Ely Winter Times, Ely Minnesota

Š Steve Piragis

Ely Winter Times

2019-2020

CONTENTS Four Seasons of Art Arts Resources & Galleries Entrepreneurs Making It in Ely Twenty Below or Tropical? Evergreens of Ely Ely Area Maps

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The Ely Summer and Winter Times is published twice a year by Raven Words Press. For editorial information or advertising rates, contact us at PO Box 188, Ely, MN 55731, 218-365-3375. For a subscription within the US, send check or money order for

Spiritual Gatherings The Gift Sauna! Is Climate Change Invisible? Books for Blizzards Ely Area Calendar Ely Dining Guide

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Four Seasons with an Ely Artist

“It’s an uncontrollable urge.” Cecilia Rolando is one of Ely’s most prolific and talented visual artists. “I leave my materials ready on the table or by my sofa so when I sit down I automatically start. I’m motivated by the materials. I have a way of seeing how to put them together, a sense of design but more than that. Even cooking—I feel creative in combining whatever I find in my refrigerator.” Cecilia works with traditional art materials like paints and pencils or with odds and ends of fabrics, found items for sculpture or jewelry, and more recently on her computer or phone using an app called Sketches. Standing in line waiting her turn to order a latté at the Front Porch, she’ll use her phone to create art that reflects the day and her thoughts of

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the moment. The results are delightful, whimsical, sometimes simple and sometimes complex, blazing with color or shaded in just one tone. To anyone watching who is not a visual artist, it seems effortless, yet these works look at home alongside her acrylic paintings and watercolors at gallery shows. Cecilia loves sharing her abilities. She once showed a friend how to use the Sketch app, and now the friend’s granddaughter uses Grandma’s phone to make art. You can try it too. Be inspired by the small sample of her work reflecting the seasons on the next pages. Then find the app at tayasui.com and make art yourself.

One of Cecilia’s acrylic paintings

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Winter

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The Ely Winter Times

rainbow on a line comes flopping from a dark hole worth the quiet wait

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mix of ice and rain water freezing and soon to see sidewalks

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The Ely Winter Times

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sweet joy of swimming a quick jump in the water heat relieving lake

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Fall

intense aroma dazzling season just won’t quit time to rake it up

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You can see more of Cecilia’s art at her Facebook page. There are a few like names, but she’s the only one from Ely. She has a drawing with haiku in the Timberjay each week and has some of her work at Art & Soul Gallery.

The Ely Winter Times

ART in ELY ORGANIZATIONS

Arts in Ely ArtsInEly.org Ely Art Walk ElyArtWalk.org Ely Arts & Heritage ElyGreenstone.org Ely Photographic Collaborative Find it on Facebook Gardner Humanities Trust GardnerTrust.org Northern Lakes Arts Assn. NorthernLakesArts.org Tofte Lake Center TofteLake.org The Art Corner 301 W. Sheridan Street This page sponsored by

Nancy Ensley, Art & Soul Gallery

WALLS & SHELVES

Art & Soul Gallery 427 E. Sheridan Street The Brandenburg Gallery 11 East Sheridan Street Crapola 16 N 1st Avenue E Fernberg Art Gallery 2267 Fernberg Road

Front Porch Coffee & Tea Co. 343 East Sheridan Street Kekekabic Studio 118 East Chapman Street Mealey’s Gift Shop 124 N. Central Avenue Ornamental Hermit Studio 132 N 1st Avenue E

ARTISTS’ WEBSITES

Chris Koivisto Ceramics Sharee Johnson Jewelry Heidi Pinkerton ElyArt.com ShareeJohnsonJewelry.com RootRiverPhotography.com

Walls and websites are visual arts. For a listing of all Ely arts see the Directory at ArtsinEly.org. Sign up for the newsletter, create a free listing if you are an Ely area artist, and make donations at the website. For current arts happenings and news, visit the Arts in Ely Facebook page. 2019-2020

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From Ely to the World When you buy chicken at the grocery store, do you ever think about the blades that rendered a feather-covered bird into neat, portioned, ready-to-cook food? Probably not, and probably even less likely that you think about how those blades are kept sharp. An imperfectly honed blade is less efficient, less safe, and produces a lower-quality product. And the best blade sharpeners in the world are made right here in Ely. Chances are, no matter where you grocery shop in the U.S., or even worldwide, the packaged meat you see was cut by a blade kept sharp with a device invented and made in Ely. Razor Edge Systems, like many entrepreneurial enterprises, began in a garage. John Juranitch, a barber in Milwaukee, was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and assigned to barber duties for U.S. soldiers. He was intrigued by the straight edge razors he used, wondering how they could be so

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much sharper than knives. Back home he looked for a book on sharpening but found none, so began to experiment. He developed the Razor Edge Guide, a device that helped to keep a knife at that all-important constant angle while it was being honed. It did a pretty good job, and John wrote the book he’d been unable to find so that others could benefit from what he’d learned. He continued to fiddle with hones, improving his system, and found success selling his device at sports shows. As he outgrew his garage, John realized he could run this business in the place he most wanted to live: Ely. So he moved his family and fledgling manufacturing business here. Then one day Oscar Mayer called him. Their processing plants needed a system that could do hundreds of knives quickly. They sent a jet, took John to their corporate headquarters, and Razor Edge made a huge leap from sharpening

The Ely Winter Times

one knife at a time to mass production, and from manufacturing dozens of devices to making thousands. Today they supply sharpening systems to Tyson, Hormel, Cargill, and other meat processing facilities big and small on several continents. In 2014 John turned over the business to his son Joe and daughter Mary. They have worked hard to meet the changing demands of the industry, as well as improving their original product for home use. Today Razor Edge is developing robotics to increase production in plants that process up to 30,000 hogs a day. An Edge Tester measures sharpness electronically, which has never been done before. Their “Mousetrap” system for ensuring a perfect edge every time is available to retail customers.

