June 2023 Marquette Monthly

June 2023

No. 410

Publishers

Jane Hutchens

James Larsen II

Managing editor

Jackie Stark

Calendar editor

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 2023 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 jane@marquettemonthly. com or james@marquettemonthly.com.

906-360-2180

www.marquettemonthly.com

About the Cover Artist

John C. Pruden and wife Kathi moved to the U.P. in 2002 and opened Studio North in downtown Munising, featuring John’s sculpture, original acrylic artwork, along with a full line of wholesale and retail hand-made candles featuring one-of- a-kind pieces tailored to meet each customer’s specifications.

4 City notes

HigHligHts of important Happenings in tHe area

18 on CaMPus news from U.p Universities & colleges

20 then & now Superior View wasHington street

21 New York Times Crossword Puzzle alternate endings (solUtions on page 47)

22 feature Alex lehto-ClArk Marquette’s Lighthouse past and present

28 suPerior reads ViCtor VolkmAn YoUng adUlt Horror book offers tale of frozen terror

30 lookout Point kriSti eVAnS flYing clUb promotes aviation as career or HobbY

34

58

62

70

73

77 out & about

events and mUsic, art and

city notes

Bridgefest celebrating 63 years

Bridgefest returns to the Portage Canal shoreline in Houghton, celebrating the 63rd year of the Portage Lift Bridge connecting the cities of Houghton and Hancock. The festival is set to take place from June 15 to 18, and will feature several events, including helicopter rides, a lighted boat parade, live music at the Ray Kestner Houghton Waterfront, the Thatcher Markham Memorial Run, the Bridgefest Parade, tennis, pickleball and cribbage tournaments, and much more. Visit bridgefestfun.com for a full list of events.

Marquette City Band to perform summer series

The Marquette City Band has announced its summer concert series for 2023. Concerts will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Presque Isle Park Bandshell on June 8, June 22, July 13, July 27 and August 3. The band will also perform at 6:30 p.m. on July 3 at Mattson Lower Harbor Park, and during the UP Community Band Festival in August. Concerts are free and open to the public, with donations accepted at events.

UPCM offers new exhibit

The Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum recently announced the opening of its Heart Exhibit. Kids can hear the sound of a beating heart as well as take a ride down a twirly slide. The Heart Exhibit is now open to the public for hands-on play. The museum, located along Baraga Street in Marquette, is open to the public daily. Single-day tickets are available for purchase at the desk, as are annual family passes.

10th annual Iron Range Roll set for June 3

The 10th annual Iron Range Roll is scheduled for Saturday, June 3. This 16 mile bike race is a family friendly yet competitive event. There is no time limit and there are plenty of places to stop and rest along the race route. New this year, sign up as a team and have your own mini race while biking the Iron Range Roll. Complete against each other, or other teams. The event starts at the Cliffs Shaft Mine Museum in Ishpeming at 2 p.m. The race begins on the Heritage Trail and follows that through Negaunee, Negaunee Township and Marquette Township before ending

at the Marquette Commons in downtown Marquette. Dinner and awards will be presented at the Ore Dock Brewing Company following the race. Awards will be given out to the top racers in each age bracket. The 2022 Iron Range Roll was the largest fundraiser yet for the event, with over $10,000 raised for the YMCA of Marquette County’s Youth Programs, and an additional donation made to Ainsley’s HALO. Over the past 10 years, the Iron Range Roll has donated over $40,000 to the youth programs at the YMCA.

League of Women Voters of Marquette County hosts annual meeting

The League of Women Voters of Marquette County will host its Annual Meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 7, at the Ore Dock Brewing Company. Community members are welcome to join the meeting and learn about the LWV. League members will hold their elections and set their budget and priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. The brief business meeting will be followed by League and community member recognitions and a social meet-and-greet. Attendees can talk with local League members and enjoy pizza. League leaders will be available to talk about LWV voter guides, voter registrations, observer corps, candidate forums, and other League projects. League members will be available to answer questions about membership and volunteer opportunities with the League. League membership is open to all men and women 16 years of age and older. Currently, the membership fee is being waived for students. For more information, contact the League email at lwvmqtco@gmail.com or visit their Facebook page.

Baraga County rummage sale set for June 10

The Baraga County Chamber of Commerce will be facilitating a county-wide yard sale on June 10 from 9 a.m. to noon. Registered sites will be listed on a county-wide map. Shoppers can find links to the map on Facebook, Twitter, and the Chamber website, keweenawbay.org. Printed maps will be available at Northern Oil in Baraga, at the chamber’s office located at 1 N Main Street, L’Anse (in the outside building display case), and at the selling sites. In addition to finding great treasures to purchase, shop-

pers are eligible to enter into a prize drawing at each selling site they visit. The more sites visited, the better the chances of winning.

DNR to replace bridge in Houghton County

Abridge replacement project along the Donken-Tapiola Road is expected to delay motorists over an 8-week construction period, beginning early June. Mobilization of the project to install an arched culvert over the Misery River, south of Donken and just east of M-26 is scheduled to begin June 6. “This will close down a fairly well-traveled road for that duration,” said Brad Carlson, Baraga unit manager for the DNR’s Forest Resources Division. “It will not block access to any private property as there is alternative access, it just may take longer and through travel will be restricted.”

West End rummage set for June 9 to 11

The Greater Ishpeming-Negaunee Area Chamber of Commerce has organized a town-wide rummage sale for the West End of Marquette County. The event will take place on Friday, June 9 through Sunday, June 11. Sale participants will be in Negaunee, Ishpeming and surrounding townships.

Cliff’s Shaft Mine Museum open for summer

The Cliffs Shaft Mine Museum’s regular season will run through Sept. 30, with regular operating hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Hour-long, guided tours will run at 10:30 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2:15 p.m. The annual fall festival is also being planned for September. The working forge will be fired up with David Arbelius, the museum’s resident blacksmith, at the anvil with his handmade wares for sale. A variety of products, including local food items, will be available in the gift shop along with many popular books, rocks, apparel, toys, and souvenirs. Cliffs Shaft Mine Museum is located at 501 W. Euclid Street in Ishpeming. For further information, visit their Facebook page, cliffsshaftminemuseum.com, or call the museum at 906-485-1882.

New gardens installed at Lakeview Elementary School

The Lions’ Clubs of Negaunee and Ishpeming built raised garden beds in Lakeview Elementary School’s courtyard this spring. Community members were able to attend the event, which created 20 garden beds, two of which are wheelchair ac-

cessible and one that will be used for demonstration. A similar program was established at Birchview Elementary School in Ishpeming, where students learn to grow their own vegetables to be served as part of the school’s lunch program, also known as a Farm to School Program.

Free fishing day returns to Lakenenland

The South Shore Fishing Association will host its annual Kid’s Fishing Day at Lakenenland outside Marquette, on M-28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on June 17. In 2019, SSFA gave away 300 fishing rods to future anglers. The event is a family friendly day filled with fishing, exploring a sculpture park, and a picnic lunch prepared and donated by Elks Club Lodge #405 of Marquette.

Negaunee Beautification Committee seeks volunteers

The City of Negaunee Beautification Committee is looking for volunteers to repair and replace damaged or dead plants, restore the city’s beauty with native plants, and revitalizing Negaunee with a mix of old and new beauty. Donations of time and or money are acceptable. Those interested can email beauty@cityofnegaunee. com.

Kids Fishing Day returns to Delta County

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Annual Kids Fishing Day, which will be held Saturday, June 10 at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Pocket Park, located on the Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds in Escanaba. Registration for Kids Fishing Day will be from noon to 1:30 p.m. and the event will run until 3 p.m. All activities are free of charge and open to youth ages 16 years old and younger. The first 300 participants will receive a goody bag. Familiar activities returning include bluegill fishing, minnow races and face painting, along with free food and raffle prizes. Greg Karch, certified angler instructor and founder of the non-profit organization Learn 2 Fish with Us, will be returning to the event this year to teach kids how to cast a fishing line and tie fishing knots. In addition, Smokey Bear will be wandering the grounds and the DNR will have an animal furs display (where youth can touch and learn about various animal coats), a scavenger hunt and opportunities for kids to learn how to shoot at the Pocket Park’s archery and pellet gun ranges. This year’s Kids Fishing Day event will be held in conjunction with the DNR’s Free Fishing Week-

end. Camping is available on the fairgrounds. For more information, or if you would like to volunteer to help at the event, please contact Jo Ann at 906-786-2351.

The Gallery, Marquette celebrating five years

The Gallery, Marquette is going into its fifth year of providing regional artists with venues to exhibit and sell work. The gallery is a project of the Marquette Artist Collective, formed in August of 2017 with the mission to support the arts, artists and art events in the Marquette area. As a part of that the members opened the gallery at 130 West Washington (formerly the Oasis Gallery) in 2018. The Gallery is run by its members and it has exhibited work by more then 150 artists throughout the years. This summer they are featuring works by twenty two regional artists. You’ll find jewelry, paintings, ceramics, photography, woodwork, printing, and more. The Gallery will celebrate the summer with special Maker Market Pop Ups, the City of Marquette’s Art Week, Wednesday Evening Farmers Markets, as well as introducing several new artists. Open seven days a week, including open evening hours, there’s plenty of opportunity to see what’s new. For more information go

to thegallerymqt.com or check out their social media on Instagram and Facebook.

Self-paced online nutrition class available

Michigan State University Extension is now offering My Way to Wellness, a self-paced online nutrition education program that can be completed at participants’ convenience, using a computer or handheld device with internet access. My Way to Wellness is comprised of 10 video lessons based on the Dietary and Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans and includes interactive activities and knowledge checkpoints to aid in learning. Each lesson is about 30 minutes in length and includes closed captioning and voiceover narration. Lessons cover topics such as healthy food choices, physical activity, goal setting, food safety and reading a food label. This selfpaced, online course is supported by MSU Extension community nutrition instructors who are available to virtually answer questions and facilitate interactive discussions. Classes are offered in two-month blocks, starting May 2023 through December 2023. Once participants begin a class, they have until the end of their two-month class session to finish it. For example,

Bradford Veley is a freelance cartoonist, illustrator and farmer in the U.P. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram and at www.bradveley.com

participants in the May-June session can register any time from May 1 until June 19 and complete their session by June 30. New sessions will begin every other month and participants can sign up for a two-month session by visiting msu.edu and searching “My Way To Wellness.” There is no cost to participate in these online classes, and participants must be 18 years or older and live in the Upper Peninsula. If participants are part of the UP Food as Medicine program, they can earn $40 in farmers market vouchers by completing this course and taking a pre- and post-survey.

MRHC to host bus tours

The Marquette Regional History Center will host several Historic Marquette Bus Tours this summer. Tours feature local history through stories of Marquette and the people who lived here. Historical reenactors take participants back in time. The 90-minute outings depart from and return to the History Center. Tours will take place at 1 p.m. on July 18 and 25, and on August 1 and 8. Additional tours will take place at 6 p.m. on July 19 and 26, and August 2 and 9. Visit marquettehistory.org to order tickets or call 906-226-3571. Each tour has 31 tickets, at a cost of $25 each. Tickets on sale now.

Bay College summer series set to begin

Strings on the Bay, the summer chamber music series presented by Bay de Noc Community College returns this summer with a slate of

Cedar Tree Institute partnering with Marquette Choral Society and Yellowdog Watershed Preserve to plant trees

ThisSpring Marquette Choral Society found two ways to “Celebrate the Earth” with its April Earth Day theme concerts, and by announcing the intention to plant 1,000 white cedar trees.

MCS partnered with the grassroots Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve and the initiatives of the Cedar Tree Institute as a way to continue their shared interest in giving back to the local community. Potted Cedar seedlings were presented and placed on the Kaufman stage by youth choir members from Ishpeming Schools to honor the music and initiate the “Music Needs Trees” endeavor.

Theodore Roosevelt said “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” When Rochelle Dale of the YDWP was asked to participate, her response was immediate that she would be “delighted.”

The tree plantings will occur in the public forest in the Yellow Dog Wa-

concerts in the Besse Center on the Escanaba campus, starting at 7 p.m., on select Tuesdays each month. Paul Lundin, violinist and director of the series, will be joined by pianist Robert Conway of Wayne State University for a program entitled “Encore! Music of Stage, Screen and Radio”

tershed in Big Bay. A knowledgeable local forester will guide the planting effort, with donations of planting labor and money from the concert audience, members of the community and these three non-profit groups. A local non-profit organization, the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, works to keep the Yellow Dog Watershed wild. The Cedar Tree Institute has focused its years of effort on mental, environmental and spiritual health and has been part of many collaborations. Marquette Choral Society has served the Greater Upper Peninsula as an ambassador of symphonic choral music since 1971.

The white cedar was chosen specifically because it is essential for the Upper Peninsula’s biodiversity, as well as for its beauty. Once established, this high quality, slow growing forest can provide many decades of joy for animals and humans alike. The Native American people revered the Arborvitae, “The Tree of Life,”

and the white cedar played important sacred medicinal and symbolic roles. Ancient specimens of these attractive shaggy barked trees can be found on Presque Isle.

There are three ways the public can help the “Music Needs Trees” initiative. First, arrive (rain or shine) for fellowship and tree planting, at 9 a.m. to noon on June 3 at the Big Bay Township Hall. Call YDWP to get information, directions and confirm attendance at 906-345-9223. Shovels provided.

Second, consider joining one of these three non-profits.

The third way to help the “Music Needs Trees” effort is to sponsor a tree and its planting, for $10 per sapling, by mailing a check to Cedar Tree Institute at 403 E. Michigan St, Marquette, MI 49849. Memorials and remembrances, and larger donations are also encouraged.

Tuesday June 27. The program will feature light classical music by Fritz Kreisler, novelty works, selections from Disney movies and from the film, Somewhere in Time. On Tuesday July 11, flutist Emily Olson and classical guitarist Brad DeRoche will perform in a program they have en-

titled “Dream Travels.” This features music from Japan, the native American Southwest, Columbia and Romania. The summer series concludes with the True North Quartet, Tuesday August 8. This group, founded by Lundin, has been performing in Strings on the Bay since 2010. This year the

DiD You Know...

what community was considered the “most ethnic” in the UP?

Calumet fit the role. Just about every European ethnic group was found in the community. It had a proliferation of ethnic churches and societies, and newspapers in languages other than English were found on the streets and in homes. Non-English speaking immigrants could easily find their way around the community. English was truly a minority language. In February, 1917, the National Geographic magazine said that traveling from Houghton to Calumet was like going to a foreign country.

program is titled “Czech it Out.” The biographical quartet “From My Life” by Bedrich Smetana is paired with “The Cypresses Quartet,” a set of love songs by Antonin Dvorak transcribed by the composer. Tickets are available through the Bay college website at baycollege.tix.com, in-person at the Besse Center box office, or at the door prior to each concert. Admission is $15, K-Bay $7, or all three concerts for $35. Visit www.baycollege. tix.com, add each concert to the cart, and enter the discount code ‘3for30’ at checkout. Sponsorship opportunities are available for $130 and include two tickets to each concert, name(s) in the program, and a tax donation receipt. For more information or to become a sponsor, visit baycollege.com or a check can be sent to: Bay College Foundation, 2001 N. Lincoln Rd. Escanaba, MI 49829.

L’Anse Lakefront Concert series set for summer

L’Anse Lakefront Concerts start June 15 and run every Thursday through September 14. June performances include Chad Borgen & The Collective on June 15, Uncle Pete’s All-Star Blues Band on June 22 and Chasin’ Steel on June 29. Concerts will take place at Lakefront Park on Broad Street, and at Meadowbrook Arena in the case of inclement weather. All concerts begin at 7 p.m.

New SHF grant cycle opens

The Superior Health Foundation (SHF) in Marquette awarded more than $155,000 in health-centered grant funding at its Spring Grants Celebration at the Holiday Inn in Marquette. The event was proudly presented by 44 North. The Superior Health Foundation awarded

$102,557.91 in spring grants, $35,000 in indigent care grants and $18,011.59 in pilot-project and equipment grants In its 11-year history, the Upper Peninsula-wide, non-profit organization has awarded more than $5.5 million in grant dollars to health-centered, non-profits in the U.P. The Superior Health Foundation’s mission is to “assist with unmet healthcare needs, with health education, and with programs and research on preventing illness and promoting health throughout the Upper Peninsula.” SHF accepts grant proposals monthly for pilot project and equipment grants. Applications for the fall grants cycle will be accepted through July 3. Visit superiorhealthfoundation.org to learn more and apply for funding.

Forest Roberts Theatre hosting full June schedule

NMU Theatre and Dance will perform a drag cabaret to start Pride Month. Celebrate the LGBTQ+ community in Marquette and beyond on June 1 and 2. Next will be a performance of Rock of Ages, a musical set in the ’80s, featuring a young hopeful rock star who faces the destruction of his town. Rock of Ages will grace the FRT stage from June 14 to 17, and again from June 21 to 24. Rounding out the month will be Out of the Window, an evening of performances from June 28 to 30 by Broadway performer and former Marquette resident Leah Hocking. Visit nmu.edu/theatreanddance/theatre for more information or to purchase tickets.

UP Notable Book Club presents Q&A with author

Hilton Everett Moore’s debut short story collection “North of Nelson: Stories of Michigan’s Upper

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

Peninsula - Volume 1” will be the focal point of a UP Notable Book Club

Q&A at 7 p.m. On June 8 via Zoom. Those interested can contact Evelyn Gathu via email at egathu@crystalfallslibrary.org in advance of the event.

Registration Open for UP Rowing Learn to Row

Registration is now open for UP Rowing summer 2023 Adult and Youth Learn to Row. UP Rowing programs operate out of Founders Landing beach at the Marquette Lower Harbor. Adult Learn to Row will be offered July 6 to August 1. Adult Learn to Row is for novices with no experience, or those returning to the sport who want a full review. Participants can choose morning or evening sessions: Tuesday and Thursday 8 to 9:30 a.m., or 5:30 to 7 p.m. Youth rowing will be from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesday from June 26 to August 30. Rowing is a full-body low impact activity emphasizing teamwork and camaraderie, which is suitable for all ages 18 and over for adults, and 13 to 18 for youth (must have completed 8th grade). UP Rowing memberships include instruction for new rowers, recreational and competitive rowing, and dryland and

winter fitness. Season events include the “Bro Row” just for men, U40 rows, Crew and Brew, regattas, fun races and outdoor social outings. For past members and those with prior experience, coached Return to Row review sessions will be held in June. Preregistration is required for Adult and Youth Learn to Row. Registration is open until the June 30 deadline (June 19 for youth). For membership information and to get a registration packet, see uprowing.com, or email Gail Brayden, gbrayden@charter.net.

TruNorth announces grant program

Community non-profit organizations can apply for grants through TruNorth Federal Credit Union. Grants will be provided to organizations that are working to improve the quality of life for local residents and to build strong communities within TruNorth Federal Credit Union’s field of membership (Marquette, Alger, Baraga, Dickinson and Iron counties). The projects that contribute to community improvement in arts and culture, the local environment, health and safety, basic human needs, recreation, and support for seniors and youth will be considered by the grant committee. Visit trunorthcu.org for an

Annual veterans boar hunt a success

For more than 20 years, Terry Weigold from UP Whitetails Association has helped to coordinate and guide MVH D.J. Jacobetti’s Annual Boar Hunt. This year, veteran member, Duane Hollingshead, U.S. Army veteran, shot a 250-pound wild boar. Greg Johnson of Bear Mountain LLC donated the boar and lodge for the yearly hunt. The American Legion Greenwood #114 Auxiliary prepared a pig roast celebration for the hunter and D.J. Jacobetti members. (Photo courtesy of Michigan Veterans Home D. J. Jacobetti)

Marquette Art Stroll calls for artists

Snowbound Books featured work by found object artist Ritch Branstrom and painter Meghan Flannery during last year’s Marquette Art Week Art Stroll. The City of Marquette is seeking artists to participate in 2023’s Art Stroll, an opportunity for local artists to showcase their artwork during Art Week. From June 19 to 24, Art Week will celebrate the local arts scene, and Art Stroll will return after a hiatus due to COVID. The City Office of Arts & Culture, in partnership with the Marquette Downtown Development Authority, will connect local artists with businesses in the downtown area, transforming the district into a vibrant art gallery. Art Week will feature the highlight event, Art Stroll, which will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 21. During this event, artists are invited to host receptions, demonstrations, workshops, or pop-up displays of their work, creating an immersive and interactive experience for attendees. In addition to the Art Stroll event, artwork will be displayed throughout the downtown district during regular business hours of participating locations all throughout Art Week. To be considered for participation, artists must submit their applications by 5 p.m. on Monday, June 5. The application should include the artist’s contact information, a brief artist statement, a high-resolution image of the artwork and any other relevant details. Submissions are welcomed from artists of all ages and mediums. Artists are welcome to apply with a single piece or up to a full body of work. Artwork must be family-friendly in content. Apply via the form linked on the Art Week website at mqtcompass.com/artweek. (Photo courtesy of MACC)

application.

Students sought for Rabbit Island School arts and ecology program

Applications for the Rabbit Island Schools’ week-long summer program are beng accepted through June 30. The program will take place from August 16 to 23. Rabbit Island School program student applicants should have an interest in one or more of the following areas: arts, ecology, natural sciences. Applicants must be entering their sophomore, junior or senior year of high school—or equivalent—in the fall of 2023. Applicants are required to submit a letter of interest sharing why they would like to be part of the

program, as well as a letter of recommendation from a teacher, counselor, employer, coach, or similar. Rabbit Island School is a full-scholarship program where a group of up to seven students join a team of three mentors on Rabbit Island — a 91-acre protected wilderness located 4 miles off the east coast of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The week-long expedition emphasizes student-led projects with mentors offering support and expertise that spans art, ecology, writing, wilderness crafts and more. The arts non-profit Rabbit Island Foundation offers the program free-of-charge with the support of grants from the National Foundation for the Arts, endowments, and donations from individuals. Any

questions can be directed to andrew@ rabbitisland.org. Visit rabbitisland.org for additional information.

Keweenaw Historical Society kicks off ‘Adventures in History’ series

Who first mined the Keweenaw for copper? Results of research on early Ojibwa settlements and trade, their relationship to the land and water, and their persistence on the landscape through and after a very early mining era will be the focus on first 2023 “Adventures in History” series hosted by the Keweenaw County Historical Society. “Ancient Miners in the Keweenaw” includes a presentation from Carol MacLennan, MTU

Professor Emerita of Anthropology, takes place at 7 p.m. on June 27 in the Eagle Harbor Community Building. The event is $6 ($5 for KCHS members). Visit keweenawhistory.org for more information.

Ishpeming Beautification Committee seeks volunteers

The City of Ishpeming Beautification Committee is on the lookout for volunteers, to either adopt a city garden or to assist with locations already established. Those interested can contact City Hall at 906-4851091, ext 203 to be added to the contact list. Questions directly related to beautification and various gardens can be directed to Linda Andriacchi at linda.andriacchi@gmail.com.

Summer carnival returns to Marquette County’s west end

OnWednesday, June 14 the Greater Ishpeming-Negaunee Summer Carnival will return, offering a family friendly event that will include backyard carnival games, local first responder vehicles, summer educational opportunities and free hot dogs, chips and drinks. All kids attending will also be eligible to register in a drawing for a new bicycle.

NMU Arts and Athletics golf outing slated for June 23

The Northern Michigan University Arts and Athletics Golf Outing will be held on Thursday, June 23, at the Marquette Golf Club. This is the 4th annual event, which supports students and programs associated

with the Departments of Theatre and Dance and Intercollegiate Athletics. Registration begins at 10:30 a.m., with a shotgun start at noon. The event will close with a 5 p.m. cocktail hour, followed by dinner with awards and a silent auction under a tent on the driving range. Costs are $125 per person or $500 per team for the Heritage Course and $175 per person or $700 per team at Greywalls. Tickets include 18 holes of golf with a cart, dinner, refreshments on the course, and a thankyou gift. Visit nmu.universitytickets. com to register. For more information, contact Bill Digneit at wdigneit@ nmu.edu or 906-360-0751.

Marquette Choral Society honors long-time choral supporter

Dawn Betts has received the 2023 Upper Peninsula Choral Leadership Award, presented by the Marquette Choral Society. Betts was honored at the MCS spring concerts, April 29 and 30, in Marquette. The UP Choral Leadership Award is presented annually to a group or individual in the Upper Peninsula who has supported or encouraged choral music in their community. Betts has done that in the Marquette area academically, in church, and in local ensembles, for more than 50 years.

Bio Blitz II at The Yellow Dog River Community Forest, June

17, 18

The Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve is holding a BioBlitz at the Yellow Dog River Community Forest

Bay College golf outing registration open

The Bay College Foundation, Alumni Association and Norse Athletics will host the 32nd “Swing for Scholarships” Bay College Golf Outing on Thursday, July 20 at the Escanaba Country Club. The event begins with registration at 11:00 am ET and a golf shotgun start at 12:00 pm ET (noon). Lunch, hospitality on the course, live and silent auctions, course contests, and an exceptional steak and shrimp dinner will follow. All proceeds from the golf outing support student success through scholarships. Over the years, this event has helped over 388 academically deserving students achieve their educational goals at Bay College. The format is a four-person scramble, choosing the best ball on the team for each shot. Anyone hitting a ‘Hole in One’ on hole 13 will win a brand-new vehicle sponsored by Riverside Chevrolet. Space is limited. To register, call the Bay College Foundation at 906-217-1700, email foundation@ baycollege.edu or visit www.baycollege.edu/golf. Sponsorship opportunities are also available, with benefits that include everything from signage and media recognition, to a golf team at no additional charge. For more information regarding sponsorships, visit www. baycollege.edu/golf. (Photo courtesy of Bay College)

Ishpeming Area Historical Society celebrates Ishpeming’s 150th Anniversary with full slate of events in June

Historic Places Home Tour Fundraiser from Noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 25

Ishpeming Area Historical Society will feature The Mather (formally The Mather Inn) and Bethel Lutheran Church. Learn about the history of this historic building and tour some “behind the scenes” places in The Mather. The Mather is located at 107 E. Canda St., Ishpeming. Refreshments will be offered at the Bethel Lutheran Church located at 333 E. Ridge St., Ishpeming (a short walk from The Mather), plus, enjoy a history presentation and a walk through of the church. Tickets are a suggested $10 donation to the society, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization. Advance tickets will be available by mid-June at the Main Street Antique Mall in Ishpeming. Tickets can also be obtained on the day of the event at The Mather and at the Bethel Lutheran Church. Proceeds from this event will benefit the Ishpeming Area Historical Society. For more information call the Main Street Antique Mall at 906-

on Saturday and Sunday, June 17 and 18. A BioBlitz is a rapid survey of an area’s biological features conducted by citizen scientists. Volunteers in the inaugural survey in 2017 identified 27 species of birds, 120 species of plants, 7 species of mammals and five species of reptiles, amphibians and fish. This follow-up will take place exactly six years after the first Community Forest BioBlitz and will revisit the same sites. The results will help answer important questions about biodiversity in this area. Activities will commence at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 17, at which time volunteers will receive instructions and equipment and divide into four groups (plants, mammals, birds, and amphibians/reptiles/ fish). Each group will evaluate three sites between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, and the mammal group will have an evening foray to find nocturnal creatures. The event is free, and camping along the Deer Creek, a Yellow Dog tributary, will be available for those who wish to participate on both days. Snacks and dinner will be served to Saturday’s volunteers, and breakfast and snacks will be provided on Sunday morning. Contact the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve office at 906-435-9223 or email ydwp@yellowdogwatershed.

486-8680, or check the Ishpeming Area Historical Society Facebook page. Detailed information will also be in the Ishpeming Area Historical Society summer newsletter.

Screening of ‘Anatomy of a Murder’ at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 29

The Ishpeming Area Historical Society presents A Big Screen Showing of the classic 1959 film ‘Anatomy of a Murder’ on the anniversary of the preview of the movie. The film, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, was filmed entirely on location in Marquette County. The screening will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 29 at the W. C. Peterson Auditorium in Ishpeming High School, 319 E. Division Street. Admission is free of charge; donations will be accepted to help defray the license and venue fees. For more information call the Main Street Antique Mall at 906-4868680.

Cemetery tour at 3 p.m. on Friday, June 30

The Ishpeming Area Historical Society will again host its popular Ishpeming cemetery tour with a new group of interesting citizens, including Frederick Braastad, John W. Jochim and A. A. Anderson. Tour will be hosted by Ishpeming historian, Karen Kasper. The tour will kick off on at 3 p.m. on Friday, June 30 and will begin at the sexton’s office. This is a walking tour and will last about an hour. In case of inclement weather, the tour will be canceled. The suggested donation is $10 for adults, $5 for students 12-17, and children under 12 are free. All proceeds from the tour will benefit the Ishpeming Area Historical Society. The 2023 cemetery tour will continue on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 p.m. through July and August, starting July 11. For more information call the Main Street Antique Mall at 906-486-8680.

org for more information. Admission is free, but participants should register online at yellowdogwatershed.org/ events/.

DNR introducing new flag system for beach safety

To help boost awareness of changing conditions at Great Lakes beaches and save lives, double red warning flags are now in place at state-designated swim beaches along the Great Lakes in Michigan state parks. It’s a change to the Great Lakes flag warning system that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources began integrating last year at several state parks “We actively reevaluate our safety measures and public education efforts, especially when it comes to Great Lakes safety,” said Ron Olson, DNR Parks and Recreation chief.

“Many people underestimate the power of the Great Lakes and don’t always understand how quickly even the most experienced swimmer can get into a life-threatening situation and swept away. That’s why the DNR is committed to making beach safety and public education a top priority.”

Olson said the increase in accidents and drownings on the Great Lakes in recent years is more than concerning.

According to the Great Lakes Surf

Rescue Project, which tracks drownings across Michigan, there have been 1,170 Great Lakes drownings since 2010, with 108 of those drownings in 2022 alone. When double red flags are raised at state beaches, beachgoers are not allowed to enter the water from the beach. Unless otherwise directed, visitors can still enjoy spending time on the beach when double red flags are up. Such closures/limits can also be identified by park signage and/or by verbal communication from DNR parks or law enforcement staff. Flag color designations are as follows: Double red flag means water access closed; red flag means a high hazard with high surf and/or strong currents and beachgoers are recommended to stay on the beach; yellow flag means medium hazard with moderate surf and/or currents and beachgoers should watch for dangerous currents or high waves; green flag means low hazard with calm conditions and beachgoers may enter the water but should still exercise caution.

MDARD awards grants

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) awarded 22 Rural Development Fund Grants designed to promote the sustainability of land-based

Five early iconographic “Jesuit rings” and stone arrowheads signifying the coming together of two different worlds here in Marquette County. The GLO#3 Archaeological Site, a circa 1630s era winter hunting campsite, and the incredible finds in that location will be discussed during a Marquette Regional History Center event entitled “New Findings, New Conclusions: GLO#3 Archaeological Site.” The past two summers produced more glass beads and findings from the site. Jim Paquette will present on the site work and what the cultural material tells us about those who came before us in what is now Marquette County. A $5 donation is suggested for the event, which will take place at 6:30 p.m. on June 14. For more info visit marquettehistory.org or call 906-226-3571. (Photo courtesy of Jim Paquette)

industries and support infrastructure that benefits rural communities. Upper Peninsula-based grant include:

City of Negaunee- $100,000 – Water main replacement in downtown Negaunee to allow various businesses to connect and install fire suppression systems where they are needed.

