Arlington, furthering the family business by delivering grain across the Great Lakes in seasons when the need for pulpwood transit had slowed.

“At eight minutes after noon on April 30, 1940, (Captain Burke) maneuvered the Arlington from the Horn Elevator dock at Port Arthur, Ontario (Thunder Bay) with no more than the usual fuss and cussing as the lines were cast off and retrieved by the deckhands,” Boyer wrote. “At almost the same time, another vessel, the 386-foot Collingwood, of Canada Steamship Lines, was taking her leave from another nearby grain elevator.”

Captain Thomas J. Carson, at the helm of the Collingwood, was bound for Midland, Ontario, the Arlington’s home port and Captain Burke’s hometown, while the Arlington was headed for the Great Lakes Elevator in Owen Sound, also in the Georgian Bay. Their charted courses were similar, and while the Collingwood was the larger and faster of the two, it backed off and followed the Arlington, which was equipped with a direction finder.

“Since the next best thing to having a direction finder is to stay behind a vessel that does have one, Captain Carson was content to take station behind and a mile to port of the Arling-

The fate of the Arlington is apparent in this maritime artwork that depicts the Collingwood standing by, waiting to rescue the crew. Only the Arlington’s captain didn’t survive. (Photo courtesy of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society with artwork by Robert McGreevy)

ton,” Boyer wrote.

In addition, the Arlington had wireless — the 1940s version, anyway. They could receive weather reports via Morse Code and send out messages as well.

Captain Carson was making sound decisions from the start, but Tatey Bug seemed to be flying by the seat of his experience. Untrusting of the new technology, he used instinct to navigate the weather, and tenure to control the course.

“From the start, he seemed out of sorts,” Fountain said.

While the weather report was favorable when they left port, the Arlington’s First Mate Junis Macksey “found sea conditions somewhat

contrary to the routine weather report received at the elevator — ‘fresh northeast wind with light snow and a moderate sea.’ There was, as a matter of fact, considerable (sic) more sea running on the open lake than the report had indicated,” Boyer wrote.

Macksey, who was sailing for the first time under Captain Burke, was being careful not to disrespect his master but decided to turn north toward the protected lee of the mainland of Canada, despite it being a longer route.

“Captain Burke strode into the pilothouse and abruptly countermanded the order, gruffly telling the wheelsman to steer the direct course for Whitefish Point,” Boyer wrote.

His decision did not serve the Arlington well, as just after 10 p.m., “the wind approached gale proportions, building some truly significant sea. They were of such stature that even Captain Carson of the Collingwood, although his vessel had twelve feet of freeboard, eased up the speed of his vessel,” Boyer wrote. Burke was behind closed doors in his quarters.

Lake Superior continued to show her fury, and the crew of the Arlington started to worry about its hatches. While they were properly battened down before leaving port, the water was “marching stridently over the Arlington’s deck — heavy vindictive seas that could make a mockery of a man’s best efforts.” This, with only two feet of freeboard, Boyer wrote.

Macksey turned the vessel in an attempt to offer his crew a chance to inspect the hatch covers. Burke, apparently feeling the change in course, stomped back to the bridge, “in obvious displeasure and, before Macksey could even begin his inspection, turned the vessel once more on its course — a course that kept it continuously in the trough of the sea,” Boyer wrote.

This tennis match continued. Macksey called for Captain Burke, and he wouldn’t come to the pilot house. Finally, Macksey roused Tatey Bug himself.

“By the time Captain Burke reached the pilot house, the tarpaulin on No. 5 hatch had been stripped off and others peeled back. The Arlington had also developed a five-degree list

to port,” Boyer wrote.

Macksey surveyed the scene, but it was too late. The No. 5 hatch had also burst. Soon, word would come that the No. 2 hold was taking on water. Water was rising in the ashpit. And the bulkhead continued to shoot out rivets as it bulged. More water was coming in than the ship’s pumps could handle.

Through whistles and blasts, the crew was notified that it would soon be time to abandon ship. Because the Collingwood was nearby, Captain Burke refused to have his crew send an SOS over the wireless.

According to all crew testimony, no order ever came from Burke to abandon ship, but the crew automatically sprung into action. “Tatey Bug Burke, silent and morose, stayed in the pilothouse. Macksey, in charge of the lifeboat, asked the wheelsman where the captain was. ‘He isn’t coming,’ replied Wheelsman Callum. Macksey then ordered the boat cast off,” Boyer wrote.

The Collingwood heard the distress signals and closed in on the Arlington. Captain Carson tells the tale of the final moments of the Arlington, around 5:15 a.m.: “I was a quarter to a half mile from the Arlington. She looked low in the water and I saw they were launching a boat over the starboard side. She had gone into the trough of the seas and looked to be in great distress. Then her stern settled slowly, and when she got up to her No. 2 hatch, she simply rolled over on her portside and went down.”

All 16 crew members made it

safely aboard the Collingwood. Only Captain “Tatey Bug” Burke perished in the tragedy.

According to the May 3, 1949 edition of the Dunkirk Evening Observer, “The freighter Collingwood, of the Canadian Steamship lines, docked here today with the 16 survivors of the Burke Towing & Salvage company’s Great Lakes vessel, Arlington, which foundered and sank in a storm on Lake Superior Wednesday.”

Fountain said newspapers reported the crew was kept for questioning for the official investigation.

“They put the crew in vehicles and escorted them off to the inquest,” Fountain said. “They began the investigation immediately when they docked in Midland.”

Accountability was limited. While the Arlington was cited for a few things, there were no major tickets issued or other censures.

“I suppose they were kind to Captain Burke because he wasn’t there to defend himself,” Fountain said.

The crew’s accounts of those last moments are conflicting, so there is no clear answer to why Captain Burke didn’t make it off the Arlington.

Boyer recounts Macksey’s testimony about those last moments: “There was ample time for the master to have made his way aft. He had lots of time. He served no useful purpose in the wheelhouse, for we had no steam to steer her by.”

Legends and lore have taken the place of the missing facts in many accounts.

The David Boyd is the research boat stationed at Whitefish Point. It is loaded with tech to give researchers an edge when searching the depths of the Great Lakes for history and closure for the families of those whose lives have been taken by the power of the lakes. (Photo courtesy of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society)

“It is said among seafaring men that a captain never survives his third shipwreck and apparently fate decided that Capt. Burke should be no exception to the rule,” the Free Press Herald reported in 1940.

Although the entirety of the Arlington seemed lost to Lady Superior, the Mining Journal reported on May 7, 1940 that its lifeboat washed ashore: “An unusual drama of the sea was recalled at Big Bay Sunday night when one of the lifeboats from the Arlington … drifted up on the beach there. It was taken to Burns’ Landing. In perfect condition and still containing its oars, the sturdy steel boat, which has airtight bulkheads, had drifted almost the complete width of Lake Superior from the scene of the disaster. It is a 23-passenger craft, made in Sarnia, Ont., in 1919.”

The Arlington: ‘Not on our radar’ While scanning data and state-ofthe-art sonar ultimately led the crew aboard the David Boyd to the wreck of the Arlington, Fountain’s passion for maritime history fueled the journey to this site. He said his interest in shipwrecks has been with him since childhood.

“We have a camp near Shot Point,” Fountain said. “There is a wreck near our camp sitting in six or eight feet of water. My dad would row us down there a little rowboat when I was seven or eight years old, and my brother and I would swim down to the wreck. So I started early.”

Fountain never found treasure at

that wreck, only rusty iron, but his fascination with maritime history never left him.

“One of the most important aspects of everything we do as an organization involves the concept of teamwork,” said GLSHS executive director Bruce Lynn. “This goes for our operations at Whitefish Point, as well as on the water aboard the David Boyd We are lucky to have so many dedicated shipwreck historians and researchers as friends of GLSHS.”

Fountain, who had been researching shipwrecks for years, felt certain he was close to finding the ship he was looking for.

“This was absolutely demonstrated when Dan approached us with a potential target,” Lynn said. “These targets don’t always amount to anything ... but this time it absolutely was a shipwreck.”

A wreck with an interesting, and perhaps mysterious story, he said.

“Had Dan not reached out to us, we might never have located the Arlington...and we certainly wouldn’t know as much about her story as we do today,” Lynn said.

Lynn said the GLSHS crew trusted the hunch because they trust Fountain and his research.

“Dan has had a good track record,” Lynn said. “His research has been sound. There are just Dan and a few other people who can come to us with something like this and we just go with it.”

Lynn said the fact that Fountain’s research has been fruitful in the past

goes a long way. In 2015, Fountain, GLSHS Director of Marine Operations Darryl Ertel and other researchers came up with a methodology to try to locate some of these lost shipwrecks of the Great Lakes.

“We started looking at anomalies in Lake Superior and Lake Huron and probably checked out 15 or 20 of them — and nothing.”

While they have had some success, not all that glitters is gold.

“With the Arlington site, we had good data, and at least two of us had some kind of faith that it was something,” Fountain said.

Lynn said most of the wrecks that GLSHS finds, they find on their own. In the last three seasons, the GLSHS team has found 13 shipwrecks. The Arlington was the only one found as the result of a tip, rather than its own research.

“This was really a unique one,” Lynn said. “We have some really good equipment, which is why I think Dan came to us.”

Fountain had done some diving with Ertel in the past and has known him for more than 20 years. He also had helped with other shipwreck-finding missions on the David Boyd.

“What we do is a mapping out of certain segments of the lake, certainly areas like old shipping lanes are really prime, target-rich areas,” Lynn said.

Lynn equates the process to “mowing the lawn,” where the side-scan sonar is run in a neat pattern over chosen areas to see if what is beneath the waves will reveal itself in the data.

The crew of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society’s David Boyd includes Dan Ertel, Darryl Ertel, Bill Springer, John Schmitz and Dan Fountain. The Boyd’s ROV, at left, lets them explore places under the Great Lakes that are too deep for a human to dive. (Photo courtesy of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society)

“If you think of how big the lake is, and how easy it is to miss something, that starting point is important,” Lynn said.

While Fountain provided a place to look, he couldn’t have predicted what actually was in those waters.

“The recorded site of the Arlington sinking was the better part of 20 miles from where we were,” Fountain said. “It wasn’t something that was really on our radar.”

The images from the underwater vehicle were the key to putting the pieces together. While the crew had only covered half the length of the wreck in the two days they were at the site, there were enough clues to finish the puzzle.

“Once we got the ROV down there, we started looking at the fantail, which is where they typically have the name painted — sometimes they are very cooperative and have it in nice, raised letters so you can see it really easily — for us, we just made out some painted letters.”

The crew saw, “I-N-G-T-O-N,” which was not a clear giveaway. At first, they thought it might be the vessel’s home port. When they finally arrived at “Arlington,” all the features of the wreck began to match.

“The length and width seemed to match up,” Fountain said. “It had six hatches, which matched as well.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

The GLSHS was founded in 1978

by a group of divers, teachers and educators to commence exploration of historic shipwrecks in eastern Lake Superior, near Whitefish Point.

“The organization really started with the knowledge of the shipwrecks already found in the area,” Lynn said. “This idea of finding them became a focus.”

Today, this non-profit organization operates two museum sites on historic properties — the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and Whitefish Point Light Station and the U.S. Weather Bureau Building in Soo Locks Park in Sault Ste. Marie.

The Shipwreck Museum is open to the public seasonally from May 1 to October 31. To plan a visit, go to shipwreckmuseum.com.

‘He Went Down with His Ship’

Both Lynn and Fountain value the history and storytelling aspects of a find such as the Arlington, but also recognize the importance to the family of the man who went down with his ship.

“We are working to connect with the family of Captain Burke,” Fountain said.

In fact, he has tracked down places to promote the find in Midland, Ontario, where the Burke family and business was headquartered. Shortly after posting on a Midland Facebook page, someone commented that his grandfather had been a crew member on the Arlington. From the man’s last name, Fountain immediately knew who “Grandpa” was.

“It’s a small town,” Fountain said. “Stories started flowing.”

This summer, the team hopes to return to the Arlington site to gather more data and finish their ROV scan of the wreck.

“It’s exciting to solve just one more of Lake Superior’s many mysteries,” Fountain said. “Finding Arlington so far out in the lake, I hope this final chapter in her story can provide some measure of closure to the family of Captain Burke.”

Dan Fountain will present “He Went Down with His Ship: Captain Burke and the Steamer Arlington” at 7 p.m. on March 5 at the Ore Dock Brewing Company. There is a $5 suggested donation at the door.

“When you look at it and realize it’s Captain Burke’s grave …” Fountain said. “We won’t disturb that. The story is the value.”

And the story will continue to be told. While further documenting and exploring the wreck of the Arlington certainly may offer insight into what happened on that fateful morning, Burke’s actions that day and his reason for not saving himself will never be known.

“He took that secret to his grave,” Fountain said.

Kristy Basolo works at the Negaunee Senior Citizens Center when she isn’t moonlighting as a writer and editor. She has worked for Marquette Monthly in some capacity for more than 15 years.

Darryl Ertel and Dan Fountain monitor the technology on the David Boyd that helps them find the history hiding underneath the Great Lakes. (Photo courtesy of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society)

The sonar sends and receives acoustic pulses that help map the seafloor or detect other objects.

lookout point

March Madness: U.P. manufacturers lead sports flooring industry

By Erin Elliott Bryan

Sturdy hardwood trees are abundant in the U.P., particularly Acer saccharum, or hard maple, which provides an abundance of resources. But the wood has another unique quality: it’s the perfect raw material from which to construct a top-notch basketball court.

Nearly all professional basketball floors are manufactured by three U.P. companies: Connor Sports, Horner Flooring and Robbins Sports Surfaces. The three companies date their origins to before or just after the invention of basketball itself, which is credited to Canadian-American gym teacher James Naismith in 1891.

“You wouldn’t put the U.P. and basketball together for being famous,” Michigan State University men’s basketball coach, and Iron Mountain native, Tom Izzo told Michigan Country Lines magazine in 2015. “But when you think about it, it makes some sense.”

All three companies are also founding members of the Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association (MFMA), established in 1897, the industry’s governing body that sets standards and protocols.

“The quality of this exquisite hardwood begins in the northern forests above the 35th parallel where shorter growing seasons and longer winters produce a densely grained maple with rich, consistent color and fewer imperfections,” the MFMA notes on its website.

Sports Illustrated writer Tim Newcomb further noted in a 2015 article that the lightness of the wood provides contrast against the ball, “making it easier for players to discern its movement.” The lighter floor also helps brighten arenas.

Each of the companies produces a variety of products, but the most recognizable is the portable sports floors used in professional basketball. These floors are fabricated panel by panel and can be installed and uninstalled in a matter of hours, which allows arenas to host an NBA or WNBA game one night and a concert or monster truck rally the following night.

Each of these floors also includes unique subfloor systems that enhance an athlete’s performance, comfort and safety by reducing the impact on their joints and muscles.

So, in the midst of March Madness, take a break from the game and check out the floor. It is most likely made

The Boston Celtics practice floor is just one of many made from raw materials found in the Upper Peninsula. (Photo courtesy of Connor Sports)

from U.P. trees and constructed by your friends and neighbors.

Connor Sports

The oldest of the three companies is Connor Sports, which is marking its 152nd year in business. The company established its first milling facility in Wisconsin before relocating its manufacturing operations to Amasa, near Crystal Falls, in the early 1900s.

It installed its first basketball court in 1914.

“Amasa is the mainstay of the business,” said Connor Sports Marketing Director Zach Riberdy, who is based in the company’s corporate office near Chicago. “It holds the biggest key to everything we do around the world.”

Amasa itself only has a population of 300 people, but Connor Sports employs between 130 to 160 from around the area, depending on the season.

“Our employees make up a large percentage of the local community, and Connor couldn’t be successful without those employees,” said Technical Director Jason Gasperich, a native of Gladstone who works out of an office in Amasa. “And they make the other businesses work. It’s a hand-inhand relationship.”

Gasperich added that local businesses, such as logging and trucking companies, sawmills and others also contribute to Connor Sports’ success, including HBI Home Builders of Iron River, which builds the subfloor systems, and Crystal Steelhouse of Crys-

tal Falls, which manufactures subfloor components.

“It’s a smaller industry, but we’re supported by very good partners,” Gasperich said. “They’re living and working in the area, and they all make it possible.”

Wood comes to the Amasa mill in its “complete raw state” after being sustainably harvested by a contracted lumber company, according to Riberdy. It’s milled and assembled into four-by-seven-foot panels. The “rough wood” is then shipped to company partners for finishing, which includes sanding, painting, sealing and curing. The finished court panels are then delivered and installed, panel by panel, at their destination.

Connor Sports has been the official court of the NCAA since 2006 and manufactures the floors for the Men’s and Women’s Regional and Final Four venues. Connor Sports also manufactures the official courts for the Summer Olympic Games, including the 2024 Games in Paris, the FIBA World Cup, 14 NCAA Conference Championships, 15 NBA teams, including the Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks, and five WNBA teams, including the Atlanta Dream and the Las Vegas Aces.

The company also manufactures floors for high schools, recreational and fitness facilities, and dance studios, and recently installed a state-ofthe-art basketball court at the headquarters of Barstool Sports, a sports

and pop culture digital media company in Chicago.

Connor Sports is a zero-waste company. It uses wood scraps in its kilns and to heat parts of the mill, and donates leftover wood to organizations throughout Michigan for a variety of uses.

The company also works with its logging companies to ensure that wood is harvested in a crop rotation format and is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and Rainforest Alliance.

“It shows we’re working with the environment, not just using it,” Riberdy said.

The company’s website highlights the U.P. employees, noting that “every square foot of Connor Sports premium sports flooring is proudly manufactured and assembled by dedicated men and women in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.”

The company employs a national team of partners, subcontractors, sales staff, distributors and more, but Riberdy acknowledged that it all begins up north.

“We are very well aware that without the people in Amasa, we can’t do what we do,” he said.

Horner Flooring

Horner Flooring, headquartered in Dollar Bay, was founded in 1891 and says that it’s “as old as the game of basketball.”

Horner has provided the NBA All-

The Denver Nuggets playing floor was manufactored in Dollar Bay. (Photo courtesy of Horner Flooring)

Star floor for 26 years in a row and has provided special event flooring for the NCAA, Olympic Games and Common Wealth Games for more than 20 years, according to its website.

In just the last 43 years, the company has installed more than 11,000 floors throughout the United States.

Horner’s sports flooring systems are engineered for athletic performance, structural integrity, trouble-free maintenance and long-lasting appeal, and its product line includes both wood and synthetic systems.

Its ProKing portable flooring features its patented hinge-and-lock assembly. It can also include its proprietary cushioning systems or not, depending on the needs of the team.

“The cushions or pads on the underside of the floor to enhance resiliency characteristics are sometimes opted for, but not all the time,” Doug Hamar, Horner Flooring president, told Sports Illustrated in 2015. “Some athletes prefer a harder surface for playing their games so they get more energy return.”

At the 2016 NBA Draft Combine, Roy Williams, then-coach of the North Carolina men’s basketball team, spoke about Horner floors in a video posted to the company’s website.

“The guys today are so much bigger and stronger and quicker, they put so much more stress every time they push off or every time they explode up, every time they come down, and you’ve got to have floors like this,” Williams said. “In the old days, you’d play on some courts that were so hard and it really hurt guys’ careers, but nowadays, you’re playing on some really good places.”

Horner is also an industry expert in LEED (Leadership in Energy and En-

vironmental Design) construction. Its website notes that the company has developed its own LEED logistics documents based on U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) submittal forms.

“Our goal has always been to be the best — and LEED documentation gives us a great opportunity to demonstrate why Horner will always be an industry leader in sports flooring,” the company says.

Robbins Sports Surfaces

Robbins Sports Surfaces, which is based in Cincinnati, Ohio, was first established as a family-owned flooring installation company by Robert A. Stoehr in 1894 and began manufacturing in the mid-1930s. It opened its mill in Ishpeming on Sept. 10, 1947.

Jeff Adriano has been the plant manager in Ishpeming for the past two years, although he has been with the company since 2007. He said portable flooring is the fastest-growing part of the plant; 22 of the facility’s 45 hourly employees work in portables.

But the company also creates tongue-and-groove flooring for recreational projects in gyms, sports practice facilities and dance studios, as well as a variety of unfinished and prefinished northern strip, plank and parquet flooring at its sawmill in Kenton, Mich.

“We make a floor from start to finish,” Adriano said.

Logs for the sports flooring, which come mostly from the U.P., but some from northern Wisconsin, are processed at a mill in White Lake, Wisc. There, the lumber is prepped and dried in kilns, and then the “rips and blanks” are sent to the Robbins plant in Ishpeming.

Connor Sports recently installed a basketball court at the headquarters of Barstool Sports, a sports and pop culture digital media company located in Chicago. (Photo courtesy of Connor Sports)

A standard basketball court is comprised of 225 four-by-eight-foot panels and each panel is handcrafted to fit into its own specific spot. Some of the equipment in the fabrication department dates to the 1940s.

“It’s built to last,” Adriano said.

He said Robbin Sports Surfaces’ subfloor systems are scientifically designed and state-of-the-art in the industry. The company has worked with clients, including Michigan State University’s practice facility, to create a custom-designed system to improve performance.

The Ishpeming plant also has its own on-site finishing department where large ride-on sanders work “like a big lawnmower” and where the game lines and graphics are added.

“I can watch the courts as they’re being built,” Adriano said. “I get the luxury of seeing it.”

In addition to game-day floors for 16 NBA teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers, and college teams, including the University of Michigan, Kentucky and Duke, Robbins Sports Surfaces also provided flooring for the “old gym” at Ishpeming High School and the gym at Aspen Ridge Elementary School.

The company has manufactured flooring for clients in all 50 states and in Panama, Japan, Russia, Mexico, Argentina and the Middle East.

Adriano works to ensure that Robbins Sports Surfaces is producing the highest quality flooring, particularly as a founding member of the MFMA — in the same way as Connor Sports and Horner Flooring.

“The customer knows the flooring

is made to a certain standard,” he said. “We’re all competitors, but we all want to make sure we’re putting out a good product that is representative of the industry.”

Robbins Sports Surfaces is also committed to sustainability, which the company notes is one of its “key components.”

“We advocate the renewal and improvement of the environment through active and meaningful participation in key industry organizations, such as the United States Green Building Council, that support reforestation and responsible development,” the company says on its website. It also acknowledges that its mills “are an integral part of the community, providing jobs, purchasing local resources and generating sustainable energy.”

In January, the third generation of the Stoehr family, which has owned the company since the 1960s, sold Robbins Sports Surfaces to the private equity firm L2. Adriano said it will have no impact on the daily operations in Ishpeming.

Adriano said he wants to create a positive atmosphere for his team, which includes employees from throughout Marquette County. He said it’s a point of pride when they can see the court before LeBron James.

“The high-profile floors are a feather in our cap,” he said. “Some of the best athletes are playing on it and your name is on that floor. How cool is that?”

Erin Elliott Bryan grew up in Ishpeming. She is a freelance writer and an MM calendar editor.