The Razor Edge industrial sharpening system 2019-2020

Always thinking about new ways to apply the sharpening techniques Razor Edge has perfected, Joe turned his attention to scissors. He took a new device, the Shear Saver, to Ely hair stylist Jen Cole. Beauticians usually send out their shears to be sharpened. Jen was impressed with the Shear Saver, which not only gives the sharpest possible edge but also prolongs the life of the shears, and saves the expense of sending out for sharpening. Joe pursued connections in the cosmetics industry, and this may become as big as the Razor Edge meat processing products. What’s next? The plant needs to grow. They’ve nearly maxed out their

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space on the corner of Camp Street and 17th Avenue. They have 22 employees, several of whom are the second generation with Razor Edge, who enjoy their jobs and receive good pay and benefits. But the company needs more mechanical engineers and machinists to keep up with the pace of change and growth. They hope to find the space and labor to keep the whole operation in Ely. You can find John’s book about sharpening at Zup’s in Ely and procure the world’s best sharpening system for your home at Razor Edge or J&L Hardware. Not interested in DIY? Drop off your knives at Razor Edge and pick them up a few hours later so sharp you’ll be amazed.

Steger Mukluks is another Ely entrepreneur success story. Patti Steger began sewing her own clothes at age 13 because she was so tall that store-bought garments weren’t long enough. Her dream of designing clothing in New York didn’t materialize, but her patternmaking skills came in handy for making outdoor gear as she embarked on an adventurous life. Patti and Will Steger were running a winter survival school and wearing pack boots that didn’t keep feet warm enough in 10-below and colder conditions. Searching for a solution, Patti acquired her first pair of warm, flexible-soled Canadian military mukluks with felt liners. On her first trip to the Arctic she

Four generations of Razor Edge: John, son Joe, grandson Matthias, great grandson Zeke 16

The Ely Winter Times

learned that native-style mukluks make for the warmest feet because flexibility and insulation provide blood flow, which keeps feet warm. Wrapping feet in rigid boots restricts movement, reduces circulation, and makes for cold feet. In 1982, Patti sold her first sewing business, Canvasback Company, and left on a 9-month expedition hiking and dogsledding in Nunavut, formerly known as Northwest Territories. There she spent time with native women in Yellowknife at their sewing center. A friend provided her first pattern and taught her to hand-sew mukluks. She learned how to create boot patterns for people by measuring their hands (this really works!). From Inuit women she learned to make wool duffle socks. At last, with the mukluks made by native women, her feet were wonderfully warm and comfortable at any temperature. Although useful on the trail in the cold, this footwear had no outer sole and didn’t do well as streetwear. A Minneapolis newspaper article on the Steger Expedition led to interest in Patti’s hand-sewn mukluks. Since returning to Ely she had been sewing mukluks for her family, and in 1985 she began sewing them as a business in her home. People in Minnesota and beyond were excited at the prospect of having really warm feet in sub-zero winters, but sewing by hand at home limited Patti’s production. In the spring of 1987 she

moved the operation to the apartment above the electronics repair shop where Wintergreen is today. She hired two people and filled personal orders as requested. Shortly after that she moved to what old-timers remember as Breens Used Goods, now Ely Bike and Kicksled. That gave her retail space for the first time, and people came to Ely from far and wide just to buy the footwear that would keep their feet warm in any temperature. There was a lot of trial and error— emphasis on error, but demand kept increasing and hand-sewing couldn’t keep up. With help, Patti was able to convert to machine sewing, but it was still far from mass production. Even today, with sales of about 10,000 annually, each mukluk pair is carefully designed, cut, sewn, and finished by skilled workers who are proud to create a high quality, long-lasting product. “I didn’t do this alone,” Patti insists. “I believe you listen, even when you can’t see the value of information at that point.

A mukluk wedding 2019-2020

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Patti’s first pair of handsewn mukluks were made for son Seth

You file it away, and down the line this piece of advice may allow you to create something you couldn’t have otherwise.” Still, Patti did do all the designing herself—the mukluk patterns, the marketing pieces, the manufacturing plant and work flow, and one of the most attractive retail stores on Ely’s main street–the former Finnish Stock Company, which had sat empty for decades. This year Patti passed on the leadership of Steger Mukluks to her son Seth. All is going well. The staff of 2530—mostly full-time, some seasonal or part-time, and some who sew at home—

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are satisfied with their jobs, pay, and benefits. Patti has a slightly more relaxed lifestyle with time for her kids and grandkids, her lab Gracie and cat Meow. Like Patti, Sue Schurke has developed a successful Ely entrepreneurial business, Wintergreen Northern Wear, that originated with Arctic expeditioning. Unlike Patti, Sue never learned to sew beyond an eighth grade home economics class until Will Steger and Sue’s husband, Paul, asked her to make most of the clothing and dogsled gear for the eight members of the 1986 Polar Expedition. This was the first documented dogsled trip to the North Pole that would have no supplies or even information like weather reports delivered while on the trail. Sue literally started at her kitchen table, but soon moved her sewing operations into a small space in their