Delta County Road Commission$100,000 – Upgrade the 1-mile segment of CR-434 from a gravel road to a paved all-season road to provide a vital link in the farm to market road network.

EPIC: Educational Partnership in the Community - $100,000 – Promoting safe and affordable child care through the addition of supervised and trained care volunteers to assist with infant and toddler care to implement EPIC’s Child Care Compliance and Volunteer Sustainability Program.

Iron Ore Recreation Authority$56,000 – Project to improve trail maintenance equipment, add administration with volunteer support, and to maintain this asset for the physical, mental and economic fitness of the community.

Jack Pine Lodge UP, LLC - $85,500 – Expansion project to accommodate additional full RV and camper trailer

rental sites to improve the economic impact for the community.

Kiwanis Ski Club- $100,000 –Project to continue generating income through the KSC events by renovating the complex, adding an elevator to the ski jump tower and expanding tourism/non-ski jumping events held throughout the year.

Marquette County Land Bank Authority- $50,000 (Marquette) – This project is addressing the lack of affordable/attainable housing options for many county residents and municipalities by providing target market analysis and implementation.

River Trails, LLC- $100,000 – Enhance the existing trail system near MTU by planning for future protection of the Pilgrim River to create economic benefit for future homeowners and development community.

Skinny Pete’s, LLC- $40,600 –Project to address the critical need to meet the demand of customers and promote a more efficient workday for staff while providing capacity to service more businesses to the success of our local economy.

Superior Sawmill, INC- $100,000 – Infrastructure expansion and business development to provide southern

MRHC to host event on archaeological dig site

Marquette County contractors and residents with a rural supply of lumber and employment opportunities.

Wilson Enterprises, Inc- $100,000 – Project to provide a wide variety of crucial benefits to the local economy including: increases in purchases of raw forestry materials, order increase in containers, increase production of Michigan products, additional jobs, and packaging from an upper peninsula business.

906 Technologies, LLC- $70,000 – Broadband Phase 1- Improving the City of Negaunee’s broadband infrastructure to support the accelerating need for technology access to unserved areas.

EGLE provides funding for dam upgrades

Sixteen Michigan dams will receive grant funding to help reduce risks and protect residents. The funding is through the Dam Risk Reduction Grant Program (DRRGP) authorized by the Michigan Legislature last year. This grant program aims to provide private owners with resources for proper management of existing dams and reduce the overall risk of dam failure in Michigan. Some $15.3 million is authorized for work ranging from dam removals to critical maintenance.

Upper Peninsula grants include: Alger, $2,320,497. To the Forest Lake Property Owners Association for the rehabilitation of the now failed Forrest Lake Dam due to the May 2020 flooding disaster. These funds are appropriated out of Section 309 of 2022 PA 53 for communities directly impacted by the flooding. These funds will be used to rehabilitate the structure and bring the dam back into regulation with Part 315 provisions.

Marquette, $473,724. To A. Lindberg & Sons, Inc. for a partial removal of the high-hazard Carp River Intake Dam. The upper portion of the spillway will be removed, lowering the reservoir an additional 10 feet, greatly reducing the risk to health and habitat and potentially lowering the overall hazard classification of the dam.

Visit Keweenaw funds development projects

Visit Keweenaw awarded $45,000 toward eight different projects to enhance visitor experiences and community development initiatives in the Keweenaw region. Destination Development Awards recognize projects every year that leverage unique characteristics of communities to create exceptional experiences for residents and visitors. 2023 awards were dis-

Zero

Art gallery looking for a few friends

The Zero Degrees Art Gallery has been serving the Marquette area since 2010, with a focus on providing local artists a venue to show and sell their work and giving the community a place to see and purchase high quality art. Increasing costs have spurred a new fundraising campaign called “Friends of Zero Degrees.” As a 501 C3 organization, any contribution will be tax deductible. Those interested in becoming a Zero Degrees Art Gallery friend can stop by the gallery at 525 North Third St. in Marquette. (Photo courtesy of Zero Degrees Art Gallery)

Degrees

tributed to a range of projects – including park renovation, interpretive signs and park/trail maintenance.

The Ahmeek Village/Fire Department was awarded $15,000 toward its efforts to renovate and improve Gabriel Chopp Park in Ahmeek. The project will construct a new bandstand and bathroom facilities.

The Carnegie Museum in the city of Houghton was awarded $8,450 and will reinvigorate and improve the “Houghton Geo Walk/Bike” tour that includes about 30 sites through Houghton. Each spot will have an interpretive sign identifying and explaining a feature of the Keweenaw’s geology. The project will relocate new boulders to the Houghton Waterfront to enhance the visual experience.

The Copper Harbor Trails Club received $5,000 toward a major project at the Trails End Campground in Copper Harbor. The Orchard Trail is a vision of the club and is an easy trail for walkers, joggers and young mountain bikers to enjoy. The club will add skills features and make the trail even more friendly for beginners. The trail will be free to ride on and will be open to the public.

The city of Houghton was awarded $4,000 to bring in an artist to complete a mural project on the 600 block parking garage across from The Vault Hotel. The city says art installations like murals improve cultural infrastructure and can attract more visitor retention. It contributes to the community’s art scene and the location will decorate a bare concrete structure.

The Houghton County Historical Society will receive $3,500 to erect interpretive signs for historical exhibits at the Houghton County Historical Museum in Lake Linden. Other signs lack details and need to be fixed or upgraded. This includes the mill office and fire station buildings left from the Lake Linden mill complex, which operated from 1867 to 1959.

The Keweenaw ATV Club is awarded $240 to purchase new donation collection boxes. The club will buy 24 collection boxes that will be distributed to various locations and businesses to raise money for the club, which improves riding conditions for visitors and residents.

Keweenaw Search and Rescue

will get $5,144 to procure eight GPS units for rescue vehicles. There are 40 members on this new search team, which was formed in 2022 in response to the growing number of outdoor recreationists in the Keweenaw. The team’s mission is to be ready to respond to any emergencies in the Keweenaw and knowing your exact GPS location can be crucial in a crisis.

Painesdale Mine Shaft, Inc. received $3,600 for maintaining the former Champion #4 mine site. The mine would like to add a large interpretive sign along its trail to inform users about the mine and to invite them to explore the historic site.

Business in brief

SUNNY 101.9, WKQS-FM has been named Station of the Year in the Commercial Radio category by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. The selection comes after the station was recognized with 13 awards in the 2022 Broadcast Excellence Awards and marks the third time in the last four years that station has received the honor.

The Preserve, LLC recently announced the approval of a Special Use Permit for Kona Hills Campground in Sands Township. This milestone is a major step forward for Kona Hills, allowing the campground to finalize and submit its application at the State level to the Michigan Environment, Great Lakes, And Energy (EGLE) office. Kona Hills Campground plans to offer 50-site tent only campsites across 80 acres of wooded land. The campground is located in the northeastern corner of Sands Township, 200 feet above Lake Superior on top of a Kona Dolomite rock outcropping for which the campground is named. There will be no sewer or electric hookups on site and no RVs allowed. Day use will be allowed for the general public.

How to submit to City Notes

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.

Aphoto credit in an April 2023 article entitled “Right in your backyard” misattributed a person in the photo as Nancy Leonard, when in fact, she was not Nancy.

MTU approves new residence hall

The Board of Trustees for Michigan Technological University recently voted to approve a number of new initiatives on campus, including plans to build a new residence hall for undergraduate students. Michigan Tech’s new residence hall will house more than 500 second-year and upper-division students, tentatively beginning in fall 2025. It will be located at the east side of campus on Highway 41, just east of the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, and is slated to offer suites with both single- and double-occupancy bedrooms and semiprivate baths. Planning activities will begin this summer, and construction will start later this year. According to Michigan Tech President Rick Koubek, increasing demand for a Michigan Tech education is driving the need for a new residence hall.

“With enrollment expanding at the University, access to contemporary, affordable housing is a high priority for Michigan Tech,” said Koubek. “This vote by the Board of Trustees supports an exciting era of growth for the University and enables us to meet the needs of future Tech students through our campus master planning efforts.”

The university’s last two incoming classes were the largest since 1984, and domestic applications for fall 2023 are up 33% from last year — a new record. Vice President for University Relations and Enrollment John Lehman said he expects this year’s incoming class to be comparably strong both in number and academic credentials. He also echoed Koubek’s sentiments about the sustained demand for a Michigan Tech education.

“College enrollment in STEM and STEM-related degrees is on the rise, fueled by the realization that these fields offer the hottest job prospects,” said Lehman. “As the demand for cutting-edge technology, innovation and scientific breakthroughs continues to shape the world, students who have a very real desire to make meaningful contributions to society are increasingly drawn to the fields that hold the key to the future.”

The MTU Board of Trustees’ proactive commitment to expanded on-campus student housing will complement the smart, measured growth in enrollment the University anticipates over the next few decades, Lehman added.

Andrew Storer, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, said the residential nature of undergraduate programs is a critical part of the Michigan Tech experience.

“As Michigan Tech grows, we recognize the need to provide expanded housing options to ensure that we can continue to deliver an outstanding experience to our students,” Storer said.

The new residence hall is among a handful of near-term priorities outlined in Tech’s campus master plan. Other near-term priorities include renovations to existing academic and research spaces, as well as the Memorial Union Building; construction of the H-STEM Engineering and Health Technologies Complex, which is on schedule for completion by fall 2024; and construction of the Center for Convergence and Innovation, which will co-house the College of Computing and the College of Business. MM

A rendering of a proposed new residence hall on the campus of Michigan Technological University. (Image courtesy of MTU)

NMU board sets new room and board rates

The Northern Michigan University Board of Trustees has approved room and board rates for the 20232024 academic year, along with three new academic programs: a master of science in applied sports and exercise psychology; a graduate certificate in applied clinical psychology; and a cosmetology hair culturist certificate.

The cost of a standard double room with the base required meal plan and comprehensive fee will be $5,946 per semester, an increase of $221. The full rate schedule will be available at nmu. edu/housing/rates.

“Some of the factors driving up housing and dining costs include an anticipated increase of 8% or more in food prices, annual utility rate increases, and personnel costs associated with rising student wages and increased staffing and compensation levels,” said Gavin Leach, vice president for Finance and Administration.

Both the master’s in applied sports and exercise psychology and the graduate certificate in applied clinical psychology will be offered in the fall semester.

In other action, the board:

-Granted a posthumous associate of arts degree in general university studies to the parents of Carson Needham, an NMU student who was killed in a multi-vehicle crash downstate while returning to campus. The presentation followed a moment of silence for Needham.

-Presented a signed resolution supporting NMU’s adoption of the international Okanagan Charter, a frame-

work for becoming a “health and wellbeing promoting” campus, to Abigail Wyche, assistant vice president of Wellbeing. NMU is one of 17 higher education institutions in the U.S. and two in Michigan to sign the charter.

-Approved a five-pillar divisional leadership structure and related reporting changes. The existing divisions of Finance and Administration and Academic Affairs will be joined by three new divisions: Northern Student Experience; People, Culture and WellBeing; and Student Affairs and Success.

-Authorized $1.6 million in remaining design services that will advance the Harden Hall renovation to construction and move preparation.

-Approved Board Chair Steve Young’s recommendations to fold the Extended Learning & Community Engagement committee into Academic Affairs. The following new trustees were appointed to existing committees: Steve Lindberg and Greg Toutant, Academic Affairs and Ad-Hoc Policy Review; and Brigitte LaPointe-Dunham, Finance.

-Recognized James Haveman as a Trustee Emeritus. Haveman was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to serve the remaining term of a vacated position on the NMU Board of Trustees from Jan. 1, 2017 to Dec. 31, 2020. He advocated for the board’s investment in creating a new NMU Center for Rural Health and later led a comprehensive review of the university’s mental health services.

The NMU Board of Trustees during their May meeting. (Image courtesy of NMU)

A view along Washington Street in Marquette then.

The view along Washington Street in Marquette present day.

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

By Sid Sivakumar / EditEd By Will Shortz

fi

2 Drink that may be spiced

3 Potential scenario in which a piece of software might be helpful

4 Person who worships Jah

5 Puffins, e.g.

6 Total dump

7 *‘‘Is it even possible?!’’

8 *It’ll take a second to get it

9 Similar group

10 Elegy, e.g.

11 Boba tea is often served with a wide one

12 Miniature-cheesewheel brand

13 ‘‘____ Maria’’

14 *Chinese New Year decoration

15 *Meat-andvegetables dish with Creole and Cajun varieties

16 Target 18 Coat that may take awhile to put on 20 Witherspoon of Hollywood

21 *Electrical wiring nexus

27 Pigmented eye layer

30 Lower-interest deal, for short 33 Blood work, colloquially 34 Start of a detective’s trail 35 Uno + dos + tres 37 Site with gadget reviews 42 *Revolutionary cooking device?

43 Conflict over seceding from the Galactic Republic, in sci-

45 Some brandy cocktails

46 *Hair-salon goo

47 *Many a presidential election occurs in one 48 Prospective eBay buyer’s figure 52 ‘‘Better than I thought’’

A shining light

By Alex Lehto-Clark

For over a century, the Marquette lighthouse has stood through gales and blizzards and every weird weather pattern Lake Superior throws its way. It’s a mild day at the end of April, just a few hours before a spring snowstorm, and the fog gives the lighthouse an illusion of floating–an island in the sky, the sky blending with the crispness of Lake Superior.

“It’s painted in a color called heartthrob red,” said Marquette Maritime museum director Hillary Billman.

The Maritime Museum is just a quick walk away from the light-

Marquette’s lighthouse is full of history, and here for Marquette City’s future.

house, and both are overseen by Billman, with help from a small summer staff and a group of dedicated board members. She took the position in 2016, and since then, has had her hands on various projects in the museum and with “lighthouse park.” On this day, just a few weeks before the summer season starts, she’s busy putting together exhibits, sitting at a table that has decades of maritime history sprawled across it. A drill here, a level there, various tools strewn throughout the museum.

“It’s a Sunday and I’m working, so you can tell it’s crunch time,” she said.

Billman said the Maritime Museum partners with the City of Marquette, the owner of the lighthouse property, to renovate and maintain this “historical park”.

According to Assistant City Manager Sean Hobbins, it’s been a fruitful and mutually beneficial partnership.

“I think we have a unique city asset

here,” Hobbins said. “We maintain all these properties but we do not have the capacity to run tours.”

Billman, wearing all of her hats, has that capacity and skill set. In fact, she has the lighthouse history details committed to memory. The structure that stands there today is actually the second lighthouse. The first one was built in 1853.

“It wasn’t built very well, so it began to deteriorate very rapidly,” Billman said.

The lighthouse that stands there today was finished in 1866, just one year after the Civil War ended, only a decade after Michigan became a part of the United States, and only a few years after Marquette was incorporated into a city. It’s one of the oldest structures in Marquette, according to Billman.

The original lighthouse was a story-and-a-half “schoolhouse” design, but Billman said the US Lighthouse Service quickly realized they needed

Left, the walkway from the beach to the Marquette Lighthouse. Above, the lighthouse as viewed from McCarty’s Cove. Below, the view from the top of the lighthouse over Lake Superior. (Photos by Alex Lehto-Clark)

more space. While the Life Saving Service, which would become the US Coast Guard in 1915, was an essential part of the operations in Marquette, Billman stressed that the US Lighthouse Service was a separate entity all the way up until 1939–when it merged with the Coast Guard. This distinction is significant, she said, because the area’s earliest lighthouse keepers were dedicated civilians, not members of

the military.

And Marquette needed more than one keeper to keep the candle burning, per se.

“They added a second story in around 1910 to have places for more keepers to live,” Billman said. “There was an apartment on each floor. Originally, the main floor had a kitchen and living room. When they added the second story, they could house two

keepers. And there was a barn house that was right outside at the bottom of the lighthouse steps that housed a third keeper.”

Three keepers, Billman pointed out, for the area’s many maritime safety tasks.

“The upper harbor, the lower harbor, the Marquette lighthouse, and a two whistle emergency system, which was out on the end of the point,” Bill-

man explained.

These additions make the Marquette lighthouse unique. Lighthouses were generally designed from a small selection of architectural plans. The Marquette lighthouse is the only one of its kind on the Great Lakes. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Just as the neighboring cities of Negaunee and Ishpeming are distinct-

Left, the Maritime Museum in Marquette. It’s located in the former City Waterworks building, adjacent to the United States Coast Guard Station in Marquette. The museum hosts Marquette Lighthouse tours, using proceeds from ticket to sales to provide revenue for lighthouse renovations to the City of Marquette. Right, the Marquette Lighthouse’s original Fresnal lens on display in the Maritime Museum. (Photos by Alex Lehto-Clark)

ly shaped by their mining history and their location on the iron-ore range, Marquette is equally defined by its location on Lake Superior. Not many cities get a chance to own a lighthouse, but it’s an opportunity that the City of Marquette jumped on.

The U.S. Coast Guard leased the property, which included the lighthouse, a few other historic buildings, and 2.5 acres of Lighthouse Point, to the museum in 2002.

In 2016, the property was transferred to the City of Marquette as part of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. This transfer ensured that the property would stay in public hands, as selling the property for development is not allowed. Then, the work to restore the property began.

“Then, we had to get a SHPO (State Historic Preservation Office) contractor to give us a status on the building and what needed to be done,” Hobbins explained.

It was a long list, a list that the city and the Maritime Museum continue to tackle.

It wasn’t ever an easy place to live or to take care of. Billman said the building itself is unheated, and the snow and ice in the winter made

it difficult for lightkeeper families to do basic tasks like get groceries inside. Dozens of steep steps lead up to the living space, and even on an eerie spring day, it’s easy to see why it might be difficult to make that trek back and forth multiple times a day. Walking through the lighthouse today, it’s also difficult to imagine the lighthouse proper as a living space, but it was not so long ago that families called it home. Lighthouse keepers continued to reside in the living quarters all the way into the late 20th century. The final family moved out in 1998.

“By that point, the light was automated anyway,” Billman said. “We’ll get families that come through the lighthouse and say “I lived there in the 1960s or the 1970s and I love talking to them. I love the research–the kind of people that lived in those places–those lighthouse keepers’ stories always fascinate me.”

Like the story two twins who grew up in the lighthouse shared with Billman on one of their visits.

“There was a stable down at the end of the steps,” Billman said. “And supposedly the first lighthouse keeper’s horse died in the stable. And those boys swear that they heard that

horse one night.”

Paranormal experiences, whether you believe in them or not, come with the territory. Though Billman prefers to keep her storytelling to history based on more conventional evidence, she said many paranormal investigators think the Marquette lighthouse is prime real estate for paranormal activity because it is on a rocky point surrounded by water.

“That seems to appeal to the ghosts,” Billman said. “Trish from 906 paranormal–we partner up and do these paranormal tours as a fundraiser.”

She said these tours sell out fast, so those interested should keep an eye out on the Maritime Museum’s social media pages.

The other structures also have historical importance, Hobbins and Billman both pointed out. One of the original boathouses still stands. And the “Captain’s residence,” an old Coast Guard bunkhouse-turned short term rental that the city leases out during the summer months, is still there. Hobbins was the head of that project and he said so far, it’s been a success. More importantly, it gives the city necessary financial resources to support the park.

“The park is something we received and did not have a budget for. You know, with the other parks, they have a way of bringing in revenue. This is a way for us to make sure we continue to take care of the property,” Hobbins said.

The rental is a unique property, Hobbins said, because it gives guests the experience of being near the woods but also close to all of the amenities downtown has to offer. Since it came on the market last year, Hobbins said the reviews have been positive.

The maritime museum also does its part financially to aid in bringing the lighthouse back to tip-top shape and preserving it for years to come.

“How it works is when the museum sells tickets to the lighthouse, we pay it to the city every month and that money goes into the fund for the city to do renovations,” Billman said.

The trails on lighthouse point are open to the public, offering a stunning view of Marquette’s lower harbor. The concrete footings that held giant radio towers once used to communicate with ships and other stations still remain. Hikers can follow the rocky path out to the end of the point, but are asked to stay off of the lighthouse steps and walkway.

Though officially decommissioned by the Coast Guard, the lighthouse still has a working Fresnel lens, the specialty glass lens that was used to

reflect light at the top to help ships navigate when all other case navigation systems failed, Billman said. Many systems would have to fail for the light to be used for navigational purposes, but the structure and design of them hold a significant place in maritime history. The Maritime Museum has several different lenses on display, including a number two lens, which is the most powerful used in the Great Lakes. Lenses vary significantly in size and shape. The Marquette Lighthouse had a fourth order Fresnel lens.

The Fresnel lenses are works of art themselves, a master craft. Billman said it’s often difficult to track down someone who knows how to make or repair them. Thankfully, the Marquette Maritime museum has a special connection.

“Kurt Fosberg, one of our board members, he’s the only Fresnel lens specialist in North America,” Billman said.

Fosberg lives in Negaunee and takes orders from all over the world. He built the underworking for the lens in The Lighthouse, a major film starring Robert Pattinson.

It’s dedicated board members like Fosberg, coupled with involvement and investment from the city, that have made the slow renovation of the lighthouse possible.

“Now the city’s got this park established. One of the things that we did last season–we paid somebody to paint the tower and now we’re getting it ready to open for tours this summer. We’re hoping it’ll be ready to be toured later this summer,” Billman said.

The logistics of opening up the lighthouse tower for public tours is no light matter. Part of that process involves creating safety features,

such as a weight system for the heavy hatch-like door that leads to the tower. Any changes need to be approved by the State Historic Preservation Office, so renovations are slow-moving. It’s a challenging stair climb that those who struggle with heights or steep and narrow steps may not be able to make. The area is smaller than someone who is looking up might imagine. With three people inside, it feels crowded. But the view is simply stunning.

Hobbins said future proposed improvements include more defined trails and updated displays within the lighthouse that illustrate what life was like for the lightkeepers that called it home.

Already, Hobbins said, significant

An old divers mask on display at the Marquette Maritime Museum. (Photo by Alex Lehto-Clark)

WHEN PEOPLE THINK OF MARQUETTE, THEY THINK ABOUT THE LIGHTHOUSE.

improvements have been made to the area, including the work on Coast Guard Road to make the bike path safer for users.

Both Billman and Hobbins agree that, even with expensive historical requirements, preserving the lighthouse and the surrounding area remains a top priority for the City.

“This lighthouse and services provided by the Coast Guard were vital to the City of Marquette,” Hobbins said.

And though the lighthouse is no longer providing the service it was originally intended to, it has transitioned into an iconic representation of the city, providing a new service to city residents — a publicly available connection to their city’s history.

“I think it’s one of the most important landmarks in Marquette. When people think of Marquette, they think about that lighthouse. I can post something interesting on Facebook and then post the lighthouse and it gets shared like crazy,” Billman said.

“Everybody has a story with a lighthouse.”

Also, as what was once vacant city-owned land near the lakeshore fills up with private developments, this partnership between the City and the Maritime museum may give some residents a little peace of mind.

“It’s another component of making the lakeshore as publicly accessible as possible”, Hobbins added.

Even as the city of Marquette changes, from a northern outpost to a shipping epicenter and now, an outdoor recreation mecca, the lighthouse is there, giving us a moment to remember the past. And giving us a chance to reflect on how that past is there to guide the city’s future.

Alex Lehto-Clark is a poet and essayist who lives in Ishpeming. He has called the Upper Peninsula home for 12 years and graduated from Northern Michigan University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English.

The iconic Marquette Lighthouse, as seen up close. (Photo by Alex Lehto-Clark)

superior reads

Young adult horror book set in UP offers tale of frozen terror

Review by Victor Volkman

Only a very few books written each year for Young Adults are set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Howl of the Ice by Christian Raymond is the latest book for the YA audience and joins other recent titles in this class including Cady And The Birchbark Box by Ann Dallman, The Home Wind by Terri Martin, and A Second Home by David Curtis. Howl of the Ice may be unique in that it might be the only YA horror book that is set in the U.P. The book takes place pretty much in a single location: the ad-hoc ice shanty village on the fictional Blackbird Lake, an inland lake in a forgotten corner of the U.P. Blackbird Lake is just outside the tiny village of Hillson Falls. Single-location stories are a staple of horror fiction, if you consider for example the sterotypical haunted house tale as its main representative.

As is often the case in the horror genre, Howl of the Ice is a man vs. monster story at its core. Rather than leaning on traditional Anishinaabe folklore or Scandinavian folklore, Raymond invents a new set of elemental creatures born in ice. As you might expect, these creatures are hellbent on destroying the humans in the shantytown above Blackbird Lake and probably have larger ambitions as well. Well, that’s as close of a spoiler as you’re going to hear about this book from me!

The two main protagonists are young teenagers, as you might expect in a YA audience book. Our hero is Falc, a fourteen year old boy who is drawn into the situation when he seeks out his Grandpa Rikkar, his boon companion. Rikkar is in the early stages of Alzheimers and probably should not be driving, but he has taken his truck and towed out his ice shanty on to Lake Blackbird as the story opens.

Any lad who claims to be born in Michigan it seems must try a bit of “ice fishing” as a rite of passage. My own experience was with my uncle Bob who had a shanty on Lake Michigan just outside Mackinaw City. I remember the magical look of staring down the hole in the ice and its myriad reflections. Probably I remember better the delicious foil-wrapped ham

and swiss sandwiches he toasted over the Coleman heater. Did we catch any fish? I don’t have any recollection either way. Regardless, both Christian Raymond and I both grew up in metro Detroit area with just a tantalizing taste of the U.P. in our youths.

Aiyanna Baikie is a beautiful Ojibwe girl about two year olders than Falc. He probably has a little crush on her in the beginning of the story, but they must work together as a team to prevent the immediate deaths of grandpa Rikka and Aiyanna’s father Dakotah Baikie. Together, they will brave the subfreezing waters Lake Blackbird in their quest to save the residents of the ice fishing shantytown over a single night that seems to go on forever.

Actually, you could say that the night does go on forever, by dint of the central story mechanic that the two teens must unravel: a multiverse situation has arisen under the ice of Lake Blackbird and the portals into each universe are holes in the ice below the shanties. This is a unique conceit in the winter horror genre and it makes almost anything possible.

Multiverses are all the rage with today’s popular films such as 2021’s smash hit Spiderman: No Way Home and 2022’s Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once. However the idea of a multiverse, literally “multiple universes”, is as old as the ancient Greek philosophers. The idea took a startling new turn in 1952 when physicist Erwin Schrödinger suggested that these universes with different histories were not alternatives, but all really happen simultaneously. The idea is formally known as superposition and was almost immediately taken up in the science fiction and comic books of the 1950s and 1960s. As Jack Vance wrote in The Asutra (1974): “The basic law of the cosmos is this: in a situation of infinity, whatever exists in possibility exists in fact.”

When I questioned Christian Raymond about the inspiration and influences for his multiverse story, he said, “The story was greatly influenced by my father’s own Alzheimer’s-induced

randomness in all its emotional nuance and complexity. He would have loved the audacity of such infused into a fast-paced survival tale set in the unlikely world of ice fishing.”

Howl of the Ice compares well to other recent adult U.P. horror books including Dead of November by Craig Brockman, The Biting Cold by Matthew Hellman, and A Yooper’s Tale: Death by Wendigo by Robert Hugh Williams. So if you are like me, an adult who reads YA books for a guilty pleasure, you might enjoy Raymond’s book as well. But it’s OK if you gift it to your teen or tween reader first!

If you like a fast-paced adventure/ horror story that tests the mettle of young people to overcome seeming impossible odds on a frozen lake to save their loved ones, you’ll love Howl of the Ice by Christian Raymond. But be sure you put on some hot chocolate to curl up with this frenetically paced horror story.

Victor R. Volkman is a graduate of Michigan Technological University (Class of ’86) and is the 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.

lookout point

Up in the air

Marquette County Flying Club promotes aviation as career or hobby

By Kristi Evans

The Marquette County Flying Club is quite possibly one of the oldest continuously operating organizations of its kind in the country, according to Greg Durand. The nonprofit was established in 1956 and persisted through lean periods of limited numbers before expanding over the past several years to its current roster of 50 members.

The MCFC operates out of the recently renamed Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport. It welcomes certified pilots, student pilots and anyone interested in learning more about aviation as a career or hobby. The club owns four airplanes that members can access: two Cessna 150s and two Piper Cherokees.

“The big benefit is that we can keep

rates down for everyone, and it’s not necessary to own a personal plane in order to get training or fly regularly,”

said Durand, who returned to the area after retiring from the U.S. Air Force and now serves as the club’s presi-

dent. “We also host social gatherings so members can interact with others who share the same interest. I love

MCFC President Greg Durand in front of a Piper Cherokee, one of four planes the club owns. (Photo by Kristi Evans)

aviation because you can have the worst day on the ground at work, at home or with friends, but when you book a plane on a beautiful evening, it can totally change your attitude and make you smile. You can travel from the airport to Lake Independence, then over to Pictured Rocks and back in an hour, viewing incredible scenery and watching the sunset in a peaceful environment.”

Myron Hillock lives about 10 miles away from the airport. He is a relatively new member of the MCFC, proving it is never too late to pursue a longtime passion and become a student pilot.

“Learning to fly a plane has been a goal of mine since I was 14, but I didn’t pursue it until I got the bug last summer,” Hillock said. “I contacted Greg, and he told me I was never going to get certified for a lower cost than the Marquette County Flying Club offers for plane rental, fuel costs and instructor fees. The club gives me very affordable access to four aircraft — both high-wing and low-wing styles — that I’ll be able to continue to fly after becoming certified. People ask if I’m going to buy a plane. I say I already own four.”

The initial joining fee is $1,000, memberships are $75 per month and plane rentals are $40 and up per hour plus fuel, depending on the plane. The hourly rate for instruction, which includes pre-flight ground training, the flight and a post-flight debriefing, varies in the $45 range. Kubick Aviation provides the MCFC with space in the back room of a hangar to house its simulator and performs maintenance on the club’s planes. Boreal Aviation provides a $1,000 annual grant to apply for a scholarship.

In addition to these partnerships, Durand said the MCFC has created a synergistic relationship with the local chapters of the Experimental Aircraft Association, which has existed for almost as long, and the Civil Air Patrol. Several individuals, including Matt Bloch, are members of both the MCFC and EAA. Bloch serves as treasurer for the former and president of the latter.

“My dad is a pilot, so it’s been in my family for a long time,” he said. “I moved up here in 2010 to go to NMU and fell in love with the area, decided to stick around and discovered the flying club and got my license. Now I’m pursuing aviation as a career. I will be flying for Endeavor out of Detroit starting in November, but I will continue to live here with my family. You ask any pilot why they love aviation and 99 percent of the time they will say it’s the people. I’ve gained a lot of

lifetime friends. Our aviation community is small but very close.”

The Marquette County Flying Club helps to facilitate the EAA’s Young Eagles program, which offers free introductory plane rides for ages 8 to 18 and scholarship opportunities for those who progress to flight training. The Civil Air Patrol, or CAP, an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is also an option for ages 12 and up. While known primarily for its emergency service missions to locate the lost and provide comfort during disasters, the CAP also promotes aviation and related fields through aerospace/STEM education and helps to shape future leaders through its cadet program.