The majority of professional and college basketball floors are manufactured by three U.P. companies. (Photo courtesy of Connor Sports)

the arts

Letterpress remains thriving craft in local communities

By Andie Balenger

When long-time Marquette resident Phil Britton decided to accompany his daughter on a field trip to Fred’s Rubber Stamp Shop, a nearly 50-year-old printing institution on Lakeshore Boulevard in Marquette, his knowledge of the printing industry was limited.

The father tagged along with the expectation of learning more about stamp-making and spending quality time with his daughter. What Britton was not expecting, however, was to leave as the new owner of a 1917 Chandler and Price jobbing press.

“A couple of years ago, I don’t think I knew anything about letterpress machines. I would have been so confused,” Britton said. “I had an idea, but when I thought about letterpress, I was thinking about the old Guttenberg-type presses.”

Letterpress, a relief printing method, is a trade-turned-art form in which an individual composes and locks a unique array of movable type into a

press, inks it and presses the pattern into paper. While many attribute the invention of the first letterpress machine to Johannes Gutenberg, who developed the standard printing press used for books and newspapers in the 1400s, movable type dates back to ancient China. Although offset machines ousted the use of letterpress printing for lengthy texts in the mid-20th century, the original printing machines continued to be used as a crafting tool for artists across the globe.

The machine Britton acquired from Fred’s Rubber Stamp Shop was just one piece from a staggering collection of printing machinery cultivated by Fred and Audrey Warren, the store’s owners. From drawers of lead type in various fonts to decades-old proofs of Marquette Elementary School lunch tickets, the volume of regalia for such a distinct art form made investing an obvious choice for Britton.

“It seemed like a really cool opportunity that I didn’t want to pass by,” Britton said. “I definitely didn’t want the machines to go to the scrapyard.

I love block printing as an art form. I love writing by hand, all that kind of stuff …so, I have always appreciated craft manufacturing.”

Buying the machine is one thing, but transporting it is another. As it turns out, the 1917 press requires exceptional effort to be lifted, with some old machines weighing more than 1,000 pounds. Britton is moving his new press and its accouterments into space at SOMA studios, across the street from Mares-Z-Doats in Marquette, where he plans to get it back into working condition. Taking a more artistic route, Britton hopes to eventually hold workshops for those interested in learning more about the machines and trying their hand at printing.

“I was talking to people about [letterpress], and there was person after person who either had worked with it a little bit or were really interested, but didn’t want to buy the machine or house it somewhere,” Britton said. “I can handle that part. I can handle a project, like setting everything up,

The Rozsa Art Galleries is hosting “Simple Machines: Letterpress, and the Art of the Little Magazine” in their professional A-Space Gallery through March 31. (Photo courtesy of Rozsa Art Galleries)

and then invite others to come in and use it as well.”

Britton was not the only area local who seized the opportunity to bring home some authentic Fred’s Rubber Stamp machinery. While visiting Warren’s shop after he announced his retirement in January 2024, Marquette couple Sam and Claire Jacques of Lake Superior Press (LSP) were intrigued by the machinery’s intricacy.

“We asked [Fred] what he was doing with all of his stuff, and he didn’t really have a plan,” said Claire, the office manager at LSP. “We started talking about it, got excited, and said, ‘Well, we can do that.’”

It was settled. After consulting with Wayne Jacques, Sam’s father and co-owner of LSP since the father-son duo purchased the 50-year-old print shop in 2021, the couple obtained two presses: a Miehle Vertical, which is used for die-cutting operations, and a Chandler & Price. Alongside the machinery came several other artifacts from the stamp shop, including ornate furniture, Warren’s store sign, and original copies of Guelff Printing’s monthly “Print-O-Grams” dating back to the 1930s — all remnants of the foundational letterpress institutions in Marquette.

“In my opinion, the letterpress was the last art form. For offset [printing], you kind of need to know what you

are doing to run it,” Sam said. “Letterpress is a very intimate art. It takes time to do it right and make it look good, and you can take your fingers off doing it, so there is a bit of a dangerous aspect to it.”

Claire plans to install the two machines at LSP and create a space solely dedicated to the art of letterpress called Fresh Paper Company. Claire, the owner of the new storefront, hopes to preserve these pieces of Marquette history through elaborate displays and letterpress demos, giving interested parties hands-on experience with the machinery. Essentially, Fresh Paper Company will act as a storefront museum that physically displays the evolution of the printing industry in Marquette.

“It is pretty cool,” she said. “It is something neat to save and show future generations. Letterpress is just about being creative, making cool cards, that kind of thing.”

The Fresh Paper Company Letterpress Museum, which plans to open this summer, is one of many spaces in the Upper Peninsula that houses a historic amount of printing equipment. The Copper Country Community Arts Center (CCCAC) in Hancock has had a working letterpress studio since 2012, with most of the equipment being donated by retired area printers and community members. With op-

erational machinery, more than 100 cases of metal and wood type and additional equipment, the CCCAC hosts lessons and workshops year-round.

Bonnie Loukus, CCCAC assistant director, had to learn the craft and trade of printing alongside the center’s current printer-in-residence Daniel Schneider, a former book art apprentice. The two learned plenty of what they now know about the art of letterpress from studying under instructors who had been practicing the trade for most of their lives. According to Loukus, the knowledge of letterpress continues to be passed from generation to generation.

“Many people we have learned this craft from have passed away,” Loukus said. “This knowledge is getting passed on from old printers, and artists are the ones who are carrying it on, and we are doing all of the different aspects of printing that singular people may have done in the past … the artists are the designers, the printers and the equipment or maintenance people.”

While the history and impact of letterpress are expansive topics, its resurfacing as a mode of creative expression has allowed for incredible community collaborations. For instance, Michigan Tech’s Rozsa Art Galleries currently host “Simple Machines: Letterpress, and the Art of the

The Rozsa’s exhibit combines poetry, letterpress and magazine-making. It features original poetry from a diverse array of national and international poets. (Photo courtesy of TYPA: Estonian Print and Paper Arts Centre)

Little Magazine” in their A-Space Gallery. Simple Machines is an international letterpress poetry magazine founded by MTU creative writing professor M. Bartley Seigel in 2021.

Seigel, a former U.P. Poet Laureate and editor of Simple Machines, has found that letterpress and poetry greatly complement each other.

“There is a lot of synergy that lends poetry to a letterpress productive space, like the privileges of aesthetics and the privileges of texture and intimacy,” Seigel said. “I think so much of it is about opening out and holding space for these collaborative relationships where you are looking for artists engaged in similar endeavors who can work together and feed off one another and create something new out of that space.”

The exhibit at MTU certainly displays such artistic feats. The multimedia exhibit was created in collaboration with poets from Estonia and Ukraine, and visitors can hear these original poems in the author’s voice at the exhibit via pre-recorded audio components. The free exhibit runs through March 30 and is located on the lower level of the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts on MTU’s campus.

According to Terri Jo Frew, the director and curator of the Rozsa galleries, the current exhibit is the most expansive multidisciplinary display the space has seen in a while.

“The way a poem looks on the page, there is something that a lot of

folks from the visual world, and I am one of them, can relate to and interpret when it is displayed that way,” Frew said. “There are plenty of examples of poetry being mass-produced with offset printing, but hopefully the quality of these letterpress-printed artifacts of the poetry will speak to the viewer differently than a mass-produced poem might.”

Overall, letterpress printing is an art form preserved by the passage of generational knowledge, ornate equipment, and a shared passion for physical media in the Upper Peninsula.

With today’s cultural production valuing minimalistic designs, maximum yield, and automation, many would argue that the intentionality and individuality of local letterpress artists are a sight to behold.

“I am an artist with a background in printmaking and painting, and the idea of adding in this fine craft and working with equipment, especially type, is beautiful to me,” Loukus said. “Many of the printers that helped this art form survive are women … women were often excluded from the printing industry, and now I get to work with the equipment and machines that have helped the art form survive.” MM

Andie Balenger is a native of Gladstone and attends graduate school at Northern Michigan University for Administration of Outdoor Recreation and Nature-Based Tourism.

Phil Britton acquired drawers of lead type in various fonts from Fred’s Rubber Stamp Shop. (Photo by Phil Britton)

locals

Alberta Village home to woodworking magician

By Jennifer Donovan

You’ve never seen such a rocking chair. Shades of honey and nut-brown swirl through gleaming birdseye maple. The graceful curves of its rockers complement its intricately carved back. Then there’s the coffee table — birdseye maple again — its top inlaid with colorful polished rocks.

It’s the work of master woodworker Dave Stimac. His birdseye maple marvels can be seen at his Nature’s Way Woodworking gift shop in Alberta Village, a tiny enclave built by iconic automaker Henry Ford, a few miles south of L’Anse off US-41.

Stimac has lived in Alberta Village for nearly 50 years. He was head sawyer at the sawmill built by Henry Ford, where Ford cut lumber from the surrounding forests to use in his wooden station wagons and other models, built in Iron Mountain in the 1930s and ’40s. After about 25 years, Ford shut down its operation in 1954 and donated Alberta Village and the surrounding 1,700 acres of timberland to Michigan Tech’s College of Forestry Resources and Environmental Science. The university kept the sawmill operating.

He came to work there by accident in 1975. He and a friend were deer

hunting and met a man in the woods who asked them if they wanted a job. “No, I don’t,” Stimac replied to the man. “I just got laid off, so I’m drinking beer and chasing girls.”

But he went with the man to see the sawmill and agreed to work there parttime. “And … I never left,” he said. He found himself fascinated by the wood.

“You cut into a log, and they’re all different,” Stimac said. “Wood is a connection with nature.” He worked his way up from stacking boards to head sawyer by 1980, learning every part of

the sawmill process along the way.

In 1980, he and his wife, Diana, moved from Trimountain to Alberta Village to eliminate Stimac’s 100mile commute. Their daughter, Amber, was born there. When the mill closed, he stayed on as a maintenance worker. Retiring after 45 years, the Stimacs decided to remain in Alberta Village.

“It felt like home,” he said. “We love being so remote.”

Stimac now runs Nature’s Way Woodworking out of his gift shop there, where he crafts and sells his birdseye maple art and rocks such as agates, datolite and quartz, polished to a gleaming shine. When he closes the store in the afternoon, he heads for his woodworking shop on the property,

Above, Dave Stimac shows off two of his rocking chair creations. (Photo by Jennifer Donovan) At right, another of Stimac’s ten handmade chairs. (Photo courtesy of Dave Stimac)

where he’ll often work well into the night. When he isn’t working, he fishes and collects rocks.

Stimac no longer hunts. “Amber is the killer in the family,” he said. When she kills a deer, she shares the meat with her parents. Stimac uses it to indulge in another of his pleasures — making sopressa, a cured Italian sausage made of venison and pork.

“Most sausage today is smoked,” he said. “Mine is cured until you have to scrape the green off the outside.”

It all began with a kaleidoscope Stimac started woodworking more than 30 years ago when he saw a wooden kaleidoscope in the Mole Hole gift shop in Marquette. He already loved wood and thought, “I could build one of those.” He made one, then 25, then 75. “People loved them,” he said. The demand grew.

Next he tried making rolling pins, then knife blocks and cutting boards. A friend in L’Anse who made clocks asked him to make an octagon frame for a clock. He started going to art shows for inspiration, and at the renowned Outback Art Show in Wyoming, he saw a carved wooden rocking chair. He got excited — ideas for rocking chairs exploding in his head. The chair’s craftsman, Tom Bazis

from Philadelphia, offered to teach him how to make rockers. He taught Dave the basic joinery for pedestal rockers, and Stimac took it from there. He named his first chair “Philadelphia Freedom” in honor of Bazis.

Each chair has a name. They’re named for famous singers and their songs: Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood, While My Guitar Gently Weeps by George Harrison, Philadelphia Freedom by Elton John. Bad to the Bone has a Harley-Davidson theme, with classic Harley eagle wings, handlebars, tailpipes and a wooden “oil pan” under the seat, Stimac’s tribute to the conventional wisdom that every Harley drips oil.

“Rocking chairs are challenging,” he said. “They take about 300 hours to build.” Carved from rare birdseye maple grown primarily in the U.P., the chairs cost $25,000. “There’s a lot of labor that goes into these rockers, and birdseye maple is very expensive,” he said. Yet they sell. He’s made 10 rockers in total and has sold seven. “And there’s more in my head,” he said.

“Even when the economy’s down, there are always people who have money, and they’re looking for good stuff,” Stimac said. “For me, it’s not about the money. I get more pleasure from having people come back

and say, ‘I love it.’ Quality, quality, quality. That’s what people want.”

He also polishes rocks

Stimac got into cutting and polishing rocks through his work on tables. Already a rock collector himself, he added tables to his repertoire when a friend asked him to make a coffee table inlaid with polished rocks. He started making stunning birdseye maple tables with polished rock tops. On one such table displayed in his shop is a sign in both Finnish and English: “Koketus and Kuolla” — “Touch and Die.”

Another coffee table’s top is made of polished mohawkite, a very rare and expensive rock from Mohawk, in Keweenaw County. Mohawkite contains mixtures of arsenic, silver, nickel, skutterudite and copper.

“Those pieces of mohawkite alone would cost $1,500 if I was to sell the slabs in my shop,” Stimac said. “I put a lot of time and some pretty expensive stuff in my tables.”

Every year, the Stimacs donate a coffee table to the Copper Country Humane Society to use as a fundraiser.

He’s also filled two rooms in his gift shop with polished and natural rocks and copper slabs from the U.P. He names some of his rocks, too. There’s The Big Ugly, Big Ugly’s stepson and The Bastard Son, all hunks of Keweenaw agate.

Another popular display features Montezuma-head bookends, horseshoes, ashtrays and bowls fashioned by miners at the White Pine Mine and made from leftover molten copper that they poured into hand-made molds. They also made four-inch copper Green Bay Packers helmets, “but they only managed to make four before the mold broke,” said Stimac, who likes to know everything about the unusual things he sells.

Although his shop can’t be seen from the highway, a lot of visitors find their way there, especially in the summer. “I love talking with people, answering their questions, sharing the history of Alberta Village and telling them about the furniture and rocks,” he said.

Dave Stimac, his creations and his ideas are definitely one of a kind.

MM

Jennifer Donovan is a freelance writer based in Houghton. She has decades of experience as a newspaper reporter, magazine writer and university communications specialist, most recently as director of news and information at Michigan Tech.

Diana and Dave Stimac donate coffee tables such as this one, complete with inlaid rock, to the Copper Country Humane Society to use for fundraising purposes each year. (Photo courtesy of Dave Stimac)

Each of Dave Stimac’s rocking chairs has a name; “Bad to the Bone” is a Harley-Davidson theme. (Photo by Jennifer Donovan)

sporting life

March tournament, May exhibit honor 50 years of Guts

By Erin Elliott Bryan

It may be destiny that Dennis Walikainen grew up on Frisbee Street in Detroit.

For nearly 50 years, Walikainen has been a player, advocate and historian for Guts Frisbee, a sport that was created at a family picnic in the U.P. and now boasts players, federations and tournaments all over the world. He is also the curator of the International Frisbee/USA Guts Hall of Fame located on the second floor of the Calumet Colosseum.

“It’s intense,” Walikainen said. “I’m just crazy enough to play it. You’ve got to be a little off your rocker.”

The rules of Guts are fairly simple. Two teams of five players lined up fingertip to fingertip, stand 14 meters apart. One player throws the disc as fast as they can while the other team attempts to catch it with one hand — because the other hand was usually holding a beer.

“We’re a pretty clean-cut sport now,” Walikainen said. “It’s a family event.”

The disc cannot be thrown vertically — it must be slightly less than 90 degrees — and “within reach,” and it

can be bobbled by one or more team members before being caught by a single player.

The throwing team scores a point when the other team does not catch a correctly thrown disc. The receiving team scores a point when the disc is not thrown correctly. When a correctly thrown disc is caught by the other team, no points are scored. The team that first reaches 21 points wins the game; teams must win by two points.

Top throwing speeds can reach between 80 and 90 miles per hour. Players have less time to react than a Major League Baseball batter.

“You get quite an adrenaline boost when you catch it,” Walikainen said. “We always say, just catch one. If you catch one, you’ll play for years.”

The sport will be on full display at the Bill Beckman “Under the Dome” Guts Frisbee Tournament, which is slated for March 17 at NMU’s Superior Dome and hosted by the Marquette Guts Frisbee Association. Player registration and spectator admission are both free and the event is intended to increase exposure to and participation in the sport.

No prior experience is required to play in this tournament and players do not need to be part of a five-per-

Marquette’s Stroh’s team, featuring Steve DesJardins, Red Beckman and Scott Anderson, compete in Atlantic Mine in an invitational in the early 1980s. (Photo courtesy of Dennis Walikainen)

son team. Tournament director Kurt Lahtinen said organizers will work to “balance the roster” and provide a mix of rookies and “old timers” on each team.

“This is an opportunity to play with the best players and for veterans to teach younger players,” said Lahtinen, who is president of the Marquette Guts Frisbee Association and has played since he was in seventh grade in 1979.

The tournament will be held in honor of 90-year-old Bill Beckman who played in hundreds of tournaments himself and then had five sons who played Guts. He and his late wife Betty were “fixtures of our beloved sport,” according to Lahtinen.

Beckman Properties is a sponsor of the tournament along with Michael Golisek RE/MAX 1st Realty. The tournament is further supported by TV6 and FOX UP, mediaBrew Communications, Travel Marquette and the Rotary Club of Marquette.

“In the 1970s and ’80s, Marquette was a bastion for Guts Frisbee in America,” Lahtinen wrote in the tournament description. “We had practices in the cemetery, the swamp, Tourist Park, Picnic Rocks and many others. Every party had throw-together Guts games going all night long. Brothers and sisters from virtually every family in Marquette at one time played Guts.”

Lahtinen’s own son Luke is now a top Guts player.

Lahtinen sees the March 17 tournament as an opportunity to engage with college students from NMU, MTU and others, particularly those who already play on the universities’ Ultimate Frisbee teams, as well as youth who play other competitive team sports such as hockey, soccer and football. He said organizers are expecting between 70 and 100 participants.

“This is a competitive sport where adrenaline is high,” Lahtinen said. “It’s been coined the first original extreme sport.”

Guts is part of the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF), which also includes sports such as Ultimate Frisbee and Disc Golf. The nonprofit Guts Players Association provides a resource for all players across the globe and runs the Hall of Fame elections every other year.

There are formal Guts player associations in Japan, India, Germany, Thailand and Taiwan, and players in many more countries, including Canada, Finland and Columbia.

Players from around the world will have the opportunity to compete at the WFDF 2024 World Guts Champion-

ships from Aug. 31 through Sept. 7 in Brisbane, Australia, which will run concurrently with the World Ultimate Championships. Those events only take place every four years.

Team USA will send three teams to compete. The first two teams —Appleton Assassins from Wisconsin and Shottle Bop from the Keweenaw — qualified via the United States Guts Open (USGO) in Lansing last September. The third team was decided by the USA Guts board of directors and is made up of young players from around the country.

Walikainen describes the sport’s “hotbed” as the Midwest, with active teams and tournaments throughout Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois, although there is also a “satellite group” of Guts players in New Mexico.

This unique sport, however, has its roots planted deep in the Keweenaw and its origins trace back to the Healy Family in the late 1950s. The original game was invented at a family gathering on July 4, 1958, in Escanaba where Tim and Mary Healy and several friends began tossing around a “Pluto Platter” that Tim’s brothers, Boots and John, had discovered in a

store in Minneapolis.

“Even on the first day of the sport’s existence, players realized it takes guts to hold one’s ground and try to catch a disc flying at such a speed — hence the name,” Michael Murray wrote in MM in 2018.

The first “Invitational” Frisbee Tournament (IFT) took place in August 1958 at another gathering at the Healy Family camp in Eagle Harbor.

By the late 1960s, the IFT had outgrown the family’s property and invitations were sent all over the world to “everybody who was anybody,” according to the Guts Players Association.

Around the same time, Wham-O, then the company that manufactured Frisbees, was thinking of stopping production. Walikainen explained that “genius” publicity ideas from the Healy brothers and Jim Boggio, such as inviting the Japanese ping pong team and claiming that attendees would include President John Kennedy, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and the Pope, forced Wham-O to reconsider.

The sport was also covered in national publications like the New York

Stephen Dudenas of the Keweenaw’s Shottle Bop team throws at the Wisconsin State Championship in 2023, a tournament that the Bop won. (Photo courtesy of Dennis Walikainen)

Times, Time magazine and Sports Illustrated.

“Half of it was tongue in cheek,” Walikainen said. “But Wham-O could see the money to be made.”

Ed Headrick, known as “Steady Ed,” then executive vice president and general manager of Wham-O, founded the now-defunct International Frisbee Association in 1967 to “handle the strong consumer responses to the products and to satisfy Ed’s own personal fascination with the Frisbee disc,” according to the Flying Disc Museum.

The organization later evolved into an effective promotional tool for Wham-O and was a source of information and opportunities for flying disc enthusiasts.

Wham-O supplied the IFT with professional Frisbees and in 1968,

Headrick, his sons and three others competed in the tournament as the California Masters. The team won the IFT that year and repeated their victory in 1969.

The sport peaked in the 1970s when the IFT featured 60 teams and 8,000 fans during a two-day tournament. The game had spread to other areas, including Marquette, where large tournaments were held at Cliffs Ridge (now Marquette Mountain) that often attracted 7,000 to 10,000 people.

Marquette began hosting the U.S. Nationals in 1976. Two years later, executives of Wham-O and officials of the International Frisbee Association founded what was originally known as the International Frisbee Disc Hall of Fame.

An announcement of the Hall of Fame’s establishment and its origi-

nal inductees — including the Healy brothers, W. Fred Morrison (inventor of the Frisbee disc), Headrick, and Goldy “The Golden Finger” Norton — were announced at the 1978 World Frisbee Championships at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

Guts began to fade in the 1990s, although faithful and committed enthusiasts have kept it going and are actively working to recruit a new generation of players.

The growing popularity of related sports like Ultimate Frisbee, which is popular on college campuses, and Disc Golf, have renewed an interest in Guts.

“All these sports grew from the IFT,” Walikainen said. “We think the sport is worthy to keep going.”

In the Keweenaw, Guts players practice at noon on Saturdays at

Hancock High School to master four different types of throws as well as hand-eye coordination and positioning in preparation for summer competition, especially the 66th Coca-Cola IFT (now known as the International Frisbee Tournament), which will take place July 6 and 7 in Hancock.

Since 1968, the winning team has raised the coveted Nachazel Trophy as “a symbol of Guts supremacy,” according to the Guts Players Association. The trophy is named for former MTU Professor Julius T. Nachazel.

“It’s incredibly fun to watch,” Walikainen said. “Bring chairs and you’ll have a front-row seat to intense competition.”

Walikainen has also helped run tournaments and was approached in the mid-1990s to take over the Guts Hall of Fame, which was then locat-

The International Frisbee/USA Guts Hall of Fame is located in the Calumet Colosseum. (Photo courtesy of Dennis Walikainen)

ed in a room at the Copper Country Chamber of Commerce.