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garage that was heated by a tiny wood heater “about the size of a coffee can.” Luckily she had three years to prepare for the expedition and during this time learned a great deal about the sewing and design business. One of the first projects Sue crafted for each of the eight team members was a jumpsuit with a drop seat made from newly developed DuPont fabrics. To make patterns, Sue had each member lie on old newsprint from the Ely Echo and traced around their bodies. It took several attempts to get the right size for each person, and they were less than lovely. Her instructions were to make something functional without regard for fashion. On first seeing these strange outfits, Paul said “No one will ever wear these.” But once the expedition was underway, no one ever took them off for the whole

59-day trip. They were wonderfully warm even during the 70-below spell. During training in what was then called Frobisher Bay, now Iqaluit, Sue spent months sewing sled bags, dog harnesses, mitten, hats, and wind pants. She made a special anorak for Paul that combined features of the Inuit hunting shells and an old Army surplus wind shell. She sewed anything the group requested, making adjustments up to an hour before the expedition made its final departure. After the expedition, Sue received requests to make anoraks like Paul’s, and the embroidery-trimmed pullover anorak became the start of Wintergreen clothing. People also wanted the hats and mittens. She decorated them with the Scandinavian trim, an influence from her Swedish mother. This distinctive look remains a signature of Wintergreen

Paul Schurke and Will Steger training for the 1986 expedition

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clothing , and people far from Minnesota often recognize one another’s Ely connection by their Wintergreen jackets. Sue’s fledgling business operated along with Paul’s guided sled dog trips at their property on White Iron Lake. Sue hired three young women, offering free day care plus $5 an hour—a reasonable wage in 1987. Sue cared for her own 2year-old daughter plus the women’s children while they sewed. At lunchtime, the dogsledders would eat at the fabriccutting table while the sewers took a skiing break with the kids. Sewing resumed in the afternoon until 5, then in the evening after putting her daughter to bed, Sue stayed up half the night developing patterns and cutting fabric to prepare for the next day’s sewing. Wintergreen outgrew this business model and moved to town, first settling in the old Ely Miner building, now Kekekabic Studio, then buying the location where they are today. Recently she has learned the complexities of CAD design and is converting the paper patterns to computerized files that can be

cut on the automatic laser-driven cutting table. She employs 23 dedicated workers. Wintergreen is a very small company and one of the last to produce a full line of outdoor clothing made in the U.S. She is bound by the same 1000-yard fabric minimums that companies such as Patagonia have, so her ability to produce a variety of styles and colors is limited. But she intends to keep developing new styles, always with an active outdoor focus and always inspired by the Boundary Waters. Some entrepreneurs get started because other means of employment don’t work out. That was the case for Dan and Vicki Kondos. In 1981 Dan was laid off from Reserve Mining. Vicki had purchased an industrial sewing machine for her work with Patti’s Canvasback Company, but the work ended when Patti headed out for the Arctic. Here they were with a new house, three little kids, a yard full of sled dogs, and a determination to stay in Ely because they loved it here. One day Cliff Wold, an Ely outfitter, ran into Dan at the gas station and asked

The bright, sunny sewing room at Wintergreen 20

The Ely Winter Times

Warm, durable, and attractive–Kondos dog jackets and booties

if Dan would be interested in making some canoe packs to his specifications. Cliff had some strong opinions on–well, everything–but especially on pack design, so was making his own since what he wanted wasn’t available commercially. Cliff was ready to be done with that, and Dan and Vicki needed work, and so Kondos Outdoors began in Vicki’s sewing room. Wold’s orders wouldn’t provide enough work for a family to live on, so once the Kondoses had the skills to make packs, they went to other outfitters to see if they could sew packs for them. It turned out that all outfitters had strong opinions on how they wanted their packs, and so Kondos Outdoors grew by providing packs to each outfitter’s specifications. Vicki still recalls the feeling in the pit of her stomach the day a 50-yard roll of Cordura came through her front door with a bill that could have made a significant dent in their mortgage. Sled dog racing was also part of Dan and Vicki’s life, so they were sewing booties and harnesses for their own dogs. Steve Starkovich was providing sled dog gear to Ely’s many racers at that time. But Steve was ready to retire and in 1984 they bought him out, which consisted of paying him a few bucks for a box of odds 2019-2020

and ends of hardware and spools of thread. Within a few years Kondos dog gear was in demand around the world, with many orders coming from Norway, Australia, and Japan. They built a combination sewing workshop and garage that never had space for a car, hired an average of six sewers (“Home sewers saved my life!” says Vicki), and did all the marketing, packing, and shipping themselves for many years. A few years ago, Dan and Vicki hired Michael Larson, a young man working