CAP Cadet Staff Sgt. Brad Luce of Champion is one of five youth

YOU ASK ANY PILOT WHY THEY LOVE AVIATION AND 99 PERCENT OF THE TIME THEY WILL SAY IT’S THE PEOPLE. I’VE GAINED A LOT OF LIFETIME FRIENDS.

in active flight training through the MCFC. He said he hopes to get his pilot’s license before graduating from Westwood High School, then plans to enroll in the ROTC program at Texas A&M. Luce recently applied for the EAA Ray Aviation Scholarship, which provides up to $11,000 to deserving youth to help cover their flight-training expenses. He will be attending the Air Force’s Aim High Flight Academy in Bakersfield, California, where he will fly and train with USAF pilots for three weeks. He will also log up to 15 flight hours and said he hopes to do a solo flight.

“Ever since I was a kid, I was always into planes,” Luce said. “I didn’t know I wanted to turn it into a career until I was a freshman in high school. I figured I might as well pursue it, and if I’m doing something involving planes and aviation, I might as well serve my country at the same time. I plan on retiring as a pilot from the Air Force and becoming a commercial pilot. [Civil Air Patrol] is perfect for those goals. It teaches facts about the military and its responsibilities, aviation, mechanics and what it takes to get into the field. I really want to thank the people here who’ve supported me over the past year.”

On a Saturday in April, Escanaba High School senior Zandy Knope arrived at the airport for her lesson with Bloch. After their pre-flight equipment check and before they boarded the plane, Knope said, “For a couple of years, I thought the idea of being a pilot in the Air Force was really cool. Then I realized that it was a real possibility and didn’t have to just be a

dream, so I started taking lessons. It feels a little bit scary, but then you realize you’re in control and — I know this sounds cliché — but you’re free.”

Durand, the MCFC president, advises youth ages 12 to 15 to get involved in remote-control flying as an introduction to factors applicable to small and commercial planes, as well as fighter jets. These include takeoffs, landings, aerodynamics and optimal plane design. They can follow that up with flight instructions in the club’s planes and can fly solo at 16 and take a check ride to become a private pilot at 17.

“My first experience in a plane was traveling to Air Force boot camp, but it’s easier to start earlier now, beginning with Young Eagles,” Durand said. “The Marquette County Flying Club also offers discovery flights for prospective adult members. Those are sightseeing flights intended to be a fun introduction to aviation and what we can offer. … The club has been hard work, but highly rewarding, and a legacy I want to leave the community. Randy Girard kept it afloat for several years before he passed the torch to new leadership, and we’ve grown steadily since then. Matt and other members have made it easy to move the club forward.”

For more information on the MCFC, contact Durand at cmsgtdurand@gmail.com or follow the club on Facebook. MM

Kristi Evans is a PR professional, writer and hobby photographer who spends much of her free time outdoors.

Instructor Matt Bloch with student Zandy Knope in Piper Cherokee before a flight. (Photo by Kristi Evans)

Art week returns to Marquette

New slate of events will focus on ‘home’

By Pam Christensen

Marquette will celebrate Art Week from June 19 to 24 in locations around the city. Organized by the City of Marquette Office of Arts and Culture, Art Week is a collaborative effort that brings a variety of organizations together to celebrate this year’s theme: Home.

Art Week strives to bring arts activities to public spaces. In a focus on Home, activities will take place in neighborhoods and city locations, that create a sense of place for residents of the area. The focus is on local talent, collaboration, and partnerships. The events invite the audience to participate without barriers. There are no ticket fees, and most of the events will be staged in public places or businesses that invite participants to join.

“We select a new theme each year,” said Amelia Pruiett, marketing and promotions assistant for the Office of Arts and Culture, or OAC. “It helps to create a consistent focus and helps unify the work of artists and arts organizations. We have found that having a theme helps steer community conversations, helps people connect, and provides a framework for inspiration. Past

themes include Water, Reconnection and Bigfoot. Lately, we have started to use a theme that fits closely with city initiatives and current community experiences.”

The Art Week publication cover is

selected during an online competition. This year, the cover art was created by Gene Bertram and focuses on the Ore Dock. This publication serves both as a program for events and as a “stateof-the-arts” review featuring local

artists, arts organizations, and articles related to the theme.

The OAC and affiliated groups plan the theme in advance — the 2024 theme will be Grow — to secure grant funding and get organizations thinking

The Hurley Park basketball court mural (pictured here) will be part of the Tuesday events during Marquette Art Week June 19 to 24. (Photo courtesy of City of Marquette Office of Arts and Culture)

about what they will do to address the theme in future Art Week programming. The OAC staff is proud of the almost $20,000 in grant funding that has been secured for the 2023 celebration from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council. This funding is redistributed to participating artists and organizations through an OAC regranting process each January. Successful funding helps validate the importance of Art Week and demonstrates the value of the program.

Many institutions can point to ways that the Covid-19 pandemic affected their organization, but Tiina Morin, Arts and Culture manager for the City of Marquette, feels that the struggles faced during this challenging time had a direct benefit on the arts. “Covid gave Art Week more purpose and inspired an Arts and Culture master plan,” she said. “We assessed how Art Week fit with the MACC (Marquette Arts and Culture Center) mission and how it could address community challenges. It deepened Art Week’s purpose and provided a platform to connect members of our community.”

Home will be celebrated in the Rosewood Walkway in an installation created by Audrey Seilheimer. Sponsored by the Marquette Downtown Development Authority, this installa-

tion will honor local neighborhoods, and iconic buildings that make up “Home,” and tell the history of Marquette. The idea for the installation came from the television show “Tiny House Nation” and the Judy Garland version of the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” The installation will be on display from June 15 to 30.

According to Seilheimer, “Small, two-dimensional houses will be hand-painted by me in a color story. These houses will be placed on stakes along the walkway. The corridor gets a nice breeze off the lake, and there will be a fluid element attached to many of the tiny homes in the Art Week Rosewood Walkway ‘tiny home neighborhood’ to create a visual movement to be experienced as the viewer walks through it. This movement will also represent the changing topography of homes in our land and the surrounding water.”

Seilheimer is a curator, artist, and experiential event consultant based in southwest Michigan, who focuses on partnerships with community organizations, municipalities, and nonprofits toward placemaking and engagement. Her son will attend NMU in the fall, so she already feels a connection with Marquette and hopes to connect Marquette residents’ love of natural

The Marquette Symphony Orchestra Summer Strings will perform original works by composers with Marquette connections as a finale to Art Week on June 24 at Presque Isle. (Photo courtesy of City of Marquette Office of Arts and Culture)

resources and environment to their historic roots and tell those stories through collaborative art and events. Select buildings in the exhibit will contain a QR code that connects the viewer to details about the building. All of these details will weave into the environment of Home here in Marquette.

The schedule of events for the week demonstrates the depth and breadth of arts-affiliated organizations and businesses in Marquette. Art Week opens on Monday, June 19, with a sunrise poetry reading at Lighthouse Park featuring an opening poem by B.G. Bradley, the city’s writer of the year for 2022. Monday events will also include family activities and a community conversation centered around diversity, equity and inclusion.

“Many of the events are small, informal and intimate,” Morin said. “I am always moved by the annual sunrise opening poem. There is no recreating the emotion that results from combining poetry, community, nature and the sunrise. Rain or shine, it is

always magical. Art Week is intentionally informal and relaxed. I think the atmosphere takes the pressure off performers and artists, but also the audience. It’s a nice opportunity for people who may not normally purchase a ticket to a concert or visit a gallery to explore the arts. We encourage this by removing the barriers. Events are free, outdoors, and don’t require a time commitment. You can come and go as you please, and everyone is welcome.”

Each year, the OAC tries to locate events in neighborhoods or spaces that are meaningful to residents. Marquette’s south end will be a focus on Tuesday. The Hurley Park softball field and the recently upgraded playground facilities and basketball court mural will serve as a backdrop for a family square dance, followed by a concert by musicians from Marquette’s south side, headlined by local country musician Ethan Bott. OAC staff encourage families to stage a picnic in the park and enjoy dancing and music. The events will be informal and can be enjoyed by those who want to dance or

Country Musician Ethan Bott will join other musicians who call Marquette’s South Side home for a concert at Hurley Park as part of Art Week. (Photo courtesy of City of Marquette Office of Arts and Culture)

just listen.

Wednesday’s Art Week events celebrate Marquette’s downtown. The OAC has partnered with the Downtown Development Authority to revive Art Stroll for 2023. Most of the Wednesday events have been coordinated by the DDA, and Michael Bradford, the DDA’s business outreach and promotions director, has been instrumental in developing that schedule.

“We have an exciting lineup of events for the Wednesday of Art Week,” Bradford said. “The Wednesday market will be moving to the 100 block of West Washington for the summer. The block will be closed off from 3 to 9 p.m., and Wednesday, June 21, will be the first market in that location. It will take advantage of the newly designated social district and feature musicians, artisans, farmers, and special events. I am very excited about the return of the Art Stroll in downtown businesses. This event has not been held for several years and we thought it was time to bring it back. The Rosewood Walkway will

feature the Home art installation. All the downtown events are free, and we hope people will come out and join in the fun.”

Thursday events will focus on Marquette’s shoreline from Clark Lambros Park to Presque Isle. The day will highlight the shoreline restoration project and honor the women who have shaped Marquette through an ephemeral interactive memorial to women, led by the Marquette Women’s Center. The Marquette City Band will conclude the day with a concert at Presque Isle Park.

The Founder’s Landing area will be activated on Friday with an art extravaganza at the Marquette Yacht Club, poetry on the new piers and a concert sponsored by the Hiawatha Music Cooperative at Father Marquette Park. Provisions will host the Fresh Coast Plein Air Painting Festival, and the OAC will explore plans for an urban trailhead for the Culture Trail Project, and a future indigenous public art installation.

Art Week concludes with a full day

of activities at Presque Isle Park on Saturday, June 24. The OAC invites the community to experience local art set within the park’s stunning shoreline and quietly beautiful interior. The Presque Isle Art Fair will feature artists native to the Upper Peninsula. The Superior String Alliance will perform, and the Marquette Symphony Orchestra Summer Strings will present a concert featuring original works written by composers with connections to Marquette. Art installations, workshops, concerts and other activities, will be a spectacular finale to Art Week 2023.

Tristan Luoma, arts and senior services coordinator for the City of Marquette sums it up perfectly: “My favorite part of Art Week is watching the execution as it all comes together. We start with this broad theme that has a different meaning to everyone, and yet as planning progresses and events are finalized, I can see it all coming together. From a performer’s standpoint, it amazes me how the events are intertwined and creates one

overall celebration of the arts. Saturday really is the culmination of all the planning, networking, organizing and collaborating. That evening really is the celebration of the individuals, organizations and artists that created a community-wide experience: a time that artists, organizers and audience alike can bask in the rewarding feeling of connecting and contributing to our home.”

For a full program of Marquette Art Week events, see the schedule at mqtcompass.com/artweek or contact the OAC at 906-228-4072.

MM

Pam Christensen moved to Marquette 30 years ago when she accepted the position of library director at Peter White Public Library. She served in that post for more than 24 years. Most recently, she was foundation manager for the West End Health Foundation, finally hanging up her formal work shoes in May 2021. She and her husband, Ralph, are in the process of making an off-grid cabin in Nisula their second home.

ALL THE DOWNTOWN EVENTS ARE FREE, AND WE HOPE PEOPLE WILL COME OUT AND JOIN IN THE FUN.

Gearheart Blacksmithing set up outside of Zero Degrees Art Gallery in Marquette during a prior Art Week event. (Photo courtesy of City of Marquette Office of Arts and Culture)

the arts

A summer of music across the UP

Pine Mountain Music Festival shines spotlight on classical genres

By Brad Gischia

The Pine Mountain Music Festival will begin its summer concert series this month. This classical music festival has been a staple in Upper Michigan, and as its 32ndyear approaches, organizers hope this year is a sign of things to come.

“It’s a home-grown festival, which, as someone who is community-minded, I love about it,” said Libby Meyer, co-executive director. The PMMF has been bringing classical music to the Upper Peninsula since 1991.

“There were a bunch of musicians who played with the Lyric Opera in Chicago, and they would come up and do sort of a chamber music house party,” Meyer said. “It started really organically.”

Named after a hotel in Iron Mountain, the festival began to grow in size and scope. “They added opera early on,” Meyer said, “and it grew from there. I would say that its biggest years were in the early 2000s. They were doing two operas a season.”

Under pressure from the economic climate and the pandemic, the festival had to pare back significantly. Now, however, Meyer believes they’re beginning to get their feet under them again.

“We’re building it back up slowly,” she said.

This festival is unique in that it doesn’t have a main stage in a set location but instead offers performances across the western and central Upper Peninsula, this year in Houghton, Ke-

weenaw, Ontonagon and Marquette counties. “It’s always been a part of the festival to have it spread out. That was established early,” Meyer said. “Everything tours.”

This year organizers are looking forward to new acts, old favorites and twists on the classics. The acts are booked over a year in advance. The Bergonzi Trio — the “anchor to our festival,” in Meyer’s words — is returning.

“They’ve been involved for so long they’re basically our chamber music group in residence,” said Danielle Simandl, a Marquette-based violinist who has played with the Marquette Symphony, the Keweenaw Symphony and the Superior String Alliance. She also shares the co-executive director role. “They’re a highlight every year.”

This year the trio’s pianist, Lindsay Garritson, is also featured as a soloist.

“We feel she always looks like she’s accompanying them,” Meyer said, “but she’s a fantastic musician in her own right, and we wanted to showcase that.”

Garritson is an internationally recognized talent who has performed on some of the biggest stages in the world, including Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.

“I’m excited to return, not only with the Bergonzi Trio but with the opportunity to present a solo program as well,” she said.

Garritson will present a classical piano program that blends traditional

and contemporary classical composers.

“I’ve performed in big venues, up to 4,000 people, and I’ve performed in people’s homes,” Garritson said. “For me as a performer, it’s all about

the connection with the audience. I love playing Pine Mountain because people are so warm and you can really feel that onstage. The audience is really receptive to the music and excited to be there and hear it, and I love

The musicians who will perform as part of Pine Mountain Music Festival’s 2023 UPstarts! concerts are Oskar Martinez (bassoon), Maitri White (soprano), Michael Halvorson (saxophone) and Adam Hall (cello). (Photo courtesy of PMMF)

talking to the people afterward.”

Paul and Christine Seitz also return in 2023. They are a vocal and classical guitar duo who has been performing at the festival for many years.

The opera portion of the PMMF makes a return this year as well, with a slight caveat. They will present a concert version of an opera called The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Elena Ruehr, a composer, musician and educator who grew up in Houghton.

Set in an alternate timeline, the opera takes a steampunk look at the invention of the computer algorithm. It will be performed without sets or costumes, ergo the “concert” style.

“It’s under an hour,” Simandl said,

“so if you’ve wanted to check out opera but weren’t sure about the time investment, this is a great way to do it.”

In conjunction with the opera, the PMMF is putting on a “steampunk ball” at the Quincy Mine Shaft. This is a free event and will feature music and desserts.

“Operas are notoriously expensive to put on,” Meyer said. “People have been asking to get opera back, and this is an affordable way to do it. We’re always trying to keep the festival in the black financially.”

That’s the rub with small festivals. Performers shouldn’t do it for free, and to get people to come organizers need to keep upping the ante with the kinds of performances they offer.

Above, Lindsay Garritson, a member of the Bergonzi Trio, will also perform as a soloist this year. The trio has become a staple of the annual festival. Below, also performing this year is the Superior String Alliance. (Photos courtesy of PMMF)

“All arts organizations are struggling,” Meyer said. “We want to be fiscally responsible.”

PMMF leaders pride themselves on hiring Upper Peninsula musicians where and when they can. All members of the string quartet featured this year are from the U.P. “We want to highlight our musicians,” Meyer said.

One way they promote musicians is through their “UPstarts” selections. These are up-and-coming musicians from the Upper Peninsula who are invited to perform. Oskar Gaenssle is an accomplished musician from the Marquette area who is performing selections on both bassoon and contrabassoon.

Gaenssle graduated in 2022 from Northern Michigan University with a bachelor of arts degree with a concentration in music performance. He’s chosen a solo piece and a duet with another of the UPstarts, cellist Adam Hall. His experience thus far with the PMMF has been mainly from backstage.

“I played bass a couple of times in the past with larger groups,” he said. But being chosen this year is a different experience.

“Playing for the PMMF means I can share my passion for music with an audience,” he said. “It’s never been about showing off my skills or anything, rather it’s about sharing something meaningful.”

There will be ample opportunities

to see performances throughout the festival, which runs June 3 through 21. Scheduled events include a concert at Isle Royale National Park in celebration of its 80th anniversary, featuring original compositions by Meyer.

Also in the lineup is a series of “On the Town” concerts.

“They’re sort of like a flash mob with only four musicians,” Meyer said. Small chamber groups will present performances throughout the Keweenaw, starting in Copper Harbor and working their way down to Canal Park in Houghton for the final concert.

“You don’t have to worry about parking or seating,” Meyer said. “We want to get out to where the people are.” The groups will be playing in unusual venues like cafes and libraries. There will be a list on the PMMF website so music enthusiasts can plan accordingly.

Through fundraising, donations and grants, the PMMF has continued to move forward. “The generosity of the community is incredible,” Meyer said.

“I was floored last year when people would just walk up to me and hand me checks, and I mean big checks. There’s a lot of passion for this festival, a lot of community support.”

The festival secured grant funding last year from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council and the Midwest Touring Fund along with in-kind donations.

Christine and Paul Seitz are will perform as part of this year’s Pine Mountain Music Festival. (Photo courtesy of PMMF)

“The number of people who donate time and space really makes this thing work,” Meyer said.

All of that support has made it possible for the PMMF to offer a “pay as you’re able” option this year. Everything is individually ticketed through the Rozsa Center. “It’s really important to the festival,” Simandl said, “that anyone who wants to go to a concert can go to a concert despite their financial situation.”

Why are small festivals like this important? Why bother going out when you could sit at home and watch anything and everything on your tablet screen?

“Summer music festivals fill a particular need,” Simandl said. “Orchestra season generally coincides with the academic year, September to April or May, while the festival season is generally in the summer months. Festivals offer a particular opportunity for chamber and orchestral and opera singers to come together for a couple of weeks and put together a specific thing that would have happened nowhere else. It’s exciting. It’s a one-ofa-kind event, with these performers in this setting. It’s the only time it’s going to happen, and that’s great.”

She added, “We’re focusing on

Garritson’s piano program reimagines composers’ themes

By Brad Gischia

ThePine Mountain Music Festival brings some of the best musicians in the world to Upper Peninsula stages. Dr. Lindsay Garritson is the pianist with the Bergonzi Trio and has been invited to also present a piano program this year.

“The directors of the Pine Mountain Music Festival gave me a lot of flexibility in what I wanted to present,” Garritson said. “I chose a variety of composers and time periods. I would say that the theme of them all is ‘reimagined.’”

Garritson will present pieces that have inspired other composers to write variations on those original themes. “The idea is that a composer will take a group of notes, sometimes originally composed, sometimes inspired by someone else, and write those notes in different and dramatic ways,” she said. One of the pieces she has chosen is by Beethoven, which she classified as “more of a traditional variation.”

Garritson has also chosen to play pieces by Reena Esmail, a contemporary composer of Indian descent. She said, “What I love about her music is that she’s classically trained but takes elements of her Indian heritage and suffuses them into her music.” Esmail takes a series of notes and writes variations on those notes. “She works in an amazing way that I think a lot of audiences wouldn’t be familiar with,” Garritson said. “She fuses the two cultural worlds together in a very beautiful way.”

Another piece Garritson will present will be a Debussy variation on his work The Sunken Cathedral paired with a work inspired by that piece by Australian composer Carl Vine. “The Debussy piece is very classical, very French sounding from the Impressionist era of classical music,” Garritson said. The Vine composition is titled Three Pieces and was premiered by Garritson last year. “Presenting them together is a good contrast and a great way to show the way that variations work,” she said.

“The program will weave contemporary composers and traditional composers in an accessible way,” Garritson said. She’s selected a wide variety of composers, including Latin composer Tanya Leon, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Garritson said Leon fuses elements of her Cuban heritage into her music.

Garritson hopes that her program will draw new fans to the genre. “We as people and a culture are constantly being told that classical music is dying,” she said. “Audiences are shrinking, organizations are trying to find ways to keep audiences engaged, and that’s been the case for many, many years.” Garritson, however, is ever hopeful: “As a performer and a musician, I’m amazed at how many wonderful musicians and composers there are. I keep learning about new ones all of the time.”

She added, “Classical music is very much alive and well. Composers are taking old themes, and more traditional ways of writing classical music and infusing their unique cultural backgrounds into it. That’s why I wanted to include these kinds of pieces because it’s important to constantly showcase what people are doing.”

providing classical music experiences at an affordable rate. We want to keep our finger on the pulse of what it is that people are listening to and figuring out what keeps them coming. Right now we have the freedom to test the waters a little and attract people that might not realize they’re fans of classical music.”

For more information on schedules, tickets or to donate, go to pinemountainmusicfestival.com.

Brad Gischia is a writer and artist native to Upper Michigan. He has published two children’s books and done illustrations for both comic books and novels.

THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO DONATE TIME AND SPACE REALLY MAKES THIS THING WORK.

Creating a part of DC history

Comic book artist had UP ties

By Brad Gischia

Norm Breyfogle’s name might not be familiar to a wide audience, but to fans of comic books — and especially to Upper Michigan comic fans — it should be. Breyfogle, an artist with connections to the U.P., worked on Batman and Detective Comics for DC from the late 1980s through the mid-’90s.

That was a boom time for the comics industry, with films and television shows ramping up to the big release of Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989. Breyfogle — who died in 2018 in Houghton — was at the heart of it on the comic side.

“I was saving my Mining Journal paper route money and using that to buy comics,” said Jon Teichman, owner of The Emporium featuring Vintage Vinyl in Marquette and a lifelong fan of comic books. “I would always buy the Norm Breyfogle comics, whether he was on Batman or Detective Comics.”

Breyfogle was born in Iowa and moved to Aurora, Illinois when he was young.

“We moved to Hubbell and then to Houghton when we were teenagers,” said Kevin Breyfogle, Norm’s brother. “There was so much crime down near the Chicago area, my parents just wanted to get away.”

Kevin Breyfogle lives in the Keweenaw and is also an artist. He said he and Norm adjusted quickly to the change in setting.

“I completely fell in love with the wilderness,” he said. “There were adjustments to make, the climate, new

friends, but we adapted quickly because we were kids.”

Young Norm was always interested in art.

“He began drawing and painting as soon as he could hold a pencil,” Kevin said. “He had lessons from a professional artist when he was in his early teens. That’s where he got his chops with oil painting. He won an award when he was 13 for a painting he did.”

Despite Breyfogle’s interest in traditional oil painting, there was a persistent love of the comic medium. His brother remembers that Norm liked to paint things in the style of Frank Frazetta, but “he was always a Batman fan,” Kevin said.

“It was his favorite. We would get our comic books from grocery stores,

where there was a rack of books. He was really drawn to artists like Neal Adams, Frank Frazetta and Murphy Anderson. He used to say that one day he would draw Batman, and he did.”

Norm continued to draw as he made his way through high school and then went to Northern Michigan University to study art.

“I remember Norm,” said Dr. Mike Cinelli, emeritus professor of digital cinema at NMU. “He was here for a couple of years, and I was there for his review process.”

Lower-level art students must go through a review before they can advance to upper levels of the art curriculum.

“He was impatient to move on and rightfully so,” Cinelli said.

A comic cover for Anarky, created by former UP resident Norm Breyfogle. This comic came out in 1999. (Photo by Brad Gischia)

his review what he wanted to do, he said he wanted to make comics.

“He left shortly after that and became a professional illustrator,” Cinelli said. “I think he was here for some basic information about drawing and painting, but he was ready to move on.”

After leaving college, Breyfogle took a trip to New York City to visit the main offices of DC Comics. He brought his portfolio.

“He didn’t get work right away, but they definitely noticed him,” Kevin said.

Norm moved to California and continued to submit samples, then he got his first freelance job.

That job was a short called Bob Violence for First Comics in 1985. This led to a few other jobs in comics with smaller companies like First and Eclipse and led to his writing and

drawing a Captain America short for Marvel Comics. During that time, he was in California doing illustrations at Vandenberg Air Force Base — while still submitting work to DC.

Finally, Detective Comics came calling. Breyfogle was ready, pencil in hand.

“Once he got steady work from DC, he was able to quit that job and focus exclusively on comic work,” Kevin said. “He was facing some crushing deadlines, though. For quite a while, he was just doing the pencils, though sometimes he was inking as well.”

An artist named Steve Mitchell also took on inking duties for Norm for a time.

During those years, there was very little digital comic art happening. That meant that each page had to be laid out, penciled, inked, lettered and colored. There are 32 pages in a tradi-

An example of Norm Breyfogle’s work, which hangs in the DeVos Art Museum at Northern Michigan University, where it’s part of the museum’s permanent collection. (Photo by Brad Gischia)

tional comic book, more for annuals or bonus editions. In addition, artists had to leave time for the pages to travel from their studios to the publishers. Each page has between six and eight panels on it, depending on the writer and how the collaboration works with the artist. Breyfogle was responsible for between 192 to 256 individual finished panels of art every month.

He was fortunate, though, to have a brother who was also artistically inclined.

“I never had any formal training, only what Norm taught me,” Kevin said. For a few years, Norm employed Kevin as his assistant.

“Norm’s approach was to rough everything out 3 by 5 inches,” Kevin said. “Every panel was really rough, then he’d send them to me and I’d enlarge them onto 11 by 17 boards, pencil them very lightly, and then I’d send all the pages back to him FedEx. He would take that and tighten everything up, and then the inker would get it.”

Kevin has fond memories of that time despite the workload. “It was really fun working with him that way,” he said.

Breyfogle “was the Batman artist of my childhood,” Teichman said. “When Tim Burton’s Batman movie

came out in 1989, he was the principal artist for the Batman comics. His design of the Batmobile became a Hotwheels car.”

When Breyfogle did the cover for Detective Comics No. 600, he visited Taurus Comics, located on Third Street in Marquette. “I was out of town at the time, but I had a friend bring my books there and [Breyfogle] signed them for me,” Teichman said. “I think it really made the process of making comics very special to me. Here was a guy with direct ties to the U.P. through NMU and Houghton, and he was changing the way we saw Batman.”

That change is still felt today. DC Comics has released collectible statues that are based on Breyfogle’s designs of the character.

“There are these iconic artists who draw Batman: Neal Adams, Frank Miller, and there’s a Breyfogle Batman as well,” Teichman said. “He was drawing the character in a way that the other artists weren’t. It was apart from the DC house style. That’s what made me love it.”

During his time at DC, Breyfogle created several new characters as well as redesigned the old ones. With writer Alan Grant he created Jeremiah Arkham, Mr. Zsasz and Amygdala,

and he recreated the Robin costume several times, with one of his versions getting an adaptation to the big screen in Batman and Robin starring George Clooney.

Later in his career, Breyfogle continued work with DC but also worked on solo projects for Malibu Books called Prime and Metaphysique. “The Norm pages were so explosive,” Teichman said. “It was great. For comic readers growing up at that time, there was a lot of visual excitement in his graphic style. It was immediate. Batman explodes off the panel. If Norm Breyfogle was doing the cover, I bought those comics, not just at the comic shop, but at the party stores and grocery stores.”

“We were always close,” Kevin Breyfogle said. “He would call quite often and came up to visit every summer. We’d go camping, sometimes head out to Colorado. It was a lot of bonding and fun times. He loved to read. He was friendly and helpful, an all-around good guy.”

Brad Gischia is a writer and artist native to Upper Michigan. He has published two children’s books and done illustrations for both comic books and novels.

THERE ARE THESE ICONIC ARTISTS WHO DRAW BATMAN: NEAL ADAMS, FRANK MILLER, AND THERE’S A BREYFOGLE BATMAN AS WELL.

Before Mighty Mac

What life was like before the iconic Mackinac Bridge connected Michigan’s peninsulas

By Jennifer Trudeau

It took about three years to build the Mackinac Bridge. Building began in 1954, and the completed structure was opened to the first cars on Nov. 1, 1957. Hard to imagine the Straits area without the bridge. By now it seems like a permanent feature of the landscape, visible through the trees from the highway along the

shoreline, white spires against the sky. Today Upper Michigan remains largely undeveloped and unspoiled despite the ease of access, improved mobility and economic opportunities the bridge has created. The country here hasn’t changed much in many places despite growth in others, and for the most part, that’s the way resi-

dents (human and otherwise) prefer it. But things are different.

The lonesome crowded north The primary effect the bridge has on its immediate environment, in a day-to-day way, is that it increases the presence of humans immediately at either of its ends, without too much

effort on the part of the humans. The numbers of tourists swell when the weather heats up, and these figures increase year by year. The seasonal eruption of traffic through the Straits area flows in both directions for most of the summer months, when the region sees its greatest increase and vehicles channel into and out of

The Mackinac Bridge strikes an unmistakable figure as it connects the Upper Peninsula with the Lower Peninsula. (Photo by Paul Cicilian)

the U.P. on the bridge in a steady, efficient stream.

Early visitors to the U.P. came for the same reasons they do now: sightseeing, vacation, the natural charms

of the land, and pasties. From 1923 until the bridge opened, a system of ferries operated by the State of Michigan transported cars full of vacationing people between Mackinaw City

Answers for the New York Times crossword puzzle, located on Page 21.

Vehicles line up to take a ferry, before the Mackinac Bridge was built. (Photo courtesy of Jack Deo/Superior View)

and St. Ignace. Aside from dangerously unpredictable ice in the winter, the ferries were the only means of getting to the U.P. from the Lower Peninsula or vice versa.

Shuttles traversed the Straits all day, nonstop, in the busiest months (which include summer and the beginning of deer season). To meet the crushing demand as much as possible, operators abandoned their regular schedules. The chauffeured-by-ferry method possessed nicely effective limiting properties, however: The largest of eight total vessels in operation was capable of carrying up to 90 vehicles (over 600 passengers) on crossings that took about 45 minutes. Compare that to the 612,890 cars that crossed the bridge in July 2019, an all-time record. Before the bridge, if you were waiting in line during the busy season, you’d likely wait hours.

Once the bridge was built, though, volume multiplied exponentially. Increasing traffic soon demanded the construction of more roads, which required the clearing of more land, which necessitated the destruction of more wild habitats.

Lots of it.

Wildlife

Theseasonal movement and behavior patterns of the shyest large mammals indigenous to the area, like black bears and white-tailed deer, were disturbed by the construction of the bridge. Their populations were displaced, affecting behavior, habitats

and migration routes.

Other effects include those to aquatic life, waterfowl, birds of prey nesting nearby and other species living or migrating along the shorelines or over the water — not to mention smaller wildlife and local plants.

And though their presence in Michigan these days is hotly debated, even outright denied, wolverines were here before the bridge, and possibly still are. Word is they’re hard to find anywhere, but who could blame them? If they’re still here, it’s because they’ve perfected the art of discretionary disappearance.