“I became the curator by default,” he said.

The hall was later moved to the Houghton County Historical Society in Lake Linden before finding a permanent home at the Calumet Colosseum in 2011, which Walikainen said was due to the late Paul Lehto, former Calumet Township Supervisor.

“He was the first person to not think I was crazy,” Walikainen said. “He knew about the sport.”

The International Frisbee/USA Guts Hall of Fame features some rare

items related to the history of disc sports, including mini Frisbee discs from the 1969 IFT, which had been dropped out of an airplane and mistakenly landed in a cemetery in Eagle Harbor, and some of “Steady Ed” Headrick’s ashes. Headrick is also known as the father of Disc Golf and the designer of the professional model Frisbee disc that is used exclusively for Guts.

“It’s a really neat collection and narrative of the sport,” Walikainen said of the museum.

Walikainen was first introduced to Guts when his family moved to Han-

cock in 1969. He observed Dan Thorton throwing a Frisbee in his neighborhood with a speed of “at least 80 miles per hour.” Walikainen told Thorton he thought he would be able to catch it, though Thorton — and everyone else — was skeptical.

“I made the team because I was the first to catch Danny’s throw,” Walikainen said.

He has played ever since and even competed alongside his son, John.

“It’s just the coolest thing, to be standing in a line next to him,” Walikainen said. “It’s so cool to see it passed on.”

The Bill Beckman “Under the Dome” Guts Frisbee Tournament will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 17 at the NMU Superior Dome in Marquette. Admission is free and concessions will be available, including a beer garden that will be open from noon to 5 p.m.

For information and registration details, search for the Marquette Guts Frisbee Association on Facebook or visit the Guts Players Association at gutsplayers.com.

The Marquette Regional History Center will host a special exhibit titled “50 Years of Guts Frisbee in Marquette” from May 13 to Sept. 7. In conjunction with the exhibit, Walikainen and Steve Desjardins will speak about the sport at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 31. There is a $5 suggestion donation; for information, visit marquettehistory.org.

Several other events will take place during the run of the exhibit. In conjunction with the 66th Coca-Cola IFT, the International Frisbee/USA Guts Hall of Fame induction will take place July 6 and 7 at the Continental Fire Co. in Houghton and the U.S. National Guts Frisbee Tournament will be held Aug. 3 and 4 at Tourist Park in Marquette.

For information on the International Frisbee/USA Guts Hall of Fame, call 906-281-7625 or email Walikainen at dkwalika@gmail.com.

Erin Elliott Bryan grew up in Ishpeming. She is a freelance writer and an MM calendar editor.

The Keweenaw’s Shottle Bop team won this invitational in 2023. Guts Frisbee is not for the faint of heart, with discs sometimes reaching speeds of 80 to 90 miles per hour. “Under the Dome” Guts Frisbee Tournament is slated for March 17 at NMU’s Superior Dome. (Photo courtesy of Dennis Walikainen)

the arts

Keranen remembered in annual jazz festival

By Kathy Ihde

The annual Don Keranen Memorial Jazz Festival will take place March 22 and 23 at the Rozsa Center on the Michigan Tech campus again this year, with a new twist — it’s the first year Michigan Tech has invited students from local schools to participate in the program.

Keranen founded the Michigan Tech Jazz Studies program in the 1960s. He’ll be remembered at the festival, which features a Friday performance by the Video Game Jazz Ensemble and the Research & Development Big Band (R&D) featuring Kris Johnson. Following that show, the audience is invited to Hancock’s Orpheum Theater for an after-hours jam session.

On Saturday afternoon, MTU Director of Jazz Studies Adam Meckler is inviting prospective Michigan Tech students and local middle and high school students to the Rozsa Center for a masterclass at 2 p.m. The students will learn a song by ear and open the 6 p.m. concert performing that tune. Participating students only need to bring their instruments. Piano, drums, bass, vibes and amplifiers are provided.

This year, the weekend will feature former Count Basie Big Band trum-

peter and Detroit native Kris Johnson. Equally at home as a composer and arranger, Johnson’s music will be featured with the Jazz Lab Band at the 6 p.m. Saturday concert. The 9 p.m. Saturday performance features the Workshop Brass Band and JazTec.

Mike Irish, former director of jazz studies at Michigan Tech, was a stu-

dent of Keranen’s from 1970 to 1974.

“I grew up in Northeast Wisconsin,” Irish said. “My background was playing guitar in rock-and-roll bands during the school year and at resorts with older musicians in the summers, but I never got to play in a jazz band back then; we didn’t have jazz band in the schools I attended.”

When Irish went to college, he wanted to play in the Michigan Tech Jazz Band.

“I asked Professor [Don] Keranen if he had any openings in his jazz band,” Irish said. “He already had a guitar player and told me, ‘There are five guitar players auditioning,’ and my heart dropped. I played my audition and halfway through it, I asked, ‘Would it be OK if I just observed and picked things up in that way?’ I think he took pity on me. He said, ‘You’re here all the time, why don’t you sit in and play with our guitar player? You can learn that way.’”

The first time Keranen took the Jazz Band to the Eau Claire Jazz Festival was in 1971.

“He said to me, ‘Why don’t you come to Eau Claire with us?” Irish said. “Our guitar player injured his wrist.”

Don Keranen and Mike Irish enjoy Jamaica in 1981 during one of many jazz band trips Keranen orchestrated to give himself and his students a break from the U.P. winter weather. (Photo courtesy of Mike Irish)

Don Keranen jams with Funk & Websters in Jamaica, where he taught for a year at the University of Kingston. (Photo courtesy of Mike Irish)

This was a theme with Keranen.

“He gave his students a chance,” Irish said. “He supported us; he never said, ‘No.’ He gave people opportunities, and it was on them to figure out what they wanted to do. Don opened the door. For me, it was huge. He gave me a chance to do that.”

Keranen, who grew up in Baraga, hated winter. Irish said he couldn’t wait to get away from the snow.

He took the jazz band to Jamaica; Irish said Keranen liked the “vibe” there. Towards the end of the 1980s, he took a year’s leave of absence to return to Jamaica, teaching jazz at the University of Kingston.

Eventually, Keranen returned to Jamaica, where he suffered a massive heart attack on New Year’s Eve 2001. He passed away on January 7, 2002 in Miami. He was just 59.

After Keranen’s unexpected death, Irish became Tech’s Director of Jazz Studies.

After Keranen passed, the jazz department wanted their spring concert to be a memorial, with the hope that when they had money to, they’d bring in guest artists for the concerts.

“Don’s son, Jay, is a financial planner. I contacted him for help,” Irish said. “He started the seed money with $6,000 for scholarships and endowments to the school. Alumni members contributed to it. It’s grown to the point where they can give out two awards. It’s a beautiful way of remembering Don and his legacy.”

Irish retired in 2018, and Meckler came onboard as director of jazz studies.

In early 2019, Adam Meckler was an associate jazz professor. He’d been teaching for a short time when the world came to an abrupt halt.

“I was here for six months,” Meckler said. “It was just before everything went down due to COVID. My wife, Jana, and I were starting to meet people. We were noticing the cool things that were happening in the area. It feels like it’s taken until now for that cool stuff to come back; people feel like they can go out and hear music again.”

Meckler has a specific method of sharing music with his students.

“I teach music by ear,” Meckler said. “It’s one of the things I’m enthusiastic about. I don’t understand why, when students get their first instruments, we immediately put sheet music in front of them. Instead of doing that, they should learn their music with sound. I believe it’s the best way for students to learn how to play music. I do that with our Workshop Brass Band. We traveled to New Orleans recently and left our sheet music behind.”

Like Keranen, Meckler has a vision that he’s not afraid to work to bring to life — and he’s worked that magic with the memorial festival.

“We said when we had money, we’d bring in guest artists for the concert,” Irish said. “Adam made it a jazz festival. He took it to another level. He came in and he ‘festival-ized’ it.”

With the invitation for local students to participate in the festival, Meckler has offered opportunities for young musicians — much like his department’s founder.

“Besides giving people opportunities, Don was a visionary,” Irish said. “He could see cool things happening.”

Keranen also made cool things happen. He had one of the top local bands in the Upper Peninsula — Four Degrees North.

Tech’s current Director of Jazz Studies Adam Meckler playing at the Orpheum Theater in Hancock. (Photo by Jeff Ihde)

“Don had a presence in Marquette,” Irish said. “He received his undergrad degree at Northern Michigan in 1963’64 and his master’s degree from the University of Oregon. Returning to the U.P. in the fall of 1966, he took a one-year job teaching in Republic. When Don got the job at Michigan Tech in 1967, Four Degrees North was traveling to different gigs, from Houghton to Marquette.”

At that time, Keranen was an undergrad at NMU. There were no formal jazz classes, so he started a Jazz Club.

When a position opened at Michigan Tech for bands and Men’s Glee Club, Keranen took the job. During his first year at Tech, he started a jazz band. He added a second jazz band in 1973.

“He was fearless — not crazy, but fearless,” Irish said. “In the mid-’60s, we saw the beginning of college jazz education. When Don was at Michigan Tech, it was quite an innovative thing for any school to have a Jazz Ensemble. Eau-Claire started one, and Stevens Point had one a year later.”

Keranen wasn’t afraid to be on the cutting edge of music education.

“He had a jazz band and a concert band,” Irish said. “He also had Men’s Glee Club and the Huskies Pep Band. Don was the guy who put the Huskies Pep Band into those stripes; he didn’t like a regimented marching band.”

Near the end of the 1980s, he started offering classes in Improvisation and Jazz History. One of Tech’s combos often played at The Library Bar in downtown Houghton.

“While I was still teaching at Ste-

vens Point, I thought, ‘When Don retires, I’ll go for his gig,’” Irish said. “Sadly, it wasn’t how I imagined it.”

Don Keranen taught at Michigan Tech for 23 years. Irish had big shoes to fill.

“I didn’t want to come in with a big ego,” Irish said. “I was able to build on the things Don did. He was a multi-instrumentalist; he played everything. He was a trombone major in college and played keyboards; he was a wonderful singer.”

Irish was director of jazz studies at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point for eight years before taking on the role at Michigan Tech. He retired in 2018 and continues to play music for his devoted friends and fans.

Each year, Excellence in Jazz is recognized by way of the Don Keranen Memorial Jazz Scholarship. Three students are chosen by their peers in recognition of improvement, excellence and leadership.

Seating for the Don Keranen Memorial Jazz Festival is all general admission, with “Pay As You’re Able” pricing — attendees pick the price they can afford.

Full fee per concert is $15 and there are three concerts during the weekend; tickets are available at mtu. universitytickets.com. MM

Kathy & Jeff Ihde have been volunteering with music and theater kids for more than 30 years, first in Fort Atkinson and Jefferson, Wisconsin and now with the Calumet Schools. The Ihdes got to meet Mike Irish at the 2006 UW-Stevens Point Jazz Fest.

Mike Irish was a student of Don Keranen at Michigan Tech years before he took over as director of jazz studies. (Photo courtesy of Mike Irish)

Seed libraries grow across U.P.

By Deborah K. Frontiera

The basic idea of a “seed library” is so simple one wonders why there weren’t more of them years ago. People borrow seeds from their local library to plant their gardens, big or small, and after their harvest, collect some seeds from dried plants at the end of the season to return to the library.

The goal is to educate and encourage people to grow vegetables, flowers or herbs and spread the word to others.

“Learning how to save seeds deepened my relationship with plants and my own garden,” said Abbey Palmer, Queen City Seed Library volunteer. “It’s a powerful feeling to be so connected to the place you live and the things that share that space with you.”

Some seed libraries have been around for years; others are just getting started. Some have patrons return seeds, while others just hand seeds out, not expecting returns. Still others are “seed banks” rather than “lending libraries,” whose goal is to preserve seeds, especially of rare and threatened species, for the future. The largest seed bank began in Norway in 2008 and is 1,300 km above the Arctic Circle. There are reportedly 1,400 seed banks worldwide.

“This is just another great facet to

gardening,” Palmer said. “There is also an effort going on coming out of the west coast to map all the seed libraries in the United States.”

Closer to home, the State of Michigan instituted a “One Seed, One State” program in 2023, encouraging all gardeners to try one variety, Grand Rapids Lettuce, for a shared experience — like the one-book programs.

Seed swaps will be held in both Gwinn and Marquette in March.

Queen City Seed Library will host its annual community seed swap from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 23 in the Peter White Library Community Room in Marquette. Patrons bringing seeds to share are welcome to drop them off before the swap at 1 p.m.; these seeds need to be pre-labeled with the type, variety and year. This is for non-invasive, unlicensed, non-patented seeds only — including veggies, fruits, flowers and herbs.

“Whether you’re an experienced seed saver or are just curious about gardening, coming to a seed swap is one of the greatest ways to get started,” Palmer said. “You might leave with a seed, a tip or a piece of knowledge that will help you with future gardening. We welcome everybody, no matter their level of expertise or experience. The conversations that happen at these events are important.”

Community members are welcome

Card catalogs are great homes for seed libraries such as this one at Portage Lake District Library in Houghton. (Photo by Deborah K. Frontiera)

to bring open-pollinated seeds that are not licensed or patented to share. Bringing seeds is not required to participate in the event; anyone who would like to learn more about gardening in our area is welcome at the Seed Swap.

The event will include demonstration booths with information about gardening. The Gwinn Seed Library booth will offer a close-up look at the root of a healthy plant with soil expert Steve Finley. Local gardening expert Ray Bush will have a table full of handouts and be present for one-onone chats about gardening.

The Queen City Seed Library is managed by a collective of people who live in Marquette and Alger counties. It’s been supported since 2016 by several gardening organizations like Let’s Grow KI and Partridge Creek Farm. Over the years, more than 250 different members have checked out seeds from their library.

Palmer said the Queen City library was inspired by the Munising seed library, and that there has been interaction with seed libraries throughout the U.P. as each got started.

In Forsyth Township, regular workshops are scheduled to educate people about planting, growing and seed selection. Their seed library opens on March 15 for the season.

“Steve Finley approached me about starting a seed library in 2022, and we weren’t using our old card catalog anymore,” said Leslie Makela, Forsyth Township Public Library director. “It was a perfect fit.”

Finley, a local gardening enthusiast, puts the seeds into hibernation each winter and restocks the seed library each spring. He works with community gardens across the county

to produce seeds that have been proven to survive the U.P. growing season and conditions.

“They have collected and harvested more than 50,000 seeds for 2024,” Makela said. “About 17,000 will be in our seed library come March 15.”

Last year, Finley and the Lions Club worked with 520 students at Lakeview Elementary in Negaunee to plant seeds; staff returned in the fall and worked with 420 students to harvest seeds. The library has also opened four experimental gardens in Gwinn to test many seed varieties.

The library’s goal is to become the Gwinn Seed Bank and safely store seeds for up to five years. The seeds are coined “U.P. Smart” and are more capable of short-season growing in a cooler climate, along with others that are non-GMO, organic and some hybrids that meet its standards.

“The first year we served over 200 people, and that went up in 2023,” Makela said. “We have definitely seen more foot traffic who didn’t know our library was here until they heard about the seed library. People are excited when they come in.”

Makela said seed libraries are becoming more and more popular, especially in rural libraries. A seed swap is scheduled for 1 p.m. on March 16 at the Gwinn Community Church.

While Queen City and Forsyth have been developing their seed libraries for years, some are in their infancy.

Stephanie Sewenski at the Iron River Library said 2023 was the first year for their seed library, which started at the request of several community members. They received donations of seeds from various companies, and packaged them into “coin-sized” envelopes with coded instructions. They

Peter White Public Library in Marquette has hosted seed swap events for years; this year it will be on March 23. (Photo by Michael Reisterer)

placed seeds in alphabetical order in the drawers of their old card catalog.

Sewenski said they do not expect their patrons to return seeds. A launch event was held in the spring using a social media campaign, in-house signs and their local paper to advertise. People picked up almost all the seed packets at that launch event, which was “kind of fun,” she said.

Portage Lake District Library in Houghton also uses its old card catalog to store packets of seeds. This seed program is partnered with the Western U.P. Food System Collaborative.

Linda Heinonen volunteers to coordinate the seed library at the Calumet Public Library. She is very active with the Friends of the Library group in Calumet. The seed library began in 2022 and is also set up in the library’s old card catalog.

Ace Hardware and Campioni’s True Value donated seeds to get them going. Right now, they have many donated seeds, so they do not ask their “borrowers” to return seeds, although some people have. Heinonen said her group wrote thank-you letters to businesses who donated. In 2023, they advertised more, using the Daily Mining Gazette, Facebook and the contacts of the Friends of the Library group to get the word out. “We like to keep improving,” Heinonen said.

In Ishpeming, Heidi Silverstone uses a cabinet with drawers labeled A-Z for their seeds. Their first year was in 2023, and they had a grand opening on Earth Day. Presenters came to talk about gardening, giving tips for beginners and experienced gardeners alike.

About 75 people came, enjoyed the event, and most went home with seeds. Partridge Creek Farm donated most of its seed stock. Silverstone said the grand opening garnered the needed attention to start their program with a bang.

Bay College in Escanaba also has a seed program, with Muriel Carter in charge. It has been going on for a few years and has grown steadily. Theirs is more of a seed exchange than a library, and they do not ask people to return seeds. They repackage donated seeds in smaller packets, often the right size for container gardening. She encourages beginners to start small and prompts people to try new varieties of vegetables. They had about 300 packets of seeds to give out in 2023, and every single packet was taken.

Carter also displays books on gardening near the seeds, which are frequently checked out. Practical education of this sort is at the heart of Bay College. They’ve been able to convince many students to give container

gardening a try. Bay College displays their seeds in the Student Center near the library doors.

Chad Larsen at the St. Ignace library related that their first year was slow, but in 2023, they brought in a speaker for their kick-off and the program grew. A good advertising campaign utilized flyers, a board out in front of the library, their local newspaper and Facebook. He is jealous of libraries that have old card catalogs because he must put his seeds in baskets on a rack of four shelves.

Larsen and his wife are avid gardeners and part of a community of such people. They are paired with another organization called Hope Chest. This combination has resulted in raised beds people can use within the St. Ignace community which further encourages gardening.

“Since COVID, many more people have started growing some of their food,” Larsen said.

He also arranged for a speaker in 2023 to talk about cold-weather planting and the use of native versus invasive species.

“Seed libraries are even an international movement,” Palmer said. “Seed libraries, much like plants, have a way of spreading.”

Deborah K. Frontiera never claims to have a “green thumb,” but she is good at canning the tomatoes her husband grows. She grows petunias in flower pots and has added cone flowers and butterfly weed around her flagpole. Deborah writes in a variety of genres and for all ages; visit authorsden. com/deborahkfrontiera.

Peter White Public Library in Marquette has a large collection of seeds in its Queen City Seed Library. (Photo by Michael Reisterer)

in the outdoors

The well-known local blue-spotted

salamander

is only one of many species that thrive in the Great Lakes area

Hiding in plain sight

“History is not Time; nor is evolution, They are both consequences. Time is a state: the flame in which their lives the salamander of the human soul.”

—Andrei Tarkovsky

Tarkovsky also said:

“If you look for a meaning, you will miss everything that happens.”

—Andrei Tarkovsky

By Scot Stewart

Mention salamanders in Marquette and the image of these gentle and secretive animals takes on an entirely new shape in the minds of those who have heard their story. Many in the Upper Peninsula and elsewhere have become more familiar with these amphibians since the tale of their epic migration each spring here became so well known.

The blue-spotted salamanders live in the maple-birch-pine forest high above the “neck of Presque Isle” in Marquette. Each spring, as the last remnants of winter’s snow shrink away, blue-spotted salamanders come alive again after a long, cold stretch below the frost line in the park’s soil. They must make an intrepid journey through the woods, down steep grades, crossing roads, sand pits and a small creek to reach breeding ponds. Although the exact number of salamanders making the crossing each spring is not known, thousands make the crossing, often traveling a quarter mile or more.

The trip is not without its perils. Foxes, skunks, raccoons and eastern garter snakes may prey upon them as they slowly cross the forest floor in the wet, cold darkness, and if they are still making the trek at daybreak, birds like the park’s gulls, crows and ravens may also join in for a meal. But the salamanders here and elsewhere face even bigger problems. In 2019, before the park road was barricaded, 429 were run over and killed. Similar events occur across the country where salamanders must cross roads to reach the ponds where they breed and lay

their eggs.

Salamanders migrate on “warmish” spring nights when temperatures inch up into the 40s, often during light rain showers. Their lungs are not well developed so some of the oxygen they need is absorbed through their skin; cool, moist weather is best for moving from woods to ponds. If their skin completely dries out, they will die.

Most salamanders in the area migrate to vernal ponds in Upper Peninsula woods. These are temporary ponds created from snow melt and spring rains that eventually dry up during the summer. Because they dry up most years, they do not develop populations of predaceous fish and amphibians (like American bullfrogs, whose tadpoles may take three or more years to mature into frogs) capable of feeding on young salamander larvae. It is a safer place for young salamanders to grow up.

Vernal ponds are a feature of the

north woods in the northeastern United States that few are familiar with, but they are among the most important wetland components here. Besides breeding sites for salamanders, wood frogs and occasionally spring peepers, other frogs may also come to breed in them. Garter snakes and broadwinged hawks are predators frequently seen hunting frogs and other small animals in and over the ponds.

Tiny, translucent, inch-long fairy shrimp are crustaceans living in these ponds in lives designed for temporary ponds. They lay eggs in the ponds that quickly sink into the substrate at the bottom of these ponds. The eggs are locked into the mud when the ponds dry out. In spring, the water restores the eggs, and then they hatch and become food for amphibian tadpoles, shorebirds wading into the shallow edges of the ponds and other animals as they join the other living aquatic lives there.

Trees along the edges of vernal ponds rely on the early source of moisture from the ponds and help draw the water down during the summer. Most salamanders return to their nursery home each year to breed, and some of those salamanders can live up to 15 years.

The mitigation ponds near the Bog Walk are not vernal ponds, they are year-round pools but do seem to successfully produce salamanders, gray tree frogs, spring peepers, wood frogs and some American toads. The frogs and toads can be heard each spring at the ponds, and young tree frogs and peepers are frequently seen around the ponds during the summer, suggesting they have successfully bred. Because of the shallow water, and active life there including American bitterns, ducks, geese, rails and other predators, the conditions provide a suitable environment for many amphibians.

The migration of the salamanders

The blue-spotted salamander, shown here in triploid form, has become famous in the area due to their migration across a road at Presque Isle in Marquette. (Photo by Scot Stewart)

to the ponds has become well documented and has resulted in a near festival-like celebration. Unfortunately, the popularity of the natural event has come with some issues threatening the success of the stars of the nighttime show. Because they migrate at night, often during light rain, spectators wander down the park road with flashlights and can accidentally step on the salamanders. Last year an inebriated driver maneuvered around the barricades and drove into the migration area. Another vehicle left in the park until after it closed drove through the migration area and is believed to have run over hundreds of salamanders.