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from his home as a business analyst, to provide needed work space, a better manage their retail sales and shipping. retail location, and room to grow. He is Michael had spent plenty of time at his excited to contribute to the Ely economy grandparents’ cabin on Burntside and and be part of the community. Although traveled in the Boundary Waters since he doesn’t get as much canoe tripping in age three, and he had always felt like Ely since he’s become a business owner, he was home. So when Dan and Vicki were finds it rewarding to sell a pack and hear ready to retire, he decided to buy the the stories when people return to get business. Dan and Vicki were delighted to more Kondos gear. “Durability may not have the business stay in Ely. be a strategic business plan,” he says. Although Michael hadn’t sewn a stitch “But it is satisfying to build something before he owned Kondos Outdoors, he that will last for decades of trail use.” was familiar with design from the These four businesses are just a small backpacking world and has brought part of the Ely entrepreneurial scene. If some of that to the Kondos pack line you are looking for a long-term including options for back padding and rewarding position with upbeat coadjustable waist belts. He has added workers, apply at one of them. If you everyday items to the product line such want to start your own venture, Ely has as day packs, totes, and small pouches. lots of resources. Check out the free For dogs, he’s added a pack and a workshops at Ten Below Co-working as hunting jacket with chest protection. well as grant opportunities for the area, Working from the ski-jor system in the and become part of Incredible Ely. Kondos line, Michael plans to develop products aimed more A wall in the new Kondos Outdoors store at walking dogs and the sport canicross, cross country running with dogs–already popular in Europe and growing in the U.S. This past fall Michael bought the building on the corner of Chapman Street and 2nd Avenue to 22

The Ely Winter Times

The Colors of Winter

Text and photos by Lacey Squier www.painfullyearnest.com

I wake up and immediately dress to take our dog, Wendell, on a walk. Wool long johns under moisture-wicking utility pants. A wool base layer under a quarterzip with that waffle fleece stuff that Eric loves -- designed to trap warmth in the waffle dips. Minutes pass as I sift through a robust sock collection to find the right wool thickness. Suffice it to say: there is lots of wool going on. Wendell’s eyebrows invert as he whines; I’m taking

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too long to wrap moose-hide mukluks up my calves. The soft, bouncy black fur around his ears flops as he turns his head from side to side, impatient as I zip a puffy down-feather coat from my knees to my chin. All in all it takes twenty minutes to prepare to go outside, but as Eric says, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear.” Four inches of powder on top of the old snow slows me down and makes Wendell even more giddy than usual, meaning he is running circles around

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me. Though to say “running” is not quite accurate. He is both leaping like a gazelle and swimming the butterfly stroke through the sparkling mass. Yet more fresh snow is falling. Fluffy flakes meander down the white sky and land thickly on Wendell’s black fur. All that time getting ready and I still managed to forget a face mask. My cheeks turn to rosy ice on our walk to Semers Park and back—about a mile total. By the time we get home it’s an hour past breakfast. Wendell is eager; so am I. He gets a cup of dry kibble mixed with a spoonful of chicken and rice wet food for being such-a-good-boy. I wonder about what I’ll eat. Normally I make myself an

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egg, fried or scrambled with green onions, and a piece of buttered toast. Sometimes I make blueberry oatmeal. But we are out of eggs and I just finished the last of our stash of frozen wild blueberries last night. You know what sounds good right now? A bowl of whatever any of the ladies crouched on the sidewalks of Ho Chi Minh City are making at 9:30 am on a given day. Steaming broth and meat parts I cannot name. Rice noodles, sprouts, coriander. American breakfast food is something about which I am quite passionate, but in this moment my mouth waters for the pho, bun bo hue,

The Ely Winter Times

congee, and short ribs served for breakfast at our hotel in Saigon. All of that accompanied by a sampling of French-Vietnamese pastries, fresh fruit, and intensely bitter, intensely sweet Vietnamese coffee. Hot coffee, hot soup, hot sun. I have now reminisced myself into a pool of saliva and a nagging desire to go back. I like to tell people the anecdote about when Eric first mentioned the posting he came across for a job in his field in Ely. He told me about it, but immediately remarked he ought not apply since Ely was four hours north of where we were living at the time. Meanwhile I had recently submitted an application for a job in Ho Chi Minh City. Ripe for adventure, ever since a trip to Vietnam I had been daydreaming about returning, about the thrills and challenges of living in a place of distinction, leagues away from what my personal experience dictated as ordinary. “You should apply!” I insisted. Saigon was hot, humid, and assaultingly vibrant. Orange awnings, blue and yellow striped awnings, teal awnings, one hundred awnings over as many storefronts on one block. Sidewalks covered with red and green plastic crates filled with purple cellophane-wrapped flowers. One store sells motorbike shocks, another flip flops. There is a store with haphazardly stacked aquariums. Chickens peck at the ground under hand-woven baskets while cyclists weave through a knot of

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men on tiny Vespas hauling refrigerators in the infinite laissez-faire river of traffic. Unfathomable tangles of electrical wire hang precariously slack overhead, in and out of greenery protruding from second, third-, and fourth-story windows. The grocery store is a flea market of fruits under a rainbow of umbrellas. Chokecherries, mangos, limes, dragon fruit, dorean. It’s a thick ninety degrees, but the women selling produce are wearing sweaters, protecting their faces from the sun’s rays with traditional Vietnamese leaf hats. Butchers hang racks of ribs and pig legs in the open air. A two-foot-wide metal tray rests atop an upturned stool, filled with what looks like innards of some kind. Another person is selling fish and octopus in shallow metal bowls filled with water and massive hunks of ice and set on the street. He sits patiently next to a fire hydrant over which hangs a banh mi sandwich in a plastic bag.