Some people think they’ve been completely dislocated by the encroaching masses, which isn’t entirely outside the realm of possibility: Wolverines like to range up to 15 miles a day. When’s the last time you could go 15 miles without running into at least one human, even in the U.P.? Also, they’re not particularly friendly, being mostly famous for a contrarian ferocity that’s led a number of Michigan sports teams to dare assume their name and wear it as a scary credential.

Clearly, wolverines don’t want to be found, which is probably why they were up here in the first place. Of course, they’ve gone into hiding.

There’s no denying the iconic Mackinac Bridge has made its mark on the U.P., in more ways than one. MM

Jennifer Trudeau is a writer from the Rock area.

The Mackinac Bridge viewed from straight on. (Photo by Paul Cicilian)

The Lilacs of Ishpeming

By Jane Piirto

Every year the second week of June welcomes an explosion of lavenders, a riotous splendor of survival. Coexistent with forget-me-nots and apple blossoms, old lilacs open in old yards near rundown houses Cleveland, New York Locations, mines now closed; in unkempt yards near derelict houses.

Syringa vulgaris, sturdy and stubborn, staying alive rendering beauty. Banks. Clouds. Mounds. Masses. Bundles. Hills. Dunes, clumps, of lilacs. The dapple of blooms overruns dilapidated shacks, leans over aged fences. Amethyst cones. Plum shafts.

Drive into the abandoned neighborhoods of Negaunee on Merry Street where sinking ground made the homeowners flee. Steps with no porches lead to thickets of bushes grown to trees. Yellow swallowtail butterflies dart.

Walk the path along Lake Superior. Tiers and verges. Borders shore the shore. Appropriately, French lilacs thrive in the rocky Father Marquette Park. And the air! Sniff the essence, distill summer’s advent. Put it to your nose. Remember. Girls used to plan their weddings for this week. They filled the altars with these blooming canes and branches their heart-shaped leaves green as ivy, a verdant quintessence, blessed hope for love undying, violet royal persistence.

Hurry! take the clippers. Find pretty vases. Fill your house with bruises of blossom glow. Drive the old, tired mining towns with your windows down. Breathe.

Jane Piirto, Ph.D., is a Finnish American native of Ishpeming. Her best-known local book, A Location in the Upper Peninsula (Sampo Publishing), is available in local libraries and on Kindle. Northern Michigan University awarded her a B.A. and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Now retired as a Trustees’ Distinguished Professor from Ashland University, she worked for 53 years as an educator at various universities and school districts in Michigan, Ohio, South Dakota and New York. She is an award-winning scholar and literary author with 20 books and chapbooks, including Individual Artist Fellowships from the Ohio Arts Council in poetry and in fiction. She is listed as both a poet and a writer in the Directory of American Poets & Writers.

Incredible, edible art

Rachel Freeman’s creative streak stretches from desserts to cosplay

By Jaymie Depew

From making small desserts during the workweek to sewing and creating cosplay attire in her spare time, Rachel Freeman has found innovative ways to keep her hands busy ever since she was young.

Freeman, a pastry chef and native of Flushing, moved to Marquette in 2004 to attend Northern Michigan University, first majoring in microbiology.

“I’m more of a kinesthetic learner, so lecture classes were a bit harder for me,” she said. “I get distracted easily, and I struggled with that.”

As someone who was in dance for 18 years and a part of the color guard in the high school marching band, Freeman was no stranger to cre-

ative expression and found her niche in NMU’s art department. “I ended up going for photography and used to take photos quite a bit, but I like fantasy-style photography and it was a little hard to get into up here,” she said. “People are really hesitant to get in front of a camera sometimes.”

While still enrolled in classes, Freeman applied for a job at Huron Mountain Bakery in South Marquette. She was hired on the spot as a counter closer. In that role she waited on customers, helped ice and fill certain donuts and pastries in the back, and cleaned and closed the bakery to prepare it for the early morning. “Eventually I was brought on to day shift and pulled into production,” she said.

“The main thing I do now is make small desserts, which I enjoy quite a bit.”

Though her official title is administrative manager, Freeman continues to use her photography skills, taking and sharing photos of the bakery’s products on social media. She wears many hats at Huron, including assisting in hiring new employees and bookwork. Her main job, however, is making all of the small desserts.

“I honestly consider her a co-manager and trust her completely with everything,” John Scheidt, owner of Huron Mountain Bakery, said of Freeman, his employee of 15 years. “She’s passionate about what she does, and it truly shows in her work. She’s always

Marquette artist and pastry chef Rachel Freeman, standing in front of the Eben Ice Caves. Freeman finds innovative ways to bring creativity into both her personal and professional lives. (Photos courtesy of Rachel Freeman)

coming up with new stuff, and I try to give her a lot of creative freedom to try new things. I just hope she’s with us for another 15 years.”

While Freeman became a pro at cranking out popular bakery items like muffins, donuts and croissants at Hu-

ron, it wasn’t until Scheidt purchased Babycakes, another popular coffee and muffin shop in Marquette, around 2017 that she expanded her skills to include French pastries.

After reading countless books and, eventually, attending workshops and

Examples of the many colorful pastries, donuts, and other treats Rachel Freeman makes as a pastry chef. (Photos courtesy of Rachel Freeman)

classes at world-class establishments like Bennison’s Bakery in Evanston, Illinois, Chicago’s Chocolate Factory and Manderfield’s Home Bakery in Appleton, Wisconsin, Freeman learned different techniques for newer products, allowing her to explore and advance her talents.

“One of the things I learned how to do was make macarons,” she said. “They’re a lot of fun to do but also tedious. I like it, though, because I can come up with different flavors based on holidays or local events. For example, for Marquette’s Blueberry Fest, I made blueberry macarons. I also made honey blueberry bee petites.”

The Petites consist of honey mousse with fresh blueberries, enrobed in mirror glaze with a dollop of buttercream, a blueberry, fondant bee with almond wings and an edible logo coin, with chopped almonds along the bottom, all sitting atop a cookie base.

Needless to say, they were a hit and Freeman has made them every year since for the festival, which draws thousands to Marquette’s downtown district. When asked how many macarons Babycakes has sold, Freeman smiled and said, “A lot. Tens of thousands of them.”

While the newer products have been a hit with the community and visitors alike, there were a few minor tribulations along the way.

“At the beginning of the acqui-

sition of Babycakes, it was trial and error seeing what worked and what didn’t,” she said. “So much trial and error. I struggled with mirror glaze for a while and tried many different recipes, but I finally got one that worked. That was the first evolution of my desserts. We’re always learning new techniques and thinking of different desserts and flavors to try now. I love going to bakeries in cities and just seeing what everyone else is doing, especially trying different flavor profiles.”

While most of the specialty desserts are sold at Babycakes, Huron now carries some of the sweet treats due to their popularity.

Freeman, on Huron’s behalf, recently teamed up with the Courtyards of Marquette, where they hosted three successful events called “cookies and cocoa.” Chris Durley, operations manager of the Courtyards, said they randomly came up with the idea one day. He said, “I’ve known Rachel for three or four years and one day she was sitting at the bar [at the Courtyards], reading a book, and we started discussing how we’d both like to partner with more local businesses but weren’t sure how to do that.”

After brainstorming, they thought about hosting community events consisting of cookie decorating and a cocoa bar, where all supplies were provided at the Courtyards. So far, the events have been well-received — so

A costume created by artist Rachel Freeman. (Photo courtesy of Rachel Freeman)

much, in fact, that at April’s event, they expanded it to include two different time slots that people could sign up for.

“I’m looking forward to partnering with her again,” Durley said. “She always has something creative she’s working on … whether it’s her cosplay or pastries, it’s always awesome to see and taste. It’s also a plus for me, too, when she brings me any new desserts to sample.”

While Freeman enjoys the creative freedoms she has with her job, her vision doesn’t end there. “In recent years, especially since Covid, I’ve been sewing,” she said. “I am of course a bit of a nerd, so I like to go to conventions and cosplay. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert at sewing, but I can do some pretty decent work. Sometimes I create my own outfits. I enjoy it and just being able to find really cool fabrics to work with. I like making myself little sundresses for the summertime, too. It keeps my hands busy so I’m not just sitting and scrolling on my phone when I’m home.”

Several years ago, Freeman and her friend Danielle Johnson attended the Motor City Comic Con in Novi, and they’ve been hooked ever since.

“We usually go to one a year because they’re not cheap to attend,” she said. “Between the hotel, the food, tickets, costumes and stuff you’re go-

ing to buy, it can be pretty expensive. They’re a lot of fun, though. One of my favorite costumes was a steampunk Belle [of Beauty and the Beast], which turned out awesome. I found this beautiful floral brocade which I used for it. I wore it as a Halloween costume at first but then again for C2E2 the following year.”

Freeman attended this year’s C2E2 — Chicago’s “comic and entertainment expo” — in April, making it the fifth convention she’s been to. She handmade her costume and accessories along with her boyfriend’s.

Although she enjoys sewing, Freeman plans on keeping it as a hobby.

“I like to keep my hobbies separate from work,” she said. “Once you’re doing it for money, it’s not as fun anymore. Sure, I make food to sell for my job and I enjoy it, but I’m not on the business side of it and for me that’s different.”

When Freeman isn’t making delicious treats or incredible costumes and clothing, she enjoys spending time with her two kitties, Regina and Oliver.

Jaymie Depew is a Munising-based writer who loves indulging in food and spirits, sitting around a campfire with loved ones, disappearing into a good book and snuggling with her dog Koda Joe and cat Pickle.

Artist Rachel Freeman poses in a handmade costume she created for a comic and entertainment expo in Chicago. (Photo courtesy of Rachel Freeman)

Not your grandmother’s Finnish cooking

By Katherine Larson

When Amanda Latvala asked whether I’d like to lead another cooking class at the Marquette Food Co-op, I jumped at the chance. Of course! What fun to spend a couple of evenings delving into gustatory matters with people who love food. But then she asked whether I could focus on Finnish cooking.

I paused. My connections to Finland are quite limited: one visit in 2017 on tour with the Marquette Choral Society, plus a bit of family lore — one set of my grandparents reputedly traversed Finland on foot in 1919 whilst fleeing the Russian revolution. But I love food from Finland and I love a good challenge, so I accepted with a caveat. This class would be “Not Your Grandmother’s Finnish Cooking.”

Thus, hopefully, freed from the burden of expectations I could not possibly meet, I plunged into the challenge of developing a series of recipes grounded in Finnish classics but brought to this time — 2023 — and this place — Marquette.

My first thought was split pea soup, which is absolutely foundational to Finnish cuisine, a weekly treat for many Finns to this day. But the class would be taught in May. While I too love a good split pea soup, by May I’m ready for something lighter, fresher, and altogether more springlike. Could I take the essence of split pea soup and transform it for the season?

The first step would be to move from dried split peas to the fresher taste of frozen peas. (May would be too early for fresh peas, and anyway in my opin-

ion it’s hard to do anything better with fresh peas than eat them raw as soon after picking as possible.) I wanted a bit more flavor than just peas, but not all the heft that would come with adding common components of split pea soup like carrots, potatoes and ham hocks. Still, it was essential to nod respectfully in that direction to maintain the Finnish connection.

The solution? I cooked the peas, plus a chopped onion and a little parsley and tarragon, briefly in vegetable stock — a good-quality commercial stock without too much salt ended up working fine. “Briefly” was important; I wanted the peas to retain their taste and brightness, not to descend into mush. Also important, it turned out, was an addition borrowed from petits pois à la française (peas braised with onions and lettuce): a small head of iceberg lettuce, coarsely chopped, added the subtlest hint of bitterness needed to cut the peas’ sweetness. After only five minutes on the stove, the concoction was ready for blending. I used a food processor, in batches, because that’s what I own. A blender would have worked equally well or better, and the immersion blender that Latvala brought to the actual cooking class worked best of all.

But how about that ham? The solution was a little tangle of julienned prosciutto frizzled in butter and then tossed with minced chives and lemon zest. If you garnish a bowl of fresh pea soup with a spoonful of this delectable mixture, you’ve taken it from the tasty to the sublime.

It can be served hot or warm or at room temperature. My only caveat would be, if reheating is necessary, not to keep it on the stove too long, in order to preserve the fresh-pea brightness.

With the pea soup question solved, I plowed with renewed confidence into recipe development. Alas, that confidence was soon punctured, as a series of experiments with spinach crepes (pinaattilettu), intended as an accompaniment to smoked trout with horseradish sour cream, proved only that I am incapable of living up to, let alone improving on, the tried and true Finnish version.

So what else to do with smoked trout? Smoked fish of all kinds are a huge part of Finnish cuisine, and I felt it essential to include some in this recipe collection. Moreover, I really wanted the smoked fish to be smoked lake trout, one of the most delicious staples of our Marquette fish scene.

I found three solutions. One, perfect for May, was a gingery quick-pickle of rhubarb, which pairs beautifully with smoked trout’s smooth unctuousness. Two others come from deep within Finnish culinary heritage: apple-beet-celery salad and potato salad. Because the potato salad’s dressing had to be creamy (and because I’m not all that fond of cream with apple), the apple salad received a mustard-honey-orange juice dressing instead. Also, switching from red to golden beets saved the apple salad from an otherwise ghastly pink. Both sets of flavors married well with the trout.

Another must-have was wild mushrooms. Finland’s devotion to nature — including foraging for mushrooms while out in nature — is embodied in the legal concept of jokamiehen oikeudet, or “Everyone’s Rights”: every person has the legal right to enjoy nature anywhere in the Finnish countryside regardless of land ownership, so long as they act responsibly. Acting responsibly includes picking wild mushrooms judiciously, and Finns take full advantage of the opportunity.

Research offered me a plethora of Finnish mushroom salad recipes, but at first, I balked because so many of them wanted the mushrooms boiled. Surely not, I thought. I have always loved the crisp brown edges of a mushroom sauté; I have always recoiled from the flabby texture of canned mushrooms; why, I asked myself, would I want to take a perfectly good mushroom and turn it flaccid?

Still, could so many happy Finnish eaters be wrong? Clearly, more experimentation was in order.

With snow thick on the ground, I could not possibly forage for wild mushrooms, but a variety pack from Up Gourmet provided me with a nice array: oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms and lion’s mane. I sliced up all three kinds and with the variety of types I ended up with a variety of shapes: floppy leaf-like bites from the oysters, quarter-inch crescents from the shiitakes and chunks from the lion’s mane. So much for the possibility of a blind taste test, but at least my testing partner didn’t know which was

Easy-as-pie blueberry tart (Helppoa kuin heinänteko mustikkapiirakka)

Note: These quantities work best if you use a 9-inch tart pan with vertical sides. If you use a 9-inch pie pan with slanted sides, the diameter of the bottom is typically only 7 inches and you’ll end up with quite a thick crust unless you set aside about a third of the dough for another purpose.

Filling

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

3 heaping cups fresh or frozen wild blueberries (about 1 pound)

1-1/2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Dough

1 to 2 teaspoons lemon zest

1-1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons butter at room temperature

4 tablespoons heavy cream, plus more if needed

1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Dissolve cornstarch in lemon juice. Toss blueberries in a bowl with cornstarch, lemon juice, sugar and cardamom. Set aside.

Place dry dough ingredients in the base of a food processor and whir briefly. Add butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add cream and process briefly, until the crumbs hold together when pinched; add a bit more cream if needed to get the desired texture. Place dough into the tart pan and pat into place so that dough is evenly spread over the bottom and sides of the pan.

Brush the beaten egg over the bottom and sides of the crust, then pour in the blueberry mixture.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes with fresh blueberries, and longer with frozen. Look for the blueberries to bubble in the center of the tart and the edges of the crust to be golden brown. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before eating to give filling time to set.

A scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream goes well with this tart.

which.

Next, I made the sauce: three tablespoons of Nancy’s probiotic organic sour cream — I specify the brand because its flavor and texture are so far superior to any other — stirred with two green onions, minced, plus salt, pepper and a tiny pinch of sugar.

Time to cook. Half the mushrooms were duly boiled for two minutes in lightly salted water acidulated with a few drops of lemon juice; the other half were sautéed in a tablespoon or two of butter until nicely browned. I drained the boiled mushrooms, patted them dry and let everything cool, then tossed them all in the prepared sour cream sauce.

The results? Hugely dependent on the type of mushroom. Boiled oyster

mushrooms were thin, watery, unappetizing. Boiled shiitakes had more mushroom flavor but were unpleasantly tough. Boiled lion’s mane, on the other hand, was a revelation. It’s never been my favorite mushroom, but prepared this way it was a dead ringer for tender sea scallops — a gourmet treat. Give it a few extra drops of lemon juice and serve on a cracker or bit of toast, and your guests’ socks will be knocked off. Superb!

As for the sautéed mushrooms, here the lion’s mane fell to the back of the pack. The oyster mushrooms developed more flavor, with a subtle hint of seafood that gave a clue to the origin of their name, while the shiitake mushrooms responded best to this cooking method, with a good earthy

Ways to serve smoked trout

With quick-pickled rhubarb

12 ounces rhubarb, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces

3 cloves garlic, smashed

1 inch fresh ginger, sliced thin

1-1/4 cups distilled white vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1-1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

1 teaspoon whole mustard seeds

At least a day before you want to eat this, pack rhubarb, garlic and ginger into a quart jar.

Put the remaining ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Using a funnel, pour boiling liquid over the rhubarb to cover it. Let cool, then cover the jar and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

Store in the refrigerator and eat within one month. Over time, the flavor will intensify but the rhubarb will soften.

Serve with smoked trout and good bread or crackers.

With apple salad

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed orange juice

1 teaspoon honey

1/4 medium onion, minced

3/4 to 1 pound tart, crisp apples, cored and sliced

1 large or 2 small golden beets, roasted, skinned and sliced

1 stalk celery, sliced

1 salad turnip or a few radishes, sliced salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, optional

Put the oil, mustard, orange juice, honey and onion in a bowl and whisk until well combined. Let sit for 15 minutes or more to mellow the onion.

Add the apples, beets, celery and radishes and toss until thoroughly combined. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Just before serving, toss with the parsley. Adjust seasoning to taste and serve with smoked trout on the side. Good bread is welcome with this dish.

With potato salad

1 to 1-1/2 pounds new potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice

4 ounces sour cream

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 pickled gherkins, finely chopped plus 2 tablespoons of vinegar from the jar

1 small apple, cored and finely diced

Fresh dill, roughly chopped

4 spring onions, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 10 to 15 minutes until tender.

Meanwhile, mix together the sour cream, mayonnaise and 2 tablespoons of vinegar from the gherkin jar in a large bowl. Stir in the gherkins, apple, dill and spring onions.

Drain cooked potatoes and stir them into the mixture. Season to taste and allow to cool.

Gently stir in the trout to serve.

Above, smoked trout, flaked, with quick-pickled gingery rhubarb. Below, fresh dill, chopped gherkins, and sour cream perk up this potato salad, which provides a delicious bed for smoked trout. (Photos by Katherine Larson)

flavor and better mouth-feel.

So how to write the recipe? It really depends on the type of mushroom you have. If you went foraging and found lobster mushrooms, I’d try boiling them like lion’s mane. If your foraging was limited to the grocery store’s button mushrooms, I’d sauté them. Either way, sienisalaatti (wild mushroom salad) is a fascinating treat.

Janssonin kiusaus, or Jansson’s Temptation, involves potatoes and onions baked in cream with what recipes written in English call “anchovies.” Swedish in origin, it became common in Finland through the long centuries of Swedish occupation and remains popular at feasts and festivals. The dish appeared on the dinner table in my non-Finnish childhood from time to time, each time my father telling

his made-up story about a man named Jansson who found the smell so alluring that he swam across a fjord to get some. (Not that Finland has fjords; it doesn’t.)

In my father’s memory, I wanted to include Jansson’s Temptation here, but I knew that anchovies might well raise eyebrows among class members. Could Finns really be that fond of those canned little red squiggles that seem made mostly of oily salt?

More research was in order, followed by another revelation: “Anchovies” are a mistranslation of ansjovis, which really means sprats, fish more akin to what we in the United States think of as brisling sardines.

Moreover, I learned, in Finland it is common to use a brand of canned sprats that includes spices. My task

became to develop a spice blend that would turn Janssonin kiusaus into a treat for the Yooper palate. The solution? A combination of cayenne, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice — not too much, just enough to add their piquant warmth — and the dish turned into something truly worth swimming across at least a brook.

No collection of Finnish-style recipes would be complete without a berry dessert. In Finland, that might be cloudberry, lingonberry or bilberry. Here in the U.P., it had to be blueberries. That raised another set of issues. To begin with, every Yooper I know already has their favorite version of blueberry pie or tart. Beyond that, pastry is not exactly one of my strengths. One pie dough I made, years ago, was so tough that I actually broke a wooden rolling pin over it.

What I needed was something simple enough to manage without destroying kitchen equipment, and imaginative enough to tempt people away from existing favorites, at least for a taste. And it had to relate to Finland in important ways. Finnish, Finnish, what is Finnish … I bethought myself of cardamom.

I have no idea why cardamom has become so closely associated with Finnish cuisine. Several theories circulate on the internet, and each says the others are dead wrong. Whatever the reason, though, the connection is real. And it turns out that the combination of cardamom and blueberries is, well, magical.

So much so, indeed, that as I made sample tart after sample tart, my tasters kept pleading for more cardamom. The final recipe includes the spice both in the blueberry filling and in the crust itself — a pat-in-pan crust that avoids any need for struggles with rolling pins.

The result is so easy to prepare that I ended up calling it “Easy-As-Pie Blueberry Tart.” How to translate that into Finnish? John and Pauline Kiltinen provided the answer: Helppoa kuin heinänteko mustikkapiirakka. With a cup of good Finnish coffee, superb; with a blob of whipped cream, even more so.

To all true-blue Finns who may be startled by what I’ve done to their grandmothers’ favorites, I offer this apology: These kitchen excursions were grounded in the deepest affection and respect. I’m interested to know what you think when you try them.

Katherine Larson is grateful to the Marquette Food Co-op for the inspiration and opportunity to embark on this voyage into Finnish-inflected cuisine.

Jansson’s Temptation (Janssonin kiusaus)

Up to 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided*

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1-1/2 to 2-1/2 pounds potatoes, scrubbed and sliced into 1/4-inch slices**

4 to 5 ounces brisling sardines, canned in oil, drained* and roughly torn

1/2 cup whole milk

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup panko or other dried breadcrumbs

* If you want to top the casserole with only butter, use 5 to 6 tablespoons total. If you want to top the casserole with a mixture of butter and fish oil, save the oil from the sardine can and reduce the butter accordingly.

** The number of potatoes will depend on the casserole dish chosen. If it is shallow like a pie pan, you’ll need more. If it is narrower and deeper, more bowl-shaped, you’ll need less.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Using 1 tablespoon’s worth, butter a 2-quart casserole dish.

To a skillet over medium-low heat, add 3 tablespoons of butter, onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and sauté, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes until softened but not browned. In the last 30 seconds of cooking, add the spices to let their flavors bloom.

Layer a third of the potatoes into the dish and season with lots of black pepper. Add half the onions and half the fish. Layer another third of the potatoes, season, then add the remaining onions and fish. Add the remaining potatoes and season once more.

In a small bowl, mix milk and cream and pour the mixture evenly over the potato/onion/fish mixture. Top the casserole with panko and the remaining butter and/or fish oil.

Cover the dish tightly and bake for 45 minutes, then remove the lid or foil and bake another 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

Photo by Katherine Larson

Lake Superior Theatre opens for summer

Celebrating 25 years of live theatre on the lakefront

By Erin Elliot Bryan

Near Marquette’s Lower Harbor Park, located right along Lakeshore Boulevard, is a 2,000-square-foot working boat house that moves vessels in and out of Lake Superior. The boat house was built in 1926, and its shop was even used to construct iron lungs during the polio epidemic in the 1930s.

But for several weeks every summer, the boat house is transformed into Lake Superior Theatre, a premier arts organization that stages full-scale productions and gives the community a rare opportunity to see top-notch

live theater in a unique venue. This summer’s season, which will kick off on July 5, marks its 25th anniversary.

“We’re going to make the summer as fun as we can,” said Peggy Frazier, a Lake Superior Theatre founding member and board president. “We mix the razzle with the dazzle.”

Lake Superior Theatre was created in 1998 when the City of Marquette was preparing to commemorate its sesquicentennial the following year. The city partnered with Northern Michigan University to commission a theater piece that would tell the story

of those who immigrated to the area in the late 1800s to cultivate a new life here.

The sesquicentennial committee, led by the late Rita Hodgins, approached NMU professors Shelley Russell and Robert Engelhart, who created Beacon on the Rock, a musical that focuses on family heritage and the diversity of the people who call Marquette home.

But once the musical was completed, a challenge arose on where to stage it.

“We were trying to find a venue

The Lake Superior Theatre, pictured here, offers a unique venue for live theater. (Photo by Jackie Stark)

MY FAVORITE MOMENT IS EVERY MOMENT I’M DOWN THERE. WHEN WE DO A SHOW, THE THEATRE COMES ALIVE WITH ENERGY.

“working every summer since as a regional theater that “presents and preserves the unique culture and history of the Upper Peninsula and fosters the performing arts.”

To mark its 25th anniversary, this year’s season will open with a production of Beacon on the Rock (with some rewrites by Russell) July 5 to 8. The show begins with a group of contemporary high school kids discussing immigration in the late 19th century and expressing their own desires to live somewhere less isolated, somewhere more exciting. They know their own ancestors came to this area, and they wonder why they stayed.

“It’s an opportunity for people to talk about their own heritage,” Frazier said. “It’s an opportunity to tell their stories and share wonderful memories.”

The season will continue with this year’s Lightkeeper, Lake Superior Theatre’s annual fund- and friend-raising event, titled “Broadway at the Boathouse,” on July 10. It will feature Sandra Joseph, who holds the record as the longest-running leading lady in the longest-running Broadway show of all time. She portrayed Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera for 10 years and more than 1,500 performances and will be joined by her husband and Phantom co-star Ron Bohmer. The event is described as an “eclectic presentation” of Broadway and cabaret-style music featuring selections from Phantom and other shows.

on the water,” said Frazier, who also served on the sesquicentennial committee. “But we also wanted to keep the theater magic. It’s live, it’s an intimate interaction, there are lights and sounds.”

A tent was proposed, but that didn’t seem practical. The weather was always a factor as well as how late it takes to get dark in the summer.

Eventually, the committee considered the boat house, which is owned by Frazier and her husband, Pete. According to Frazier, its acoustics were found to be “wonderful,” so they said, “Hey, let’s do it here!”

Pete Frazier’s grandfather, Maxwell K. Reynolds Sr., had built the boat house. Frazier agreed to rent it to Lake Superior Theatre for the summer season for just $1.

The first run of Beacon in 1999 sold out, and Lake Superior Theatre pressed on. The organization has been

Next on the schedule will be I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, a musical that examines the awkward, cumbersome and tricky nuances of dating life, directed by Leslie Parkkonen, July 11 to 15; Jersey Boys, a bio-musical inspired by the lives of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, directed by Eliisa Herman, July 18 to 22 and July 25 to 29; The Odd Couple, featuring two suddenly single pals, directed by Denise Clark, Aug. 1 to 4 and Aug. 6; and Honk! Jr., a contemporary retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling, directed by Caitlin Palomaki and performed by Superior Arts Youth Theater, Aug. 8 to 11, Aug. 13, Aug. 15 to 18 and Aug. 20.

The season will wrap up with “Superior Memories,” a week of onenight performances: “Lights, Camera, Marquette” featuring Jack Deo and Jim Koski narrating silent film footage from 1914 to 1949 accompanied by Bob Buchkoe on Aug. 21; “Broadway to Blues” featuring Tony Beacco, Ann Berchem and Keith Cahoon on Aug. 22; the Franklin Park Band on Aug. 23 and 25; and “Northwords and

Music” with B.G. Bradley on Aug. 24.

In a letter to supporters to commemorate the 25th anniversary, Frazier noted the importance of staging a variety of shows, some that focus on “conversations we need to have.”

“Theatre helps us understand what it means to be human, what we need to learn about ourselves,” Frazier wrote. “We like to think that by improving our community, we are improving the world around us.”

Reatha Tweedie, who is also a founding member of Lake Superior Theatre and currently serves as the board’s secretary, said she’s excited to see Honk! Jr. As the former arts and culture director for the City of Marquette, Tweedie oversaw the youth theater program for a time. But the show is also personal to her. “My grandson is 14 now, but I took him to that show when he was three,” she said. “He just loved it.”

Tweedie said she has seen a lot of local young people grow up at Lake Superior Theatre, where they can be part of the inner workings of a professional theater production. The theater also works closely with NMU students, some who choose to stay in town for the summer to work in a variety of different jobs, both on stage and behind the scenes.

“It’s a really wonderful experience for youth. It guides them into the future,” she said. “I’m proud of the success of it and that it’s still viable 25 years later. It’s a labor of love.”

One of the youth who grew up at Lake Superior Theatre is Jersey Boys director Herman, a Marquette native. She made her stage debut as Anya Petrov at just nine years old in a 2006 production of Beacon on the Rock and is now a director in addition to serving on Lake Superior Theatre’s board of directors. In between, she said she has worked with other theater organizations in the area and has even performed on the boat house stage with her husband, Alex.

“I love theater, and the boat house is very special,” Herman said. “They’ve created this space to create shows and magic in. Even people who don’t like theater want to experience it. And you can’t beat the sights.”

Though she’s directed shows since she was 18 years old, Herman made her LST directing debut with last year’s Something Rotten. She said Lake Superior Theatre had to apply for and was granted an exception for the rights to stage Jersey Boys, as it is currently touring nationally.

She said she’s excited for the show because it has a lot of the “best tunes.”

“Everybody will recognize the music,” she said. “And there are so many talented men in the community. It’s great to get them the spotlight they deserve.”

Herman praised Frazier, the theater staff — including Frazier’s granddaughter Petra — and the volunteers who help to make each show a success. “It’s a lot of work and not everyone is paid,” she said. “It’s a form of passion that’s really special.”

Frazier echoed Herman, saying that the theater has no paid administrative staff. The board also works to keep the shows affordable. Frazier said a family of four can see a show for less than $50. “We spend all of our money on our productions,” Frazier said.

She said it takes about two weeks of work for the boat house to be ready to welcome audiences. She described her husband as a “creative engineer” who has come up with various ways to turn the working boat house into a working theater. A lot of the transition work, which includes installing auditorium seating for 175 to 200 people (depending on the show), lighting and ramps to cover the boat house’s railway system, is done each year by members of the Marquette Breakfast Rotary, of which Frazier is a member.

In return, the boat house serves

as the venue for the Rotary’s annual fish boil fundraiser, a five-star waterside dining experience. Over the past 20 years, Frazier said, the Marquette Breakfast Rotary has raised $800,000 that has been returned to the community for a variety of projects.

Frazier lauded the collaborative spirit of Lake Superior Theatre, from its continuing partnership with NMU to the actors, directors and crew members to the sponsors, including the Michigan Arts and Culture Council and National Endowment for the Arts, and “don-oars” who are recognized with boat oars on the back wall of the theater. She said the theater also contributes to the economic success of the downtown and Lower Harbor areas.