Although nature lovers who come to view the migration are careful, accidents can and do occur as some amphibians get stepped on by the excited, curious and sometimes distracted visitors. They bring with them lights to search out the animals, too. Biologist Dr. Jill Leonard and some of her students at Northern Michigan University are now studying the possible negative effects the lights may have on salamanders.

Park officials are working with Leonard, scientists at Superior Watershed Partnership and board members from MooseWood Nature Center to develop new plans to improve the success of the migration and the observation of interested citizens. Tunnels are being built to allow the salamanders to travel under the roadway to get to the ponds. Other considerations have included structures like pallets/boardwalks for observers to walk on with gaps below them for salamanders to get to the ponds, and more gating at each end of the road to prevent vehicles from driving through at night.

Wildlife spectacles are a wonder to behold, but as more research is con-

ducted, it seems the less interference there is by humans, the better the chances are for the salamanders to survive. As more recordings are made to document the migration, the better the opportunities will be to watch the spectacle from afar and give the animals the best chance of survival.

Blue-spotted salamanders are probably the most common Upper Peninsula salamander, one of 10 known in Michigan and currently 127 species in the United States. Between 535 and 760 species are known worldwide, with the Great Smoky Mountains being one of the areas with the highest density of different types. They range in size from Thorius narisovalis, just barely an inch long, living in the Mexican mountains near the city of Oaxaca, to the giant Chinese salamander

at six feet long. The difference in the number of known species can be explained in part by the complex hybridization of some and new discoveries still being made.

Marbled, red-backed, spotted, fourtoed, mudpuppy, eastern tiger, smallmouthed, western lesser siren, and eastern (red-spotted) newt are the other species listed by the Michigan DNR as native to the state. Three of these are on the cusp of survival in Michigan — the marbled (threatened), was last seen in southwestern Michigan in 1989, the western lesser siren (species of concern) was last seen in 2001, and the small-mouthed salamander (endangered in Michigan) was last seen in 2004. They have limited ranges in the state, with the first two in counties in the far southwest corner of the state, and the small-mouthed salamander most recently seen in the southeast corner of the state.

Blue-spotted, marbled, eastern tiger and spotted salamanders are considered mole salamanders and are in the genus Ambystoma. They have lungs and spend most of their lives living underground. They may only come out during nighttime hours in search of food or to move to breeding ponds where they may spend several weeks before returning to their home territories.

Four-toed salamanders are distinguished by the four toes they have on both fore and hind legs. Most salamanders have five toes on each of their back feet. Four-toed and red-backed salamanders are lungless. They must obtain all of their oxygen through their skin and throats. Four-toed salamanders are rare in the Marquette

New spotted salamander eggs are laid in clusters of 15 to 20; upwards of 500 eggs may be laid by a single female. (Photo by Scot Stewart)

This eastern newt larvae is shown in the process of metamorphosing to an eft. (Photo by Scot Stewart)

area and red-backed salamanders are becoming more difficult to find in the wooded areas.

Blue-spotted and spotted salamanders belong to a group called the mole salamanders. Despite living underground most of their lives, they can occasionally be found under rocks or logs, but more often prowl tunnels created by other animals like shrews and moles. Although often solitary animals, occasionally large groups of 20 or more can be found together under large logs or pieces of wood.

Two different forms of blue-spotted salamanders can be found at Presque Isle. Members of the main group are black with deep blue spots. The second has a more interesting pattern, with pale-colored bodies and powder blue spots. They can be 20 percent or so larger and have a third set of chromosomes in their cells, making triploid sets. Most are female and produce fertile eggs when eggs come in contact with male sperm, stimulating development without incorporating the external genetic material. Howev-

er, on occasion, the additional DNA from the males may be incorporated and used or taken to replace some of the female’s DNA. Blue-spotted salamanders also interbreed with Jefferson’s salamanders in states stretching from Illinois to the Northeast.

Eggs from blue-spotted salamanders are laid in small clusters of 15 to 20; upwards of 500 eggs may be laid by a single female. They develop external gills while still in the egg stage. They take a month to hatch. During this larval stage, they look like tadpoles but also begin to develop small legs. As frog tadpoles near the point of metamorphosis into frogs they too have legs and a tail, but only for a short time before the tail tissue is absorbed into their bodies. Larval blue-spotted salamanders will fully develop by the end of summer.

The unusual weather has not paired well with salamanders in the area. Spotted salamanders are a bit chunkier than blue-spotted salamanders and have two orange spots behind their heads and a line of yellow spots down

The barred tiger salamander, shown here in a larval state, is native to the state of Michigan. (Photo by Scot Stewart)

their sides. Warm temperatures may confuse them into emerging from their winter spots.

Some salamanders do not mature to landforms and remain in an immature state, but are still able to breed and lay eggs. Mudpuppies and western lesser sirens are two examples exhibiting this development in their lives. This state of immature forms is called neoteny. This enables some salamanders to live in places that may be too arid during summer months to survive and reproduce in what is essentially an immature form.

“Once I had a pet salamander I named Tiny. People would ask why I called him Tiny. I told them I called him Tiny because he was my newt.”

—Unknown

Perhaps

the most remarkable of all the Michigan salamanders may be the eastern newt. It may also be the easiest to find, as it can be found in vernal ponds, beaver ponds, and even small, narrow permanent ponds, like ones around Big Bay.

In late May, they complete mating and egg-laying in some places in the Marquette area. Egg masses can be large, with 200 to 400 eggs, each laid as the male clasps the female from above her.

It can take three to five weeks for those eggs to hatch, and the emergent larvae become voracious eaters, consuming algae, small aquatic insects, other amphibian eggs and even other smaller newt larvae. These larvae are tadpole-like in appearance but have external, feathery gills.

These immature newts will begin the process of metamorphosing into the next stage of their lives as terres-

This red-backed salamander is lungless and usually lives in forested areas under rocks, logs and other debris. (Photo by Scot Stewart)

trial red efts. They slowly become bright orange, with black, circled dots on their backs. The color advertises their poisonous condition to potential predators.

Their wide, keeled tails become rounder, and they more accurately take on the appearance of other salamanders. Their protective coloration assists their ability to hunt insects and other invertebrates during daytime hours, unlike their adult lives as nocturnal hunters when they return to nearby ponds to reacquire aquatic lives.

Normally they live as efts for several years before going through another metamorphosis back into an aquatic form, with broad-keeled tails and brown, olive-yellowish skin. They also have lungs like the efts but can also absorb oxygen through their skin. This is the stage most achieve before they can reproduce in water.

Where they become even more remarkable, though, is their flexibility to adapt to the conditions of their environment. If the habitat of the land area around their home pond is hostile, they may metamorphose directly into adult forms, by passing the eft stage. Other newts may develop adult reproductive systems as efts, thereby foregoing the adult stage, and returning to water only to breed. This may reduce competition in ponds where adults live.

Salamanders’ superpower is regen-

eration. In the event a predator grabs them by their tail or a leg, the appendage is separated from the attacker, allowing the salamander a better chance of escaping. Scientists have examined the process that follows, as a layer of scar cells forms. This is followed by a mass of cells that migrate to the site of the amputation where they begin the process of diversifying to replace the missing part.

Answers for the New York Times crossword puzzle, located on Page 15.

Blue-spotted salamanders are native to the Great Lakes area. (Photo by Scot Stewart)

Additional studies have shown some salamanders have the ability to repair their spinal cords in lost tails, as well as portions of brains, retinas and eye lenses. These processes are described in “Salamanders: The Molecular Basis of Tissue Regeneration and Its Relevance to Human Disease” by Claudia Marcela Arenas Gomez and Karen Echeverri. The potential applications to human health are huge and research is ongoing.

“You can put suspenders on a salamander, but it still won’t make waffles. See what I mean? That sentence makes no sense, but I got paid for it. It’s right here.”

—Dave Barry

Dave Barry wrote a syndicated humor column for the Miami Herald for many years, is a novelist and now writes a blog. He has managed to find humor in a wide variety of everyday items and events. His mention of salamanders reminds us of the small role many things play in the big picture of life.

What is often forgotten is the important part animals like salamanders, other amphibians and their habitats play not only as indicators for a healthy environment, but the hidden powers they have, and the opportunities humans have at unlocking the secrets hidden in those powers.

Salamanders are creatures most people rarely, if ever, see and when most do it is totally by accident.

Once people do become aware of the presence of species like the amphibians, the discovery of one in the wild becomes a true delight. Unfortunately, more and more species become a part of the news when their numbers drop in disastrous fashion, or they disappear completely.

Salamanders are strong indicators of the health of the environment. Because they rely on water to breed and assist with oxygen intake, they become indicators for clean air and water. Their reliance on vernal ponds reflects the quality of an intact, healthy ecosystem. Their presence also becomes a keen factor in the enjoyment of the outdoors by those who use natural areas.

Learning the unique needs of species of concern can make nature lovers appreciate them all the more and respect their survival requirements.

Scot Stewart is an educator, writer and photographer with an inherent love of the natural world. He is active with the MooseWood Nature Center at Presque Isle Park in Marquette.

sporting life

At back center, Kaet Johnson, general manager of Marquette Mountain, enjoys a moment with instructors, volunteers and participants during an Adaptive Adventures event. (Photo courtesy of Marquette Mountain)

Second annual adaptive sports event in the works

By Jamie Glenn

Marquette Mountain has partnered with Adaptive Adventures for a second run down the slopes. A three-day event will be held in Marquette, beginning Thursday, March 14.

Adaptive Adventures aims to bring sports to veterans and people with physical and visual disabilities. This year the Adaptive Ski & Snowboard program will offer veterans and those with a primary physical disability an opportunity to work with trained staff and volunteers to learn the fundamentals of these winter sports.

Marquette Mountain general manager and five-season Adaptive Adventures ski instructor Kaet Johnson and the foundation run by Marquette Mountain’s owner worked together to bring Adaptive Adventures to Marquette for its inaugural run last season.

“Eric Jorgensen and his foundation, JX Gives Back, had donated some money to Adaptive Adventures when I was at Wilmot Mountain, and he had told me about it,” Johnson

said. “A few months later, one of the directors for Adaptive Adventures for their national program stopped into Marquette Mountain and we started chatting — that’s how we got the ball rolling to get Adaptive Adventures to Marquette Mountain.”

Last year the event had a veteran focus; this year Thursday and Friday will be reserved for veterans, and Saturday will be open for both veterans and civilians with physical and visual disabilities.

“It went so well and there was such an interest in the activities,” Johnson said. “This year we’ll not only serve veterans and military personnel, but also civilians with disabilities. The fabulous part of Adaptive Adventures is they provide all the adaptive equipment someone might need. On Marquette Mountain’s end, we’re providing complimentary lift tickets to all the attendees, all the instructors and all the volunteers.”

Johnson is passionate about hosting an event like this.

“Skiing is freedom,” Johnson said. “Skiing and riding, to me, is just this

feeling of empowerment and freedom, so to be able to provide an opportunity for people who may not get that feeling very often in their normal lives is very fulfilling — to show people there are ways to get outside in the winter, no matter your ability.”

Because Johnson experienced an event like this from the volunteer instructor’s side, she sees what it adds to people’s lives.

“That makes me a strong advocate at Marquette Mountain to be able to have events like this,” Johnson said. “We also have a lot of people in our local community who are very passionate about adaptive sports and inclusivity in sports.”

With support from groups like Adaptive Adventures, Johnson hopes to see adaptive sports grow in the Marquette area.

“It wouldn’t surprise me that within ten years there’s a local organization that does this type of thing, summer and winter,” Johnson said. “It’s slowly finding like-minded individuals right now and the people who have the experience and time to start an organization.”

Marquette Mountain employees and owners are proud and grateful that Adaptive Adventures reached out to them, and that they have the ability to host this program, Johnson said.

With the event just around the corner, Johnson and her team are testing equipment to learn the ins and outs of adaptive gear, something she did a lot during her time as an Adaptive Adventures ski instructor.

“One thing we try to do as instructors is actually use the equipment,” Johnson said. “In my opinion, it’s just as hard as any able-bodied person learning to ski or ride. There’s no easy way to do it. All the equipment is doing is giving a person with a disability the ability to enter the sport.”

Those wishing to participate in the program must apply online at adaptiveadventures.org

“I think the biggest thing right now is getting the word out to people and having people go through that application process,” Johnson said. “We’ll need local volunteers. Family is welcome to come out and either watch or also ski or ride.”

For the last 30 years, Adaptive Adventures has generated adaptive sports programming in 40 states, and offers programming in six sports, including

skiing, waterskiing, kayaking, climbing, dragon boat racing and cycling.

“Our sports adventures create long-lasting memories,” said Adam Webb, Adaptive Ski & Sports Coordinator at Adaptive Adventures. “We hope to not just provide a one-off session, but to really see people progress and develop themselves physically.”

The hope is to provide some mental respite as well — and there’s no better place to do that than outside with a shared common community, Webb said.

“Our ultimate vision is to create a culture and a world in which we don’t have to second guess if something is accessible for someone with a physical or visual disability,” said program manager Jourdan O’Connor. “Hopefully, in the future, everything is set up, so anyone can be able to go out and enjoy and experience it.”

Although its main focus is adult veterans and people with disabilities, Adaptive Adventures works closely with physical and occupational therapists and schools to help people of all ages get outdoors.

“We specialize in providing more of the outdoor recreation and outdoor education,” O’Connor said. “We don’t do traditional sports; we’re more on the adventure side. We’ll work with different schools and different PT and

Adaptive Adventures and Marquette Mountain have teamed up again this year to provide an event for veterans and civilians with disabilities an opportunity to play outside. (Photo courtesy of Marquette Mountain)

OT groups and other organizations to educate and bring the community together.”

O’Connor and her team of instructors travel throughout the United States and provide training to volunteers in each community to help every event run smoothly. Adaptive Adventures will host a pre-event training for all staff and volunteers prior to the Marquette Mountain event.

“We bring our lead instructors, those who have been with us for multiple decades and have that special knowledge of the equipment,” O’Connor said.

This year Adaptive Adventures is working with Marquette Mountain to provide instructor training in which they will go over the different pieces of equipment and how volunteers and instructors might assist the participants.

“Our volunteers that work alongside us and they have decades of experience that allows us to pair and match our participants with the right volunteers and coaches,” Webb said. “That relationship they build in that short time — it lasts for years.”

Adaptive Adventure is funded by grants from groups like the Disabled American Veterans and the Veteran Administration. Grant funding allows military veterans and their families

the ability to attend for free. The civilian programming on Saturday is sponsored by Marquette Mountain.

With support from groups like Adaptive Adventures, Johnson hopes to see this partnership and the call for adaptive sports continue to grow in and around Marquette for many years to come.

“We saw a lot of buy-in when we were there last year, and so we are able to expand a little bit more this year,” O’Connor said. “Last year we did two days, and this year we’re working on setting up an instructor training on the first day that we’re out. We’re going to do two days just for military veterans and then another day we’ll have open for veterans and anyone with a physical or visual disability.

“From being out there, we saw the excitement and willingness to assist with whatever we needed to get a program off and going. People just wanted more, so we’re excited to be able to do that this year.”

We may not all have a disability, but we all know someone who has

one. O’Connor and Webb reflected on the impact that last year’s event on those who attended and what they hope to see this year.

“For a lot of people who have injuries or disabilities, they think that sports or activity days are over,” O’Connor said. “To be able to provide the opportunity to show them that

they can still do these things slightly different is incredibly rewarding.”

O’Connor said a couple with physical injuries came to a past event and hadn’t been able to get back out on the slopes since. They were able to use ski bikes to go down the hill.

“I’m an absolute avid lover of our amazing planet and everything it has to offer,” Webb said. “I feel it’s everyone’s right to be able to go out and enjoy and access everything that everybody can do. To work alongside these incredible people through Adaptive Adventures means I can help share that love and passion, and everything that comes through the community aspect of being here.”

Those interested in participating in this event are asked to complete a preevent registration form to help Adaptive Adventures staff pair participants with instructors before the event.

Those wishing to apply for a spot in the even can visit their website at adaptiveadventures.org

Jamie Glenn is a U.P. native who graduated from NMU in 2018 with a degree in creative writing and journalism. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys advocating for disability rights, playing sled hockey and listening to live music.

Volunteer instructors work with adaptive equipment in advance of the event to learn how to use it themselves before helping others. (Photo courtesy of Marquette Mountain)

superior reads

Memories of small town living offer nostalgia

Review by Victor R. Volkman

It’s almost a once-in-a-lifetime thing to pick up a book, find out it’s by an author your exact age and find so many parallels to your life growing up.

“A Nostalgic Lens” by Peter Wurdock mirrors many of my own experiences growing up in the 1970s and living what I call “the summer cottage lifestyle” — weeks of literally unsupervised play in the woods and water. This autobiographical book is a seamless blend of evocative blackand-white photographs and prose that weaves back and forth between the 1970s and today in and around the town of Newberry. There’s a gap in the middle from 1984 until Wurdock moved to live year-round in the U.P. in November of 2020.

When Wurdock says Newberry, he really means the unincorporated community of Deer Park, along both the shores of Lake Superior and Muskallonge Lake, which is 27 miles north of Newberry. Deer Park was yet another U.P. sawmill boomtown until 1903 when it closed down and took the town with it. His allegiance to Newberry, rather than the slightly closer Grand Marais can be accounted for by his work for the Newberry News as a features writer. Wurdock has a broad background in communications including working as a record promoter of top country artists in the 1990s such as Detroit music legend Stewart Francke. “A Nostalgic Lens” actually is his sixth book from Blue Boundary, a

publishing company he founded. Wurdock is perennially single, so the commentary around the days of his life revolves around not a partner but rather a series of elderly greyhound rescue dogs that he has grown to love like children. These are dogs who were supposed to make their livelihood on dog tracks for the benefit of gamblers and were sidelined by injuries, for one reason or another.

A small network of big-hearted greyhound fans swoops in to adopt these loyal and lovable creatures to prevent their otherwise inevitable euthanasia after retirement. He brings the stories of these dogs, their quirks, interactions with folk on the streets of Newberry, and their eventual demise with clear prose and even clearer photography.

Far from a whim, Wurdock’s relocation takes place at the end of a long period of grieving beginning with the loss of his father in 2015 and becoming the caretaker for his mother’s slow decline from Alzheimer’s

finally wrapping up in 2020. Now at loose ends, he embraces his nostalgia by selling his house, packing up a U-Haul of all his life’s possessions, and taking the plunge into yearround residency in the late autumn.

Of course, the dead quiet of winter quickly sets in and Wurdock amuses himself by tuning into many hockey games on the AM band in the United States and Canada. He has a Hallicrafters shortwave radio like I remember learning how to master on summer nights at a cottage.

Wurdock’s prose often resembles a prose poem, somewhere in the middle of prose and poetry. In this case (p. 20): it’s pretty much the latter:

“Time is a convincing villain.

It’s like a no interest, unlimited credit card where payments are not necessary until you can’t pay them.

Time is the greatest gift with a flawed design.

It is the fatal illness from which there is no cure.”

Wurdock’s lens wanders the landscape from the main street of Newberry which recalls the bygone era of many of Michigan’s small towns to the “old, crumbling shacks” and “dilapidated and abandoned structures” he reaches by Jeep on an old twotrack or subsequently on foot. Wisely, he obeys an internal shiver that warns him to keep out. Heaven knows what kind of injury you might sustain on a solo trip from such rural explorations. His camera is also invariably attracted to railroad engines and stations, logging and other industrial remnants that dot the Newberry area and surely many other locales of the U.P.

Wurdock’s memoir roughly follows the seasons of a typical year, with asides along the way for the glories of the U.P.’s extreme seasons. Along the way, like the reporter he is, he recounts memorable and colorful things in the life of Newberry such as the 44th Independence Day Parade and its quirky traditions including the “water wars” between firemen and teenagers with water balloons, or the demise of the proprietor of the Tahqua Land Theater as it struggled to meet the digital age of projection. We learn about the importance of AM radio, such as

the local station WNBY, to knit small communities together in a land where cell service is iffy at best and people are on the move all day long.

Now let me close by indulging in a passage that recalls my youth spent in locales in Northern Michigan and on the north shore of Lake Erie:

“Baloney sandwiches and Orange Crush fueled our afternoons. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and BitO-Honey bars we bought from old Joe across the lake at the Northmere Store weren’t just a purchase; they were part of an adventure since we had to take the boat to get there. Shooting pop bottles in the dump with BB guns was a challenge…. We either smelled like Coppertone, Banctine, or OFF. The fishing was always good and we discovered adolescent freedom in a fourteen-foot boat with a 5 horse motor.”

OK, well maybe that passage only appeals to men of a “certain age,” but it did bring memories flooding back to me. “A Nostalgic Lens: Photographs & Essays from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula” by Pete Wurdock is a wonderful survey of cottage life in decades gone by as well as a no-nonsense look at living year-round in one of our state’s northernmost outposts.

Whether you’ve spent just one summer in the U.P. or your whole life, there’s something for everyone this pint-sized coffee-table book. Ask for the book at your local bookseller or visit blueboundarybooks.com. MM

Victor R. Volkman is a graduate of Michigan Tech (Class of ’86) and is current president of the U.P. Publishers & Authors Association. He is senior editor at Modern History Press and publisher of the U.P. Reader.

How to submit a book

Send Upper Peninsula-related book review suggestions to victor@LHPress.com. Books submitted for review can be sent to: MM Book Reviews, 5145 Pontiac Trail, Ann Arbor, MI 48105.

A Winter’s Poem

By Troy Graham

Where are you humanity?

Are you somewhere between the flowers?

Are you somewhere between the trees?

Are we as humans nothing more than the show of anger,

Or some long-lasting disease?

I once saw people be kind, but now that time is gone

So keep your mask up, keep your distance

And wait for the next thing to go wrong

Or be the change, change with the day, shift with the tide

If we all learn to love again, we need not run and hide

People are fragile and often don’t know what to do

If we can all learn to love again

Troy Graham is a poet, musician and songwriter from Marquette who enjoys writing poetry and conducting workshops along with musical performances. His newest work is called, “Fresh Water Mermaids” and is a read with laugh-outloud humor and break-your-heart honesty. Troy has been avidly writing poems most of his adult life and travels around playing music and reading poetry at libraries

This poem is from the 10-year anthology, Superior Voyage, which is available for purchase.

All proceeds benefit Peter White Public Library.

Superior Voyage was selected as a 2023 U.P. Notable Book by the Upper Peninsula Publishers & Authors Association.

on campus

NMU hockey alum to lead LA Kings

NMU hockey alum Jim Hiller, a crucial piece to NMU’s 1991 NCAA Championship team, was announced as the interim head coach for the LA Kings.

Hiller, 54, joined the Kings on July 19, 2022, and spent the last two seasons (2022-24) as an assistant coach. He served in the same capacity over the previous eight seasons with the New York Islanders (2019-22), Toronto Maple Leafs (2015-19) and Detroit Red Wings (2014-15).