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Ho Chi Minh City is a literal world away from where I am right now. The snow is pretty, but its variations are few - how many shades of grey can there really be? Or that’s what I thought, before moving to the northland. Eric did apply for the job and was offered the position. My application to the post in Vietnam, on the other hand, received a gentle “no thank you.� Yes, some days the color palette is monochromatic. Variations on a theme: dismal. Assaultingly so, if you will. But there are also days when the bluebird sky shimmers in the diamond facets of dry snow cascading like sand at my feet. Ely surprises me as its own kind of marvelous adventure. What it lacks in technicolor awnings and population density, it makes up for in flora and fauna -- an entirely different kind of spectacle. For Eric and me life in Ely is one in which we can pull a sled three miles across a frozen lake on hok skis to catch fish through the ice, sleeping in a canvas tent with a woodstove, collecting fallen

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branches to stay warm through the night. Wendell is impervious to the sub-zero temperatures, ever the source of inspiration. He is not to be deterred by a crust of frosty ice around his snout and eyes. The same tiny molecules of water seize up around the needles of the spruce trees which surround us. We live in an actual winter wonderland. Wendell Berry (our puppy's namesake) writes that this delicate world can only be healed of our ravages if we make a reasonable home, rooted in place, and care for the land in a manner inspired by the vision of our great-greatgreat-great grandchildren. He professes the worthiness of travel by foot, the profound value of home. As a born and bred Minnesotan, what better place to call home than this stunning distillation of the best our state has to offer? Perhaps what I sought in applying for a job in Vietnam was the opportunity to continue to exist in my travel state of mind: to be in awe of the differences among people, between cultures; to be confronted with the myriad ways of being and ways of doing. Ely is brimming with opportunities for such exposure, with its complex history and rich cultural heritage. Elyites and visitors alike benefit from the traditions and insight of those in the region who came before us. There is certainly no shortage of folks willing to share an anecdote about how things

The Ely Winter Times

have changed, about how they’ve stayed the same. My neighbor, who calls herself our Finn Hill village elder, offers to teach me how to make Finnish biscuit every time I see her. I can attend “old tyme” contra dances, listen to WELY Radio’s polka program on Saturday mornings, learn how to make (and correctly pronounce) Cornish pasties or Slovenian potica at the Folk School. (That’s PAST ee and Po TEETZ uh.) I can harvest wild

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rice and pick four quarts of blueberries when the season is right. And so, until I learn how to make it myself (and figure out where and how to source the ingredients), there shall be no breakfast pho for me. In the meantime, I’ll walk my mukluks to Insula for a Bloody Mary adorned with a Scandinavian potato sausage and cinnamon-sugar coated piece of lefse, an appetizer to an order of wild rice pancakes soaked in local 100% pure maple syrup, smiling the whole way thinking about how there is nowhere else I’d rather call home.

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Evergreens of Ely

The pines, spruces, and balsam fir in the forests around Ely do more than give us holiday decorations. They define the boreal forest, which exists at its southern edge in this area; they fill the wilderness woodlands and create the distinctive Canoe Country horizon; they provide food and shelter to an array of creatures, and they permeate the air with that scent that says “You are in the North.” Learning to name and differentiate the tree species is fairly easy as there are only three species of pine, two of spruce, one fir, one larch, and one cedar. Yew and juniper don’t reach tree height here. We have white pines, red pines, and jack pines. The white have a soft,

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feathery look to the branches in mature trees. They are often the tallest tree silhouette on the horizon. Their bark is gray and can be deeply furrowed in old trees. The needles are long and in groups of five–easily remembered because the word white has five letters. Their cones are long and resinous. They grow throughout the Great Lakes region and, covered the landscape before the logging era. White pines are likely to remain part of our forests in the future. Red pines look artistically clumpy and also have an impressive stature at maturity. The bark is a scaly red and they have three needles per group–the same as the number of letters in the word red.

The Ely Winter Times

Their cones are short and stubby. A colder climate species, they are unlikely to become less common in this area as the climate warms. Jack pines look a bit scraggly compared to the majestic red and white pines. Their needles are shorter and in groups of two, and their cones are small and closed, looking a bit like bumpy, curved stones. The cones open with heat, so are fun to put on your campfire and watch. They are a boreal species, at the southern edge of their range in Ely, so destined to disappear from our forests in the coming decades. Jack pines are often found in same-age groups because they regenerate when forest fires heat their cones and release White Pine

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Reds Pine

the seed. They can grow in very poor soil, but are not shade tolerant—part of their fire-adapted characteristics. The spruce trees are harder to differentiate by species, although a big stand growing in a wet area are undoubtedly black spruce. White spruce tend to be on higher ground. Skinny trees with a clump of branches at the top are usually black spruce; white spruce in silhouette are fish shaped–thinner at the top and bottom and wide in the middle. Absolute identification is best done by comparing cones with white spruce being longer. Telling a spruce from a balsam fir is an easier task. Balsam have a shape resembling a dunce’s cap when viewed Jack Pine

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from a distance–conical and pointy. Their needles lay flat on the sides of a twig whereas a branch of spruce resembles a bottle brush. If you have trouble telling the fir and spruces apart, crush some needles. The balsam fir smells like Christmas and a black spruce has a medicinal menthol odor. The white spruce often looks like the perfect Christmas tee, but a whiff may remind you of cat urine and so may not be your first choice to bring into your living room for a month. Cedars don’t have needles, but have a flat appearance and tiny cones. Their bark has brown vertical strips. Larch, or tamarack (see page 44), have short needles, grow in wetlands, and lose all their needles in the fall after they turn a brilliant gold.

Whether you know the names or not, our evergreens make winter more beautiful.