“My favorite moment is every moment I’m down there,” she said. “When we do a show, the building comes alive with energy. It’s worth all the time, effort and hard work. It’s the summer experience we all love to have.”

For tickets and information about Lake Superior Theatre, visit lakesuperiortheatre.com.

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

Getting your ducks in a row

Upper Peninsula ducks offer beauty, variety and entertainment

By Scot Stewart

“Not the cry, but the flight of a wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow.”

— Chinese proverb

Two thousand ducks visited Marquette in March — all on the same day. Hundreds more stopped on Keweenaw Bay two days later. No one could remember ever seeing that many in Marquette. Ducks do make up an extremely interesting, entertaining and beautiful group of birds.

The Upper Peninsula is an intriguing place for ducks because of the cold temperatures of Lake Superior. For most ducks, it becomes more of a barrier than a resource because of the wind and weather conditions it helps create, and most ducks visiting the area are quick to cross the big lake. When the weather complicates the migration plans of ducks headed to Canada and Alaska for the summer, large flocks can drop into large, sheltered bays and lakes to wait out unfavorable conditions before heading on to their summer

ranges. Those conditions have definitely been an issue this year.

Ducks can be sorted into four main groups: dabblers, divers, perching ducks and whistling ducks. Dabblers and divers are the ones most commonly found in the U.P., and most species are commonly seen only during migration. Dabblers prefer ponds and the shallows of lakes, where they feed on vegetation and invertebrates near or on the bottom of the water. Mallards are the most common dabblers found in northern Michigan. Divers rely on fish and lake-bottom invertebrates like crustaceans and mollusks. Some of them do well in Lake Superior and some of the larger lakes.

Perching ducks have strong claws that allow them to sit high in trees and nest there too. The wood duck, one of the most colorful of all the ducks, is the only species representing this group that is found here. The last group, the whistling ducks, includes two species found in the southern United States: the black-bellied and the fulvous

whistling ducks found in the Deep South and along the ocean coasts.

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease, but the quacking duck gets shot.”

— Carl Sandburg

There are 29 species of native ducks in the United States. Worldwide, at least 167 were known, but some, like the Labrador duck, are extinct. Ducks and duck eggs have been a part of human diets for thousands of years, and as hunters’ weapons have been perfected, the efficiency at shooting ducks has left the numbers of many, like the American black duck and the wood duck, quite low in the States.

Because of the alarming losses of ducks, a dramatic program, the Federal Duck Stamp — originally known as the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp — was set in place in 1934 by Franklin Roosevelt to provide funds to purchase, preserve and manage lands for water-

A female Common Merganser with young on Dead River. (Photo by Scot Stewart)

fowl. Seney National Wildlife Refuge is a great example of the kind of place the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service developed to help waterfowl. Following forest fires and attempts to convert the area for farming by draining the Stangmore swamp, Civilian Conservation Corps workers began to create pools for Canada geese and other waterfowl.

In 1936, 300 Canada geese were brought to the refuge and kept in a penned area to nest. Their wings were then managed to prevent the birds from flying off. Although it took 10 years, the remnants of that group finally succeeded in producing young that returned the following spring in migration. Today the refuge is home to nesting geese, common loons, trumpeter swans (introduced there in the 1990s), ring-necked ducks, wood ducks, blue-winged teals, mallards, American black ducks, common goldeneyes and hooded and common mergansers. More than 50 other waterbirds either nest on or visit the refuge.

“Like a duck on the pond. On the surface, everything looks calm, but beneath the water, those little feet are churning a mile a minute.”

— Gene Hackman

crease duck numbers.

Because ducks were relatively easy to domesticate, a number of them are now farmed. This reality has created some confusion as a number of them have gone feral, and some have hybridized with wild ducks creating interesting cross-breeds as well as difficulties to identify individuals in the wild. Wild duck species also occasionally cross-breed, making the identification of some ducks a class in ornithology. There are more than 400 hybrids, with mallards and wood ducks leading the way, each with a large number of “successful hook-up” results. Images and information about some of the crosses can be found at several sites, including these: ducks.org/ conservation/waterfowl-research-science/waterfowl-hybrids; hybridduck. blogspot.com/p/hybrid-gallery.html; and dreamstime.com/photos-images/ hybrid-ducks.html.

Habitat

loss has also had a major impact on duck numbers worldwide. Dabblers in particular have taken a dive (no pun intended) because of changes to their nesting areas. Many nesting areas have disappeared in the Pothole country of the prairie states and provinces in the central part of North America as farming areas have expanded. Conversion of this land has reduced the areas available for nesting and cut into reproduction. Today, work by organizations that promote duck hunting has, ironically, done much to restore this habitat and in-

At least two domesticated ducks, Muscovy and Pekin, have made it to the Upper Peninsula in recent years. Exotic ducks like the mandarin duck are often kept by collectors, and there are places in the Midwest where they can be purchased for home ponds. They also escape into the wild on occasion. Several years ago, a gorgeous mandarin duck made it to Central Park in New York, where it became a popular attraction for both birders and nature lovers.

Occasionally a vagrant, such as Eurasian wigeon, will also migrate through the Upper Peninsula, creating a real stir among birders. This duck appears only occasionally, not every year here, and often sends birders to its location to get their first look at this species from Asia and Africa.

“When the ducks are walking, you know it’s too windy to play golf.”

A male canvasback makes a splash. (Photo by Scot Stewart)

golf.”

— Dave Stockton

Ducks are one of the most easily recognized of all the bird groups. Their shorter necks usually make it easy to separate them from geese and of course swans, their close relatives. Nearly every city park with a pond in the United States has mallards living there in the summer. They have adapted extremely well to live close to humans. It actually seems a bit unfortunate they are so common, as most people take them for granted. But they are spectacularly beautiful, males with their metallic, emerald heads, mottled flanks and blue speculum.

The speculum is a portion of a duck’s wing where the shorter flight feathers, the secondaries, are located. It is most prominent in puddle ducks, like mallards, American black ducks, wood ducks, northern pintails and the teals. In those species, the speculums are brightly colored, often iridescent green or blue. The colors are not pigments but a layer of keratin and a crisscross hexagonal pattern of cellular structures that make and store melanin pigments. This layer interacts with light to create different iridescent colors. When a duck stretches, the colors of the speculums of the two wings can appear to be different shades because of the angle of the light striking the wings.

Mallards and similar species are one of the reasons the number of recognized species of ducks may occasionally change. In the southern United States, there are two other similar species of ducks, mottled and Mexican. Both species resemble female mallards. In 1983, ornithologists lumped two species into one, identifying the Mexican duck as a subspecies

of mallard. Just three years ago, they were split again after further genetic studies identified significant differences.

Many of the dabbler’s nest in the central region of the country. For the most part, they winter in the southwestern United States and most follow the Central Flyway to the Pothole region of Nebraska, the Dakotas and central Canada, their summer ranges. This is one of four pathways ducks take when they migrate north and south each year. The Atlantic and Pacific Flyways are used by ducks spending the winters off the southern coasts. These are mostly divers headed back to Alaska and northern Canada. Dabblers wintering in California and the southwest also use it. The Mississippi Flyway is used by ducks wintering in the Deep South — Louisiana, Arkansas and the surrounding areas — to move to the Pothole country.

Mallards are the primary dabblers spending the entire year in the Marquette area. They taxi between the Dead and Chocolay rivers, where there are several feeder stations and relatively rich waters to feed, and Lake Superior, where there is some food on the surface and more security from predators. The mallard population in town has risen steadily over the past 20 years to more than 800 in the wintertime. In April, the pairs begin to head out into surrounding wetlands to nest. Some nest near the Lower Harbor breakwater and can be followed after they hatch and head to the area around the Coast Guard Station. Losses to mink and other predators take their toll and can be seen as the broods slowly dwindle. Some hens may actually re-nest. Some tiny ducklings can usually be found late in the summer

The speculum of Green-winged Teal. (Photo by Scot Stewart)

and even into the early fall there.

The large flocks of wintering mallards may also hold a few other dabblers stuck here for whatever reasons. American wigeons, green-winged teals, northern pintails, canvasbacks, wood ducks and American black ducks can be found in those big congregations. A few divers, common goldeneyes and mergansers are also among the groups some days.

During the wintertime, one of the best places to watch ducks is the north end of Granite Street where it ends near the river, above Tourist Park. It is a long stretch of fairly wide, slow-moving water with a good ice shelf on both sides of the river in some places for them to rest and preen and a number of places where food is available.

In springtime, during migration, some dabblers do stop off, a bit off course from the Mississippi Flyway. In the last few years more American wigeons, northern shovelers and blue-

winged teals have shown up in Marquette. They may be seen in some of the smaller ponds and wider spots on the Dead River. As the lakes begin to open up in the warmer weather, the ducks all tend to spread out more, and the nesters begin to look for spots to begin settling in.

The divers in the U.P. spend most of their time on the Great Lakes, where there is open water. Cold winters pinch in the places they can go. While the power plants operated on the shore in Marquette, their warm water releases provided open waters for them. Now that the plants are gone, the ducks have headed more often to the open waters of the Chocolay and Dead rivers, and to the open stretches of the creeks that run partway underground through Marquette where they can warm enough to stay open when they emerge again near Lake Superior.

Some, like the common goldeneyes and common mergansers, can spend

Top, a group of male Mallards displaying for females by putting their heads and tails up. Always trying to look their best, above, a male Mallard takes a bath. (Photos by Scot Stewart)

the entire year here. Buffleheads, ring-necked ducks and hooded and red-breasted mergansers head farther south where there is more open water for winter but do nest here. Longtailed ducks, redheads and greater and

lesser scaup are part of the divers most frequently seen in the U.P. during migration. Most will head farther west and into Canada, but the greater scaup will head to the High Arctic of Canada and Alaska.

One of the best species of divers that wanders into the U.P. is the harlequin duck. Divers most often seen on the rapids of streams out west, they occasionally land in Marquette. Two young males were found in the Low-

er Harbor several years ago and spent several days feeding on mollusks and crustaceans on the lake bottom. Another spent more than a week on the rapids of the Carp River near the prison around three years ago.

Left, a pair of male buffleheads. Above, a Northern Shoveler pair feeding in a mitigation pond along Lakeshore Boulevard. (Photos by Scot Stewart)

Eiders also drop in occasionally, one several years ago in Marquette, but more often on the St. Marys River in Sault Ste. Marie. Long-tailed ducks are among the coolest-looking males, with nearly foot-long tail feathers. They can dive up to 200 feet down for mollusks on the lake floor and spend long stretches of time in the Lower Harbor of Marquette staying as long as there is open water. One other group of divers, the scoters, is among the most difficult to watch. They rarely stop in the U.P. during spring migration and usually stop in ones and twos in autumn, usually in the Lower Harbor. All are mostly black; they are also tough to tell apart.

“Poetry is a sky dark with a wildduck migration.”

— Carl Sandburg

The great flocks found on Lake Superior in Marquette and Keweenaw Bay in late March were a mixture of dabblers and divers. The largest group in Marquette numbered around 1,800, stretched from Picnic Rocks to Lambros Park and amazed all who were lucky enough to see them. All but around 70 were gone by morning. They may have sensed the approaching lower-pressure system and left to avoid the ensuing storm.

An earlier group of around 300 in Marquette left a bit at a time over the course of several days. The last 20 or so headed into the area around the Upper Harbor marina and consisted of lesser scaup, ring-necked ducks and a female bufflehead. They were joined on occasion by a pair of female ruddy ducks that had landed there more than a week before. Because their favorite feeding area was only 15 feet from shore, they were a joy to watch right from the boat landing parking lot. They would often dive separately and

resurface nearly all at once in a tight group. The scaup drakes were particularly interesting to watch, as they kept track of their apparent mates and prepared to dive. A slightly raised set of feathers on the top of their heads flattened just before each dive. It seemed their dives were usually successful in finding food, but the identity of their meals was not easy to discern.

Courtship rituals among the ducks are often quite entertaining too. The mallard males bunch up when they are still looking for a mate and will crowd a female. At an unseen signal, all will raise their heads and then their tails in unison in a move called “heads up tails up.” Once they have found a mate, they begin mutual head bobs to confirm their mutual attraction.

Common goldeneyes exhibit a lot of courting in late winter when they are often in large groups on Lake Superior as new pairings are determined. Males will jerk their heads back in a strong exaggerated fashion and let out single creaky calls followed by a quick kick, throwing water behind them. Merganser males lean their heads forward and stretch their necks toward females in a “salute-curtsy.”

Ducks in the U.P. usually nest alone on the ground. Females lay a single egg each day until their nests are full, then begin incubation so all hatch within the same day or so. That way they can all head to open water together. Wood ducks and hooded mergansers nest in tree hollows, like ones pileated woodpeckers would excavate, making it necessary for young to jump to the ground shortly after they hatch. It can be a more than 12foot jump. The high nests help them avoid predators like foxes, raccoons and skunks, and the jump, often into leaf piles, does not seem to faze the young.

There are plenty of animals ready

A male red-breasted Merganser floats serenely. (Photo by Scot Stewart)

National Wildlife Refuge, northern pike, snapping turtles, bald eagles and mink all take their toll on the young broods. As they take flight, peregrines become a prime enemy.

During the late summer molt, some, like wood ducks and many dabblers, experience an eclipse phase where they lose most of their colorful body feathers, then their old primary flight feathers, leaving them flightless. They must swim quickly into cover if danger approaches. They may remain unable to fly for a month. The new body feathers are drab, leaving them more camouflaged. In October, once all their flight feathers have grown in, they molt their body feathers again and males take on their bright breeding colors once more.

“Popularity should be no scale for the election of politicians. If it would depend on popularity, Donald Duck and The Muppets would take seats in the Senate.”

— Orson Welles

The appearance of ducks has led to more than identification issues. Appearances, the short legs, the waddling and sometimes chubby aspects have also brought a whiff of mirth. A study done in Great Britain in 2002 led by Richard Wiseman at the University of Hertfordshire found that some of the greatest humor arising from animals concerned the duck.

A duck walks into a drugstore and asks for a tube of ChapStick. The clerk asks how the duck will pay for

it. The duck instructs the clerk to “put it on my bill.” The duck was a wise quacker. He also had a lot of things to fix at the nest, so he tried to buy a roll of duck (duct) tape. Ducks have had plenty of places to be heard and seen — as Daffy and Donald and even as Howard the Duck in a 1986 movie. So, duck if you don’t want to get hit by the next joke. It might quack you up. Until then, enjoy the beauty, behavior and joy of the sounds, colors and activity of these aquatic neighbors.

MM

Scot Stewart has

lived in Marquette long enough to be considered a true Yooper even though he was born in Illinois. He is a teacher and loves to be outdoors photographing and enjoying nature.

Above, a Common Merganser takes flight from the Dead River with his catch, a brown bullhead. Below, a Common Goldeneye takes flight, but this one’s not having dinner. (Photo by Scot Stewart)

Fasten your seatbelts

The UP’s aviation fascination began over 100 years ago

By Larry Chabot

What seatbelts? Save for homemade ones, there weren’t any in aviation’s infancy. Pilots just grabbed a wire or pipe and hung on. Back then, planes were only bundles of wires, wood and fabrics, with nothing to protect the pilot from the elements. And as Keith O’Brien recounted in his Fly Girls book, pilots dealt with breaking propellers, collapsing wings, engine failure and sticky levers, flying bugs and birds. There were no cockpits or fuselages.

The first planes seen in Upper Peninsula skies were skeleton-like and chancy at best. One of the very first was in Escanaba in 1911. “Escanaba’s

First Airplane Ended in Disaster” was the headline of a 1963 story about Delta County aviation by Arne Arntzen, a member of Escanaba’s “first family” of flying.

He wrote of the city’s inaugural aircraft, in a visit sponsored by a local businessmen’s club. The device arrived in pieces by boat from Chicago on July 1, 1911, and was towed behind a brass band to the local opera house, followed by curious townspeople who watched the contraption being assembled by pilot Harry Cowling and his mechanics.

A larger crowd mobbed the fairgrounds for that first flight. When the weather cleared, the bundle of parts

wobbled along a field, took to the air, barely cleared a fence and settled in a big pine tree, from which the uninjured Cowling rappelled to the ground. Another batch of parts was dispatched from Chicago but the weather never cleared, so Cowling blew town. The future of flying in Escanaba looked bleak.

Not long after that incident, two Marquette men crashed their homemade aircraft while attempting a takeoff from the hard-packed Portage Canal stamp sands near Houghton. The plane fell through thin ice, was dried out and towed toward Marquette, but a key part broke off in L’Anse. After an overnight stay in town, they returned

to catch a stranger trying to steal their wounded bird. The plane-napper was hauled off to jail.

In 1914, Escanaba hosted a legitimate contender when Baxter Adams flew in with a plane that he likened to “flying a broomstick,” yet he made over $30,000 through his appearances that year.

Adams was back in the U.P. in 1919 to show his stuff for the City of Hancock’s 50th anniversary. He flew all over the town and raced on Portage Lake against a sailboat, winning one race and losing one.

Elsewhere, on Jan. 1, 1914, the first of thousands of commercial American airlines lifted off in Florida on a

Illustration by Mike McKinney

23-minute Tampa-to-St. Petersburg flight across Tampa Bay, far faster than the six-hour train ride or an allday journey for an automobile. (There were no bridges there at the time). A crowd of 3,000 cheered as the first passenger boarded: former St. Petersburg mayor Abram Pheil, whose winning bid in a contest cost him $400. After offering 12 flights a week with sparse patronage, the line folded four months later.

Back in the U.P., 1919 was a busy year for barnstormer and ex-military flier Wally Rowell, who bought one of Marquette County’s earliest airplanes, a two-seat Curtiss Jenny. He flew out of a landing strip off Cherry Creek Road in Harvey after announcing, “If she flies as good as she looks, I’ll be more than pleased.” Rowell performed aerial tricks and took passengers on $10 rides as high as 1,500 feet. One excited passenger admitted that “I felt a light sensation in my stomach, like going up 20 stories in an elevator.”

Rowell returned to Harvey later that year for more loops and rides, then made extra cash towing company banners and dropping advertising sheets from the air. No less than five counties engaged him to perform at their fairs.

Seven cents a mile

Among the Upper Peninsula’s six historic scheduled airlines (all now defunct), the first was Foster Airways, established in 1930 with an ambitious schedule and route system that couldn’t sustain itself. Flying a four-seater Brougham aircraft, Foster ran a 500-mile loop from St. Ignace to Manistique, Newberry, Crystal Falls and Iron Mountain, all at the astounding rate of seven cents a mile. A Crystal Falls-to-Iron Mountain ticket cost only $1.60. Despite the cheap fares, Foster lured but one customer and folded after 10 days, furloughing its lonely pilots.

Ever hear of a flying congressman?

W. Frank James, a Spanish-American War veteran and former Hancock mayor who represented the western U.P. in Congress for 20 years until 1935, logged over 80,000 air miles covering his district and numerous Army bases in his tri-motor craft. His mileage was a record for members of Congress. He probably landed at some of the 33 landing fields built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

National and U.P. attention was drawn to a bizarre aviation event that dominated the news in 1938. Pilot Doug Corrigan, who had several times been denied permission from

NATIONAL AND U.P. ATTENTION WAS DRAWN TO A BIZARRE AVIATION EVENT THAT DOMINATED THE NEWS IN 1938.

navigation officials to fly from New York to Ireland, filed an acceptable flight plan to Southern California from New York. Corrigan then lifted off and disappeared into cloudy skies. Glory be, to the surprise of everyone — especially the Irish — he landed in Ireland after all.

Blaming continuous cloud cover, a faulty compass and lack of a radio, he returned with his plane to the United States by boat, where he was greeted with ridicule by some but joyously by others. Boisterous ticker-tape parades held in New York and Chicago were followed by a visit to the White House and a Hollywood movie, and status as an American hero. On his list of previous jobs was helping to assemble the plane Charles Lindbergh flew on his historic Atlantic crossing in 1927. Lindbergh acknowledged Corrigan’s feat with a congratulatory letter to the man known evermore as “Wrong Way Corrigan.”

Wartime took a heavy toll on the U.P. service members in military aviation. Among the U.P. fatalities in World War II were 302 pilots and crew from the Army, Navy, Marines and even the Royal Canadian Air Corps. An untold number were prisoners of war during that conflict.

Late in the war, the Four Wheel Drive Company of Clintonville, Wis-

consin, turned its transport department into a small scheduled airline named Wisconsin Central, flying fiveseat Cessna Bobcats. From this modest beginning, the little airline grew into North Central Airlines, which served the U.P. and other upper Midwest airports. North Central merged with Southern Airways to form Republic Airways, which was absorbed by Northwest Orient, which was then absorbed by Delta Air Lines.

In 1948, the U.P. welcomed Nationwide Airlines into Marquette County’s Negaunee Township field, but its single 21-seat DC-3 was unavailable at the time so the line rented a four-seat plane and hired World War II Navy pilot Joe Pietro to fly its two ticketed riders. Pietro went on to a long career as a flight instructor and senior pilot for North Central and Republic. MM

Note: The largest plane to visit Sawyer in Marquette County was a Boeing 747-8, which can seat 467 passengers and is twice as long as the Wright brothers’ first powered flight in 1903. The world’s largest passenger aircraft, an Airbus, boasts 853 seats in its two-deck colossus. And the longest scheduled flight is the Singapore-to-New York run of 18 hours and 50 minutes. That flight needs two full crews, who get three days off after the round trip.

Larry Chabot, an Ontonagon native, worked his way through Georgetown University and was then employed at White Pine Copper Company for 32 years, before moving to Marquette with his wife, Betty. He is a freelance writer who has written for several publications, including more than 180 articles for Marquette Monthly.

home cinema

Anatomy of a Murder: A retrospect

Review by Leonard Heldreth

Leonard Heldreth has been penning movie reviews for Marquette Monthly since it’s very first edition, in October, 1987. Below, is his first-ever MM review, in its entirety, as is it was published 36 years ago. The review has not been changed, however some pictures are different from what originally ran with his review.

Among the few events that have drawn national attention to the Upper Peninsula, the two most famous were Teddy Roosevelt’s libel suit against George A. Newett and Otto Preminger’s filming of Anatomy of a Murder. Roosevelt took six cents and court costs out of the U.P. as settlement for his suit, but Preminger’s film, budgeted at two million dollars, pumped half a million into the local economy. Now, over twenty-five years later, local residents still remember and tell newcomers about those hectic days in the spring of 1959 when reporters from Look, Life, Newsweek, and Family Circle, as well as representatives of many major newspapers, descended upon Marquette County to chronicle the daily activities of celebrities such as James Stewart, Lee Remick, and Joseph Welch.

One reasonable starting point for this story of murder is 1952, the year when Lt. Coleman A. Peterson was tried in the Marquette County courthouse for shooting Mike Chenoweth, the proprietor of the Lumberjack Tavern in Big Bay, who had allegedly raped Peterson’s wife. Defending Peterson was John Voelker, 49, who for fourteen of the sixteen years between 1934 and 1950, had served as Marquette County prosecuting attorney.

During this same period, Voelker had developed a second career as a writer, publishing a number of articles and three books. Among the articles were a piece of literary detective work and a prophetic discussion of ways of preventing nuclear war. The first argued that Hemingway’s hero, Nick Adams, had actually fished the Fox River instead of the Big Two-Hearted, while “Blueprint for Survival,” published in The Saturday Review of Literature (7/13/46) advocated a method of mutually assured destruction similar to the condition that now exists between the super powers. He also published articles on fishing and one on his schoolmate, Glenn Seaborg.

The Ishpeming Historical Society is hosting a free screening of Anatomy of a Murder at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 29 at the W. C. Peterson Auditorium in Ishpeming High School, at 319 E. Division Street. Admission is free of charge; donations will be accepted to help defray costs.

Under the name of Robert Traver, taken from his mother’s maiden name, Voelker published his first book, Trouble Shooter, 1943. In 1951 he published Danny and the Boys, a collection of humorous stories about the U.P. Small Town D.A. followed in 1954, and a book on trout fishing, Voelker’s favorite subject, was written but consigned to a drawer after a number of publishers turned it down. Although these books had received positive notices, none had sold big numbers. According to legend, Small Town D.A. was partially responsible for Voelker’s being named to the Michigan Supreme Court: one of Governor Williams’ aides read the book and sent a note to the governor that said, “He’s your man.” On January 1, 1957, Voelker was sworn in as a member of the Michigan Supreme Court.

On January 6 Anatomy of a Murder, which originally covered 840 legal-sized pages and had been rejected by three publishers, was published by St. Martin’s Press. The Book-of-theMonth Club chose it as a main selection, and it remained on the national best-seller list for sixty-five weeks. Plans were made to turn the novel into a play, and a number of directors seemed interested in adapting it to film.

Otto Preminger heard about the book in August, 1957, six months before it was published, when his story editor read the manuscript and sent him a favorable report. Preminger,

who was in France filming Bonjour Tristisse at that time, thought the screen rights had been sold. After returning to the United States, he read the novel, and its intense reality and vivid picture of the law reminded him of his own days as a law student. A subsequent trade newspaper article indicated the rights had not been sold, and Preminger, through legal maneuvers and the settling of three lawsuits, finally acquired film rights to the novel from Voelker in 1958 for $150,000.00 and 5% of the gross rev-

enue of the film.

At the time he began the pre-production plans for Anatomy of a Murder, Preminger had been producing films with his own company, Carlyle Productions, for five years. Born in Vienna in 1906, he had become a U.S. citizen in 1943, and he worked for Twentieth Century-Fox as a producer-director from 1943 to 1953, directing films such as Laura (1944), Forever Amber (1947) and Where the Sidewalk Ends (1953). He also played the Nazi commander in Stalag 17

(1953).

Preminger then formed Carlyle Productions, but his first film, The Moon is Blue (1953), was denied a seal by the Motion Picture Producers Association of America (MPPAA) because of its racy dialogue and its use of the word “virgin.” By standards of the eighties, the film is extremely tame: more sexual innuendoes occur in almost any prime-time television comedy.

Preminger directed Carmen Jones (1954), an adaptation of Bizet’s opera transferred to the southern states with a black cast, and The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955). The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) brought the director back into conflict with the MPPAA because he used drug addiction as a subject for film. In 1957 he cast Jean Seaberg in the title role of his adaptation of George Barnard Shaw’s Saint Joan and a year later he starred her in Bonjour Tristesse.

Preminger hired Wendell Mayes to write the script of Anatomy of a Murder and worked closely with Mayes to shape a screenplay that pleased both of them. When Preminger was offered the opportunity to direct Porgy and Bess, he took Mayes to Hollywood, where Preminger directed during the day while Mayes wrote, and then they conferred at night. In the spring of 1958, Preminger visited Voelker in the Upper Peninsula and decided to shoot all the exteriors on location; on a later visit in early January, 1959, he decided to shoot the entire film on location.

On January 15, 1959, James Stewart and Lana Turner were announced as the stars of the film, but in early March Turner quit the part, charging that it was “impossible to deal with his (Preminger’s) unpredictable temper.” Preminger replied that the dispute was over wardrobe: Turner wanted glamorous costumes while Preminger wanted her in realistic clothes to fit the documentary style he envisioned for the movie. The director announced, “I’ll get an unknown and make her a new Lana Turner,” but twelve hours later he signed Lee Remick, described in the press release as “a sensational stage and screen actress.”

While Turner was the right age for the part of Laura Manion, whom the book described as forty-one and extremely attractive, Remick at twenty-three was young for the part. In the film, however, the change in age is not noticeable since the husband is also younger. Remick had debuted in A Face in the Crowd (1957), playing a majorette, and had acted in two other films, The Long Hot Summer (1958) and These Thousand Hills (1959).

Eve Arden was cast as Maida, Paul Beigler’s secretary. While Arden had appeared in a number of films, including Stage Door (1937), Cover Girl (1944), Mildren Pierce (1945), and We’re Not Married (1952), she was best known for her television series, Our Miss Brooks, which ran from 1952-1955. The part of Mitchell Lodwick, the prosecuting attorney, was given to Brooks West, Eve Arden’s husband. Ben Gazarra was

signed to play Lt. Frederic Manion, the defendant, and Arthur O’Connell played Parnell McCarthy. George C. Scott, who played the assistant to the prosecuting attorney, was hired by Preminger after two interviews although Preminger had never seen him act.

The casting that most fascinated Preminger was hiring Joseph Welch, the Boston attorney who had become famous for his opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy in the Army-McCarthy hearings. Anatomy of a Murder was Welch’s only film, and Preminger was so eager to have him that he gave Welch one of the highest salaries in the film. He further sweetened the pot by casting Mrs. Welch as a juror. Premingers ploy paid off, however, because he received far more free publicity from casting Welch than he could have bought with his salary.

For the part of Mary Pliant, Preminger had planned to cast “an as yet unknown aspiring actress,” but his final choice was Kathryn Grant, wife of Bing Crosby. Lloyd LeVasseur, County Clerk of Marquette, was cast as Clovis Pigeon, the county clerk, an appropriate choice since Pigeon was probably modeled on LeVasseur, and Voelker said that LeVasseur had been rehearsing the part for twenty-three years.

On January 21, the County Board of Supervisors gave permission to use the courthouse and to paint it a rosy tan because the original color would appear too light in the film. Other changes to the courthouse entailed

Some of the crew that worked on filming Anatomy of a Murder. (Photo courtesy of Jack Deo/Superior View)

bracing the second floor to support the heavy movie equipment and adding further ventilation to deal with the heat generated by the lights.

While the filmmakers attempted to use existing structures, such as the courthouse, Voelker’s home, the Ishpeming Railroad depot and the sheriff’s office, some construction was necessary. A hot dog stand was constructed near the lake at the end of Washington Street, theoretically to take advantage of the beauty of the shoreline, but the old coal loading equipment operated throughout the scene and distracted viewers from any natural beauty. An addition was added to the Big Bay Inn, as well as a new sign, and a beauty parlor was constructed in an empty building in Michigamme.

Over 300 Marquette residents tried out for parts as extras, and about 160 were selected for bit parts. The casting director tried to pick women who were middle-aged or older and men who were retired or elderly because he felt these types would be hanging around a courthouse. The extras were paid $10.00 per day, and $15.00 if they used their cars.

The arrival of the major cast members on March 22 via train – Lee Remick brought her seven-weekold daughter – was filmed and later broadcast on the Ed Sullivan show on March 30. Shooting began on March 23 and proceeded almost exactly on schedule. The courtroom scenes were filmed first over a period of four weeks, with a break on April 20 for filming two scenes at the train depot in Ishpeming where Arthur O’Connell greeted Orson Bean while a hired train chugged away at $100.00 per hour. O’Connell had caught a virus in New York and had been hospitalized at Bell Memorial Hospital.

By April 24, the courtroom scenes were finished except for some hall shots, and filming moved to St. Mary’s Hospital, then to the county jail, and then on to Big Bay. The filming in the Lumberjack Tavern was said to be the first time scenes from a murder movie were actually filmed at the site of the murder. Voelker declared his work “pure fiction” and later remarked, “Of course, there are real people who can be compared to the characters in the book, but this was creative fiction of the highest order because I changed their names.” Preminger said he picked the Lumberjack “in the interest of realism and authenticity,” while locals pointed out the authentic bullet holes in the wall.