Before his NHL coaching debut, Hiller spent 12 seasons in the Western Hockey League (WHL) and British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), including his last five years as head coach with the Tri-City Americans. In three seasons with the Wildcats (1989-1992), Hiller racked up 76 goals, and 129 assists for 205 points; all-time, he is eighth in goals, third in assists, and sixth in points for his career numbers at NMU.

A second-team All-American se-

lection in 1991-92, his 86 points that season led all NMU scorers, ranking sixth all-time in single-season points, along with his 55 assists that season being T1 all-time for single-season assists. The Port Alberni, British Columbia native, was originally selected by the Kings in the 10th round of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft. Hiller was later inducted into the Northern Michigan University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007.

Theater students excel at regional festival

Three Northern Michigan University musical theater majors scored major achievements at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival’s (KCACTF) Region 3 conference in Flint.

Junior Maya Moreau of Dearborn made history as the first NMU student to win the $500 Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship and advance to the national KCACTF festival competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Liam Fisher of Grand Rapids and John Thomson of Marquette were among 18 finalists selected for the regional Musical Theater Intensive, out of nearly 70 who auditioned.

Moreau was nominated to compete for the scholarship by a judge who saw her performance as the title character in NMU’s 2023 production of Salome, which she considers her favorite role to date. The Dearborn native and the other finalists had six minutes to present a scene with an acting partner, along with two monologues.

Moreau was joined by NMU student Copeland Diver for a snippet of “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,” a drama about two people who meet in a bar and share their pain and trauma in a one-night stand. Her monologues volleyed from the classic “Romeo and Juliet” to the disturbing yet darkly humorous Betty’s Summer Vacation. When the judges cut her performance short because it reached the time limit, Moreau said she was upset and feared it put her out of contention.

Bill Digneit, head of NMU Theatre and Dance, called it “a massive accomplishment that brings Northern Michigan University visibility as a top theatre and dance program in our region and at the national level.”

At the Kennedy Center in April,

Moreau will perform the same repertoire while competing against seven other regional winners for a chance to win the highly coveted National Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Award, named for the actress who played Granny on television’s The Beverly Hillbillies and other roles in vaudeville, radio and movies.

“At Northern, I’ve had all of these opportunities to perform in ensembles and as a lead that most BFA students at other schools don’t get until they’re seniors,” said Moreau, whose goal is to work in the movie industry. “You can set up your schedule here as if it’s a conservatory. You’re working every day on your craft, immersing yourself in acting and dance classes.”

The Musical Theatre Intensive (MTI) celebrates outstanding musical theater students from across Region 3. Through in-person auditions of two short cuts from two contrasting songs and individualized feedback, the MTI offers educational opportunities to work with musical theater profession-

als. Finalists, including NMU’s Fisher and Thomson, participated in a showcase at the end of the festival.

For his MTI audition, Fisher sang “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” from “Les Miserables” and “Old Devil Moon” from “Finian’s Rainbow.”

Now in his second year at NMU, Fisher has appeared in “Spamalot,” “Rock of Ages,” “Grease” and “Salome.” He said he enrolled at “a perfect time because the program is growing immensely and is guided by professors who have performed on Broadway.”

For his MTI audition, Thomson sang “Heaven on Their Minds” from “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Anthem” from “Chess.” Thomson’s first role at NMU was Leo Bloom in “The Producers.” Others include Danny Zuko in “Grease” and Drew Boley in “Rock of Ages.”

Moreau, Fisher and Thomson have all been cast in NMU’s upcoming production “Anything Goes.” MM

NMU junior Maya Moreau was cast as the title character in the NMU production of Salome. (Photo courtesy of NMU)

Tech collaborates in research fund efforts

Michigan Tech was named as one of six public university partners on a collaborative effort to establish the $5 million Michigan University Innovation Capital Fund (MUICF) and the Michigan University Innovation Capital Consortium.

The new program will be funded by the Michigan Innovate Capital Fund to support pre-seed and early-stage companies across Michigan. The MUICF will drive economic development by supporting cutting-edge research and technology transfer from Michigan’s public universities.

Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II, the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) and Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) announced the award.

“In Michigan, we are building on our state’s economic momentum by supporting a thriving knowledge economy,” said Gilchrist. “With this support from the Michigan Strategic Fund, the Michigan University Innovation Capital Fund will help harness Michigan innovation within our robust university system and support startups across our state as they grow our economy and create good-paying, high-tech jobs.”

The award will be administered by the University of Michigan’s (U-M’s) Innovation Partnerships. Other partners include Michigan State, Michigan State University Research Foundation, Wayne State, and Western Michigan.

“I’m pleased to be able to collaborate with the U-M Innovation Partnerships team as they create this new

funding mechanism for university startups across our state,” said Jim Baker, associate vice president for research administration at Michigan Tech.

Patrick Visser, chief commercial officer at MTEC SmartZone, said he is pleased that Michigan Tech is a partner in the new MUICF and consortium.

“MTEC and MTU have worked collaboratively for years in our shared objective of building and supporting startup technology companies emanating from the innovative research conducted at MTU,” Visser said.

“Funding for early-stage university startups is a significant area of need, and this will have an enormous impact to help bridge the gap from research to successful commercialization, revenues and high-wage job creation in the region.”

The MUICF is designed to support and invest in startup companies that are based on research from Michigan’s public universities, operate in the state and demonstrate high potential for driving economic growth and innovation. The comprehensive application highlighted these universities’ dedication to driving positive change through collaborative research and commercialization of technological advancements.

In addition to the new venture fund, the $5 million award will support the establishment of the consortium, a platform that brings together university tech transfer and university managed pre-seed venture fund leaders.

Bay College features Oscarnominated film at Besse

The film “American Fiction” has been rescheduled to March 21 due to the film’s slate of Oscar Nominations, resulting in the studio altering its release date.

One of this year’s most highly regarded films, “American Fiction” stars Jeffery Wright as Monk, a novelist angered by the media’s ability to reduce people to simplistic stereotypes. He writes a book to mock such things, but his book is a hit, sending into the heart of the issue he is fighting. The Detroit News says Wright, “is magnetic in the lead role: commanding, flawed, vulnerable, relatable.” He is nominated for Best Actor.

The film is also in contention for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay Writing, and Best Supporting Actor.

“American Fiction” is shown in conjunction with Bay College’s Diversity Committee’s celebration of Black History month. All Film Series movies are shown in the Bay College Besse Auditorium, 2001 N. Lincoln Rd, Escanaba, at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the Besse Center Box Office or online, baycollege.tix.com. K-Bay students and employees of the college can purchase their tickets in-person with a valid ID.

out & about

Out & About is a free listing of Upper Peninsula events. Events included must cost $25 or less (except fundraisers).

All events are free and in Eastern time unless noted. We print information sent to us by a wide variety of people and organizations. It pays to double check the date, time, place and cost before heading out.

E-mail your April events by Sunday, March 10 to: calendar@marquettemonthly.com.

Index

on the town ……………………………………………………………… 56

art galleries …………………………………………………………… 60-61 museums ………………………………………………………………….. 66 support groups…………………………………………………………… 70

end of february events

28 WEDNESDAY

sunrise 7:32 a.m.; sunset 6:32 p.m.

• Sit Down Francis. Sit Down Francis is a local hardcore alternative folk band. K-Bay tickets, $5; general public, $10. 7 p.m. Besse Theater, Bay College, 2001 N. Lincoln Rd. 906217-4040, events@baycollege.edu or baycollege.tix.com.

Ishpeming

• Popcorn and a Movie. The selection will be Barbie (PG-13). Popcorn will be provided; bring a beverage. 4:30 p.m. Ray Leverton Community Room, Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

• Pressure Canning Workshop. $25. 5 p.m. Partridge Creek Farm Office, 112 S. Main St. partridgecreekfarm. org/events.

Marquette

• Toddler Storytime. Children ages 18 to 36 months and a loving adult can enjoy stories and songs, followed by sensory play activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

Escanaba

CopperDash | March 2 | Calumet

Photo by James Padolsey via unsplash

on the town

Champion

• Wawonowin Country Club.

- Friday, March 1: Jim and Ray. 6 to 9 p.m.

3432 Co. Rd. 478. 906-485-5660.

Gwinn

• Hideaway Bar.

- Mondays: The Hideaway All-Stars. 7 p.m.

741 M-35. 906-346-3178.

Marquette

• 906 Sports Bar and Grill.

- Wednesdays: Trivia. 6:30 p.m.145

W. Washington St. 906-273-0706 or 906barandgrill.com.

• Blackrocks Brewery.

- Thursday, March 7: Jim and Ray.

- Thursday, the 14th: Jim and Ray.

- Thursday, the 28th: Jim and Ray.

- Mondays: Open Mic. 6 to 9 p.m.

- Tuesdays: Trivia. 7 to 9 p.m.

- Wednesdays: Open mic. 6 to 9 p.m.

Music is 6 to 9 p.m unless noted.

424 N. Third St. 906-273-1333 or blackrocksbrewery.com.

• Drifa Brewing Company.

- Mondays: Musicians’ Open Mic. 6 to 8 p.m.

- Thursdays: Trivia. 7 p.m.

501 S. Lake St. 906-273-1300.

• Flanigan’s.

- Tuesday through Thursday: Karaoke. 9:30 p.m.

Cover charge on weekends only.

429 W. Washington St. 906-228-8865.

• Kognisjon Bryggeri.

- Friday, March 1: Palestras.

- Saturday, the 9th: The Make Believe Spurs.

- Thursday, the 14th: Tavern Night with MarQuest LARP.

- Saturday, the 16th: St. Urho’s Celebration with Fáilte.

- Saturday, the 23rd: MMA Jazz Trio. 7 to 10 p.m.

- Mondays: Beer Study Hall. 2 to 7 p.m.

- Tuesdays: Trivia. 6:30 and 7:30 p.m.

- Wednesdays: Brewery Bazaar. 6 to 8 p.m.

- Thursdays: Game Night with Iron Golem Games. 6 to 11 p.m.

- Sundays: Open Mic Night. 6 to 10 p.m.

Music is 6 to 9 p.m. unless noted. 1034 N. Third St. 906-273-2727.

• Lake Superior Smokehouse.

- Friday, March 1: Vinyl Tap.

- Saturday, the 2nd: Jim and Ray.

- Friday, the 8th: Delta Duo.

- Saturday, the 9th: DayDreamers Band..

- Friday, the 15: Eons.

- Saturday, the 16th: Big Lake.

- Friday, the 22nd: Chris Valenti.

- Saturday, the 23rd. Make Believe Spurs.

- Friday, the 29th: Delta Duo.

- Saturday, the 30th: Whiskey Ryan. Music is 6 to 9 p.m unless noted. 200 W. Main St. 906-273-0952.

• Ore Dock Brewing Company.

- Friday, March 1 and Saturday, the 2nd: Round Creek String Band. 8 p.m.

- Friday, the 15th: Outlaw’d. 9 p.m.

- Friday, the 22nd: May Erlewine. 8 p.m. $25.

- Saturday, the 23rd: John Davey Taproom Show. 7 p.m.

- Sunday, the 24th: Literary trivia. 6 p.m.

- Friday, the 29th and Saturday, the 30th: New Nostalgia. 8 p.m. Students with ID, $5; general admission, $10.

- Sunday, the 31st: Pop-culture Trivia with Jon. 6 p.m.

All shows are free unless noted.

114 W. Spring St. 906-228-8888.

• Rippling River Resort.

- Friday, March 1: Troy Graham.

- Saturday, the 2nd: Keith Janofski.

- Sunday, the 3rd: The Wallens. 5 to 8 p.m.

- Friday, the 8th: Sam Galvin.

- Saturday, the 9th: Darrell Syria.

- Sunday, the 10th: Troy Graham. 5 to 8 p.m.

- Thursday, the 14th: The Wallens. 5 to 8 p.m.

- Friday, the 15th: Troy Graham.

- Sunday, the 17th: The Wallens. 5 to 8 p.m.

- Thursday, the 21st: Adam Carpenter.

- Sunday, the 24th: Troy Graham. 5 to 8 p.m.

- Thursday, the 28th: Adam Carpenter.

- Friday, the 29th: Troy Graham.

- Saturday, the 30th: The Remenants.

- Sunday, the 31st: Beechgrove and Blacksmith. 5 to 8 p.m. Music is 6 to 9 p.m unless noted. 4321 M-553. (906) 273-2259 or ripplingriverresort.com.

• Superior Culture.

- Tuesdays: Open Mic night. 8 to 10 p.m.

717 Third Street. 906-273-0927 or superiorculturemqt.com.

Republic

• Pine Grove Bar.

- Friday, March 1: Neo Lives. 8 p.m.

- Saturday, the 2nd: Toni Saari. 3 p.m. and Lost Cause. 8 p.m.

- Friday, the 8th: Fyrbird. 8 p.m.

- Friday, the 15th: Seth Brown Duo. 7 p.m.

- Saturday, the 16th: Spun. 9 p.m.

- Sunday, the 17th: Troy Graham. 4 p.m.

- Friday, the 22nd: Ethan Bott. 8 p.m.

- Friday, the 29th: The Lifters. 7 p.m.

- Saturday, the 30th: DayDreamers. 8 p.m.

- 286 Front St. 906-376-2234. MM

Neo Lives | March 1 | Pine Grove Bar, Republic

• Congregate Meals for Seniors–Dine in or Curbside Pickup. Meals available to those age 60 and older. Call to reserve a meal. $3.50 suggested donation. Noon to 1 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. 906-228-0456.

• Teens Cook! Teens in sixth through 12th grades will learn easy-to-prepare recipes. Registration required. 4:30 p.m. Marquette Food Co-op, 502 W. Washington St. 906-226-4321 or pwpl. info.

• Community Conversations Media Smart: Local Media Misinformation Panel. Members of the League of Women Voters of Marquette County will moderate a panel of representatives from local media outlets who will discuss how misinformation has impacted their work. 6:30 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4303, pwpl.com or lwvmqtco@gmail.com.

• Marquette Regional History Center Annual Meeting. A brief business meeting will be followed by the annual Helen Longyear Paul and Peter White history awards. There will also be an opportunity to meet Hunter Laing, designer of the museum’s current special exhibit on cooperatives. 6:30 p.m. Marquette Regional History Center, 145 W. Spring St. 906-2263571 or marquettehistory.org.

• NMU Orchestra Children’s Concert. 6:30 p.m. Reynolds Recital Hall, NMU. nmu.edu/music.

Negaunee

• Knitting Group. Those interested in crocheting, knitting and other fiber arts are welcome to bring their projects and share with others. Coffee provided. 1:30 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

• Wings of Fire Interest Group. Youth ages eight and older are invited to discuss the series, write fanfiction, make crafts and other activities. 3 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

29 THURSDAY

sunrise 7:31 a.m.; sunset 6:34 p.m.

Calumet

• Preschool Story Time. 10:15 a.m. Calumet Public Library. 906-337-0311.

Ishpeming

• West End Winter Playgroup. Families and caregivers with young children are invited to attend for free play and snacks. Presented through a partnership with Great Start. 10 a.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. tmeinhold@greatstartma.org or 906-486-4381.

• Meditation with a Twist. Amy Turner from the Apiary Life Studio will lead a social and guided meditation program. 5:30 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary.

info.

Marquette

• Toddler Storytime. Children ages 18 to 36 months and a loving adult can enjoy stories and songs, followed by sensory play activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

• NCLL: Argentina’s Charms and Treasures. Carol Margrif, an NCLL member and travel enthusiast, will share a PowerPoint presentation of her experience as part of a recent Antarctica trip. Included will be Iguazu Falls, the Recoleta Cemetery, the Graffiti district, national parks and the Buenos Aires waterfront district. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10. 2 p.m. Room B101, NMU Superior Dome. 906-361-5370 or jhigbie@nmu.edu.

• ‘Brews and Butterbur: A Year of Conservation in Review.’ This annual meeting of the Marquette County Conservation District will present its success over the last year and highlight the removal of invasive Butterbur in Marquette County. Dinner will be provided. 6 p.m. Barrel + Beam, 260 Northwoods Rd. marquettecd.com.

• Poet Tyehimba Jess. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tyehimba Jess will present an evening of creative readings as part of the NMU English Department’s Visiting Writer Series.

7 p.m. Peninsula II Room, Northern Center, NMU. nmu.edu.

• Puffs NMU Theatre and Dance will present Puffs, a parody of the Harry Potter book series. NMU students, $5; youth, $12; NMU employees, seniors and military, $15; general public, $20.

7:30 p.m. Panowski Black Box Theatre, NMU. nmu.edu/theatreanddance.

Negaunee

• Music, Movement and More. This parent-led storytime is for children of all ages and their caregivers. 10:30 a.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

• Building Club. Youth ages five and older will discuss a topic that will be the focus of their creations and then have time to build with blocks such as LEGO bricks. Participants can have their creations displayed in the library until the following meeting. 4:30 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18. march

01

events

Calumet

• CopperDog Block Party. Watch the CopperDrag Race as dogs compete on a short race track down 5th Street. Additional activities include the Hug-a-Husky where you can meet sled dogs, take a sled dog ride, music, food and fireworks. 5 to 11 p.m. with varying times of the events. 5th Street and Agassiz Park. copperdog.org.

Gwinn

• Storytime. Preschool-age kids can enjoy stories, crafts and light snacks. Children can bring a stuffed animal from home to leave at the library for a sleepover. 10:30 a.m. Forsyth Township Library, 180 W. Flint St. 906346-3433 or forsythtwplibrary.org.

Ishpeming

• Homeschool Hangout. Homeschooling families are invited to hang out with other homeschooling friends, network with library staff, and learn about library resources. 10 a.m. to noon. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 4864381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

Marquette

• Preschool Storytime. Preschoolage children and a loving adult can enjoy stories, songs, finger plays, crafts and other school-readiness activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Diversity Common Reader Program Block Busting Cinema: Precious . Screened in collabora -

tion with NMU’s Diversity Common Reader program, this Oscar-winning film is about a young African-American girl who is subjected to severe sexual, physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her mother and mother’s boyfriend. Rated R. The film will be followed by a discussion of trauma and recovery. Noon. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4322, machatz@ pwpl.info or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

• LEGO Club. Participants can meet other LEGO enthusiasts and build projects with the library’s LEGO blocks. 4 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Senior Ice Skating. Open to ages 55 and older. 7 p.m. Lakeview Arena, 401 E. Fair Ave. 906-228-0456.

02 SATURDAY

sunrise 7:27 a.m.; sunset 6:36 p.m.

Calumet

• CopperDog 150 CopperPull. Watch dogs compete in this strength and willpower competition is sanctioned by the World Wide Weight Pull Organization (W3PO). 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and 5 to 8 p.m. Fifth Street. copperdog.org.

• CopperDash. Kids up to age 12 can participate with their family dog in this non-sanctioned fun event. $10. 2 to 4

Ice Races | March 2 | Gwinn

Photo by Kristy Basolo

p.m. Fifth Street. copperdog.org.

• Easter Cross Workshop. Led by Laura Hamlett, participants will make an Easter cross with bevels and their choice of colored glass adornments. $25. 1 p.m. Calumet Art Center, 57055 Fifth St. 906-934-2228 or calumetartcenter.com.

Escanaba

• Ink Society Local Writers’ Group. Free for ages 16 and older. 10:30 a.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. 906-789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org.

Gwinn

• Ice Races. Presented by the Upper Michigan Ice Racing Association. Weather permitting. $5 donation per car; day pit passes are available for $10 per person. Spectator gate opens at 10 a.m.; races begin by 11:30 a.m. Forsyth Township Ball Park. uppermichiganiceracing.com.

• Seed Library Workshop: Perennials for the Garden and Homestead. Grace AaltoRosenbaum will discuss perennials and how they can improve nutrition, food security and visual beauty. 1 p.m. Gwinn Community Church, 85 N. Pine St. gwinnseedlibrary@gmail.com.

Ishpeming

• Life Drawing. Local artist Paul Olson will lead a class on life drawing for ages 12 and older. Supplies will be provided and no experience is necessary. 11 a.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

Marquette

• Saturday Storytime. Babies and toddlers and a loving adult can enjoy songs, rhymes, stories and finger plays. Older siblings and older children are welcome. 10:30 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. Lessons, 10 a.m. Games, 11:30 a.m. Citizens Forum, Lakeview Arena, 401 E. Fair St. superiorland_bridge.tripod.com.

• Swing Dance. A free one-hour swing dancing lesson will be followed by a social dance. 7 p.m. Dance Zone, 1113 Lincoln Ave. 602-358-6839, events@ yooperswing.com or yooperswing.com/ dance.

• Scheherazade. Presented by the Marquette Symphony Orchestra featuring Debbie Carlson on viola. Ticket prices vary. 7:30 p.m. Kaufman Auditorium, 611 N. Front St. marquettesymphony.org.

03 SUNDAY

sunrise 7:25 a.m.; sunset 6:38 p.m.

dogs compete in this strength and willpower competition is sanctioned by the World Wide Weight Pull Organization (W3PO). 8 a.m. to noon. Fifth Street. copperdog.org.

Ishpeming

• Bingo. Doors open at noon. Ishpeming VFW, 310 Bank St. 906-486-4856.

Marquette

• Story Time at MooseWood. The book selection will be If You Wake a Skunk by Carol Doeringer and there will be a discussion of animal behavior and adaptations. An activity or craft will follow. Suggested donation, $5 per child or $10 per family. 11 a.m. MooseWood Nature Center, Shiras Pool Building at Presque Isle Park. To register, moosewoodnc@gmail.com.

04 MONDAY

sunrise 7:23 a.m.; sunset 6:39 p.m.

Calumet

• Easter Cross Workshop. Led by Laura Hamlett, participants will make an Easter cross with bevels and their choice of colored glass adornments. $25. 6 p.m. Calumet Art Center, 57055 Fifth St. 906-934-2228 or calumetartcenter.com.

Marquette

• Wiggle Worms Storytime. This storytime is geared toward wiggly children and their loving adult. Stories will be intermixed with hands-on and interactive activities. 9:45 a.m. Great Room, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Pet Partners. Youth of all ages can practice their reading skills with the friendly, non-judgmental therapy reading dogs. Kids younger than eight must have an adult present. 4 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Craft Magic Series: Punch Needle Magic. Fiber artist Lydia Taylor will lead a Beginner Punch Needle Workshop and participants will create their own handmade project. Starter kits will be provided and registration is required. 6:30 p.m. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info or visit pwpl.info.

• The Joy of Sound Meditation. This evening of sound meditation will feature bronze singing bowls and metal gongs. 7 p.m. Chapel, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 201 E. Ridge St. 906-362- 9934 or ckitchenmqt@gmail. com.

Negaunee

Calumet

• CopperDog 150 CopperPull. Watch

• All-Ages Online Storytime. Miss Jessica will lead stories, songs and rhymes on Facebook Live. 11 a.m. facebook.com/NegauneePublicLibrary. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

art galleries

Calumet

• Calumet Art Center. Works by local and regional artists. Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 57055 Fifth St. 906-934-2228. calumetartcenter.com.