SNOWMOBILE & SMALL ENGINE

REPAIR Whether you are moving snow or riding over it, Joe’s Marine & Repair can help. Mechanics are on duty and parts are in stock. 25 W. Chapman St., 219-365-6264 30

Conifers hold an amazing snow load. One large spruce may hold 2 tons! The Ely Winter Times

Maps of the Ely Area Downtown Area

Camp St. 4 5 17 18 19

1

20 27 28

30

31 32 33

37

34 35

36

7

26 29 10 11 12 16

8

21

Whiteside Park

Sheridan St. 6

25 Chapman St.

14 22

24

13 23 15

Harvey St. 38 3

8 Ave

Central Av.

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Art & Soul Gallery 33 The Art Corner 1 The Boathouse 19 Brandenburg Gallery 17 Britton’s Café 11 Chapman St. Bookstore 21 Crapola 16 City Hall/Fire/Police 25 Ely Area Credit Union 9 Ely Bloomenson Pharmacy 2 Ely Clinic and Hospital 2 Ely Community Resource 38 Ely Drop and Shop 26 Ely Field Naturalist Res. Ctr 12 Ely Folk School 27 Ely Free Clinic 38 Ely Made Media 16 Ely Outfitting Company 37 Ely Public Library 24

Ely Steak House Ely Steam Bath Evergreen Cottage The Front Porch Gardner Trust Incredible Ely Hq. Insula Restaurant J&L Hardware Joe’s Marine & Repair Kekekabic Studio Kondos Outdoors Lakeshore Liquor A Laundry Room Legacy Toys & Books Mike’s Liquor Northern Grounds Organic Roots Bistro The Pebble Spa Piragis Northwoods Co

4 Ave

1st E

Conan St.

26 15 22 31 23 10 20 14 7 14 21 35 35 8 32 6 21 28 5

School

Plum Bun Bakery Prairie Fire Tobacco Post Office Potluck Kitchenware Senior Center Sir G’s Sisu Yarn Shop State Farm State Theater Steger Mukluks Save the Boundary Waters Ten Below Coworking Washington Auditorium Wintergreen Northern Wear Women’s Wilderness Zeugner Accounting Zup’s Grocery

34 21 23 16 13 36 7 12 29 18 26 10 3 27 32 16 30

Please thank our advertisers for providing you with this free publication.

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Public Landing

Shagawa Lake

Pioneer Rd

68 69 55 Public Landing

Miners Lake

59 55 Semer’s Park

r St. Chandle W.Shagawa Rd.

M

55

Dr. iner’s

58

Main St.

Washington St.

56 Madison St. Camp St.

12 Ave

10 Ave

8 Ave

Whiteside

57

Harvey St. 1st E

Central Av

1st W

62

61 Sheridan St. Chapman St.

2nd W

Hwy 169 to Tower

3rd W

53

6 Ave

See Detailed Downtown Area Map on Page 39

Conan St. School

Hospital & Clinic

White St.

52

Pattison St.

Ice Arena

50 James St. Boundary St. Wilson St.

Golf Course

Hwy 21 to Babbitt

Please thank our advertisers for providing you with this free publication.

Beacon Hill

Adventure Inn Amici’s Event Center Arrowhead Outdoors Dorothy Molter Museum Ely-Bloomenson Hosp./Clinic Ely Northland Market Ely Rec Center, Skating Rink Ely Tourism & Chamber Ely-Winton History Museum 32

62 50 64 73 52 57 58 67 66

Snowmobile trail maps are free at many businesses and the Chamber of Commerce. For snowmobile events and trail conditions see www.ElyIgloo.com. Ski and snowshoe trail maps are available at Piragis Northwoods Co. and the Forest Service. For more area XC skiing info see www.ElyNordic.org. Road and mountain bike routes are described at BikeEly.com

Evergreen Restaurant 68 Gators Grilled Cheese Emporium 61 Grand Ely Lodge 68 Hidden Valley Recreation Area 72 International Wolf Center 71 Miners Dry, Arts & Heritage Ctr 69 Pillow Rock 59 R & R Transfer Storage 74 Razor Edge 65 The Ely Winter Times

ELY CALENDAR PARKING November 1 through May 31

Pioneer Rd

55

Hwy 88

Savoy Rd 55 17 Ave

74 60 65

Park on the North or West side on odd numbered days, the South or East side on even numbered days. You may park on the next day’s side after 6pm.

Vermilion Community College 66 70

Hwy 169 to Winton/Fernberg Trail

Sheridan St. 71 73

15 Ave

63

Cemetery

Hi dd

en

Kawishiwi Tr Va lle y

Hwy 1 to Airport and North Shore

14 Ave

67

64

Rd .