On May 2 Duke Ellington arrived to work on the film score and to play the leader of the roadhouse band. De-

spite an early May snowstorm, filming continued at Voelker’s former home in Ishpeming, at the Carnegie Public Library, and Nault’s Bar. Then the crew moved to the Mt. Shasta Lodge, which functioned as a roadhouse in the film, to Perkins Park trailer court, and to two days of shooting in Michigammee for street scenes and a beauty parlor sequence. By May 15, almost exactly on schedule, shooting was completed, and a mass exodus began.

Anatomy of a Murder achieved at least two firsts and provided some interesting production facts. In addition to being the first film shot at the sight of the murder it depicted, it was also the first film produced entirely on location, even to the editing. It used more dulling spray than any other film–over thirty cans– because of the polished woodwork in the courthouse, which reflected into the cameras. The dog who appeared in the film was actually two different cairn terriers, Snuffy and Danny. James Stewart used Voelker’s rods and lures in the film and smoked the short black imported Italian cigars which Voelker and his hero smoked. Voelker asserted

the cigars were “not as bad they appear to be; they are infinitely worse,” so at a testimonial dinner, he gave Stewart an award for enduring them.

As most films do, Anatomy of a Murder played loose with the architecture of the area. In a scene where Stewart and O’Connell are searching through books in the law library, Welch comes down the corridor, peeks into the room, sees the two, smiles, turns, and leaves. The “law library” was fabricated in the Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library using law books moved there from Northern Michigan College. When Welch walked down the hall at the court house and appeared to peek into the library, he actually looked into the men’s room. Creative editing connected the two locations into one building.

One of the more curious sequences said to be in the film is not apparent in the current videotape version. In the 4th edition of Leslie Halliwell’s The Filmgoer’s Companion, he cites Anatomy of a Murder as providing one of the best examples of “Boo-boos” in film: the scene is the one in which Lee Remick dances at the roadhouse

while her husband is in prison, and Stewart tracks her down and sends her home. According to Halliwell (p. 97), “Lee Remick in the cafe scene wears a dress, but when she walks outside she is wearing slacks.” Of course, the scenes may have been shot at different times, and the continuity person might have been dozing. The videotape version does not demonstrate this discontinuity. Was Halliwell asleep or was the film re-edited to eliminate the embarrassing error? I suspect the latter.

In April the Michigan Week Group selected Anatomy of a Murder as Michigan’s “Product of the Year,” and at the dinner, Preminger announced the film’s world premier would be held simultaneously in Marquette and Ishpeming on Monday, June 29, John Voelker’s 56th birthday. Proceeds from the premier would go to Bay Cliff Health Camp for physically handicapped children. Ticket prices were $10.00, $7.50, and $5.00. The premier at the two theatres was a sell out– 889 tickets – and Bay Cliff received $9000.00 in contributions. The Detroit premier on July 2 was held as a benefit for the United Nations Association.

Not everyone was impressed with the film and its designation as Michigan Product of the Year. The Rev. Paul Ward wrote to the Mining Journal to attack the award and to label Anatomy of a Murder “one of the most immoral books to be published in recent years” because it shows a lawyer more interested in having his client acquitted than in seeing justice done: “That a Michigan Supreme Court Justice should be the author is about unbelievable.”

A few people agreed with Ward, but reaction to the film was generally positive. A Milwaukee review noted, “if Miss Remick hasn’t been recognized as a star previously, this vehicle should make her one.” But the film was also called “an earthy movie,” and reviews noted, “Some eyebrows will be lifted by the frank dialogue included in the courtroom scenes.” In Chicago a police commissioner, who felt certain phrases and dialogue were obscene and immoral, tried to keep the film from being shown, but he was overruled by the courts. In a July 13 article, a journalist wondered if there would be “amusement in 1979 about today’s eyebrow-lifting ‘Anatomy of a Murder’ dialogue.” Of course, after recent films as different as Full Metal Jacket and Summer School, whose only common element is their extensive use of obscenities and profanities, one can only laugh in bemusement at the changes accepted in language in

Duke Ellington and Jimmy Stewart play piano together. (Photo courtesy of Jack Deo/Superior View)

twenty-five years.

In the eighties Anatomy of a Murder is still suspenseful and amusing, and it keeps its feeling of authenticity. The acting remains effective, with Stewart, Remick, and Scott as the standouts. Indeed, one of the film’s most impressive characteristics is the amount of talent, much of it then relatively unknown, that Preminger assembled. Duke Ellington’s jazz score seems even better today than critics thought at the time, although he is scarcely believable as the roadhouse band leader.

If I were forced to find a fault with the film, I would have to choose Preminger’s rather static direction. Preminger likes the long shot – a scene running for more than three minutes – often with camera movement, such as pans or dolly shots. Such a technique, often referred to as mise-en-scene editing, contrasts with the montage technique of assembling a film from a number of short shots, usually with no camera movement in individual shots. On the positive side, mise-en-scene method gives the actors time to build their emotions in the scene. Preminger felt that this method gave the film more vitality, and he also tried to film the scenes as much in chronological order as possible to help the actors keep a better sense of the action. He planned the film carefully and often shot from only one angle, rather than shooting from a number of angles and then picking the best one in the cutting room. When this approach works, it saves money, often helps the actors perform more effectively, and gives more continuity to the action than would a series of short, choppy shots. On the negative side, the technique, used too much, can lead to a stagey quality that often causes the action to look too much like a filmed play. The montage method tends to exploit the film medium more. Often, the choice is simply a personal one, and Preminger chose the method he preferred.

Nevertheless, at times I wished Preminger had been more daring in the staging of scenes, in the editing, and in using the unique characteristics of film. The camera work is sometimes static, and the visuals of the film are often predictable. This quality is less apparent in Anatomy of a Murder than it is in some of Preminger’s other films, but it still somewhat distracts from the film.

Anatomy of a Murder is a solid film, but it lacks the original edge or style that a top-flight director–a Hitchcock, a Ford, a Houston, or even a De Palma–might have given it. Voelker’s novel, through its point of view, char-

acterization, and use of setting, has a depth that the film lacks. Nor is this difference simply a matter of length: the novel has an original voice and a verbal style that give it a distinctive edge. The subject material, however, is strong enough that it carries the film through its awkward stretches, and overall it’s good entertainment that obviously pleased a lot of people.

The film concludes with a number of questions left unanswered. Was Lt. Manion guilty of cold-blooded murder? Had Barney Quill beaten and raped Laura Manion, or did her husband give her the bruises and black eye? Where did the Manions go after leaving the area? Did Paul Biegler ever locate them and collect his fee? The last scene ends with a shot of Laura’s shoe hanging on the edge of a garbage can, and the answers are as impossible to track down as the Manions.

Critical response to the film at the time of its release was quite positive; it received four Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor (Stewart), and Best Supporting Actor (Scott and O’Connell).

Reality intruded into the fiction in July of 1960 when Mrs. Hazel Wheeler, the forty-seven-year-old widow of Mike Chenoweth, filed a nine million dollar lawsuit against Dell Publishing Co. and Columbia Pictures. Joining her in the suit was her daughter, Terry Ann Chenoweth. In April of 1962, a U.S Appeals court upheld the lower court’s ruling that the suit be dismissed: the discussion indicated that while identification of Mrs. Chenoweth was possible, her privacy was not invaded since it was obvious the author had made the character different from the actual individual.

continued making such films such as Exodus (1960), Advise and Consent (1961), and The Cardinal (1963); he died in 1986 at age 79.

John Voelker resigned from the Michigan Supreme Court at the end of 1959 because, “while other lawyers may write my opinions, they can scarcely write my books. It is as simple as that.” He continues to live in the Upper Peninsula and to write interesting articles and books about it: Trout Madness (1960), Horstein’s Boy (1962), Anatomy of a Fisherman (1964), Laughing Whitefish (1965), Jealous Mistress (1968), Trout Magic (1974), and People Versus Kirk (1981).

What about the lingering effect on the area of all that excitement? Marquette County is still more easily identified to more people as “the place where Anatomy of a Murder was filmed” than through any other means. And while the immediate economic effect of half a million dollars was beneficial, the follow-up publicity was probably worth even more. People still read the novel, and a 25th Anniversary Edition was released in 1983. Readers as different as Walter Mondale and Geoffrey Ashe, the Arthurian scholar, admire the book and are eager to meet Voelker. John Vandezande, a local writer, published a short story entitled The Story, which traces one old man’s memories of the filming in Big Bay. Anatomy of a Murder was first shown on television in the U.P. in November of 1966 and is now available on videotape.

What is not clear is why none of Voelker’s other novels has been as popular as Anatomy of a Murder and why none of them has been made into films. Few people are around who remember Teddy Roosevelt’s visit, and the younger generation knows about Preminger’s visit only second hand. It’s about time the U.P. was put to good use as a sound stage again, this time with more outdoor sets. Has anybody sent Stanley Kubrick a copy of Laughing Whitefish?

(Facts for this retrospect were drawn from materials in the John W. Longyear Research Library at the Marquette County Historical Society and in the Peter White Public Library.)

Otto Preminger

After the filming of Anatomy of a Murder ended, its stars moved on to other projects. James Stewart traveled to the desert to make The Mountain Road, the next film in his long, distinguished career. Lee Remick became the star everyone was predicting she would be, appearing in films such as Days of Wine and Roses (1962), The Omen (1976), and The Europeans (1979), as well as numerous television movies. Eve Arden continued with films such as The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) and Grease (1978). Arthur O’Connell appeared in 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), Bus Stop (1956), Fantastic Voyage (1966), and others. Joseph Welch, who later admitted that he paid little attention to the script and changed the lines to “make them as real as I could,” died in October of 1960; at the time of his death he and Voelker were considering collaboration on a book.

Leonard Heldreth became interested in films in high school and worked as a movie projectionist in undergraduate and graduate school. His short “Cinema Comment” aired for some years on WNMU-FM. In 1987, he started writing reviews for Marquette Monthly. He taught English and film studies at NMU for more than 30 years.

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 July events by Saturday, June 10 to: calendar@marquettemonthly.com

Index on the town …………………………………………………… 78 art galleries ………………………………………………… 83-84 museums ……………………………………………………88-89 support groups………………………………………………….94

end of may events

31 WEDNESDAY sunrise 6:01 a.m.; sunset 9:33 p.m.

Ishpeming

• Popcorn and a Movie. The movie Top Gun: Maverick will be shown. This film is rated PG-13. 4:30 p.m. Ray Leverton Community Room, Ishpeming Carnegie Public 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.

• Twenty Years On: The Dead River Flood of ’03. A panel of citizens and experts will discuss failure of the Silver Lake Dam which sent 8 to 9 billion gallons of water down the Dead River. $5 suggested donation. 6:30 p.m. Marquette Regional History Center, 145 W. Spring St. (906) 226-3571 or marquettehistory.org

• Meet the Filmmaker. View local documentarian Dan Korhonen’s film Save Our Theatre. A Q&A will follow. 7 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322.

Superiorland Pet Partners | June 8, 15 & 22 | Marquette

on the town

Gwinn

• Hideaway Bar.

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

741 M-35. (906) 346-3178.

• Up North Lodge.

- Sunday, June 4: DayDreamers.

- Sunday, the 11th: Flat Broke Blues Band.

- Sunday, the 18th: The Maynards.

- Sunday, the 25th: Soul Shine. Music from 4 to 8 p.m. 215 S. CR-557. (906) 346-9815.

Hancock

• Orpheum Theater.

- Friday, June 2: The Driftless Revelers & Steve Solkela’s Overpopulated One Man Band. $10. 7 p.m. 426 Quincy St. (906) 483-2294.

Houghton

• Bonfire.

- Saturday, June 17: Ultimate 80’s Party. 11 p.m. 408 E. Montezuma Ave. (906) 523-5833.

Marquette

• Blackrocks Brewery.

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

- Thursday, June 1: Jim and Ray. 6 to 9 p.m.

- Saturday, the 3rd: The Driftless Revelers & Steve Solkela’s Overpopulated One Man Band. 6 p.m.

- Thursday, the 15th: Jim and Ray. 6 to 9 p.m.

- Thursday, the 22nd and Friday, the 23rd: The Real Ingredients. 6 p.m.

- Thursday, the 29th: Jim and Ray, 6 to 9 p.m.

Music begins at 6 p.m.

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.

- Friday, June 9: Severio Mancieri. 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) 2288865.

• Lake Superior Smokehouse.

- Saturday, June 3: Jim and Ray. 6 to 9 p.m.

- Friday, the 9th: Jim and Ray. 6 to 9 p.m.

200 W. Main St. (906) 273-0952.

• Marquette Golf Club.

- Friday, June 16: Jim and Ray. 6 to 9 p.m.

1075 Grove St. (906) 225-0721 or golfgreywalls.com

• Ore Dock Brewing Company.

- Friday, June 2 and Saturday, the 3rd: Leroy. 9 p.m.

- Friday, the 9th: Who Dat Brass.

- Friday, the 16th: Mark Joseph and Nicholas David. $10.

- Saturday, the 17th: Ethan Bott.

- Friday, the 30th: The Palestras. 5 to 8 p.m.

All shows are free unless noted. Shows begin at 8 p.m. unless noted. 114 W. Spring St. (906) 228-8888.

• Rippling River Resort.

- Thursdays through Sundays: Fireside music by various musicians. 6 to 9 p.m.

4321 M-553. (906) 273-2259 or ripplingriverresort.com

• Superior Culture.

- Friday, June 2: Ryan Dart. 9 p.m.

- Friday, the 23rd: The Real Ingredients. 7 p.m.

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

Munising

• Falling Rock Cafe & Bookstore.

- Saturday, June 10: School of Rock.

- Saturday, the 24th: Bayou Chocolat Band.

104 E. Munising Ave. (906) 3873008 or fallingrockcafe.com

Negaunee

• Upper Peninsula Brewing Company.

- Tuesday, June 13: Trivia. 7 p.m.

- Saturday, the 24th: The Real Ingredients. 7 p.m. 342 Rail St. (906) 475-8722.

Republic

• Pine Grove Bar.

- Friday, June 2: Spun. 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

- Saturday, the 3rd: Reverend. 8 p.m. to midnight.

- Friday, the 9th: Dee Dee Jayne. 7 to 10 p.m.

- Saturday, the 10th: Toni Saari. 7 to 10 p.m.

- Saturday, the 10th: Adam Carpenter & the Upper Hand. 8 p.m. to midnight.

- Friday, the 16th: The Lifters. 7 to 10 p.m.

- Saturday, the 17th: Blue Duce. 3 to 6 p.m.

- Saturday, the 17th: Polar Blues Band. 8 p.m. to midnight.

- Sunday, the 18th: One Human Band. 3 to 6 p.m.

- Friday, the 23rd: The Eons. 7 to 10 p.m.

- Saturday, the 24th: Money 2 Burn. 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

- Friday, the 30th: The Pink Violin Band. 7 to 10 p.m.

286 Front St. (906) 376-2234.

The Driftless Revelers | June 2 - Orpheum Theater | June 3 - Blackrocks Brewery

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.

• 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.

june events

01 THURSDAY sunrise 6:01 a.m.; sunset 9:34 p.m.

Calumet

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

Escanaba

• Used Book Sale. Like-new books for $1. Buy 5, get 1 free. 4 to 6 p.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. (906) 789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org

• Comedy Magician Cameron Zvara. Free for all ages. 4:30 p.m. City Council Chambers, 410 Ludington St. (906) 789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org

• Friends of the Library Ice Cream Social with the Escanaba City Band. Free for all ages. 6 p.m. North Lawn, Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. (906) 789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org

Gwinn

• Modeltown Farmers and Artisans Market. Shop for locally grown produce, artisan items and more. Featuring live music by the Delta Duo. 3 to 6 p.m. Riverside Pavilion, Peter Nordeen Park, 115 N. Pine St. (906) 361-4843 or modeltownmarket@ gmail.com

Ishpeming

• Feeding America Food Distribution Drive-Thru Site. 9 a.m. North Iron Church, 910 Palms Ave. feedwm.org

• Feeding America Food Distribution Walk-up Site. 9 a.m. VFW parking lot, 310 Bank St. feedwm.org

Marquette

• 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

• Zero Degrees Block Party. Celebrate the gallery’s 501(c)3 status, meet Friends of Zero Degrees members, and enjoy refreshments and art demos. 3 to 8 p.m. Zero Degrees Gallery, 525 N. Third St. joann_shelby@hotmail.com

• First Thursdays Art Tour. Local art galleries will remain open with evening hours, host guest artists, artist demos, and offer special sales and workshop tours. 4 to 8 p.m. Visit MQTcompass. com for a full list of participating locations.

• Drag Cabaret. NMU Theatre and Dance will kick off Pride Month with a cabaret. NMU students, $5; other students, $10; seniors and military, $12; others, $17. 7:30 p.m. Forest Roberts Theatre, NMU. nmu.edu/ theatreanddance

• Marquette Rockestra Concert. This United Way of Marquette County fundrasier will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon with performances by local musicians. Age 17 and younger, $10; adults, $20. 7:30 p.m. Kaufman Auditorium, 611 N. Front St. nmu.universitytickets.com

02 FRIDAY

Escanaba

• Krusin’ Klassics Fun Run Parade. View classic cars during this annual parade. 7 p.m. Ludington St. krusinklassics.net

Marquette

• 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

• Drag Cabaret. NMU Theatre and Dance will kick off Pride Month with a cabaret. $NMU students, $5; other students, $10; seniors and military, $12; others, $17. 7:30 p.m. Forest Roberts Theatre, NMU. nmu.edu/ theatreanddance

Negaunee

• Magician Cameron Zvara. The show will include magic, comedy, juggling, music and audience participation. Weather permitting, the show will be held outside; bring chairs or a blanket. 5 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. (906) 475-7700.

03

SATURDAY

sunrise 5:59 a.m.; sunset 9:36 p.m.

Crystal Falls

• That ’70s Music! Mia Brown and the Nashville Hitmen will perform and be led by music director Mark Oliverius. Prices vary. 7 p.m. Crystal Theatre, 304 Superior Ave. (906) 8753208 or thecrystaltheatre.org

Escanaba

• Krusin’ Klassics Fun Run Parade. View classic cars during this annual parade. $5. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. U.P. State

Fairgrounds, 2401 12th Ave. N. krusinklassics.net

• 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

• Town-wide Rummage Sale. Shop sales in Gwinn, K.I. Sawyer and Little Lake areas. Times and locations vary. gwinnmi.com

• Plant Swap. Swap and share your extra plant starts you seeded. Volunteer positions available. 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Peter Nordeen Park, 115 N. Pine St. gwinnseedlibrary@gmail.com

Hancock

• Health and Safety Fair. Learn the importance of health screenings, tour the facility and participate in family activities. 10 a.m. to noon. UP Health System – Portage, 500 Campus Dr. aluskin@portagehealth.org or www. uphealthsystem.com/event/185

Houghton

• Pine Mountain Music Festival

Concert. Soprano Christine Seitz and composer/guitarist Paul Seitz will draw on their wide-ranging repertoire of music from centuries past to the present moment. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. MTU McArdle Theater, Walker Arts and Humanities Center, 1400 Townsend Dr. pmmf.org

Ishpeming

• Beekeeping Presentation. This free all-ages program will include live bees. 2 to 3pm. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

• Iron Range Roll. This 16-mile bike race will follow the Heritage Trail to Marquette Commons. Proceeds benefit YMCA of Marquette County’s youth programs. $40. Cliffs Mine Shaft Museum, 501 W. Euclid St. ironrangeroll.com

Marquette

• Farmers Market. Shop from local farmers, growers, food producers, and artisans. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Marquette Commons, 112 South Third St. mqtfarmersmarket.com

• Kids Read! Summer Reading Kick-Off. Register online for the summer reading program and drop in for activities and to pick up reading logs. Magician and comedy entertainer Cameron Zvara will perform at 10 a.m. and noon. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4323 or www. 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. Pine St. superiorland_bridge.tripod.com

• Across the Spider-Verse with Nerds

of Marquette. There will be a showing of Spider-Main: Across the SpiderVerse, a cosplay contest and trivia with prizes. Tickets include a small soda and small popcorn. $15. 7 p.m. Thomas Theatres Marquette, 1525 Commerce Dr. joeldsiegel@aol.com or matimqt. org

Skandia

• Plants, Pies and Summer Buys. Shop for veggie seedlings, perennials, house plants and summer buys along with homemade pies. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Emanuel Lutheran Church, 9812 U.S. Hwy. 41. (906) 942-7245.

04 SUNDAY

sunrise 5:59 a.m.; sunset 9:37 p.m.

Ishpeming

• Bingo. Noon. Ishpeming VFW, 310 Bank St. (906) 486-4856.

Marquette

• Pine Mountain Music Festival

Concert. Soprano Christine Seitz and composer/guitarist Paul Seitz will draw on their wide ranging repertoire of music from centuries past to the present moment. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 4 p.m. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 201 E. Ridge St. pmmf.org

• Swing Dancing. A one-hour beginner class is followed by social dancing. Family-friendly and open to beginners. 6 p.m. Barrel + Beam, 260 Northwoods Rd. jodi.j.miri@gmail.com

05 MONDAY

sunrise 5:58 a.m.; sunset 9:38 p.m.

Curtis

• Paint with Bram Bevins. Paint with Bram Bevins, a Bob Ross-certified instructor. 9:00 a.m. Erickson Center for the Arts, Saw-Wa-Quato and Main streets. (906) 586-9974 or paintwithbram.com

Marquette

• Marquette Playgroup. This playgroup led by an early childhood educator is geared toward children ages birth to age 5. Free play, story time, crafts, a light snack, and educational activities promoting social-emotional development. 9:30 to 11 a.m. Lake Superior Village Youth and Family Center, 1901 Longyear Ave. sjhobalia@greatstartma.org

• Teens Read! Summer Reading Kick-Off. Register online for the Teens Read! program and stop in for activities and to spin the prize wheel. For youth in and entering grades 6 to 12. 4 to 6 p.m. Teen Zone, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 2264321 or apierce@pwpl.info or www. pwpl.info

• Craft Magic Series: Felt Magic with Jody Trost. Fiber artist Jody Trost will lead the class. Felting starter

kits and wool will be provided; bring a small pair of scissors. 6:30 p.m. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. To register, (906) 2264322, machatz@pwpl.info, or www. pwpl.info

• Joy of Sound Meditation. Enjoy a relaxing meditation with sounds produced by bronze singing bowls and metallic 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. www.facebook.com/ NegauneePublicLibrary. (906) 475-7700.

06 TUESDAY

sunrise 5:58 a.m.; sunset 9:38 p.m.

Curtis

• Paint with Bram Bevins. Paint with Bram Bevins, a Bob Ross-certified instructor. 9:00 a.m. Erickson Center for the Arts, Saw-Wa-Quato and Main streets. (906) 586-9974 or paintwithbram.com

Marquette

• Tech Coaching for Seniors. Learn how to make your electronic devices work the way you want with the help of retired teacher and librarian Christine Ault. Ensure your device is charged and bring passwords with you. Sessions will be offered in 30-minute time slots between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Heritage Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4311.

• 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

• Greeting Card Making. Instruction will be given to make four different handmade greeting cards. Location is not handicap accessible. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10 (plus $6 material fee). 1 to 4 p.m. 190 Timberlane. (906) 360-2859 or mouserhouse@gmail.com

• Oil Painting, Pastels and Drawing Classes with Marlene Wood. Bring your own supplies. $20. 1 to 3 p.m. Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 225-8655.

• Teens Read! Summer Reading Kick-Off. Register online for the Teens Read! program and stop in for activities and to spin the prize wheel. For youth in and entering Grades 6 to 12. 4 to 6 p.m. Teen Zone, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4321, apierce@pwpl.info or www. pwpl.info

Curtis

• Paint with Bram Bevins. Paint with Bram Bevins, a Bob Ross-certified instructor. 9:00 a.m. Erickson Center for the Arts, Saw-Wa-Quato and Main streets. (906) 586-9974 or paintwithbram.com

Houghton • Community Track Night. This event will includ youth and adult runs, and a one-mile U.P. record attempt by Michigan Tech All-American Clayton Sayen. Proceeds donated to Houghton track and field programs. $5. 7 p.m. Houghton High School, 1603 Gundlach Rd. aluskin@portagehealth.org or runsignup.com/Race/Info/MI/Houghton/ CommunityTrackNight#directions

Ishpeming

• Art Hour. A drop-in art hour for ages 15 and older. Most art/craft mediums welcome. 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

Marquette

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Masterclass. Lindsay Garritson of the Bergonzi Trio will teach piano students in a piano masterclass. 10 a.m. to noon.

NMU Reynolds Recital Hall, Lee Hall Dr. and Seventh St. pmmf.org

• 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.

• Senior Visual Art Class: “Home Is…” Acrylic Painting with Marlene Wood. Ages 55 and older. Supplies provided. Free for City of Marquette and neighboring township residents, $5 suggested donation for non-residents. 1 p.m. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. To pre-register, call (906) 225-8655.

• Teens Read! Summer Reading Kick-Off. Register online for the Teens Read! program and stop in for activities and to spin the prize wheel. For youth in and entering Grades 6 to 12. 4 to 6 p.m. Teen Zone, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4321, apierce@pwpl.info or www. pwpl.info

• League of Women VotersMarquette County Annual Meeting. The annual meeting will include a social meet-and-greet with visitors welcome. 6 to 8 p.m. Ore Dock Brewing Company, 114 W. Spring St. lwvmqtco@gmail.com

• Youth Learn to Row Information Meeting. Youth ages 13 to 18 with their parents or guardians are invited to this informational meeting. 6 p.m. UP Rowing Clubhouse, 655 N. Lakeshore

Blvd. (below observation deck). (906) 250-4486 or www.uprowing.com

• Marquette County Quilters Association Monthly 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

• Concert on the Steps. Troy Graham will present an evening of indie folk music and spirituals. 7 p.m. Front Street steps, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info or www.pwpl.info

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. Lindsay Garritson of the Bergonzi Trio will perform a solo piano concert titled “Reimagined” featuring works by Handel/Liszt, Beethoven, Cecil Chaminade, Maurice Ravel, Reena Esmail, Tania León, Astora Piazzolla, and Marc-Andre Hamelin. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. NMU Reynolds Recital Hall, Lee Hall Dr. and Seventh St. pmmf.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..

• 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.

Calumet

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

Curtis

• Open Auditions for The Little Mermaid the Musical. Show dates will be July 27-29. 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Erickson Center for the Arts, SawWa-Quato and Main streets. (906) 370-4158 or (906) 586-9974.

Crystal Falls

• Online Q&A with Author Hilton Everett Moore. The Crystal Falls Community District Library in partnership with the U.P. Publishers with Authors Association (UPPAA) will host this online U.P. Notable Book Club discussion of Hilton Everett Moore’s debut short story collection, North of Nelson: Stories of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula - Volume 1. 6 p.m. CDT, 7 p.m. EDT. Via Zoom. Call (906) 875-3344 or email egathu@crystalfallslibrary.org for Zoom link.

Escanaba

• Author visit. Jon C. Stott, author

of Yooper Ale Trails: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, will visit breweries throughout the U.P. to promote his book. 5 to 8 p.m. Upper Hand Brewery, 3525 Airport Rd. beerquestwest.com

Gwinn

• Modeltown Farmers and Artisans Market. Shop for locally grown produce, artisan items and more. Featuring live music by A Place to Land. 3 to 6 p.m. Riverside Pavilion, Peter Nordeen Park, 115 N. Pine St. (906) 361-4843 or modeltownmarket@gmail.com

Ishpeming

• Plant Sale. 10 a.m. Nourish Farmstop, 112 S. Main St. camden@ partridgecreekfarm.org

Marquette

• Superiorland Pet Partners. Youth of all ages can practice reading skills with the friendly, non-judgmental, furry therapy trained dogs of Pet Partners. 10 to 11a.m. and 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Front Street lawn, Peter White Library, 217 N. Front St. (rain location is the library’s Great Room). (906) 226-4323 or visit www.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

• Marquette Poets Circle. Join local poets, writers, and poetry enthusiasts for an evening of poetry. Participants can workshop their current work, followed by an open mic. New and experienced poets are welcome. 6:30 to 8 p.m. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info, or www.pwpl.info

• Science on Tap. Hosted by the NMU chapter of Sigma Xi. All ages. 7 p.m. Ore Dock Brewing Company, 114 W. Spring St. (906) 228-8888.

• Marquette City Band Concert. 7:30 p.m. Bandshell, Presque Isle Park.

Ontonagon

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. Lindsay Garritson of the Bergonzi Trio will perform a solo piano concert titled “Reimagined” featuring works by Handel/Liszt, Beethoven, Cecil Chaminade, Maurice Ravel, Reena Esmail, Tania León, Astora Piazzolla, and Marc-Andre Hamelin. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. Ontonagon Theater of Performing Arts, 311 N. Steel. pmmf.org 09

Curtis

• Open Auditions for The Little Mermaid the Musical. Show dates will be July 27-29. 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Erickson Center for the Arts,

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. Thursday 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. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 109 Fifth St. (906) 299-0118 or galleryon5th. com

Curtis

• Erickson Center for the Arts.

- The Presidents: In Their Own Words, will include portraits of 15 U.S. Presidents created by the words from their inaugural addresses and will open June 12.

- Visions between the Lakes , will include art from two featured artists of this year’s Bonifas Art Center Northern Exposure Contest, and will open June 19.

Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesdays beginning June 14, 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. during Music in the Park. Saw-Wa-Quato and Main streets. (906) 586-9974 or

www.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.

- Celebrating Student Success, will be on display through August 31. Days and hours vary. Bay College, 2001 N. Lincoln Rd. baycollege.edu

• East Ludington Art Gallery. Works by local artists. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 1007 Ludington St. (906) 786-0300 or eastludingtongallery.com

• Hartwig Gallery. Featuring works by local, regional and national artists. Days and hours vary. 2001 N. Lincoln Rd. baycollege.edu

• William Bonifas Fine Arts Gallery.

- Artist Expo, featuring works by local artists and the opportunity to purchase the work, will be on display through September 7.

- Vitality and Continuity: Art in the Experience of Anishinaabe, Inuit and Puebelo Women, a traveling exhibit, will be on display through September 10, with a public reception at 6 p.m. on June 2.

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

• Kerredge Gallery. Works by printmaker Mike Marks, will be on display through June 30.

Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 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) 4822333 or coppercountryarts.com

Marquette

• Art—U.P. Style. Art by Carol Papaleo, works by local artists, gifts, classes and more. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. 130 W. Washington St. (906) 225-1993.

• DeVos Art Museum.

- Snowdrift, an accumulation of artwork that examines the many expressions of snow, will be on display through June 30.

- New Acquisitions, featuring works by Kinngait artists, Leon Lundmark and others, will be on display through June 30.

- North of the 45th, annual juried exhibition featuring artists from Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin who live above the 45th parallel, will open June 28.

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.

- Works by Stella Larkin will be on display June 2 through July 4, with a public reception at 6 p.m. on the 21st.

- Works by regional and national artists. Featuring fine craft, contemporary art, and jewelry. Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, by appointment or chance. 110 N. Third St. gracigallery.com

• Huron Mountain Club Gallery.

- Pandemic Hobby Gone Wild, featuring fiber crafts by Jody Trost, will be on display June 1through July 31, with an opening reception at 6 p.m. on June 8.