• Copper Country Associated Artist. Works by members and workshop participants in watercolor and oil, drawings, photography, sculpture, quilting, wood, textile, clay, glass and other media. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 205 Fifth St. 906-337-1252 or ccaartists.org.

• Gallery on 5th. Featuring works by local and regional artists. Call or visit Facebook for up-to-date store hours. 906-299-0118 or galleryon5th.com.

Curtis

• Erickson Center for the Arts–Waterfront Gallery. The annual student art show, featuring artwork created by students of all ages from Tahquamenon Area Schools, Three Lakes Academy, Engadine Consolidated Schools, Manistique Area Schools and local home-schooling programs, is on display through April 12. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 9224 Saw-Wa-Quato St. 906-586-9974 or ericksoncenter. org.

Copper Harbor

• EarthWorks Gallery. Featuring Lake Superior-inspired photography by Steve Brimm. Daily, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. 216 First St. 906-231-6318.

Escanaba

• Besse Gallery. A celebration of Women’s History Month, featuring work by Lindsey Heiden, will be on display March 11 through April 18 with an artist talk and reception at 2 p.m. on the 14th in the Besse Theater. Days and hours vary. Bay College, 2001 N. Lincoln Rd. baycollege.edu.

• Hartwig Gallery. A celebration of Women’s History Month, featuring work by Caitlyn Swift, will be on display March 11 through April 18 with an artist talk and reception at 2 p.m. on the 14th in the Besse Theater. Featuring works by local, regional and national artists. Days and hours vary. Bay College, 2001 N. Lincoln Rd. baycollege.edu.

• William Bonifas Fine Arts Gallery. Youth in Art, featuring work from students in Delta County area schools, is on display through the 28th in the Powers and Studio galleries. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3p.m. 700 First Avenue South. 906-786-3833 or bonifasarts.org.

Hancock

• Finandia Art Gallery. Requiem for the Overlooked, an installation of drawings, collage, beadwork and fiber art constructions by Cynthia Coté, together with a collection of objects that inspired the work, is on display through April 3. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Located in the Finnish American Heritage Center, 435 Quincy St. 906-487-7500 or gallery@finlandiafoundation.org.

• Kerredge Gallery. Works will be displayed in conjunction with Celebrate Youth Arts Month. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Copper Country Community Arts Center, 126 Quincy St. 906-482-2333 or coppercountryarts.com.

• Youth Gallery. Featuring works by local students. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Community Arts Center, 126 Quincy St. 906-482-2333 or coppercountryarts.com.

Houghton

• The Rozsa Galleries. Simple Machines: Poetry, Letterpress and the Art of the Little Magazine is on display through the 30th. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 to 8 p.m. Rozsa Center, 1400 Townsend Dr. mtu.edu/rozsa

Marquette

• Art—U.P. Style. Art by Carol Papaleo, works by local artists, gifts, classes and more. Thursday through. Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. 130 W. Washington St. 906-225-1993.

• DeVos Art Museum.

- Fred Brian: Lake Gogebic Memories and Myths, which translates Brian’s childhood observations into narrative

artwork, is on display through the 1st.

- UP Focus, featuring work by Copper Country artists Catherine Benda and Carrie Flaspohler VanderVeen, is on display through the 30th.

- By Design: Looking at Living, an exhibition that considers our relationship to design using objects from the gallery’s permanent collection, is on display through June 1.

Monday through Wednesday and Friday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.; Thursday, noon to 8 p.m. Corner of Seventh and Tracy streets. NMU. 906-227-1481 or nmu.edu/devos.

• Graci Gallery. Monday, Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 110 N. Third St. gracigallery. com.

• Huron Mountain Club Gallery.

- FOCUS by Maarten Vermaat is on display through the 31st. Monday through Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-228-0472.

• Lake Superior Photo and Gallery. The studio features landscape photographic art by Shawn Malone, including naturescapes of the Lake Superior region. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. 211 S. Front St. 906-228-3686 or lakesuperiorphoto.com.

• Marquette Arts and Culture Center Deo Gallery. U.P. Denizens and Debris, featuring monotype prints by Michael Letts, is on display through the 31st. Monday through Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front

Lindsey Heiden | Fat-tailed Dunnart | Besse Gallery, Escanaba

art galleries

St. 906-228-0472.

• Presque Isle Station. This working pottery studio features pottery by Michael Horton and Terry Gilfoy, along with works by local artists. Days and times vary. 2901 Lakeshore Blvd. 906-225-1695.

• The Gallery: A Marquette Artist Collective Project. Works by local and regional artists. Monday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 1 to 4 p.m. Suite U7, 130 W. Washington St. mqtartistcollective.com.

• The Studio Gallery at Presque Isle. Works by local and internationally acclaimed artists. Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. 2905 Lakeshore Blvd. 906-360-4453.

• Wintergreen Hill Gallery and Gifts. Sculptures by Carie Roberts will be on display through the 31st with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. on the 7th. Wintergreen Hill Gallery strives to create an immersive art experience for visitors who are looking to buy or just looking for inspiration. Local art by local artists. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 810 N. Third St. 906-2731374 or wintergreenhill.com.

• Zero Degrees Gallery. Work by

guest artist Amelia Pruiet is on display through the 31st with a reception from 1 to 4 p.m. on the 9th; call 906361-1296 or email jmarchimes@ charter.net. The gallery features works in oils, watercolors, mixed media, jewelry, photography, metals, woods, recycled and fiber arts and more. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 525 N. Third St. 906-228-3058 or zerodegreesgallery.org.

Munising

• UP-Scale Art. Featuring works by local and regional artists. Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment. 109 W. Superior Ave. 906-387-3300 or upscaleart.org.

Rapid River

• Ritch Branstrom’s adhocWORKshop. Specializing in award-winning found object sculpture. By appointment or chance. 10495 S. Main St. 906-399-1572 or adhocworkshop. com.

Sand River

• Aurelia Studio Pottery. Featuring high fire stoneware, along with functional and sculptural pieces inspired by nature, created by potter and owner Paula Neville. Open by appointment or chance. 3050 E. M-28. 906-343-6592.

Michael Letts | Waterboy II | Deo Gallery, Marquette

05 TUESDAY

sunrise 7:21 a.m.; sunset 6:41 p.m.

Escanaba

• Tech Tuesday. Appointments or walk-ins are welcome. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. 906-789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org.

Ishpeming

• Tot Tuesday Storytime. Stories, songs, and movement activities will be followed by an optional craft and playtime for toddlers and preschoolers. 11 a.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

Marquette

• Book Babies. Newborns and toddlers up to 17 months and a loving adult can enjoy songs, rhymes, stories and finger plays. Older siblings are welcome. 9:45 a.m. Great Room, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl. info.

• Preschool Storytime. Preschoolage children and a loving adult can enjoy stories, songs, finger plays, crafts and other school-readiness activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Director Chat. Stop in to chat with Library Director Andrea Ingmire. 11 a.m. to noon, and 5 to 6 p.m. Circulation Lobby, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4303 or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

• Oil Painting, Pastels and Drawing Classes with Marlene Wood. Bring your own supplies. $20. 1 p.m. Marquette Arts and Culture Center, Lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-225-8655.

• Dumbledore’s Army. Students in fourth through sixth grades will listen to the book read aloud while enjoying butterbeer and every flavor jelly beans. 4:30 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• NCLL: U.S. Navy Submarines–Past, Present and Future. Lt. Commander Stiles, a retired U.S. Navy Engineering Officer, will discuss the history, current status and future plans for the U.S. Navy’s Submarine Fleet as well as the different types of nuclear submarines. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10. 6 p.m. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-361-5370 or jhigbie@ nmu.edu.

• “Celebrate the History of Art and Culture in Marquette.” Hosted by

the Lake Superior Art Association (LSAA), this special event will include “Anita Meyland: First Lady of the Arts,” a presentation by Jack Deo and Ann Hilton Fisher. A silent auction will benefit the LSAA. $25. 6:30 to 9 p.m. Peninsula Rooms, Northern Center, NMU. lakesuperiorartassociation.org.

• Maritime History on Tap. Dan Fountain will present “He Went Down with His Ship: Captain Burke and the Steamer Arlington.” $5 suggested donation. 7 p.m. Ore Dock Brewing Company, 114 W. Spring St. 906-226-2006.

• What’s Up? (Zoom). Scott Stobbelaar of the Marquette Astronomical Society will provide a virtual monthly guide to what can be seen in the skies of the Upper Peninsula. 7 p.m. Via Zoom. 906-226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info or pwpl.info.

06 WEDNESDAY

sunrise 7:20 a.m.; sunset 6:42 p.m.

Calumet

• Why Native? Marcia Goodrich, president of Wild Ones Keweenaw, will discuss the value of native plants and the benefits they bring to homeowners and communities. 6:30 p.m. Community Room, Calumet Public Library. 906-337-0311, ext. 1107.

Ishpeming

• Crochet Club. This is a time to gather with fellow crafters to socialize. Supplies and instruction will be provided for those who are interested in learning how to crochet. 5:30 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

Marquette

• Toddler Storytime. Children ages 18 to 36 months and a loving adult can enjoy stories and songs, followed by sensory play activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Congregate Meals for Seniors–Dine in or Curbside Pickup. Meals available to those age 60 and older. Call to reserve a meal. $3.50 suggested donation. Noon to 1 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. 906-228-0456.

• Teens Game On! Youth in sixth through 12th grades can drop in for a selection of video games, board games and more. 3 to 6 p.m. Teen Zone, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4321, apierce@pwpl.info or pwpl.info.

• Marquette County Quilters Association Meeting. All skill levels are invited for socialization, program events and show and tell. Yearly membership fee, $20. 6:30 p.m. Lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. marquettequilters.org.

Negaunee

• Knitting Group. Those interested in crocheting, knitting and other fiber arts are welcome to bring their projects and share with others. Coffee provided. 1:30 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

• Wings of Fire Interest Group. Youth ages eight and older are invited to discuss the series, write fanfiction, make crafts and other activities. 3 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

07 THURSDAY

sunrise 7:18 a.m.; sunset 6:44 p.m.

Calumet

• Preschool Story Time. 10:15 a.m. Calumet Public Library. 906-337-0311.

Houghton

• My Fair Lady. This new production of Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady tells the story of Eliza Doolittle, a young Cockney flower seller, and Henry Higgins, a linguistics professor who is determined to transform her into his idea of a “proper lady.” Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, 1400 Townsend Dr. mtu.universitytickets. com.

Ishpeming

• Book Club. This month’s selection will be Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto. 11 a.m. Ishpeming Senior Center, 121 Greenwood St. 906-486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

Marquette

• Toddler Storytime. Children ages 18 to 36 months and a loving adult can enjoy stories and songs, followed by sensory play activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

• School’s Out, Library’s In: Elemental . Youth of all ages can create tempora paint stick art and gem dot painting, and enjoy a screening of Elemental. Moviegoers can bring snacks. 12:45 p.m. Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) Meeting. Discussion includes the ups and downs of motherhood and everything in between. Open to moms of children of any age. Childcare typically provided. 5:30 p.m. Messiah Lutheran Church, 305 W. Magnetic St. renee.n. jewett@gmail.com.

• Death Cafe. Jennifer Boyle-Aldrich, Kathy Anthony, Nancy Irish and Ann Russ, who offer death doula and life

celebrant services, will lead a candid discussion about death and dying. 6:15 p.m. Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-361-2998.

• The Lightning Thief. Presented by the Superior Arts Youth Theater (SAY Theater) and featuring 78 local youth performers, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical tells the story of Percy Jackson, the half-blood son of a Greek god, based on Rick Riordan’s bestselling book. In advance, students, $9; adults, $15. At the door, students, $11; adults, $17. 7 p.m. Forest Roberts Theatre, NMU. 906-227-1032 or nmu. universitytickets.com.

Negaunee

• Music, Movement and More. This parent-led storytime is for children of all ages and their caregivers. 10:30 a.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

• Building Club. Youth ages five and older will discuss a topic that will be the focus of their creations and then have time to build with blocks such as LEGO bricks. Participants can have their creations displayed in the library until the following meeting. 4:30 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

08 FRIDAY

sunrise 7:16 a.m.; sunset 6:45 p.m.

Gwinn

• Storytime. Preschool-age kids can enjoy stories, crafts and light snacks. 10:30 a.m. Forsyth Township Library, 180 W. Flint St. 906-346-3433 or forsythtwplibrary.org.

Ishpeming

• Empower Women’s Conference. This inaugural event, which kicks off on International Women’s Day, will include a community art exhibit, Salon Talks on a variety of topics, socials, presentations and workshops. Hosted by Apiary Life Studio. Prices and times vary. Gossard Building, 308 Clevaland Ave. apiarylifestudio.com.

Marquette

• Preschool Storytime. Preschoolage children and a loving adult can enjoy stories, songs, finger plays, crafts and other school-readiness activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• NCLL: Jacobetti Complex Tour. Participants will tour NMU’s Jacobetti Complex, which recently underwent a $28 million renovation. A short visit to the NMU Wellness Center may follow. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10. 11 a.m. Sugarloaf Road. 906-225-1004 or hoosieryooper@yahoo.com.

• Docu Cinema: Children of Shame: The Fate of 20th Century Irish Children Born Out of Wedlock. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, this docu-

mentary shares the fates of thousands of unwed mothers and their children who were victims of religious detention centers throughout the 20th and 21st centuries in Ireland. Noon. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4322, machatz@ pwpl.info or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

• School’s Out, Library’s In: The Little Mermaid . Youth of all ages can create water painting and enjoy a screening of Disney’s The Little Mermaid . Moviegoers can bring snacks. 12:45 p.m. Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• LEGO Club. Participants can meet other LEGO enthusiasts and build projects with the library’s LEGO blocks. 4 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• The Builders Show. Presented by the Home Builders Association of the Upper Peninsula, the show will include vendors, live demonstrations, door prizes and raffles, a children’s area and more. Tickets are valid all weekend. Children 12 and younger, free; seniors 65 and older, $5; adults, $6. 4 to 8 p.m. NMU Superior Dome. thebuildersshow.org.

• The Lightning Thief. Presented by the Superior Arts Youth Theater (SAY Theater) and featuring 78 local youth performers, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical tells the story of Percy Jackson, the half-blood son of a Greek god, based on Rick Riordan’s bestselling book. In advance, students, $9; adults, $15. At the door, students, $11; adults, $17. 7 p.m. Forest Roberts Theatre, NMU. 906-227-1032 or nmu. universitytickets.com.

09 SATURDAY

sunrise 7:14 a.m.; sunset 6:46 p.m.

Calumet

• Great Bear Chase. The Great Bear Chase was started in 1981 by Rick Oikarinen and Bob Gregg as a late-winter cross-country ski race to showcase the snow in the Keweenaw Peninsula. The race raises funds for the Swedetown Trails Club. Cost varies by race. 8 a.m. Swedetown Trails. greatbearchase.com.

• Second Saturday Market. Featuring local handcrafted items. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Calumet Art Center, 57055 Fifth St. 906-934-2228 or calumetartcenter. com.

• Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 with the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra. Presented by Michigan Tech Music, the performance will be led by Romanian guest conductor Cristian Lupeş. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. Calumet

Theatre, 340 Sixth St. mtu.universitytickets.com.

Chatham

• Storytime. The storytime will also include songs and crafts. 10 a.m. Rock River Township Library, E3667 State Hwy. M-94. 906-439-5360 or rrtlibrary@gmail.com.

Escanaba

• LEGO Club. This month’s theme is “Home Sweet Home.” 1 p.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. 906789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org.

Gwinn

• Coffee and Conversation: De-cluttering and Organizing. There will be a focus on digital de-cluttering and participants will also learn to create their own neurographic art. Coffee will be provided; bring your own mug for refills. 10 a.m. Forsyth Township Library, 180 W. Flint St. 906-346-3433 or forsythtwplibrary.org.

• Ice Races. Presented by the Upper Michigan Ice Racing Association. Weather permitting. $5 donation per car; day pit passes are available for $10 per person. Spectator gate opens at 10 a.m.; races begin by 11:30 a.m. Forsyth Township Ball Park. uppermichiganiceracing.com.

Hancock

• Successfully View and Photograph the Aurora. Thomas Oliver will teach photographers how to be prepared for the next aurora display by using space weather data and modern technology. CCCAC members, $20; nonmembers, $25. 2 p.m. Copper Country Community Arts Center, 126 Quincy St. To register, email ccarts@coppercountryarts.com or call 906-482-2333.

Ishpeming

• Empower Women’s Conference. This inaugural event will include a community art exhibit, Salon Talks on a variety of topics, socials, presentations and workshops. Hosted by Apiary Life Studio. Prices and times vary. Gossard Building, 308 Clevaland Ave. apiarylifestudio.com.

• Life Drawing. Local artist Paul Olson will lead a class on life drawing for ages 12 and older. Supplies will be provided and no experience is necessary. 11 a.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

L’Anse

• NSDAR Meeting. This is the monthly meeting of the Onagomingkway Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR). Noon. Cafe L’Anse, 104 N. Main St. 906-226-7836.

Marquette

• The Builders Show. Presented by the Home Builders Association of the Upper Peninsula, the show will include vendors, live demonstrations, door

prizes and raffles, a children’s area and more. Tickets are valid all weekend. Children 12 and younger, free; seniors 65 and older, $5; adults, $6. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. NMU Superior Dome. thebuildersshow.org.

• Saturday Storytime. Babies and toddlers and a loving adult can enjoy songs, rhymes, stories and finger plays. Older siblings and older children are welcome. 10:30 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. Lessons, 10 a.m. Games, 11:30 a.m. Citizens Forum, Lakeview Arena, 401 E. Fair St. superiorland_bridge.tripod.com.

• The Lightning Thief. Presented by the Superior Arts Youth Theater (SAY Theater) and featuring 78 local youth performers, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical tells the story of Percy Jackson, the half-blood son of a Greek god, based on Rick Riordan’s bestselling book. In advance, students, $9; adults, $15. At the door, students, $11; adults, $17. Theater for All performance, 1 p.m.; general audience, 7 p.m. Forest Roberts Theatre, NMU. 906-227-1032 or nmu.universitytickets.com.

Negaunee

• BQ’s Self-Care Saturday Spring Fling. The event will begin with gentle yoga with Keia from Botánica Quetzalli and meditation by Shaina Levee, followed by services from local well-being practitioners. Some services may require a small fee. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dead River Coffee Roastery, 338 Rail St.

10 SUNDAY

sunrise 8:12 a.m.; sunset 7:48 p.m.

Daylight Saving Time begins Houghton

• The American Dream with the Superior Wind Symphony. Presented by Michigan Tech Music, the performance will be a celebration of the finest American wind band composers, old and new. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. McArdle Theatre, 1400 Townsend Ave. mtu.universitytickets. com.

Ishpeming

• Empower Women’s Conference. This inaugural event will include a community art exhibit, Salon Talks on a variety of topics, socials, presentations and workshops. Hosted by Apiary Life Studio. Prices and times vary. Gossard Building, 308 Clevaland Ave. apiarylifestudio.com.

• Bingo. Doors open at noon. Ishpeming VFW, 310 Bank St. 906-486-4856.

Marquette

• Restaurant Week . Downtown restaurants will offer lunch and dinner specials. Prices, times and locations vary. downtownmarquette.org.

• The Builders Show. Presented by the Home Builders Association of the Upper Peninsula, the show will include vendors, live demonstrations, door prizes and raffles, a children’s area and more. Children 12 and younger, free; seniors 65 and older, $5; adults, $6. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. NMU Superior Dome. thebuildersshow.org.

• The Lightning Thief. Presented by the Superior Arts Youth Theater (SAY Theater) and featuring 78 local youth performers, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical tells the story of Percy Jackson, the half-blood son of a Greek god, based on Rick Riordan’s bestselling book. In advance, students, $9; adults, $15. At the door, students, $11; adults, $17. 1 p.m. Forest Roberts Theatre, NMU. 906-227-1032 or nmu. universitytickets.com.

Rock

• Senior Dance. Country Express will perform. The event raises money for the Rock Senior Center. 1 to 4 p.m. Rock Senior Center, 3892 W. Maple Ridge 37th Rd.

11 MONDAY

sunrise 8:10 a.m.; sunset 7:49 p.m.

Marquette

• Restaurant Week . Downtown restaurants will offer lunch and dinner specials. Prices, times and locations vary. downtownmarquette.org.

• Wiggle Worms Storytime. This storytime is geared toward wiggly children and their loving adult. Stories will be intermixed with hands-on and interactive activities. 9:45 a.m. Great Room, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Senior Theatre Experience: Monthly Theatre Workshop and Discussion. Intended for ages 55 and older. 4 p.m. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. To register, 906-225-8655.

• Comic Creators. Youth in second through sixth grades can gather with other graphic novel and comic book fans, talk about favorite books and create graphic novel crafts. 4:30 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Understanding Alzheimer’s and Dementia. A representative of the Alzheimer’s Association will present information about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. 7 p.m. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. To register, 906-226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info or pwpl.info.

Negaunee

• All-Ages Online Storytime. Miss Jessica will lead stories, songs and

rhymes on Facebook Live. 11 a.m. facebook.com/NegauneePublicLibrary. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

12 TUESDAY

sunrise 8:08 a.m.; sunset 7:51 p.m.

Calumet

• Friends of the Library Meeting. New members are welcome to learn about programming ideas, volunteer opportunities, the Red Jacket Readers book club, and more. 5:30 p.m. Community Room, Calumet Public Library. 906-337-0311.

Escanaba

• Tech Tuesday. Appointments or walk-ins are welcome. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. 906-789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org.

Gwinn

• Literature at the Lodge. This month’s selection will be Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese. 7 p.m. Up North Lodge, 215 S. Co. Rd. 557. 906-3463433 or forsythtwplibrary.org.

Houghton

• Keweenaw Natural History Talk. John Jasczcak will present “The A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum: Past, Present and Future.” This talk is part of the Carnegie Museum Natural History Seminar Series titled “Rocks and Minerals of the Western U.P.: Why We Love Them.” 7 p.m. Carnegie Museum of the Keweenaw, 105 Huron St. 906482-7140 or carnegiekeweenaw.org.

Ishpeming

• Tot Tuesday Storytime. Stories, songs, and movement activities will be followed by an optional craft and playtime for toddlers and preschoolers. 11 a.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

• Quarterly Classics Book Club. The selection will be Emma by Jane Austen. 2 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

Marquette

• Restaurant Week . Downtown restaurants will offer lunch and dinner specials. Prices, times and locations vary. downtownmarquette.org.

• Book Babies. Newborns and toddlers up to 17 months and a loving adult can enjoy songs, rhymes, stories and finger plays. Older siblings are welcome. 9:45 a.m. Great Room, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl. info.

• Preschool Storytime. Preschoolage children and a loving adult can enjoy stories, songs, finger plays, crafts and other school-readiness activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323

or pwpl.info.

• Tasty Reads Book Group. This month’s selection will be From Scratch by Tembi Locke. Noon. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4303 or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

• Lake Superior Knitters. Open to all ages and skill levels to mentor and share knowledge. If new to knitting, bring a skein of a worsted weight yarn (avoid dark yarn) and a Size 7 circular needle that is 24-inches long to make a cowl. The basic pattern will be provided. Suggested donation of $1 to $5 to the MRHC. 1 p.m. Marquette Regional History Center, 145 W. Spring St. beedhive47@yahoo.com.