72

N

W

Ely

E

S Recycling Center (moving soon) Studio North Fitness Center Trezona Trail Wolf Track Classic Start USFS Visitor Center VCC Admissions VCC Theatre Veterinary Clinic

2019-2020

53 60 55 63 70 66 66 56

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82 Echo Trail

WINTON Burntside Lake

Hwy 88

95

93 94

Shagawa Lake

87

Fall Lake 83 88

Kawishiwi Tr 89

Ely

92 Fernberg

Garden Lake Farm Lake

Hwy 169

White Iron Lake

Hwy 1 Hwy 21

81

86

91

90

85 84

Alder Place Babbitt & Embarrass Bear Head State Park Bois Fort Heritage Center Camps Du Nord and Widji Chilly Dogs Sled Dog Trips

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85 85 81 81 82 84

Janisch Realty Kawishiwi Falls Koschak Farm The Long Branch North Arm Ski Trails St. Louis Co. Landfill

81 88 94 87 82 85

Silver Rapids Lodge South Farm Ski Trails Veteran’s on the Lake Voyageur Outward Bound White Wilderness Dogsled Wintergreen Dogsledding

89 91 83 86 86 90

The Ely Winter Times

Ely Spiritual Gatherings

Berean Baptist Church 2281 Hwy 169 365-5413 Sun 10:30 Ely Gospel Church 3 E Allaire St 365-5272 Sun 10, Wed 6:30 First Lutheran Church LC MS 915 E Camp St 365-3348 Sun 10:30 First Presbyterian Church 226 E Harvey St 365-5130 Sun 11 Grace Lutheran Church ELCA 301 E Conan St 365-5605, nursery available Sun 9:30 Ledgerock Comm. Church 1515 E Camp St 365-4890 Sun 9:30 Oasis Int’l Church Ely Senior Center 235-1151 Sun 10 Call for mid-week service times. They are always held but times vary. Praise Fellowship Christian 302 E Boundary St 365-6033 Sun 10 St. Anthony’s Catholic Church 231 E Camp St 365-4017 Sat 9 am, 5 pm, Sun 10 T, W, F 8am St. Mary’s Episcopal Church 715 S Central Av 365-4914 Sun 9:30 Thursday Night Group location varies, call 365-3346 Th 7pm We do not subscribe to any one path for spiritual enlightenment. United Methodist Church of Ely 305 E Camp St 365-3355 Sun 10

Ely Area 12-Step Meetings

AlAnon Babbitt Woodland Presbyterian Church Alcoholics Anonymous Catholic Church Basement, Room 1 Women, Open – Catholic Church Basement Miracle on Camp St, open – 1st Lutheran Church Big Book open, Babbitt Woodland Presbyterian Church Open – 1st Lutheran Church Keep It Simple, open - Babbitt Woodland Presbyterian Church Happy, Joyous, and Free, open, Presbyterian Church Open meeting - 1st Lutheran Codependents Anonymous Catholic Church Basement, Room 3 (use west entry by parsonage) 2019-2020

Thu 7 pm Sun 8 pm Mon noon Mon 7 pm Tue 7 pm Wed 8 pm Thu 7 pm Fri 7 pm Sat 7:30 pm Fri noon 35

The Quiltmaker’s Gift

by Lynn Evenson illustrations by Gail deMarcken

Once upon a time, a man in New York wrote a book about a quiltmaker and a king. A woman living in Latvia illustrated it. Some people in Phoenix, Arizona liked the book so much they commissioned a musical to be written. It’s been performed all over the country. Everywhere it went, the local quilting communities went a little bit crazy, but in a good way. Quilting contests were held. Quilting classes filled to capacity or were offered for the first time. Quilts were displayed in shops, in schools, and in the lobbies of performance venues.

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Meanwhile, the book won the Book Sense of the Year award, in the award’s first year of existence, for Best Illustrated Children’s Book. It’s inspired a prequel, two how-to-quilt books based on the quilting patterns in the book, and even some ballets. It’s been translated into Chinese, Korean, and Greek. The fabric manufacturer Benartex sponsored a nationwide quilting contest: you had to use their fabrics which featured, you guessed it, patterns from the book. A woman in Cook, Minnesota, less than an hour from Ely, won! Not too many years ago, the illustrator moved to Ely. She lives on a lake in a big, beautiful house with a

The Ely Winter Times

separate studio building. She thought that this book might be a wonderful project for Ely’s arts community to take on. Her idea was to see the musical performed on stage at Ely’s Historic State Theater, which has been painstakingly restored over the past five years and is now ready for shows. She wanted quilting groups and art students in the schools to participate, and for other people to get involved as well. Now, Ely’s arts community is a force to be reckoned with. We are sculptors, painters, choreographers, dancers, musicians, photographers, theatre people, arts educators, and more. When the illustrator put forth her ideas, the

entire artistic population of the town leapt at the chance to bring them to life. What is this book? What’s the appeal? Why do we even need this? Glad you asked. The book is The Quiltmaker’s Gift. The author is Jeff Brumbeau. Ely’s own Gail deMarcken is the illustrator. One local artist has described the book as “a story of love, kindness and redemption. It provides…an accessible and poignant lesson on how to see past what divides us to what ultimately unites us as human beings.” There have been many times we as a nation have needed this reassuring lesson. Now is another of those times. Not only do we have this beautiful

The row end standards are the originals, now refurbished. You can learn more about the restoration and donate to the non-profit that is working to purchase equipment to show films at ElyStateTheater.com. 2019-2020

37

reminder, we also have a book that is a very pointed lesson in why humans need the printed page. Ely’s presentation of the musical on January 24, 25 and 26, 2020 will be the beautifully refurbished Ely Historic State Theater’s first live performance. Alley A Realty bought this Art Deco National Historic Landmark in 2014, and has put thousands of hours into restoring it to its original 1936 magnificence. It will once

Gail has a remarkable ability to portray subtle emotions for both people and animals. This is from Born to Pull. again host movies, but will also feature performance art from time to time. Local singers, dancers, actors, players and theatre technicians will comprise the small but mighty cast. If you’ve never attended a performance in