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

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(continued on page 84)

Taryn Okesson | Sandhill Serenity | Zero Degrees Gallery, Marquette

art galleries

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.

- We Make Our City, Our City Makes Us, a cardboard sculpture installation by Art Week Artist-inResidence Amber Dohrenwend, will be on display June 1 through July 31, with an opening reception at 6 p.m. on June 8.

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 St. (906) 228-0472.

• Peter White Public Library Reception Gallery.

- POP!, featuring digital pop art and comic illustrations by Joel Siegel, will be on display June 1 through July 31, with an opening reception at 6 p.m. on June 8. 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.

• 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.

- Works by Dan Cook will be on display June 1 through 30 with an opening reception at 5 p.m. on the 1st.

Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 810 N. Third St. (906) 273-1374.

• Zero Degrees Gallery.

- Paintings by guest artist Taryn Okesson, will be on display June 1 through 30, with an opening reception at 1 p.m. on June 8. The gallery features works in oils, watercolors, mixed media, jewelry, photography, metals, woods, recycled and fiber arts and much 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. Daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment. 109 W. Superior Ave. (906) 387-3300 or upscaleart.org

Rapid River

• The adhocWORKshop. Owner Ritch Branstrom creates sculptures with found objects inspired by the land in which the objects were found. By appointment or chance. 10495 South Main Street. (906) 3991572 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. MM

(continued from page 83)

Dan Cook | Wintergreen Hill Gallery & Gifts, Marquette

Saw-Wa-Quato and Main streets. (906) 370-4158 or (906) 586-9974.

Crystal Falls

• The Little Mermaid. Presented by Missoula Children’s Theater, the production will feature local students in Grades 1 to 12. Prices vary. 7 p.m. Crystal Theatre, 304 Superior Ave. (906) 875-3208 or thecrystaltheatre. org

Ishpeming

• Plant Sale. 10 a.m. Nourish Farmstop, 112 S. Main St. camden@ partridgecreekfarm.org

Ishpeming/Negaunee

• Townwide Rummage Sale. Shop for sales in Champion, Ishpeming, Michigamme, Negaunee and surrounding areas. Times and locations vary. gincc.org

Isle Royale

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. The Superior String Alliance Chamber Players premiere new string quartets written to celebrate Isle Royale’s 80th anniversary. Free. Late afternoon. Isle Royale National Park. pmmf.org

Marquette

• Linktober’s Zelda Creator Con (Online). This online Zelda convention organized by Joel Siegel (head of Linktober) will feature creators from around the world relating to the Legend of Zelda with live and interactive events. $1 suggested donation. linktober@gmail.com or www.linktober.com

• Docu Cinema: No Ordinary Man. In celebration of Pride Month, PWPL will screen this genre-defying documentary about Billy Tipton, a trans musician who lived life on his own terms. Noon. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info, or www.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. Meet other LEGO enthusiasts and build LEGO projects using the library’s LEGO blocks. Youth age 7 and younger must be accompanied by an adult. 4 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4323.

Munising

• Author visit. Jon C. Stott, author of Yooper Ale Trails: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, will visit breweries throughout the U.P. to promote his book. 5:30 to 8 p.m. East Channel Brewing Company, 209 Maple St. beerquestwest.com

10 SATURDAY sunrise 5:57 a.m.; sunset 9:41 p.m.

Big Bay

• Big Bay Concert Series. Traditional bluegrass music by Art Stevenson and High Water. 7 to 9 p.m. Draver Park.

Crystal Falls

• The Little Mermaid. Presented by Missoula Children’s Theater, the production features local students in Grades 1 to 12. Prices vary. 2 p.m. Crystal Theatre, 304 Superior Ave. (906) 875-3208 or thecrystaltheatre. org

Escanaba

• Lego Club. 1 p.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. (906) 7897323 or escanabalibrary.org

Houghton

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. Lindsay Garritson of the Bergonzi Trio will perform a solo piano concert entitled “Reimagined” featuring works by Handel/Liszt, Beethoven, Cecil Chaminade, Maurice Ravel, Reena Esmail, Tania León, Astora Piazzolla, and Marc-Andre Hamelin. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, 1400 Townsend Dr. pmmf.org

Ishpeming

• Yooper Paranormal Presentation. Yooper Paranormal will present paranormal investigation and equipment, and discuss their latest findings. The history and hauntings of the Marquette Lighthouse and other U.P. locations will be featured. 2 to 4 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

Ishpeming/Negaunee

• Townwide Rummage Sale. Shop for sales in Champion, Ishpeming, Michigamme, Negaunee and surrounding areas. Times and locations vary. gincc.org

L’Anse

• Farmers Market. Shop from local farmers, growers, food producers, and artisans. 9 a.m. to noon. Waterfront Park. N. Front St.

• NSDAR meeting. This monthly meeting of the Onagomingkway Chapter of National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) will include a potluck luncheon and a program on The History of Pequaming Noon. 13294 Shore Dr. (906) 226-7836.

Marquette

• Linktober’s Zelda Creator Con (Online). This online Zelda convention organized by Joel Siegel (head of Linktober) will feature creators from around the world relating to the Legend of Zelda with live and interactive events. $1 suggested donation. linktober@gmail.com or www.linktober.com

• Farmers Market. Shop from local farmers, growers, food producers, and artisans. 5 to 8 p.m. 100 Block of Washington Street. mqtfarmersmarket. com

• U.P. Publishers and Authors Association Conference. Keynote speaker Marty Achatz will present Chasing Bigfoot: The Mythology and Truth of Being a Poet/Writer. Breakout sessions will discuss a variety of topics on writing and publishing as well as the presentation of the sixth annual Dandelion Cottage Awards for its student short story contest and the release of the seventh volume of U.P. Reader, UPPAA’s annual literary anthology. Open to all writers as well as anyone interested in writing.

9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. www.uppaa.org/meeting-registration

• 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. Pine St. superiorland_bridge.tripod.com

• Author visit. Jon C. Stott, author of Yooper Ale Trails: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, will visit breweries throughout the U.P. to promote his book. 3 to 5:30 p.m. Barrel + Beam, 260 Northwoods Rd. beerquestwest.com

Munising

• Pictured Rocks Days. Activities include boat tours, music, food, bounce houses, a petting zoo and more. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Bayshore Park, 355 Elm Ave. algercountychamber.com

Skandia

• Pie Sale. Proceeds support scholarships and youth development. 9 a.m. until the pies are gone. West Branch Township Hall, 1016 Co. Rd. 545.

11

Hancock

• Pine Mountain Music Festival

Concert. The Superior String Alliance Chamber Players will premiere new string quartets written to celebrate Isle Royale’s 80th anniversary. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. Orpheum Theater, 426 Quincy St. pmmf.org

Houghton

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Masterclass. Lindsay Garritson of the Bergonzi Trio will teach piano students in a piano masterclass. 1 to 3 p.m. MTU Band Room. pmmf.org

Ishpeming/Negaunee

• Townwide Rummage Sale. Shop for sales in Champion, Ishpeming, Michigamme, Negaunee and surrounding areas. Times and locations vary. gincc.org

Marquette

• Linktober’s Zelda Creator Con (Online). This online Zelda convention organized by Joel Siegel (head of Linktober) will feature creators from around the world relating to the Legend of Zelda with live and interactive events. $1 suggested donation. linktober@gmail.com or www.linktober.com

• Workshop: Glass, Beads and Charms. Learn how to bend and work with wire while making a hand-made piece of jewelry. All tools and materials will be provided. $10 for each jewelry piece. 1 p.m. for ages 14 and younger; 2:30 p.m. for adults. MooseWood Nature Center, Shiras Pool Building at Presque Isle Park. To register by June 9, email moosewoodnc@gmail.com

Munising

• Pictured Rocks Days. Activities include boat tours, music, food, bounce houses, a petting zoo and more. 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bayshore Park, 355 Elm Ave. algercountychamber.com

• Author visit. Jon C. Stott, author of Yooper Ale Trails: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, will visit breweries throughout the U.P. to promote his book. 1 to 3:30 p.m. ByGeorge Brewing Co., 231 E Superior St. beerquestwest.com

12 MONDAY

sunrise 5:56 a.m.; sunset 9:42 p.m.

Escanaba

• Music Mondays. Free concert featuring Jam Band. 7 to 9 p.m. Karas Bandshell, Ludington Park, Lake Shore Dr.

Marquette

• Senior Theatre Experience: Monthly Theatre Workshop and Discussion. Ages 55 and older. Free for City of Marquette and neighboring township residents. 5 p.m. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library. To pre-register, call (906) 225-8655.

• Concert on the Steps. Ramble Tamble will present an evening of surfer rock. 7 p.m. Front Street steps, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322, machatz@ pwpl.info or www.pwpl.info

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. The Superior String Alliance Chamber Players will premiere new string quartets written to celebrate Isle Royale’s 80th anniversary. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 8 p.m. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 201 E. Ridge St. pmmf.org

Negaunee

• All-Ages Online Storytime. Miss Jessica will lead stories, songs and rhymes on Facebook Live. 11 a.m. www.facebook.com/ NegauneePublicLibrary. (906) 475-7700.

• Musician Troy Graham. This free

concert is family-friendly. Weather permitting, the show will be held outside; bring chairs or a blanket. 6 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. (906) 475-7700.

13 TUESDAY

sunrise 5:56 a.m.; sunset 9:43 p.m.

Calumet

• Friends of the Calumet Public Library Annual Meeting and Potluck. The meeting will include the election of board members, a recap programs and acquisitions, and a look ahead to a new year. Open to the public. 5:30 p.m. Community Room, Calumet Public Library. (906) 337-0311.

Escanaba

• Live on the Lawn..at Lunch! Live Music Series. Free event for all ages featuring the Peltier Brothers. 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. North Lawn, Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. (906) 789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org

Gwinn

• Literature at the Lodge Adult Book Club. The group will discuss Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann. 7 p.m. Up North Lodge, 215 S. Co. Rd. 557. (906) 346-3433.

Houghton

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. The Bergonzi Trio will perform a free interactive children’s concert featuring works by Tailleferre, Haydn, and Ravel. 1 p.m. Portage Lake United Church, 1400 E. Houghton Ave. pmmf.org

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. The Bergonzi Trio will perform works by Tailleferre Haydn, and Ravel. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, 1400 Townsend Dr. pmmf.org

Ishpeming

• ICPL Summer Reading Program Kickoff. All ages can register for the summer reading program and choose a free book. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

Marquette

• In the Park Storytime. Families and youth can enjoy books, songs, bubbles, parachute play, and more. 9:30 a.m. East Ohio Street (Williams) Park (at Pine Street). Rain location is the Community Room at Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4323 or www.pwpl.info

• Tech Coaching for Seniors. Learn how to make your electronic devices work the way you want with the help of retired teacher and librarian Christine Ault. Ensure your device is charged and bring passwords with you. Sessions will be offered in 30-minute time slots between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Heritage Room, Peter White Public Library, 217

N. Front St. (906) 226-4311.

• 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. Knitters age 10 and older will prepare to participate in Art Week on June 21 at the Commons Building. Suggested donation of $1 to $5 per session. 1 to 2:30 p.m. Marquette Regional History Center, 145 W. Spring St.

• Oil Painting, Pastels and Drawing Classes with Marlene Wood. Bring your own supplies. $20. 1 to 3 p.m. Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 225-8655.

• Teen Tuesday: DIY Terrariums. Youth in Grades 6 to 12 will build a mini terrarium with Ashely Scheiding and take it home with a succulent. 2 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4321, apierce@pwpl.info, or www. pwpl.info

• The Art of Bonsai. Presenters will discuss the history of Bonsai art, the tools to get going, how to choose your first tree, and explain a bit about the local club, Gichigami Bonsai Guild. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10. 3 to 5 p.m. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 360-2859 or mouserhouse@gmail.com

• Senior Dance Class. Ages 55 and older. Free for City of Marquette and neighboring township residents. 4 p.m. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. To pre-register, call (906) 225-8655.

• Faye Bowers Reading. Celebrated journalist Faye Bowers will read from her recently published book, Digging

Up the Truth and Other Big Bay Stories 7 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info, or www.pwpl.info

Calumet

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. On the Town, a free chamber music concert. 4 p.m. The Vertin Galleries, 220 Sixth St. pmmf.org

Curtis

• Music in the Park. Featuring Tarnished. 6:30 p.m. Erickson Center for the Arts, Saw-Wa-Quato and Main streets. (906) 586-9974.

Hancock

• Pine Mountain Music Festival

Gala. Wear your favorite steampunk-themed outfit and join the fun for music, dessert, and good conversation. Suggested donation $10. 8 to 10 p.m. Quincy Mine Hoist House, 49750 U.S. Hwy. 41. pmmf.org

Houghton

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. On the Town, a free chamber music concert. 6 p.m. Outside of the Portage Lake Library, 58 Huron St. pmmf.org

Marquette

• Papa Crow In Concert. Papa Crow will perform guitar and ukulele music in an interactive concert for families with kids of all ages. 10 a.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 2264323 or www.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.

• Senior Visual Art Class: “Home Is…” Acrylic Painting with Marlene Wood. Ages 55 and older. Supplies provided. Free for City of Marquette and neighboring township residents, $5 suggested donation for non-residents. 1 p.m. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. To pre-register, call (906) 225-8655.

• Alley Kat’s Knit and Crochet Club. 5:30 p.m. Alley Kat’s Quilt Shop, 1010 W. Washington St. (906) 315-0050.

• Professional Organizing. Professional organizer Dar Shepherd will discuss how clutter affects our lives and health, and how to clear clutter and organize. 6 p.m. Lions Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 360-3000.

• How to Use a Cellphone More Effectively When Lost in the Woods. Presented by Michael Neiger, founder and lead investigator with Michigan Backcountry Search and Rescue (MibSAR). NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10. 6 to 8 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 458-5408 or csteinha@nmu.edu

• New Findings, New Conclusions: GLO#3 Archaeological Site. Jim Paquette will present new details about this 1630s-era winter hunting campsite, the incredible finds in that location and what the cultural material tells us about those who came before us. $5 suggested donation. 6:30 p.m. Marquette Regional History Center, 145 W. Spring St. (906) 226-3571 or marquettehistory.org

• Concert on the Steps. Honky-tonk Country musician Ethan Bott will perform. 7 p.m. Front Street steps, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info or www.pwpl.info

• NMU Theatre and Dance: Rock of Ages. Watch as a 1980s aspiring rock star chases his dreams and love while trying to stop developers from destroying the fabled Strip. $17 for the general public, $12 for NMU faculty/ staff, seniors, and military, $10 for students, and $5 for NMU students. 7:30 p.m. in Forest Roberts Theatre. nmu. edu/theatreanddance

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.

• 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

BridgeFest | June 16, 17 and 18 | Houghton

Courtesy of Visit Keweenaw

St. (906) 475-7700.

• Negaunee City Band Concert. Seating is limited, bringing chairs is recommended. 7:30 p.m. Negaunee Outdoor Performing Arts Center, east end of Iron St.

15 THURSDAY

sunrise 5:56 a.m.; sunset 9:44 p.m.

Calumet

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

Gwinn

• Modeltown Farmers and Artisans Market. Shop for locally grown produce, artisan items and more. Featuring live music by Chris Valenti. 3 to 6 p.m. Riverside Pavilion, Peter Nordeen Park, 115 N. Pine St. (906) 361-4843 or modeltownmarket@gmail.com

L’Anse

• Lakefront Concert. Featuring Chad Borgen and The Collective, a rock ‘n’ roll country band. 7 p.m. Lakefront Park, Broad Street at the lake (rain location is Meadowbrook Arena, 204 Division St.).

Marquette

• Superiorland Pet Partners. Youth of all ages can practice reading skills with the friendly, non-judgmental, furry therapy trained dogs of Pet Partners. 10 to 11a.m. and 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Front Street lawn, Peter White Library, 217 N. Front St. (rain location is the library’s Great Room). (906) 226-4323 or visit www.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

• Coffee and Conversation with Room at the Inn. Stephen S. Krygier, acting executive director of Room at the Inn, will present Renewing a Collective Commitment to Serving Our Unhoused Neighbors in Marquette. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10. 2 to 3:30 p.m. Begins at Catholic Social Services, 347 Rock St., then walking downhill to the Warming Center. (906) 458-5408 or csteinha@nmu.edu

• Music on Third. A variety of local musicians play along the sidewalks of Third Street in Marquette’s Downtown District. 6 to 8 p.m. www.downtownmarquette.org

• NMU Theatre and Dance: Rock of Ages. Watch as a 1980s aspiring rock star chases his dreams and love while trying to stop developers from destroying the fabled Strip.$17 for the general public, $12 for NMU faculty/ staff, seniors, and military, $10 for students, and $5 for NMU students.7:30 p.m. in Forest Roberts Theatre. nmu. edu/theatreanddance

Ontonagon

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. The Bergonzi Trio will perform works by Tailleferre Haydn, and Ravel. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. Ontonagon Theater of Performing Arts, 311 N. Steel. pmmf.org

16 FRIDAY

sunrise 5:56 a.m.; sunset 9:44 p.m.

Calumet

• 1913: A Miners Story. Free movie presentation of the Calumet Theatre production of 1913: A Miners Story Coincides with Big Annie Day. 7:30 p.m. Calumet Theatre, 340 Sixth St. (906) 337-2610.

Gwinn

• Great Lakes Rodeo. Activities include the rodeo skills competition and rodeo performance. Youth age 5 and younger, free; age 6 to 12 and seniors, $10; age 13 and older, $15. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. 150 W. Johnson Lake Rd. greatlakesrodeo.com

Houghton

• BridgeFest. Activities include helicopter rides, games, kids’ activities, food, music and more. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Houghton Waterfront and surrounding areas. bridgefestfun.com

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. Guerilla Opera presents The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, a concert version of the new opera by U.P. native Elena Reuhr based on the steampunk graphic novel by Sydney Padua. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 5 p.m. Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, 1400 Townsend Dr. pmmf.org

Ishpeming

• Teen Angst and You: How to Turn Your Feelings into Pages. A summer-long class for teens on the art of novel writing. 2 to 3:30 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

Marquette

• Global Cinema: Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso. This film tells the story of a loving friendship between a young boy and an aging movie projectionist. Noon. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info, or www.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. Meet other LEGO enthusiasts and build LEGO projects using the library’s LEGO blocks. Youth age 7 and younger must be accompanied by an adult. 4 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4323.

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. The Bergonzi Trio will perform a free interactive children’s concert featuring works by Tailleferre, Haydn, and Ravel. 4 p.m. Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. pmmf. org

• NMU Theatre and Dance: Rock of Ages. Watch as a 1980s aspiring rock star chases his dreams and love while trying to stop developers from destroying the fabled Strip. $17 for the general public, $12 for NMU faculty/ staff, seniors, and military, $10 for students, and $5 for NMU students.7:30 p.m. in Forest Roberts Theatre. nmu.

edu/theatreanddance

• Drink and Draw (ages 21 and older). Hang out with other artists. Bring your own beverage and anything you may be working on. 8 to 10 p.m. the Art Drop Shop and Studio, 130 W. Washington St. (lower level). theartdropshop@gmail.com

17 SATURDAY

sunrise 5:56 a.m.; sunset 9:45 p.m.

Big Bay

• BioBlitz II. 18. Volunteers will conduct a rapid survey of the mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds, and plants in the Yellow Dog River Community Forest. Free, but registration is required; yellowdogwatershed. org/events. 2 p.m. Saturday through noon on Sunday, the 18th. (906) 4359223 or ydwp@yellowdogwatershed. org

Calumet

• Orphan Art Sale. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Calumet Art Center, 57055 Fifth St. (906) 934-2228.

Cooks

• Author visit. Jon C. Stott, author of Yooper Ale Trails: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, will visit breweries throughout the U.P. to promote his book. 3 to 5:30 p.m. LaTulip Brewing Company, 11858W U.S. Rte. 2. beerquestwest. com

Curtis

• From Bolivia with Love. Sergio Ruiz and Javier Pinell will perform music by Bolivian composers, including pieces for violin and piano. Prices

Great Lakes Rodeo | June 16 and 17 | Gwinn Lee Pigott via unsplash

museums

Big Bay

• Big Bay Lighthouse. The grounds of the 1896 lighthouse are open year-round. 3 Lighthouse Rd. (906) 345-9957.

Calumet

• Coppertown Mining Museum. View exhibits relative to the copper mining Industry and community life. Prices vary. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 25815 Red Jacket Road. (906) 337-4354.

• International Frisbee 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, Red Jacket Rd. (906) 281-7625.

Copper Harbor

• Fort Wilkins State Park. Built in 1844, this fort is a well-preserved, nineteenth century military post and lighthouse complex. Through museum exhibits, audiovisual programs and costumed interpretation, visitors can explore the daily routine of military service, experience the hardships of frontier isolation and discover another era. Park store, bookstore, concession stand and campsites are on site. 8:30 a.m. to dusk. $17 per car, per day for Michigan residents, $9 for nonresidents. US-41 (one mile east of Copper Harbor). (906) 289-4215.

Covington

• Covington Historical Museum. Located in the historic 1905 Township Hall, a Michigan Historic Site, the museum houses exhibits, photographs and artifacts focusing on the life of early Finnish residents of Covington Township. The museum contains the Township’s only jail cell. The genealogy room has family history files and early township records. Opens June 3. Saturday, 1 to 3 p.m. Center Street. (906) 355-2169.

vary. 7 p.m. The Pine Performance Center, 9224 Saw-Wa-Quato St. MyNorthTickets.com

Gwinn

• Great Lakes Rodeo. Activities include a parade, youth rodeo, a rodeo performance and after party. Youth age 5 and younger, free; age 6 to 12 and seniors, $10; age 13 and older, $15. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 150 W. Johnson Lake Rd. greatlakesrodeo.com

• Summer Reading Kick-Off Party. Kick off the Forsyth Township Public Library’s Summer Reading Program with the Jo-Kay Corral Mobile Farm Critters, food and games. For children

Eagle Harbor

• Eagle Harbor Life Saving Museum. View displays of early wooden rescue boats, surfboats, life-cars and more. Opens June 18. Donations appreciated. Daily, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Marina Rd. keweenawhistory.org

• Eagle Harbor Light Station Museum and Lighthouse. View displays of early wooden rescue boats, surfboats, life-cars and more. Opens June 18. $8. Daily, noon to 5 p.m. 670 Lighthouse Rd. keweenawhistory.org

Eagle River

• Eagle River Museum. The museum focuses on four themes including, the Cliff Mine, the town of Eagle River the town and mine of Phoenix and the Crestview amusement area. Opens June 21. Donations appreciated. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. M-26. Keweenawhistory.org

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.

Garden

through sixth grade. 11 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Peter Nordeen Park, 115 N. Pine St. (906) 346-3433.

Houghton • BridgeFest. Activities include a paddle tour, helicopter rides, games, kids’ activities, food, music, fireworks and more. 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Houghton Waterfront and surrounding areas. bridgefestfun.com

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. Guerilla Opera presents The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, a concert version of the new opera by U.P. native Elena Reuhr based on the steampunk graphic novel

• Fayette Historic Townsite. This site was once one of the Upper Peninsula’s most productive ironsmelting operations. A town of nearly 500 residents grew up around

two blast furnaces, a large dock and several charcoal kilns. It now includes a visitor center, museum exhibits, a twenty-six station walking tour and a scale model of

(continued on page 89)

by Sydney Padua. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, 1400 Townsend Dr. pmmf.org

Ishpeming

• Teen and Adult Writing Hour. 2 to 3 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

L’Anse

• Farmers Market. Shop from local farmers, growers, food producers, and artisans. 9 a.m. to noon. Waterfront Park. N. Front St.

Marquette

• Farmers Market. Shop from local farmers, growers, food producers, and artisans. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Marquette Commons, 112 South Third St. mqtfarmersmarket.com

• 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. Pine St. superiorland_bridge.tripod.com

• Bog Walk Orchid Search. Led by retired Forest Ecologist Deb LeBlanc. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10 (plus extra money for gas). 12 to 4 p.m. Carpool from Lofaro’s Fresh Market,

Marquette Maritime Museum

museums

(continued from page 88

the original townsite. $17 per car, per day for Michigan residents, $9 for nonresidents. Daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 14785 II Road. (906) 644-2603.

Grand Marais

• Pickle Barrel House Museum. This 16-foot high barrel has been restored to its condition as a cottage, built for author and illustrator William Donahey who created the Teenie Weenie characters. $1. Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. Downtown. grandmariasmichigan. com

Greenland

• Adventure Mining Company. The mine opened in 1850 and remains one of the best-preserved sites of its time. Although the mine closed in 1920, many of the shafts are still open for touring. Tours range from surface walking tours to underground rappelling down a mineshaft. Prices vary. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. 200 Adventure Ave. (906) 883-3371 or adventuremine. com

Hancock

• Quincy Mine Hoist and Underground Mine. There are two options for touring the site. On both the surface tour and the full tour, visitors will see the museum, inside the No. 2 Shaft House and the Nordberg Steam Hoist and ride the cog rail tram car to the mine entrance. On the full tour, visitors will take a tractor-pulled wagon into the mine, seven levels underground. Daily guided tours; prices and hours vary. 49750 US-41. (906) 482-3101 or quincymine.com

Houghton

• A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum. View the largest collection of minerals from the Great Lakes region and the world’s finest collection of Michigan minerals. Exhibits educate visitors on how minerals are formed, types of minerals and minerals from around the world. 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. Features rotating displays of local history, natural science and culture. The Science Center is dedicated to interactive exhibits about science for kids. Tuesday and Thursday, noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. 105 Huron St. (906) 482-7140 or carnegiekeweenaw.org

• MTU Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections. Features a variety of historical mem-

orabilia, highlighting life in the Copper Country. Open by appointment. Lower level of the J.R. Van Pelt Library, MTU. (906) 487-3209.

Iron Mountain

• World War II Glider and Military Museum. During World War II, the Ford Motor Company’s Kingsford plant built the CG-4A Gliders for the U.S. Army. View one of seven fully restored CG-4A G World War II gliders, military uniforms from the Civil War through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, memorabilia, restored military vehicles and more. Prices vary. Days and times vary. 302 Kent St. (906) 774-1086.

Ishpeming

• Cliffs Mine Shaft Museum. View local historical artifacts of miners and mines, past and present, safety equipment, blasting and diamond drilling equipment and more. Guided tours of the tunnels are available. Prices vary. Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 501 W. Euclid St. (906) 485-1882 or cliffsshaftminemuseum.com

• Ishpeming Area Historical Society Museum. Displays include a military exhibit and artifacts from the Elson Estate. Donations appreciated. Open during the summer months. Please see website for updates. Gossard Building, Suite 303, 308 Cleveland Ave. ishpeminghistory.org

• U.S. National Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame & 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 and more. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. US-41 and Third St. (906) 485-6323 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 through Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. 402 Third St. (906) 2363502 or kishamuseum.org

Lake Linden

• Houghton County Historical Museum. Exhibits include local Copper Country mining, logging and cultural history. Outdoor exhibits include a working Calumet & Hecla Mining Company Train. Prices, days and hours vary. 53102 M-26.

Marquette

• Baraga Educational Center and Museum. View artifacts and tools used by Venerable Bishop Baraga. Donations appreciated. Monday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment. 615 S. Fourth St. (906) 227-9117.

• Beaumier Upper Peninsula Heritage Center.

- Mary Biekkola Wright: a public art retrospective 1986-2011, will be on display through August 26. Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. NMU, corner of Seventh Street and Tracy Avenue. (906) 227-3212 or nmu.edu/beaumier

• Marquette Maritime Museum. Exhibits on shipwrecks in Marquette and Lake Superior, early life-saving and U.S. Coast Guard, the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and the Henry B. Smith, and more. Guided tours of the Marquette Lighthouse are also available. Free for children 2 and younger and active military; Museums for all passholders, $3; children ages 3 to 12, $5; students with ID, $6; seniors and retired military, $7; adults, $8. Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 300 N. Lakeshore Blvd. (906) 226-2006 or mqtmaritimemuseum.com

• Marquette Regional History Center.

- Exposing Photography: Anything but a Small Business, the exhibit will feature the works of U.P. photographers, their studios and equipment, will be on display through January 13, 2024. The museum includes interactive displays as well as regional history exhibits. Youth 12 and younger, $2; students, $3; seniors, $6; adults, $7. Monday through 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. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Prices vary. 123 W. Baraga Ave. (906) 226-3911 or upchildrensmuseum.org

Menominee

• West Shore Fishing Museum. Tour the Bailey Family Homestead, the site of a pioneer commercial fishery and a stop on the Great Lakes Fisheries Trail. Exhibits include a restored Victorian home, several fishing boats, equipment, tools, and photos showing commercial fishing practices. Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. 15 miles north of Menominee or 8 miles south of Cedar River on M-35 (turn at the Bailey Park entrance). (715) 923-9756.

Mohawk

• The Delaware Mine. Take self-guided tours of veins of copper exposed in the walls of the mine, and view indoor and outdoor train displays. Daily, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 7804 Delaware Rd. (906) 289-4688.

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, noon 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 large-scale 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 Recration Passport required for parking. Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4p.m. 73 Forge Rd. (906) 475-7857.

Painesdale

• Painesdale Mine and Shaft Inc. Tours of the ground level are free and visitors can see the hoist house, the captain’s office and the ground levels of the shaft house. Guides can provide interpretive information. Private tours can be arranged online. Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. 42634 Second St. (906) 369-5358 or painesdalemineshaft.com

Phoenix

• Phoenix Church. Originally built in 1958 and located in the town of Cliff, the museum was dismantled and reassembled in its church location in 1899. The last mass was held in 1957. Opens June 18. Donations appreciated. Daily, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Junction of US-41 and M-26. keweenawhistory.org

South Range

• Copper Range Historical Museum. Exhibits recreate life from the early 1900s to the mid-1950s of the immigrants who built the towns and villages of the area. Collections include photographs, books and artifacts. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 3 p.m. 44 Trimountain Ave. (906) 482-6125. MM

101 Carmen Dr. (corner of M28 and US41), Harvey, to travel to bog on H58 past Munising. (906) 475-4252 or bbraden@consultant.com

• Creature Feature: Colubrid Snakes. Have a unique up-close animal experience with a king, corn and garter snakes. Learn about their habitat and interesting facts. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Suggested donation of $5 per child or $10 per family. 3 p.m. MooseWood Nature Center, Shiras Pool Building at Presque Isle Park. moosewoodnc@ gmail.com

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. The Bergonzi Trio will perform works by Tailleferre Haydn, and Ravel. Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. NMU Reynolds Recital Hall, Lee Hall Dr. and Seventh St. pmmf.org

• NMU Theatre and Dance: Rock of Ages. Watch as a 1980s aspiring rock star chases his dreams and love while trying to stop developers from destroying the fabled Strip. $17 for the general public, $12 for NMU faculty/ staff, seniors, and military, $10 for students, and $5 for NMU students.7:30 p.m. in Forest Roberts Theatre. nmu. edu/theatreanddance

18 SUNDAY sunrise 5:56 a.m.; sunset 9:45 p.m.

Houghton

• BridgeFest. Activities include helicopter rides and ice cream Times vary. Houghton Waterfront and surrounding areas. bridgefestfun.com

19 MONDAY sunrise 5:56 a.m.; sunset 9:46 p.m.

Escanaba

• Music Mondays. Free concert featuring Cosmic Exposure. 7 to 9 p.m. Karas Bandshell, Ludington Park, Lake Shore Dr.