• NCLL: Marquette Night Sky and Solar Eclipses. Rebecca LaBrecque, Shiras Planetarium director, will use the Minolta MS-8 star projector to present Marquette’s current night sky. A short film about the April 8 solar eclipse will be shown. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10. 1 p.m. Shiras Planetarium, Marquette Senior High School. 248-303-3543 or stilessds@ aol.com.

• Oil Painting, Pastels and Drawing Classes with Marlene Wood. Bring your own supplies. $20. 1 p.m. Marquette Arts and Culture Center, Lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-225-8655.

• NCLL: Everything You Want to Know about Ringing Handbells. Judy Quirk, bell choir director at Messiah Lutheran Church, will discuss the development of handbells and how they are made. The session will include hands-on experience. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10. 3 p.m. Auditorium, Messiah Lutheran Church,

• Create a Junk Journal. Kitty from Hope-Dreams Art will lead this craft program for teens and adults. All supplies will be provided. 5:30 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. To register, 906-486-4381.

Marquette

• Restaurant Week . Downtown restaurants will offer lunch and dinner specials. Prices, times and locations vary. downtownmarquette.org.

• Toddler Storytime. Children ages 18 to 36 months and a loving adult can enjoy stories and songs, followed by sensory play activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Congregate Meals for Seniors–Dine in or Curbside Pickup. Meals available to those age 60 and older. Call to reserve a meal. $3.50 suggested donation. Noon to 1 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. 906-228-0456.

305 W. Magnetic St. 906-458-5408 or csteinha@nmu.edu.

• Senior Dance Class. Intended for ages 55 and older. 4 p.m. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. To register, 906-225-8655.

• Muggles for Potter. Students in second and third grades will listen to the book read aloud while enjoying butterbeer and every flavor jelly beans. 4:30 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

13 WEDNESDAY

sunrise 8:06 a.m.; sunset 7:52 p.m.

Escanaba

• Great Start Family Fun Night: Space Jammies. Kids can enjoy space themes, stories, movement activities, crafts and a snack. Each child will receive a new book and are encouraged to wear pajamas. This free event is intended for children up to 8 years old. 5:30 p.m. City Council Chambers, 410 Ludington St. To register, bit.ly/ spacejammies.

• Fáilte in Concert with Celtic Dancers. Local Celtic band Fáilte will present an evening of folk music and dancing. K-Bay tickets, $5; general public, $10. 7 p.m. Besse Theater, Bay College, 2001 N. Lincoln Rd. baycollege.tix.com.

Gwinn

• Forsyth Township Public Library Board Meeting. The public is welcome. 5:30 p.m. Community Room, Forsyth Township Library, 180 W. Flint St. 906-346-3433 or forsythtwplibrary. org.

Ishpeming

• Senior Arts Painting Class. Artist Gene Bertram will guide participants to paint a still life of traditional folk instruments. 1 to 3 p.m. Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. To register, 906-228-0472.

• unTITLEd Teens. Teens in sixth through 12th will deconstruct books and create different pieces of art from them. 3 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906226-4321, apierce@pwpl.info or pwpl. info.

• Community Knit/Crochet Club. 5:30 p.m. Alley Kat’s Quilt Shop, 1010 W. Washington St. 906-315-0050.

• Cooperatively Yours. A screening of the film Cooperatively Yours, which highlights the cooperative movement, will be followed by a discussion with director Kristin Ojaniemi. The film complements the museum’s current exhibit, Consumer Co-operatives in the Central Upper Peninsula: A Middle Way. Suggested donation, $5. 6 p.m. Marquette Regional History Center, 145 W. Spring St. 906-226-3571 or marquettehistory.org.

• LWBA: “Birding in Thailand.” Mark and Joanie Hubinger will discuss their trip to Thailand in February 2020 when they saw more than 450 species of birds. Presented by the Laughing Whitefish Bird Alliance. 7 p.m. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-362-4811.

Negaunee

• Knitting Group. Those interested in crocheting, knitting and other fiber arts are welcome to bring their projects and share with others. Coffee provided. 1:30 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

• Wings of Fire Interest Group. Youth ages eight and older are invited to discuss the series, write fanfiction, make crafts and other activities. 3 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

Zoot Suit Pi-it with Huskies Pep Band | March 14 | Houghton

Photo courtesy of MTU

14 THURSDAY

sunrise 8:04 a.m.; sunset 7:53 p.m.

Calumet

• Preschool Story Time. 10:15 a.m. Calumet Public Library. 906-337-0311.

Crystal Falls

• U.P. Notable Books Club (Zoom). The guest will be Matthew Hellman, author of The Biting Cold 7 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Central. Via Zoom. For Zoom information, (906) 875-3344 or egathu@crystalfallslibrary.org.

Escanaba

• Fáilte Concert. The group will perform Celtic music. 5:30 p.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. 906789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org.

• Bay Film Series: Barbie This 2023 fantasy comedy follows Barbie and Ken on a journey of self-discovery through Barbieland and the real world. Presented in partnership with the Bay College Library and Diversity Committee in honor of Women’s History Month. 7 p.m. Besse Theater, Bay College, 2001 N. Lincoln Rd. baycollege.tix.com.

Houghton

• Zoot Suit Pi-it with Huskies Pep Band. Presented by Michigan Tech Music. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, 1400 Townsend Dr. mtu.universitytickets.com.

Ishpeming

• West End Winter Playgroup. Families and caregivers with young children are invited to attend for free play and snacks. Presented through a partnership with Great Start. 10 a.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. tmeinhold@greatstartma.org or 906-486-4381.

• Crochet Club. This is a time to gather with fellow crafters to socialize. Supplies and instruction will be provided for those who are interested in learning how to crochet. 2 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

• Graphic Novel Book Club. Students in fourth through eighth grades will discuss Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger. 4 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary. info.

Marquette

• Restaurant Week . Downtown restaurants will offer lunch and dinner specials. Prices, times and locations vary. downtownmarquette.org.

• Downtown Development Authority Board Meeting. 8 a.m. Marquette Commons, 112 S. Third St. downtownmarquette.org.

• Toddler Storytime. Children ages

18 to 36 months and a loving adult can enjoy stories and songs, followed by sensory play activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

• Fandom Fun: Little House on the Prairie. Youth of all ages can make candles and other Little House on the Prairie-related crafts and activities. 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Friends of PWPL Book Sale PreSale. This is a pre-event for the annual Friends of the Library Spring Used Book Sale. $5. 5 to 8 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. pwpl.info/friends-of-pwpl.

• Second Thursday Creativity Series. Guests can enjoy hands-on craft activities and free Culver’s frozen custard. This month’s theme is “Everything Green.” 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum, 123 W. Baraga Ave. 906-226-3911 or upchildrensmuseum.org.

• Marquette Art Muses Meeting. Open to the public. 5:30 p.m. The Courtyards, 1110 Champion St. lbuckmar2@yahoo.com or 906-399-9824.

• Yarn Winders Fiber Guild of Marquette. 6 p.m. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St.

• Marquette Poets Circle. Local poets, writers, and poetry enthusiasts gather to workshop their current work, followed by an open mic. New and experienced poets are welcome for either or both events. Workshop, 6:30 p.m.; open mic, 7:15 p.m. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322 or pwpl.info

• AAUW Meeting. Trish Davis

of Kendricks Bordeau will present “Securing the Future: Estate Planning Basics.” Hosted by the Marquette Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). 7 p.m. Marquette Area Federation of Women’s Clubs Clubhouse, 104 W. Ridge St. 920-716-6544 or ellkoski@nmu.edu.

• Skerryvore. This Scottish folkrock group will perform as part of the Winter Roots Festival, co-sponsored by the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center, Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival and the Ore Dock Brewing Company. NMU students and youth younger than 18, $10 advance or $12 at the door; general public, $20 in advance or $22 at the door. 7:30 p.m. Forest Roberts Theatre, NMU. nmu.universitytickets. com.

Negaunee

• Music, Movement and More. This parent-led storytime is for children of all ages and their caregivers. 10:30 a.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

• Building Club. Youth ages five and older will discuss a topic that will be the focus of their creations and then have time to build with blocks such as LEGO bricks. Participants can have their creations displayed in the library until the following meeting. 4:30 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

15 FRIDAY

sunrise 8:02 a.m.; sunset 7:55 p.m.

Gwinn

• Storytime. Preschool-age kids can enjoy stories, crafts and light snacks. 10:30 a.m. Forsyth Township Library, 180 W. Flint St. 906-346-3433 or forsythtwplibrary.org.

Ishpeming

• The Super Mario Bros. Movie . Enjoy a screening of 2023’s The Super

Mario Bros. Movie (rated PG). Popcorn and water will be provided; guests can bring their own snacks or drinks. 1 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

• Teen Book Fair. Teens and young adult book lovers can browse a selection of new books and choose two free books to keep. 1 to 5 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary. info.

Marquette

• Restaurant Week . Downtown restaurants will offer lunch and dinner specials. Prices, times and locations vary. downtownmarquette.org.

• Friends of PWPL Book Sale. 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. pwpl.info/friends-of-pwpl.

• Preschool Storytime. Preschoolage children and a loving adult can enjoy stories, songs, finger plays, crafts and other school-readiness activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Global Cinema: Persepolis. This adult animated drama depicts the coming of age of a young Iranian girl during the Iranian Revolution. Rated PG-13. Noon. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4322 or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

• Ten Steps to Optimize Brain Health. Learn about natural treatments for cognitive decline, depression, anxiety, headaches and Alzheimer’s. 6 p.m. Ramada Inn, 412 W. Washington St. RSVP to 906-475-4488 or mqtsdachurch@gmail.com.

• LEGO Club. Participants can meet

Skerryvore | March 14 | Marquette

Photo courtesy of NMU

museums

Big Bay

• Big Bay Lighthouse. The grounds of the 1896 lighthouse are open year-round. 3 Lighthouse Rd. 906-345-9957.

Calumet

• International Frisbee/USA Guts Hall of Fame and Museum. Learn about the history of Guts Frisbee. Days and hours vary. Open when events are held. Second floor ballroom, Calumet Colosseum, 110 Red Jacket Rd. 906-281-7625.

Escanaba

• Upper Peninsula Honor Flight Legacy Museum. The museum chronicles the history of the U.P. Honor Flights with the history of the trips. Donations appreciated. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by request. Inside the Delta County Chamber of Commerce, 1001 N. Lincoln Rd.

• Upper Peninsula Military Museum. The museum honors Upper Peninsula veterans, and features exhibits and dioramas portraying the Upper Peninsula’s contribution to U.S. war efforts from the Civil War through the Afghanistan wars. Donations appreciated. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by request. Inside the Delta County Chamber of Commerce, 1001 N. Lincoln Rd.

Houghton

• A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum. New exhibit on Yooperlites, sodalite-bearing syenites that possess fluorescent properties. View the

other LEGO enthusiasts and build projects with the library’s LEGO blocks. 4 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323.

• HOTAP (Hiawatha on Tap). Sons of the Never Wrong will perform as part of the Winter Roots Festival. Children younger than 12, free; members, $5; non-members, $10. 6 p.m. Ore Dock Brewing, 114 W. Spring St. 906-226-8575 or hiawathamusic.org.

• Senior Ice Skating. Open to ages 55 and older. 7 p.m. Lakeview Arena, 401 E. Fair Ave. 906-228-0456.

• Pianist Jeongwon Ham. Ham will perform as part of the 2023-2024 Siril Concert Series, presented by the NMU Department of Music. NMU students and youth 18 and younger, free; general admission, $12. 7:30 p.m. Reynolds Recital Hall, NMU. nmu. universitytickets.com.

16 SATURDAY

sunrise 8:00 a.m.;

7:56 p.m.

largest collection of minerals from the Great Lakes region and the world’s finest collection of Michigan minerals. Prices vary. Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 1404 E. Sharon Ave. museum.mtu.edu or 906-487-2572.

• Carnegie Museum of the Keweenaw. New exhibits are Message in a Bottle, featuring artifacts long buried beneath Houghton’s streets that were found during excavations in 2021; and Celebrate the Lift Bridge, which includes building activities and the 1960s-era video about building the Lift Bridge. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. 105 Huron St. 906-482-7140.

• MTU Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections. Features a variety of historical memorabilia, highlighting life in the Copper Country. Open by appointment. Lower level of the J.R. Van Pelt Library, MTU. 906-487-3209.

Ishpeming

• Ishpeming Area Historical Society Museum. Displays include a military exhibit and artifacts from the Elson Estate. Donations appreciated. Open by appointment. See website for updates. Gossard Building, Suite 303, 308 Cleveland Ave. ishpeminghistory. org.

• U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and Museum. The museum features more than 300 Hall of Fame inductees, presented in photographs and biographies, and displays and exhibits of skiing history and equipment, an extensive library, video show, gift shop, special events

Escanaba

• Safe Solar Viewers for Kids Workshop. Kids in fifth through eighth grades will learn to make a pinhole viewer for safe eclipse viewing. 1 p.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. To register, 906-789-7323.

Gwinn

• Seed Swap. This is an opportunity to show off and share from fellow seed collections. The first 30 minutes will be for those who brought seeds and volunteers. Any remaining time will be open to those who attend, but without seeds. 1 p.m. Gwinn Community Church, 85 N. Pine St. gwinnseedlibary@gmail. com.

Hancock

• Buellwood Weavers and Fiber Arts Guild Meeting. All fiber artists are welcome. 1 p.m. Fiber Arts Studio (Room 105), Finnish American Folk School, lower level, Jutila Center,

and more. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. US-41 and Third Street. 906-485-6323 or skihall.com.

K.I. Sawyer

• K.I. Sawyer Heritage Air Museum. The museum promotes and preserves the aviation history the air base brought to the area. Air Force-related materials are on display, including photographs, flags, medals and more. Donations appreciated. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. or by appointment. 402 Third St. (906) 236-3502.

Marquette

• Baraga Educational Center and Museum. View artifacts and tools used by Venerable Bishop Baraga. Donations appreciated. Thursday and Friday, noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment. 615 S. Fourth St. 906-227-9117.

• Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center.

- Extracting History: Mining in Marquette County will be on display through March 1. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 12 to 4 p.m. Corner of Seventh and Tracy streets. NMU. 906-227-1219 or nmu. edu/beaumier.

• Marquette Regional History Center.

- Consumer Co-operatives in the Central Upper Peninsula: A Middle Way, highlightin the history of organizing consumer cooperatives and how they were involved in more than just selling goods, is on display through April 27. The museum also includes interactive displays as well

200 Michigan St. jegale@att.net or 906-221-5306.

Houghton

• U.P. Wild Wilderness Walk. This guided walk on the Houghton Canal is an opportunity to connect with God and others in an outdoor natural setting. Everyone is welcome, no religious affiliation is necessary. A potluck will follow. 4 p.m. Marsin Retreat Center, 52864 Red Brick Rd. upwild.org.

Ishpeming

• Life Drawing. Local artist Paul Olson will lead a class on life drawing for ages 12 and older. Supplies will be provided and no experience is necessary. 11 a.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

• Virtual Book Awards

Announcement (Online). Great Lakes Great Books Award co-chairs Jesse Shirtz and Heather Lander will announce the 2023-24 winners and as well as the new 2024-25 ballot of nom-

as regional history exhibits. Prices vary. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 145 W. Spring St. 906-226-3571 or marquettehistory.org.

• Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum. A variety of interactive exhibits offer learning through investigation and creativity. Prices vary. Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 123 W. Baraga Ave. 906-2263911 or upchildrensmuseum.org.

Munising

• Alger County Historical Society Heritage Center. Exhibits include the Grand Island Recreation Area, Munising Woodenware Company, barn building, homemaking, sauna and more. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 1496 Washington St. 906-387-4308.

Negaunee

• Michigan Iron Industry Museum. In the forested ravines of the Marquette Iron Range, the museum overlooks the Carp River and the site of the first iron forge in the Lake Superior region. Museum exhibits, audio-visual programs and outdoor interpretive paths depict the largescale capital and human investment that made Michigan an industrial leader. The museum is one of 10 museums and historic sites administered by the Michigan Historical Center. Michigan Recreation Passport required for parking. Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 73 Forge Rd. 906-475-7857. MM

inees. Michigan students may vote for their favorite nominated titles immediately following the announcement. 3 p.m. Via the Great Lakes Great Books Facebook page. 906-486-4381.

• Young Adult Book Club. This month’s selection is All the Dead Lie Down by Kyrie McCauley. 3 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381.

Marquette

• Restaurant Week . Downtown restaurants will offer lunch and dinner specials. Prices, times and locations vary. downtownmarquette.org.

• Friends of PWPL Book Sale. Books will be 50 percent off from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The $5 bag sale will follow from 1:45 p.m. to 4 p.m. 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. pwpl. info/friends-of-pwpl.

• Winter Roots Film Festival. As part of the Winter Roots Film Festival, presented in partnership with the Hiawatha Music Co-op and the Beaumier Upper

Peninsula Heritage Center, there will be screenings of three documentaries about traditional, folk, gospel music and musicians: Mahalia Jackson: The Power and the Glory; Mavis!: Gospel Music Legend and Civil Rights Activist Mavis Staples; and Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906226-4322 or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. Lessons, 10 a.m. Games, 11:30 a.m. Citizens Forum, Lakeview Arena, 401 E. Fair St. superiorland_bridge.tripod.com.

• Saturday Storytime. Babies and toddlers and a loving adult can enjoy songs, rhymes, stories and finger plays. Older siblings and older children are welcome. 10:30 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• “Harmony Through the Backdoor” Workshop. Presented by Sons of The Never Wrong. Suggested donation, $5. 11 a.m. The Fold, 1015 N. Third St. 906-226-8575 or hiawathamusic.org.

• Fisher Frenzy! This interactive presentation will highlight the American Fisher, its history, its reintroduction to the U.P. and its relationship with the American Porcupine. Suggested donation, $5 per person or $10 per family. 2 p.m. MooseWood Nature Center, Shiras Pool Building at Presque Isle Park. To register, moosewoodnc@gmail.com.

• Ten Steps to Optimize Brain Health. Learn about natural treatments for cognitive decline, depression, anxiety, headaches and Alzheimer’s. 6 p.m. Ramada Inn, 412 W. Washington St. RSVP to 906-475-4488 or mqtsdachurch@gmail.com.

17 SUNDAY

sunrise 7:58 a.m.; sunset 7:58 p.m.

St. Patrick’s Day

Ishpeming

• Bingo. Doors open at noon. Ishpeming VFW, 310 Bank St. 906-486-4856.

Marquette

• Guts Frisbee Tournament. The Bill Beckman “Under the Dome” Guts Frisbee Tournament will include players of all ages. Player registration and spectator admission are free. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. NMU Superior Dome in Marquette. gutsplayers.com.

Rock

•  St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast Buffet. This all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet is sponsored by the Rock Lions Club and Rock American Legion. Kids five and younger, free; kids ages six to 12, $9; adults, $12. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Rock Lions Club, 14454 M-35.

18 MONDAY

sunrise 7:56 a.m.; sunset 7:59 p.m.

Marquette

• Wiggle Worms Storytime. This storytime is geared toward wiggly children and their loving adult. Stories will be intermixed with hands-on and interactive activities. 9:45 a.m. Great Room, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323.

• Anatomy of a Murder 65th Anniversary Screening. In celebration of the 65th anniversary of the release of the film adaptation of John Voelker’s Anatomy of a Murder, the classic film starring Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, George C. Scott and Eve Arden will be screened. Registration required. 5:30 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. To register, 906-226-4322 or pwpl.info.

• Quick Fics Book Group. This month’s selection is Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo. 6 p.m. Dandelion Cottage Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• The Joy of Sound Meditation. This evening of sound meditation will feature bronze singing bowls and metal gongs. 7 p.m. Chapel, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 201 E. Ridge St. 906-362- 9934 or ckitchenmqt@gmail. com.

Negaunee

• All-Ages Online Storytime. Miss Jessica will lead stories, songs and rhymes on Facebook Live. 11 a.m. facebook.com/NegauneePublicLibrary. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

19 TUESDAY

sunrise 7:54 a.m.; sunset 8:00 p.m.

Escanaba

• Tech Tuesday. Appointments or walk-ins are welcome. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. 906-789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org.

Ishpeming

• Adult Book Club. This month’s selection is Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver. 2 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381.

Marquette

• Book Babies. Newborns and toddlers up to 17 months and a loving adult can enjoy songs, rhymes, stories and finger plays. Older siblings are welcome. 9:45 a.m. Great Room, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl. info.

• Dementia Caregiver Training (Online). The Dementia Caregiving Series, a three-part online program, is designed for caregivers of people with dementia. 10 a.m. Via Zoom. To regis-

ter, visit upcap.org (click on EVENTS) or call 2-1-1.

• Preschool Storytime. Preschoolage children and a loving adult can enjoy stories, songs, finger plays, crafts and other school-readiness activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

• Oil Painting, Pastels and Drawing Classes with Marlene Wood. Bring your own supplies. $20. 1 p.m. Marquette Arts and Culture Center, Lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-225-8655.

• Senior Dance Class. Intended for ages 55 and older. 4 p.m. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. To register, 906-225-8655.

• Dungeons and Dragons. Jordan from Iron Golem Games, will lead a group of teens in sixth through 12th grades on a quest with this role-playing game. Registration is required. 4 p.m. Teen Zone, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4321or pwpl. info.

• Dungeons and Dragons Junior. Staff members Cat and Thayer will lead youth in fourth and fifth grades on a quest with this role-playing game. Registration required. 4:30 p.m. Conference Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Jr. Explorers. Curious kids in kindergarten through third grade will explore a new topic each month with activities and books from the library’s nonfiction collection. 4:30 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl. info.

• PWPL Board of Trustees Meeting. This monthly meeting of the board of trustees of the Peter White Public Library is open to all. 5 p.m. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. pwpl.info.

• LSAA Art Talk: Photography for Biodiversity. Chris Burnett will discuss local ecosystems and demonstrate photographic techniques for capturing their essence. 6:30 p.m. Marquette Arts and Culture Center studio, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. lakesuperiorartassociation.org.

• Artists and Their Art: Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes—The Diversity of Genius Part 2 (Zoom). Art historian Ellen Longsworth will discuss the work of Spanish artist Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes. Presented by Peter White Public Library. 7 p.m. Via Zoom. 906-2264322 or pwpl.info.

20 WEDNESDAY

sunrise 7:52 a.m.; sunset 8:02 p.m.

Calumet

• Red Jacket Readers. The selection will be We Kept Our Towns Going by Phyllis Michael Wong, which tells the stories of the “Gossard Girls” who sewed corsets and bras at factories in Ishpeming and Gwinn. Rescheduled from January due to weather cancellation. 6:30 p.m. Community Room, Calumet Public Library. 906-3370311, ext. 1107.

Escanaba

• Solar Eclipse Filters Workshop. Teens and adults can make filters for binoculars, cameras and small telescopes for safe eclipse viewing. 4:30 p.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. To register, 906-789-7323.

Gwinn

• After School LEGO Club. Children ages five and older are welcome to drop in and build. Students younger than 10 must have an adult present. 4 to 5 p.m. Forsyth Township Library, 180 W. Flint St. 906-346-3433 or forsythtwplibrary. org.

Ishpeming

• Water Bath Canning Workshop. $25. 5 p.m. Partridge Creek Farm Office, 112 Main St. partridgecreekfarm.org/events.

• Adult Book Club. This month’s selection is Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver. 6 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary. info.

Marquette

• Toddler Storytime. Children ages 18 to 36 months and a loving adult can enjoy stories and songs, followed by sensory play activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Congregate Meals for Seniors–Dine in or Curbside Pickup. Meals available to those age 60 and older. Call to reserve a meal. $3.50 suggested donation. Noon to 1 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. 906-228-0456.

•  Adult Nonfiction Book Group. This month’s book is The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston. 1 p.m. Conference Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4311 or refdesk@ pwpl.info.

• NCLL: Positive Aging (Brain Functions)–Part 1. Speech-Language Pathologist Chris Harkness will discuss executive functions of the brain, including attention, concentration, decision making, memory, problem solving and word finding. 1:30 p.m. Heritage Room, Peter White Public

Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-475-4252 or bbraden@consultant.com.

• Homeschool Chapter Book Discussion. Homeschool students ages 11 and older will discuss the graphic novel A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat. 4 p.m. Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. pwpl.info.

• Outword. Intended for LGBTQIA youth and ally students in seventh to 12th grades. 4 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4321 or pwpl.info.

• Chris Valenti Concert. Singer and songwriter Chris Valenti will perform an evening of original songs and rock and roll favorites. 7 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4322.

Negaunee

• Knitting Group. Those interested in crocheting, knitting and other fiber arts are welcome to bring their projects and share with others. Coffee provided. 1:30 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

• Wings of Fire Interest Group. Youth ages eight and older are invited to discuss the series, write fanfiction, make crafts and other activities. 3 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

21 THURSDAY

sunrise 7:50 a.m.; sunset 8:03 p.m.

Calumet

• Preschool Story Time. 10:15 a.m. Calumet Public Library. 906-337-0311.

Ishpeming

• West End Winter Playgroup. Families and caregivers with young children are invited to attend for free play and snacks. Presented through a partnership with Great Start. 10 a.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381.

• Adult Fantasy Book Club. This month’s selection is Godkiller by Hannah Kaner. 6 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381.

Marquette

• All Booked Up (Online). The group will discuss What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo. 9 a.m. Via the TV6 Facebook page. 906-226-4322.

• NCLL: A Spa at the NMU Cosmetology Department. NMU cosmetology students and supervising staff will provide a variety of spa services. Senior discounts are available and lunch will follow at the Wildcat Den. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10, plus the cost of services. 10 a.m. NMU Cosmetology Department, Northern Center. 906-225-1004.

• Toddler Storytime. Children ages 18 to 36 months and a loving adult can enjoy stories and songs, followed by

sensory play activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

• Live and Learn: Exercise Your Brain! As part of the Aging U.P. series, licensed pathologist Chris Harkness, MS-CCC-SLP will teach strategies to sharpen brain skills, including attention, concentration, decision-making, memory and problem solving. 2 p.m. Mill Creek Clubhouse, 1728 Windstone Dr. 906-225-7760.

• Marquette Rug Hookers Meeting. Anyone interested in the art of rug and art hooking can gather for technique and resource sharing, instruction, show and tell, and fellowship. Participants may bring dinner. 4 p.m. Marquette Arts and Culture Center Studio Room 2, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-360-8700.

• Fandom Fun: Unicorn Diaries and Diary of a Pug Fans of the Unicorn Diaries and Diary of a Pug book series can create unicorn- and pug-themed crafts, and enjoy activities and games.

4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• DeVos Art Museum Family Night. Visitors can enjoy guided tours with Emily Lanctot and Sydney Sarasin, as well as an all-ages art activity. Events will highlight the museum’s current exhibitions: By Design Looking at Living and Fred Brian: Lake Gogebic Memories and Myths. UP Focus, featuring work by Copper Country artists Carrie Flaspohler VanderVeen and Catherine Benda, will also be available for viewing. 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. DeVos Art Museum, Tracy and Seventh streets, NMU. 906-227-2235.

• Songwriters Woodshed with John Gillette. Suggested donation, $5. 7 to 9 p.m. The Fold, 1015 N. Third St. 906226-8575 or hiawathamusic.org.

Negaunee

• Music, Movement and More. This parent-led storytime is for children of all ages and their caregivers. 10:30 a.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

• Building Club. Youth ages five and older will discuss a topic that will be the focus of their creations and then have time to build with blocks such as LEGO bricks. Participants can have their creations displayed in the library until the following meeting. 4:30 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

22 FRIDAY

sunrise 7:48 a.m.; sunset 8:04 p.m.

Houghton

• Don Keranen Jazz Festival. Video Game Jazz Ensemble and the R&D Band will perform with guest artist Kris Johnson. This annual festival pays tribute to the founder of the Michigan Tech Jazz Studies Program. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, 1400 Townsend Ave. mtu.universitytickets. com.

Ishpeming

• Homeschool Hangout. Homeschooling families are invited to hang out with other homeschooling friends, network with library staff, and learn about library resources. 10 a.m. to noon. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 4864381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

Marquette

• Preschool Storytime. Preschoolage children and a loving adult can enjoy stories, songs, finger plays, crafts and other school-readiness activities. Siblings are welcome. 10:45 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

• LEGO Club. Participants can meet other LEGO enthusiasts and build projects with the library’s LEGO blocks. 4 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323.

• U.P. Boat, Sport and RV Show. The show will feature a variety of outdoor products, including boats, campers, paddle boards, hunting and archery equipment, sheds, saunas and more. Youth ages five and younger, free; ages six to 12 and seniors 65 and older, $5; adults, $6. 4 to 9 p.m. NMU Superior Dome. upboatshow.com.

23 SATURDAY

sunrise 7:47 a.m.; sunset 8:06 p.m.

Escanaba

• Laurel Premo and Jake ShulmanMent Concert. The program will include voice and fiddle and their separate sets as soloists will culminate in a collaboration that explores a shared American story of migration, search for identity and community, and innovation. Pay What You Can tickets. 7 p.m. Bonifas Arts Center, 700 First Ave. S. 906-367-1255 or laurelpremo.com.

Gwinn

• Think Spring Craft and Vendor Show. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Gwinn VFW, 54 N. Mitchell St.

Hancock

• Kids Day. Free kids activities will

be available at participating businesses and a movie will be screened at 2 p.m. Sponsored by the Hancock Business Association. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Downtown. Shelley. Lucchesi@gmail. com.

Houghton

• Don Keranen Jazz Festival. The Lab Band featuring Kris Johnson on trumpet will perform at 6 p.m. and the JazTec and Workshop Brass Band will perform at 9 p.m. This annual festival pays tribute to the founder of the Michigan Tech Jazz Studies Program.

Pay As You’re Able tickets. Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, 1400 Townsend Ave. mtu.universitytickets. com.

Marquette

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. Lessons, 10 a.m. Games, 11:30 a.m. Citizens Forum, Lakeview Arena, 401 E. Fair St. superiorland_bridge.tripod.com.

• Joy Festival. The second annual Joy Festival will feature presentations, yoga, music, poetry and more in the spirit of Joy Center, spreading creative joy in the community. Light refreshments will be provided, but bringing a bag lunch is encouraged. 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Heritage Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906226-4322 or pwpl.info.

• U.P. Boat, Sport and RV Show. The show will feature a variety of outdoor products, including boats, campers, paddle boards, hunting and archery equipment, sheds, saunas and more. Youth ages five and younger, free; ages six to 12 and seniors 65 and older, $5; adults, $6. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. NMU Superior Dome. upboatshow.com.

• Saturday Storytime. Babies and toddlers and a loving adult can enjoy songs, rhymes, stories and finger plays. Older siblings and older children are welcome. 10:30 a.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4323 or pwpl.info.

Negaunee

• Pokémon Card Game Tutorial. Kids ages seven and older can learn how to play Pokémon. Staff from Iron Golem Games will have preconstructed decks to assist new players, though participants can bring their own cards. 10:30 a.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

24 SUNDAY

sunrise 7:45 a.m.; sunset 8:07 p.m.

Crystal Falls

• Laurel Premo and Jake ShulmanMent Concert. The program will include voice and fiddle and their separate sets as soloists will culminate in a collaboration that explores a shared American story of migration, search for

identity and community, and innovation. Pay What You Can tickets. 2 p.m. Crystal Theatre, 304 Superior Ave. 906-367-1255 or laurelpremo.com.

Marquette

• Story Time at MooseWood. The selection will be Woodpecker Wham! by April Pulley Sayre and there will be a discussion of animal behavior and adaptations. An activity or craft will follow. Suggested donation, $5 per child or $10 per family. 11 a.m. MooseWood Nature Center, Shiras Pool Building at Presque Isle Park. To register, moosewoodnc@gmail.com.

• U.P. Boat, Sport and RV Show. The show will feature a variety of outdoor products, including boats, campers, paddle boards, hunting and archery equipment, sheds, saunas and more. Youth ages five and younger, free; ages six to 12 and seniors 65 and older, $5; adults, $6. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. NMU Superior Dome. upboatshow.com.

• Books and Brews with Snowbound Books. 1 to 6 p.m. Ore Dock Brewing Company, 114 W. Spring St. 906-228-8888.

25 MONDAY

sunrise 7:43 a.m.; sunset 8:09 p.m.

Marquette

• Senior Theatre Experience: Monthly Theatre Workshop and Discussion. Intended for ages 55 and older. 4 p.m. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. To register, 906-225-8655.

Negaunee

• All-Ages Online Storytime. Miss Jessica will lead stories, songs and rhymes on Facebook Live. 11 a.m. facebook.com/NegauneePublicLibrary. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

26 TUESDAY

sunrise 7:41 a.m.; sunset 8:10 p.m.

Escanaba

• Tech Tuesday. Appointments or walk-ins are welcome. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. 906-789-7323.

Marquette

• Dementia Caregiver Training (Online). The Dementia Caregiving Series, a three-part online program, is designed for caregivers of people with dementia. 10 a.m. Via Zoom. To register, visit upcap.org (click on EVENTS) or call 2-1-1.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

• Lake Superior Knitters. Open to all ages and skill levels to mentor and share knowledge. If new to knitting, bring a skein of a worsted weight yarn (avoid dark yarn) and a Size 7 circular needle that is 24-inches long to make a cowl. The basic pattern will be provided. Suggested donation of $1 to $5 to the MRHC. 1 p.m. Marquette Regional History Center, 145 W. Spring St. beedhive47@yahoo.com.

• Oil Painting, Pastels and Drawing Classes with Marlene Wood. Bring your own supplies. $20. 1 p.m. Marquette Arts and Culture Center, Lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-225-8655.

• Senior Dance Class. Intended for ages 55 and older. 4 p.m. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. To register, 906-225-8655.

• NMU Students Art Gallery Pop-Up. 5 to 8 p.m. Ore Dock Brewing Company, 114 W. Spring St. 906-228-8888.

• Bluesday Tuesday. Flat Broke Blues Band will perform, sponsored by the Marquette Blues Society. 7 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-226-4322.

27 WEDNESDAY

sunrise 7:39 a.m.; sunset 8:11 p.m.

Ishpeming

• Adult Horror Book Club. This month’s selection is How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. 6 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public

Youth ages eight and older are invited to discuss the series, write fanfiction, make crafts and other activities. 3 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

28 THURSDAY

sunrise 7:37 a.m.; sunset 8:13 p.m.

Calumet

• Preschool Story Time. 10:15 a.m. Calumet Public Library. 906-337-0311.

Ishpeming

• West End Winter Playgroup. Families and caregivers with young children are invited to attend for free play and snacks. Presented through a partnership with Great Start. 10 a.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381.

• Garden Planning and Seed Starting Workshop. In collaboration with Partridge Creek Farm, this workshop for gardeners of all levels will discuss seed starting and garden planning. 5:30 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906486-4381 or ishpeminglibrary.info.

Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-486-4381. Marquette

• Congregate Meals for Seniors–Dine in or Curbside Pickup. Meals available to those age 60 and older. Call to reserve a meal. $3.50 suggested donation. Noon to 1 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. 906-228-0456.

• The Great Fire of Seney. Gregory Lusk, author of the recently self-published book The Great Seney Fire: A History of the Walsh Ditch Fire of 1976, will tell the story of the largest fire in Michigan since 1908, which burned from late July until it was extinguished by winter snow. Suggested donation, $5. 6:30 p.m. Marquette Regional History Center, 145 W. Spring St. 906226-3571 or marquettehistory.org.

• NCLL: A Multicultural Perspective of Current NMU International Students. International students from NMU will share information about their home countries and cultures. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10. 7 p.m. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906458-5408 or csteinha@nmu.edu.

• Music Performance Scholarship Competition. Several of NMU’s music students will perform a piece of their choice to vie for scholarship awards. 7:30 p.m. Reynolds Recital Hall, NMU. nmu.edu/music.

Negaunee

• Knitting Group. Those interested in crocheting, knitting and other fiber arts are welcome to bring their projects and share with others. Coffee provided. 1:30 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

• Wings of Fire Interest Group.

Marquette

• Blood Drive. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Peninsula I, Northern Center, 504 W. Kaye Ave. To schedule an appointment, redcrossblood.org/give.html/ donation-time.

•  Geoff and Jon’s Record Show. Noon to 11 p.m. Ore Dock Brewing Company, 114 W. Spring St. 906-228-8888.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

• Powerful Tools for Caregivers (Online). This six-week workshop will help caregivers learn how to reduce stress, make tough decisions, reduce guilt and communicate more effectively, along with setting goals and problem solving. 2 p.m. Via Zoom. To register, visit upcap.org or call 2-1-1.

Negaunee

• Music, Movement and More. This parent-led storytime is for children of all ages and their caregivers. 10:30 a.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

• Building Club. Youth ages five and older will discuss a topic that will be the focus of their creations and then have time to build with blocks such as LEGO bricks. Participants can have their creations displayed in the library until the following meeting. 4:30 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. 906-475-7700, ext. 18.

29 FRIDAY

sunrise 7:35 a.m.; sunset 8:14 p.m.

U.P. Beekeeping Conference | March 30 | Marquette

Photo by Brad Weaver via unsplash

Marquette

•  Geoff and Jon’s Record Show. Noon to 11 p.m. Ore Dock Brewing Company, 114 W. Spring St. 906-228-8888.

•  Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. superiorland_bridge.tripod. com.

30 SATURDAY

sunrise 7:33 a.m.; sunset 8:15 p.m.

support groups

•  Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families— Marquette. Sundays, 7 p.m., Use the parking lot entrance. Downstairs meeting room, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 201 E. Ridge St. adultchildren.org/meeting.

•  Alano Club—Marquette. Twelvestep recovery meetings daily. Monday through Saturday, noon and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, 9 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. 3000 US-41 (back side of mall).

•  Al-Anon Family Groups. A fellowship offering strength and hope for friends and families of problem drinkers. al-alon.org or 888-425-2666.

•  Alcoholics Anonymous. Meetings throughout Marquette County, open daily, at many locations and times. Twenty-four-hour answering service, aa-marquettecounty.org or 800-605-5043.

•  Open AA Meeting—Gwinn.

Tuesdays, 7 p.m. Basement, Gwinn Community Building, 165 N. Maple St.

•  Open AA Meeting—K.I. Sawyer. Fridays, 8 p.m. 906 Community Church, 315 Explorer St.

•  Men’s AA Meeting—Gwinn. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church, 280 Boulder St. (entrance to the right of main entrance).

•  ALZConnected. This is a free, online community for anyone affected by Alzheimer’s disease and other memory loss diseases. alzconnected. org.

•  American Legacy Foundation. Smoking quit line for expectant mothers and cessation information for women. 800-668-8278.

•  Blood Pressure, Blood Sugar and Cholesterol Checks. Cholesterol checks are $5. Call for Marquette County schedule. 906-225-4545.

•  Caregiver Support Group— Gwinn. March 12. 1:30 p.m. Forsyth Senior Center, 165 Maple St. 906225-7760 or lakesuperiorhospice.org.

•  Caregiver Support Group— Ishpeming . March 19. 2 p.m. Ishpeming Multi-Purpose Senior Center, 121 Greenwood St.

Marquette

•  Upper Peninsula Beekeeping Conference. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Meghan Milbrath, coordinator of the Michigan Pollinator Initiative, and concurrent sessions will offer topics for beekeepers of all experience levels. There will also be vendor rooms and a catered lunch. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Seaborg Center, NMU. To register, upbeekeepingconference.weebly.com.

•  Geoff and Jon’s Record Show. Noon to 11 p.m. Ore Dock Brewing Company, 114 W. Spring St. 906-228-8888.

•  Superiorland Duplicate Bridge

Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. Lessons, 10 a.m. Games, 11:30 a.m. Citizens Forum, Lakeview Arena, 401 E. Fair St. superiorland_bridge.tripod.com.

•  Superior String Alliance Chamber Players Concert. The Tuuli Quartet, featuring Danielle Simandl, Lauren Pulcipher, Ria Hodgson and Kelly Quesada, will perform works by Beethoven and Caroline Shaw, and will be joined by the TaMaMa Dance Company. 7 p.m. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 201 E. Ridge St. superiorstringalliance.org.

906-225-7760 or lakesuperiorhospice.org.

•  Caregiver Support Group— Marquette. March 20. 2 p.m. Lake Superior Life Care and Hospice, 914 W. Baraga Ave. 906-225-7760 or lakesuperiorhospice.org.

•  Divorce Care—Ishpeming. This non-denominational group is for people who are separated or divorced. New members are welcome.

Tuesdays, 6 p.m. Northiron Church, 910 Palms Ave. 906-475-6032 or northiron.church.

•  Grief Share—Ishpeming. This non-denominational group is for people dealing with grief and loss.

Mondays, 2:30 p.m. Northiron Church, 910 Palms Ave. northiron. church or 906-475-6032.

•  Gamblers Anonymous. This group is for those who have or think they have a problem with gambling.

Thursdays, 7 p.m. Library Room, First Presbyterian Church, 120 N. Front St., Marquette.

•  Grief Support Group—Gwinn. People dealing with grief and loss are encouraged to attend. Individual grief counseling is available. March 13. 2 p.m. Forsyth Senior Center, 165 Maple St. 906-225-7760 or lakesuperiorhospice.org.

•  Grief Support Group— Marquette. People dealing with grief and loss are encouraged to attend. Individual grief counseling is available. March 20. 5:30 p.m. Lake Superior Life Care and Hospice, 914 W. Baraga Ave. 906-225-7760 or lakesuperiorhospice.org.

•  iCanQuit. Smokers are invited to learn more about quitting with the help of a quitting coach. 800-480-7848.

•  Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous. Tuesdays, 12:05 p.m. Upstairs, The Crib Coffee House, 401 N. Third St., Marquette. ITAAMQT@ zohomail.com.

•  Marquette Codependents Anonymous Meeting. Mondays, 7 p.m. LoveMarq Church, 728 W. Kaye Ave. coda.org.

•  Michigan Tobacco Quit Line. This

free quit smoking coaching hotline provides callers with a personal health coach. 800-784-8669.

•  Motherhood Support Group— Marquette. This free group meets the second Thursday of each month. 6 p.m. Suunta Integrative Health, 1209 N. Third St. 906-273-0964.

•  Nar-Anon Meetings—Ishpeming. Family and friends who have addicted loved ones are invited. Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. Mission Covenant Church, 1001 N. Second St. 906-361-9524.

•  Narcotics Anonymous Meetings— Marquette. Family and friends who have addicted loved ones are invited. Open meetings on Wednesdays and Sundays, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Closed meeting on Fridays, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Use the Ridge Street entrance. Downstairs Social Room, Marquette Hope First Campus, 111 E. Ridge St.

•  National Alliance on Mental Illness—In-Person Support Group. Individuals living with mental illness and friends or families living with an individual with mental illness are welcome. March 11 and 21. (tentative; email ckbertucci58@charter.net to confirm meeting and location). 7 p.m. 906-360-7107 or namimqt.com.

•  National Alliance on Mental Illness—Zoom Support Group. Individuals living with mental illness and friends or families living with an individual with mental illness are welcome.March 7. (Zoom date may be subject to change). 7 p.m. Email ckbertucci58@charter.net or call or text 906-360-7107 before 6:45 p.m. the day of the meeting to receive the Zoom invitation. namimqt.com.

•  Nicotine Anonymous. 415-7500328 or nicotine-anonymous.org.

•  Parkinson’s Support Group. Open to people living with Parkinson’s and their caregivers. March 20. 2 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. 906-228-0456.

•  Sexual Health and Addiction Therapy Group. Call Great Lakes Recovery Centers for more details. Dates, times and locations vary. 906-228-9696.

31 SUNDAY

sunrise 7:31 a.m.; sunset 8:17 p.m.

Easter Marquette

•  Geoff and Jon’s Record Show. Noon to 11 p.m. Ore Dock Brewing Company, 114 W. Spring St. 906-228-8888.

•  Pop-culture Trivia with Jon. 6 p.m. Ore Dock Brewing Company, 114 W. Spring St. 906-228-8888. MM

•  SMART Recovery—Calumet. A self-help group for alcohol and substance abuse and other addictive behaviors. Mondays, 7 p.m. Copper Country Mental Health, 56938 Calumet Ave. smartrecovery.org.

•  SMART Recovery—Hancock. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7 p.m. Conference Room No. 5, U.P. Health Systems–Portage Hospital, 500 Campus Dr.

•  SMART Recovery—Marquette. Mondays, noon. Zoom meeting. Visit smartrecovery.com for Zoom link.

•  Take Off Pounds Sensibly. This is a non-commercial weight-control support group. Various places and times throughout the U.P. 800-932-8677.

•  U.P. Home Health and Hospice Grief Support Group—Ishpeming Those caring for a loved one with a life-limiting diagnosis or who recently experienced the loss of a loved one. The group will explore different aspects of grief. March 14 and 28. 2 p.m. Ray Leverton Room, Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. 906-225-4545.

•  U.P. Home Health and Hospice Grief Support Group—Marquette. Those caring for a loved one with a life-limiting diagnosis or who recently experienced the loss of a loved one. The group will explore different aspects of grief. March 7 and 21. 3 p.m. Dandelion Cottage Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. 906-225-4545.

•  Virtual Caregiver Support Group. U.P. family caregivers are welcome to join. A device with an internet connection, webcam, microphone and an email address are required. Advanced registration required. 2 p.m. Second Tuesday of the month. 906-217-3019 or caregivers@upcap.org.

•  Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Supplemental Food Program. Clinics include nutritional counseling and coupon pick-up. Appointments required. Call for Marquette County schedule. mqthealth.org or 906-475-7846. MM