Marquette

• Vacation Bible School. Dinner is included. $20 per child, $40 for families of three or more. 5:30 to 7 p.m. First Presbyterian Church, 120 N. Front St. (906) 226-6587 or firstpresmqtce@gmail.com

• Joy of Sound Meditation. Enjoy a relaxing meditation with sounds produced by bronze singing bowls and metallic gongs. 7 p.m. Chapel, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 201 E. Ridge St. (906) 362-9934 or ckitchenmqt@ gmail.com

Ontonagon

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. 2023 UPstarts! performers will be Oskar Gaenssle (bassoon), Maitri White (soprano), Michael Halvorson (saxophone), and Adam Hall (cello). Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. Ontonagon Theater of

Performing Arts, 311 N. Steel. pmmf. org

Negaunee

• All-Ages Online Storytime. Miss Jessica will lead stories, songs and rhymes on Facebook Live. 11 a.m. www.facebook.com/ NegauneePublicLibrary. (906) 475-7700.

20 TUESDAY

sunrise 5:56 a.m.; sunset 9:46 p.m.

Escanaba

• Lunch with the Munch Bunch. Bring your lunch to the Children’s Room patio and enjoy story time.

11:30 a.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. (906) 789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org

Ishpeming

• Parent/Tot Partner Yoga. Instructor Kristen Carlson will lead a partner yoga class for toddlers and preschoolers and their caregivers. 11 a.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

• Adult Horror Book Club. The group will discuss Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. 2 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

Marquette

• In the Park Storytime. Families and youth can enjoy books, songs, bubbles, parachute play, and more.

9:30 a.m. East Ohio Street (Williams) Park (at Pine Street). Rain location is the Community Room at Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4323 or www.pwpl.info

• Artists and Their Art Film Screening: Girl with a Pearl Earring. The film tells the story of a young peasant girl working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer who becomes his assistant and the model for his most famous painting. Noon. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322, machatz@ pwpl.info, or www.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 to 3 p.m. Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 225-8655.

• Teen Tuesday: “Painting Home.” Youth in Grades 6 to 12 can create a one-of-a-kind “HOME” painting, guided by local artist Becca Ouimette. All supplies provided, no prior art or painting experience is needed. 2 p.m. Peter White Public Library , 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4321, apierce@pwpl.info, or www.pwpl.info

• Dungeons and Dragons. Jordan from Iron Golem Games will lead a group of teens in Grades 6 to 12 on a quest with this role-playing game in the Teen Zone; and PWPL staff member Cat will lead a quest for students in Grades 4 and 5 in the Conference Room. 4 to 6 p.m. Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. Online advance registration required. (906) 226-4321, apierce@pwpl.info or www. pwpl.info

• PWPL Board of Trustees Meeting. Regular monthly meeting of the board of trustees of the Peter White Public Library. Open to all. 5 p.m. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. www.pwpl.info

• Senior Dance Class. Part of an Art Week Family Square Dance. Ages 55 and older. Free for City of Marquette and neighboring township residents. 5 p.m. Hurley Park. To pre-register, call (906) 225-8655.

• Vacation Bible School. Dinner is included. $20 per child, $40 for families of three or more. 5:30 to 7 p.m. First Presbyterian Church, 120 N. Front St. (906) 226-6587 or firstpresmqtce@gmail.com

• St. Peter’s Cathedral: Architecture and Stained Glass. Dr. Russ Magnaghi will discuss the history of St. Peter’s Cathedral, the fires, its architecture, and the story behind the stained glass windows. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10. 6:30 to 8 p.m. St. Peter’s Cathedral, 311 W. Baraga Ave. (906) 361-5370 or jhigbie@nmu.edu

• Artists and Their Art: The Mirror of Vermeer (Online). Celebrated art historian Ellen Longsworth will host this virtual series focused on famous artists, artistic movements, and art. Award-winning novelist John Smolens will discuss Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer and works of art inspired by his paintings. 7 p.m. Via Zoom. (906) 226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info, or www.pwpl.info

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. 2023 UPstarts! performers will be Oskar Gaenssle (bassoon), Maitri White (soprano), Michael Halvorson (saxophone), and Adam Hall (cello). Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. NMU Reynolds Recital Hall, Lee Hall Dr. and Seventh St. pmmf.org

21 WEDNESDAY

sunrise 5:56 a.m.; sunset 9:46 p.m.

Curtis

• Music in the Park. Featuring The Real Ingredients. 6:30 p.m. Erickson Center for the Arts, Saw-Wa-Quato and Main streets. (906) 586-9974.

Escanaba

• All Together Art. Free for ages 6 to 10. 2 p.m. Children’s Room, Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. (906) 789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org

Houghton

• Pine Mountain Music Festival Concert. 2023 UPstarts! performers will be Oskar Gaenssle (bassoon), Maitri White (soprano), Michael Halvorson (saxophone), and Adam Hall (cello). Pay As You’re Able tickets. 7:30 p.m. Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, 1400 Townsend Dr. pmmf.org

Ishpeming

• Adult Horror Book Club. The group will discuss Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. 6 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

Marquette

• Passport to Home Scavenger Hunt. As part of Art Week, pick up a Passport to Home at the Peter White Public Library. Then, join in an Art Walk scavenger hunt, getting your passport stamped at participating businesses and organizations. Completed passports can be turned in at the at the library, where a drawing will be held at the Derrell Syria Project Concert on the Steps. 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. (906) 2264322, machatz@pwpl.info, or www. 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.

• Haiku-ing Your Way Home Poetry Workshop. Learn how to start and make haiku with the U.P. Poet Laureate Barbara Matherne and volunteers from the U.P. Land Conservancy. Registration encouraged, but walk-ins welcome. 1 to 3 p.m. Heritage Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. pwpl.info or www.uplandconservancy.org/events

• Artist Hours: Nita Engle. Learn about local artist Nita Engle’s life, her process, and her art. Projects will be available to make art like Engle. 4 to 7 p.m. the Art Drop Shop and Studio, 130 W. Washington St. (lower level). theartdropshop@gmail.com

• Farmers Market. Shop from local farmers, growers, food producers, and artisans. 5 to 8 p.m. 100 Block of Washington Street. mqtfarmersmarket. com

• Vacation Bible School. Dinner is included. $20 per child, $40 for families of three or more. 5:30 to 7 p.m. First Presbyterian Church, 120 N. Front St. (906) 226-6587 or firstpresmqtce@gmail.com

• Quick Fics Book Group. This month’s novella discussion will be of Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor. 6 p.m. Dandelion Cottage Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. www.pwpl.info

• Concert on the Steps. The Derrell Syria Project will perform. Winners of the Passport to Home Art Week scavenger hunt will be announced. 7 p.m. Front Street steps, Peter White Public

Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 2264322, machatz@pwpl.info, or www. pwpl.info

• NMU Theatre and Dance: Rock of Ages. Watch as a 1980s aspiring rock star chases his dreams and love while trying to stop developers from destroying the fabled Strip. $17 for the general public, $12 for NMU faculty/ staff, seniors, and military, $10 for students, and $5 for NMU students.7:30 p.m. in Forest Roberts Theatre. nmu. edu/theatreanddance

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.

• 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.

• Negaunee City Band Concert. Seating is limited, bringing chairs is recommended. 7:30 p.m. Negaunee Outdoor Performing Arts Center, east end of Iron St.

22 THURSDAY

sunrise 5:57 a.m.; sunset 9:46 p.m.

Calumet

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

Copper Harbor

• Performances in the Park. Featuring Graham Jaehnig with Penny Menze. A farmer’s market is also on site. 7 to 9 p.m. Donny Kilpela Memorial Park, 240 Gratiot St. (906) 289-4020 or performances.in.the.park@gmail. com

Curtis

• Mrs. Kelly’s Journey Home. A theatrical memoir by Breeda Miller, who brings to life a funny and profound look at her mother’s journey from her native Ireland through the end of her life. Prices vary. 7 p.m. The Pine Performance Center, 9224 Saw-WaQuato St. MyNorthTickets.com

Escanaba

• Poetry Reading with Dee Sweet. Book signing and meet-and-greet will follow. 11:45 a.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. (906) 7897323 or escanabalibrary.org

Gwinn

• Modeltown Farmers and Artisans Market. Shop for locally grown produce, artisan items and more. Featuring live music by Tom Reed. 3 to 6 p.m. Riverside Pavilion, Peter Nordeen Park, 115 N. Pine St. (906) 361-4843 or modeltownmarket@

gmail.com

Ishpeming

• Crochet Club. Crafters can socialize while working on a project of their choice. Beginning supplies and instruction will be provided for those who want to learn. 2 to 3 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

• Plant Swap with Plant Daddy Ashley. Bring plants, seedlings or cuttings that are healthy and free of pests or disease to swap for new plants. 5 to 6:30 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

L’Anse

• Lakefront Concert. Featuring Uncle Pete’s All-Star Blues Band. 7 p.m. Lakefront Park, Broad Street at the lake (rain location is Meadowbrook Arena, 204 Division St.).

Marquette

• Botany-themed Walk. Hike led by Hannah Boyd of the U.P. Land Conservancy. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10. 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Vielmetti-Peters Reserve, 699

Brickyard Rd. (906) 361-5370 or jhigbie@nmu.edu

• Superiorland Pet Partners. Youth of all ages can practice reading skills with the friendly, non-judgmental, furry therapy trained dogs of Pet Partners. 10 to 11a.m. and 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Front Street lawn, Peter White Library, 217 N. Front St. (rain location is the library’s Great Room). (906) 226-4323 or visit www.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

• Painting Home: Guided Painting. Youth entering grades 3 through 5 can paint a U.P. canvas guided by local art teacher Becca. Online registration required. 2 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. Registration opens June 5 at www. pwpl.info/events. (906) 226-4323.

• End of Life Planning Workshop. Featuring Marquette County Probate Court Judge Hon. Cheryl Hill. 5:30 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 225-7760 or JBarbiere@

lakesuperiorhospice.org

• Vacation Bible School. Dinner is included. $20 per child, $40 for families of three or more. 5:30 to 7 p.m. First Presbyterian Church, 120 N. Front St. (906) 226-6587 or firstpresmqtce@gmail.com

• Authors Reading Virtually: Homerun with Sandy Marchetti (Online). As Part of Art Week, poet Sandy Marchetti will read from her newly released collection Aisle 228. 7 p.m. Via Zoom. (906) 226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info, or www.pwpl.info

• Marquette City Band Concert. 7:30 p.m. Bandshell, Presque Isle Park.

• NMU Theatre and Dance: Rock of Ages. Watch as a 1980s aspiring rock star chases his dreams and love while trying to stop developers from destroying the fabled Strip.$17 for the general public, $12 for NMU faculty/ staff, seniors, and military, $10 for students, and $5 for NMU students.7:30 p.m. in Forest Roberts Theatre. nmu. edu/theatreanddance

Negaunee

• Tea Party with Author Carrie Pearson. Enjoy refreshments, crafts, and stories about real princesses changing the world. To make a reservation, call (906) 475-7700., ext. 18, message the library on Facebook, or visit the library. 11:30 a.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St.

23 FRIDAY

sunrise 5:57 a.m.; sunset 9:47 p.m.

Calumet

• Used Book Sale. Proceeds support library services and programs. 4 to 7 p.m. CLK Multi-Purpose Room (down the hall from the library). (906) 3370311 ext. 1107.

Crystal Falls

• Michigan I-O. A quartet of stringed instrumentalists perform a collection of forgotten folk songs from the Great Lakes region, re-imagined in a contemporary style. Prices vary. 7 p.m. Crystal Theatre, 304 Superior Ave. (906) 8753208 or thecrystaltheatre.org

Ishpeming

• Modeling Clay Creations. Kids and teens can drop in anytime to create a clay masterpiece. 2 to 4 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

Lake Linden

• Farmers Market. This family-friendly market showcases farm fresh produce, prepared foods, handcrafted items, live music, community causes and local information about the area. 4 to 7 p.m. Village Park. (906) 369-3971.

Marquette

• Blockbusting Cinema Throwback: Do the Right Thing. As part of PWPL’s

Marquette Trails Fest | June 23, 24 and 25|Marquette

Ryan Stephens Photography

celebration of Juneteenth, travel back to the summer of 1989 with Spike Lee’s groundbreaking drama on racism and race relations. Noon. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info, or www.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. Build with the library’s LEGO bricks. Youth of all ages welcome, but those younger than eight must have an adult present in the program. 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4323 or www. pwpl.info

• Marquette Trails Fest. Activities include the youth and adult dual slalom, yourh run, 5k run, music and awards. Proceeds benefit the Noquamonen Trail Network. Prices and event times vary. Marquette Mountain, 4501 M-553. noquetrails.org

• Art Week Concert. Sponsored by Hiawatha Music Co-op, this free concert will feature local musicians John Gillette and Sarah Mittlefelhdt, Union Suits, and Dan Truckey. 7 p.m. Father Marquette Park, Front Street near the statue (906) 226-8575.

• NMU Theatre and Dance: Rock of Ages. Watch as a 1980s aspiring rock star chases his dreams and love while trying to stop developers from destroying the fabled Strip. $17 for the general public, $12 for NMU faculty/ staff, seniors, and military, $10 for students, and $5 for NMU students.7:30 p.m. in Forest Roberts Theatre. nmu. edu/theatreanddance

24 SATURDAY

sunrise 5:57 a.m.; sunset 9:47 p.m.

Calumet

• Used Book Sale. Proceeds support library services and programs. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. CLK Multi-Purpose Room (down the hall from the library). (906) 337-0311 ext. 1107.

Curtis

• Acting for Singers Workshop. with The Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company. Members of the Pigeon Creek Shakespeatre Company will offer a new perspective on how songs express character relationships and further the plot of a play. Register by June 22. Children younger than 18 (must be accompanied by an adult), $5; Adults, $10. 2 p.m. The Pine Performance Center, 9224 Saw-Wa-Quato St. (906) 586-9974.

• Midsummer Madness. Appropriate for all ages with a lively and audience-interactive style. Presented by the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company. Prices vary. 7 p.m. The Pine Performance Center, 9224

Saw-Wa-Quato St. MyNorthTickets. com

Gladstone

• Goob’s Poker Ride. All forms of transportation welcome along with a bucket raffle and food. Proceeds support Korey Goldi, a Rapid River senior with plans to attend Bay College. Registration, 11 a.m. to noon. Event runs all day. The Kipling Bar, 8911 Bay Shore Dr. (906) 241-4625 or (906) 356-9040.

L’Anse

• Farmers Market. Shop from local farmers, growers, food producers, and artisans. 9 a.m. to noon. Waterfront Park. N. Front St.

Marquette

• Marquette Trails Fest. Activities include a trail run, enduro and crit races, music and awards. Proceeds benefit the Noquamonen Trail Network. Prices and event times vary. Marquette Mountain, 4501 M-553. noquetrails. org

• Farmers Market. Shop from local farmers, growers, food producers, and artisans. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Marquette Commons, 112 South Third St. mqtfarmersmarket.com

• 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. Pine St. superiorland_bridge.tripod.com

• M arquette Art Week Pottery Demonstration. View a pottery wheel demonstration and have an opportunity to test your skill at bowl making, either with the wheel or by hand. Noon

to 4 p.m. MooseWood Nature Center, Shiras Pool Building at Presque Isle Park. moosewoodnc@gmail.com

• Author visit. Jon C. Stott, author of Yooper Ale Trails: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, will visit breweries throughout the U.P. to promote his book. 3 to 5:30 p.m. Blackrocks Brewery, 424 N. Third St. beerquestwest.com

• NMU Theatre and Dance: Rock of Ages. Watch as a 1980s aspiring rock star chases his dreams and love while trying to stop developers from destroying the fabled Strip. $17 for the general public, $12 for NMU faculty/ staff, seniors, and military, $10 for students, and $5 for NMU students.7:30 p.m. in Forest Roberts Theatre. nmu. edu/theatreanddance

Michigamme.

• Artisans Market. Shop for homemade items, baked goods, produce and handcrafted items. Members of Black Pearl will perform. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Michigamme Community Library, E. Lake St. (906) 323-6274.

25 SUNDAY

sunrise 5:57 a.m.; sunset 9:47 p.m.

Calumet

• Used Book Sale. Proceeds support library services and programs. 1 to 3 p.m. CLK Multi-Purpose Room (down the hall from the library). (906) 3370311 ext. 1107.

Ishpeming

• Bingo. Noon. Ishpeming VFW, 310 Bank St. (906) 486-4856.

• Historic Places Home Tour Fundraiser. Tour The Mather (formerly the Mather Inn), located at 107 E. Canda Street, and Bethel Lutheran Church, located at 333 E. Ridge St. Proceeds benefit the Ishpeming Area Historical Society. Advance tickets will be available by mid-June at the Main Street Antique Mall, 121 S. Main St., or at either tour location on the day of the event. $10 suggested donation. Noon to 4 p.m. (906) 486-8680.

Marquette

• Marquette Trails Fest. Activities include youth and adult cross country bike races, downhill races and awards. Proceeds benefit the Noquamonen Trail Network. Prices and event times vary. Marquette Mountain, 4501 M-553. noquetrails.org

• Story Time at MooseWood: Playdough is for the Birds! Learn how nests are built, search outdoors for materials, and use homemade air dry playdough to create a unique bird nest to take home. Suggested age range is 3 to 8 years old, but all are welcome. Suggested donation of $5 per child or $10 per family. 11 a.m. MooseWood Nature Center, Shiras Pool Building at Presque Isle Park. moosewoodnc@ gmail.com

• Shinrin-Yoku Forest Bathing and Nature Prayer Service. 3:30 p.m. Bandshell area, Presque Isle Park. www.upwild.org

26 MONDAY

sunrise 5:58 a.m.; sunset 9:47 p.m.

Curtis

• Encore! Music of the Stage, Screen and Radio. The night will include light classical music, virtuoso works, and selections from Disney movies and other films. Prices vary. 7 p.m. The Pine Performance Center, 9224 SawWa-Quato St. MyNorthTickets.com

Escanaba

• Music Mondays. Free concert featuring Wingin’ It. 7 to 9 p.m. Karas Bandshell, Ludington Park, Lake Shore Dr.

Ishpeming

• Partridge Creek Farm Community Day. 4:30 to 6 p.m. Partridge Creek Farm Orchard, North and York Streets. camden@partridgecreekfarm.org

Marquette

• Making Music All Together. Join musicians from NMU in an interactive storytelling musical adventure of Peer Gynt. 10 a.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4323 or www.pwpl.info

• Senior Theatre Experience: Monthly Theatre Workshop and Discussion. Ages 55 and older. Free for City of Marquette and neighboring township residents. 5 p.m. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center,

Alumni Softball Tournament| June 30 | Gwinn

lower level, Peter White Public Library. To pre-register, call (906) 225-8655.

• Northwords and Music. B.G. Bradley and Friends will present an evening of music, stories, poetry, and skits. The show will also include Laureate Marty Achatz, Stephen Hooper, Kerry Yost and Jacque Love. This event will also be livestreamed. 7 p.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info, or www.pwpl.info

Negaunee

• All-Ages Online Storytime. Miss Jessica will lead stories, songs and rhymes on Facebook Live. 11 a.m. www.facebook.com/ NegauneePublicLibrary. (906) 475-7700.

27 TUESDAY

sunrise 5:58 a.m.; sunset 9:47 p.m.

Eagle Harbor

• Ancient Miners in the Keweenaw. Carol MacLennan will present the results of research on early Ojibwa settlements and trade, their relationship to the land and water, and their persistence on the landscape through and after a very early mining era. KCHS members, $5. General public, $6. 7 p.m. Eagle Harbor Community Building. www.keweenawhistory.org

Escanaba

• Lunch with the Munch Bunch. Bring your lunch to the Children’s Room patio and enjoy story time. 11:30 a.m. Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. (906) 789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org

• Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum

Walking Up the Food Chain: A Live Animal Experience. Advanced registration required. 2:00 p.m. City Council Chambers, 410 Ludington St. (906) 789-7328 orescanabalibrary.org

Ishpeming

• Little Munchkins Dance Class with New Attitudes Dance Studio. Children ages 18 months to three years will learn movement and coordination exercises. 11 a.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

Marquette

• In the Park Storytime. Families and youth can enjoy books, songs, bubbles, parachute play, and more. 9:30 a.m. East Ohio Street (Williams) Park (at Pine Street). Rain location is the Community Room at Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4323 or www.pwpl.info

• Tech Coaching for Seniors. Learn how to make your electronic devices work the way you want with the help of retired teacher and librarian Christine Ault. Ensure your device is charged and bring passwords with you. Sessions

will be offered in 30-minute time slots between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Heritage Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4311.

• 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. Discussion on how to enter the Marquette County Fair in August. Children can enter submissions and they are welcome at summer meetings. Suggested donation of $1 to $5. 1 to 2:30 p.m. Marquette Regional History Center, 145 Spring St.

• Oil Painting, Pastels and Drawing Classes with Marlene Wood. Bring your own supplies. $20. 1 to 3 p.m. Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 225-8655.

• Teen Tuesday: Henna and Rock Mandala Painting. Behennaed will be at the library with their amazing henna. For youth in Grades 6 to 12. 2 p.m. Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4321, apierce@ pwpl.info or www.pwpl.info

• Senior Dance Class. Ages 55 and older. Free for City of Marquette and neighboring township residents. 4 p.m. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. To pre-register, call (906) 225-8655.

• Marquette 3-D History. Don Balmer will present his collection of 3-D views of Marquette then and now and provide 3-D glasses for the experience. NCLL members, $5; nonmembers, $10. 6:30 to 8 p.m. Shiras Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 249-1273 or camfixer@pasty.net

• Bluesday Tuesday. U.P. Gumbo will perform. 7 p.m. Front Street steps, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322, machatz@ pwpl.info or www.pwpl.info

Negaunee

• Trillium Hospice House Fundraiser. Singer Carsie Blanton will peform during this benefit concert. An antipasti buffet is included with ticket price. Proceeds benefit the Trillium House. $50. 6 p.m. Strega Nonna, 432 Iron St. strega.fun 28

789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org

• MSU Extension Class. The class will discuss food budgeting and meal planning. Free. 4:30 p.m. Children’s Room, Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. (906) 789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org

Ishpeming

•  Snakes and the Scientific Method Workshops. Guests can problem solve, investigate animals and test a hypothesis using live snakes. Registration required at ishpeminglibrary.info/calendar. 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

• Poetry Reading. Beverly Matherne will read from her newest book, Love Potions, Teas, Incantations , a collection of poetry and stories inspired by paintings. 5:30 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

Marquette

• Family Glow Zumba with Mark Shevy. Children younger than 8 must have an adult present. 10:30 a.m. Community Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 2264323 or www.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.

• Senior Visual Art Class: Fourth of July Ribbon Tree with Diane KribsMays. Ages 55 and older. Supplies provided. Free for City of Marquette and neighboring township residents, $5 suggested donation for non-residents. 1 p.m. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, lower level, Peter White Public Library. To pre-register, call (906) 225-8655.

• Farmers Market. Shop from local farmers, growers, food producers, and artisans. 5 to 8 p.m. 100 Block of Washington Street. mqtfarmersmarket. com

• Concert on the Steps. Singer and songwriter Chris Valenti will perform. 7 p.m. Front Street steps, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4322, machatz@pwpl.info or www.pwpl.info

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.

problem solve and investigate animals in their habitats. Weather permitting, the show will be held outside. 6 p.m. Negaunee Public Library, 319 W. Case St. (906) 475-7700.

• Negaunee City Band Concert. Seating is limited, bringing chairs is recommended. 7:30 p.m. Negaunee Outdoor Performing Arts Center, east end of Iron St.

29 THURSDAY

sunrise 5:59 a.m.; sunset 9:47 p.m.

Calumet

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

Copper Harbor

• Performances in the Park. Mojo and Friends will perform. A farmer’s market is also on site. 7 to 9 p.m. Donny Kilpela Memorial Park, 240 Gratiot St. (906) 289-4020 or performances. in.the.park@gmail.com

Curtis

• The Sue Huber Evening of Piano with Neil Donato and Ken Pesick The night will incldue a variety of improvised selections from the American Jazz, Popular and Songbook repertoire. Prices vary. 7 p.m. The Pine Performance Center, 9224 Saw-WaQuato St. MyNorthTickets.com

Escanaba

• Live on the Lawn..at Lunch! Live Music Series. Free event for all ages featuring Kitty Donohoe. 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. North Lawn, Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. (906) 789-7323 or escanabalibrary.org

Gwinn

• Modeltown Farmers and Artisans Market. Shop for locally grown produce, artisan items and more. Featuring live music by Sandra Muzyl Kennedy. 3 to 6 p.m. Riverside Pavilion, Peter Nordeen Park, 115 N. Pine St. (906) 361-4843 or modeltownmarket@gmail.com

Ishpeming

• Great Lakes Great Books Club. Students in Grades 4 and 5 will discuss the graphic novel Another Kind by Trevor Bream and Cait May. 6 to 6:45 p.m. Ray Leverton Community Room, Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

• Music in the Park. Featuring the Bryan Jeske Band. 6:30 p.m. Erickson Center for the Arts, Saw-Wa-Quato and Main streets. (906) 586-9974.

Escanaba

• All Together Art. Free for ages 6 to 10. 2 p.m. Children’s Room, Escanaba Public Library, 400 Ludington St. (906)

• 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.

•  Snakes and the Scientific Method. Guests can meet an animal up close, then use the scientific method to

• Anatomy of a Murder screening. The Ishpeming Area Historical Society will present a big screen showing of the classic 1959 movie that was filmed on location in the city. Donations appreciated. 6:30 p.m. W. C. Peterson Auditorium, Ishpeming High School, 319 E. Division St. (enter on Pearl Street). (906) 486-8680.

L’Anse

• Lakefront Concert. Featuring

Chasin’ Steel, a bluegrass band. 7 p.m. Lakefront Park, Broad Street at the lake (rain location is Meadowbrook Arena, 204 Division St.).

Marquette

• Geoff and Jon’s Record Show. Shop for new and used vinyl records, CDs, posters, cassettes, books, T-shirts, stickers and more. Noon to 11 p.m. Community Room, Ore Dock Brewing Company, 114 W. Spring St. (906) 373-6183.

• Superiorland Duplicate Bridge Club. Games open to all interested players. $5 for games. 12:30 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. • Bubble, Bubble, Splash! Families and youth of all ages are invited for a morning of bubbles and various water play. Dress to get wet. Children younger than 8 must have an adult present. 4 p.m. Front Street lawn, Peter White Public Library, 217

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 8 p.m. Sunday, 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. 3020 US41, Marquette.

• 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) 6055043.

• ALZConnected. This is a free, online community for everyone 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.

• 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,

N. Front St. (906) 226-4323 or www. pwpl.info

30 FRIDAY

sunrise 6:00 a.m.; sunset 9:47 p.m.

Gwinn

• Alumni Co-Ed Softball Tournament. Alumni teams will compete throughout the week. Times vary. Forsyth township Baseball Field, off Johnson Lake R.d gwinnmi.com

Ishpeming

• Friends of the Library Used Book Sale. Proceeds support library programming. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

• Cemetery Tour. Hosted by the Ishpeming Area Historical Society. Suggested donation is $10 for adults,

$5 for students ages 12 to 17. 3:00 p.m. Meet at the sexton’s office at the Ishpeming Cemetery. (906) 486-8680.

• Teen Angst and You: How to Turn Your Feelings into Pages. A summer-long class for teens on the art of novel writing. 2 to 3:30 p.m. Ishpeming Carnegie Public Library, 317 N. Main St. (906) 486-4381.

Lake Linden

• Farmers Market. This family-friendly market showcases farm fresh produce, prepared foods, handcrafted items, live music, community causes and local information about the area. 4 to 7 p.m. Village Park. (906) 369-3971.

Marquette

• Geoff and Jon’s Record Show. Shop for new and used vinyl records, CDs, posters, cassettes, books, T-shirts, stickers and more. Presented by the

NMU Vinyl Record Club. Noon to 11 p.m. Second-floor community room, Ore Dock Brewing Company, 114 W. Spring St. (906) 373-6183.

• 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. Meet other LEGO enthusiasts and build LEGO projects using the library’s LEGO blocks. Youth age 7 and younger must be accompanied by an adult. 4 p.m. Great Room, Peter White Public Library, 217 N. Front St. (906) 226-4323.

Negaunee

• Pioneer Days. Activities include alumni softball games and the Pioneer Princess Pageant. Times and locations vary. negauneeirontown.com

910 Palms Ave. northiron.church or (906) 475-6032.

• iCanQuit. Smokers are invited to learn more about quitting with the help of a quitting coach. (800) 4807848.

• Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous. Tuesdays, 12:05 p.m. Upstairs, The Crib Coffee House, 401 N. Third St. ITAAMQT@zohomail. com

• Lake Superior Life Care and Hospice Grief Support Group—Gwinn. People dealing with grief and loss are encouraged to attend. Individual grief counseling is available. June 14. 2 p.m. Forsyth Senior Center, 165 Maple St. (906) 225-7760 or lakesuperiorhospice.org

• Lake Superior Life Care and Hospice Grief Support Group—Marquette. People dealing with grief and loss are encouraged to attend. Individual grief counseling is available. June 21. 5:30 p.m. Lake Superior Life Care & Hospice, 914 W. Baraga Ave. (906) 225-7760 or lakesuperiorhospice.org

• Lake Superior Life Care and Hospice Grief Support Group— Negaunee. People dealing with grief and loss are encouraged to attend. Individual grief counseling is available. June 15. 3 p.m. Negaunee Senior Center, 410 Jackson St. lakesuperiorhospice.org or (906) 475-6266.

• 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, Wednesdays and Sundays, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Closed meeting, 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. June 12 and 15. 7 p.m. Superior Alliance for Independent Living, Suite A, 1200 Wright St. (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. June 7. 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. www.namimqt.com

• Nicotine Anonymous. (415) 7500328 or www.nicotine-anonymous.org

• Parkinson’s Support Group— Marquette. June 21. 1 p.m. Marquette Senior Center, 300 W. Spring St. (906) 228-0456.

• Senior Support Group—Marquette. Learn how to connect with loved ones with cognitive diseases. June 15. 2 p.m. Mill Creek Clubhouse, 1728 Windstone Dr. (906) 225-7760

or lakesuperiorhospice.org

• Sexual Health and Addiction Therapy Group. Call Great Lakes Recovery Centers for more details. Dates, times and locations vary. (906) 228-9696.

• 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 Avenue. smartrecovery.org

• SMART Recovery—Hancock. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7 p.m. Room 324, Jutila Center, 200 Michigan St.

• SMART Recovery—Marquette. Mondays, Noon. Zoom meeting. Visit smartrecovery.com for Zoom link.

• Stronger Together: Families Against Narcotics. Friends and families who have addicted loved ones are invited. Second and fourth Tuesdays. 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. Meeting ID: 702 728 9111, Passcode 448118. (906) 361-9524.

• Take Off Pounds Sensibly. This is a non-commercial weight-control support group. Various places and times throughout the U.P. (800) 932-8677 or TOPS.org

• 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.