The astonishingly rich detail in Gail’s illustrations fascinate readers of all ages. 38

The Ely Winter Times

Ely, you are in for a treat that may well amaze you. If you’re a regular in the audiences around here, you know what to expect: professional expertise and performance on a level nobody expects in rural Minnesota. It’s not just about the play, either. At least one local book store is stocking up on an inventory of the book. The public library will host readings of The Quiltmaker’s Gift and other fun goingson specifically aimed at the half-pints. Art students in the public school will get a taste of quiltmaking as art as they create fabric patterns from the book. The Ely Folk School is planning quilting classes and related activities, some for grown-ups and some for not-so-grownups. Every quilting club within 100 miles or so has been invited to share their particular wealth. The Ely Folk School and the State Theatre’s lobby are going to be a veritable kaleidoscope of fabric art: many quilts will be displayed there, including the national award winner, and some may even make it onto the stage. And as the late-night infomercials love to say, “But wait, there’s more!” There will be, but a lot of it is in the planning stages. If you don’t read “kid lit” because you think it’s silly kid stuff, The Quiltmaker’s Gift will change your mind. “Love, kindness and redemption…” Since when do we not need all those? Experiencing it in live theatre will be heart-warming, thought-provoking fun; an occasion of light, color, learning, and celebration in the midst of winter–something we all need every year about this time. Join us. Gail’s handmade posters will be up all over town well ahead of our late-January curtain. If you can’t get to the theatre, buy and read the book, or borrow it from the Ely Public Library. You may find it a wonderful reminder that there is beauty to being human.

Find updated information at QuiltmakersGiftEly.com and ElyFolkSchool.org 2019-2020

Gail has illustrated many more books, some of which can be found at the Ely Library and at Piragis’ bookstore. 39

© Wee Cabin Co.

A sauna built by Wee Cabin of Ely

Get Warm, Get Clean, Sauna! The first thing you need to know about a sauna is how to pronounce the word. It’s Finnish, a language in which each vowel is pronounced independently. So instead of an “aw” sound like “autumn” the “au” makes an “ow” sound like “now.” So it’s Sah-oo-na. Now that you can say it properly, let’s talk about the right way to take a sauna. There are sauna aficionados who will gladly share the one true correct method,

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but each expert has different rules. The truly best way is the way that makes you feel the cleanest, most invigorated, and later the most relaxed. No simple bath or shower can compare. Serious sauna takers do agree that there are two parts to the experience: the hot and the cold. How hot? Some are content with 150 degrees and some wouldn’t consider anything less than 180 a real sauna and will go as high as 220

The Ely Winter Times

or so. Whoa! That’s more than boiling! Won’t your blood boil? No, but you don’t want to wear jewelry into such a hot sauna as it could burn your skin. Pails and dippers should be wood, not metal or plastic. How cold? Standing in summer evening air is cool enough for some, but others are happiest with a plunge through the ice of a frozen lake or a roll in the snow, or at least an ice-cold shower. How do you know which you like best? Well, there’s the catch. You have to try them all, and maybe more than once. Wet or dry? This may create the most avid conflict among sauna takers because you can’t have it both ways in one sauna. At the dry extreme, which is also usually toward the high end in terms of temperature, sweat evaporates so

© John Ratzloff

2018-2019

quickly that you may not even notice you are perspiring. Increase the humidity by throwing water on the rocks or showering inside the sauna room, and you feel hotter, but the temperature actually goes down. Just like a humid day feels hotter than a dry day, a wet sauna seems to make you sweatier and hotter and forces you from the hot little room faster. Wet or dry, you eventually reach your tolerance level for heat and are ready for the cold part. The iconic leap into a lake is ideal, but not always available. In winter, if you have the choice of an icy plunge, remember that water only gets as cold as 32 degrees. So even if it’s 20 below, the water is much warmer than the air or the snow. Most people find that the first cold dip is the only one that really feels cold. After that your skin is so

© Dave Freeman

41

BOUNDARY WATERS SPORTS MASSAGE

© Garrett Conover

Specializing in therapeutic massage for runners, cyclists, canoeists, and skiers since 2012. LynnAnne Vesper, sports massage specialist, massagebook.com, 218-398-6316 tingly that the quick switch from hot to cold just feels like relief. Another choice is nude or not. The social situation will probably determine your comfort level there, and remember that you may need to consider others’ comfort levels as well. Most public places like hotels and gyms are going to require suits regardless of how comfortable you may be without one. Speaking of hotels and gyms, many true sauna lovers would consider these seriously sub-standard—just a warm room not worthy of the name sauna. For them, a certain ambience is critical to the whole experience. The quintessential sauna occurs in a small building with a wood stove near the shores of a northern lake. Preparation is part of the experience–the smell of wood smoke as you start the fire, sitting around having an engaging conversation as the little room heats up, checking the thermometer and adding wood. Then the sauna itself–rounds of hot and cold until your skin is nearly as red as a boiled lobster. For the beginner and the children this can mean sitting on the lower, cooler benches, but the lake plunge is part of it for all but the babies and anyone with a serious heart condition. Birch switches can be used to stimulate circulation even more. Water is tossed on the hot rocks to produce a gasp-inducing cloud of steam, called loyly in Finnish. The dash to the lake is short so there’s no time to think about it, then the cold that takes away your breath for a moment. (First-timers should be sure someone else is with them, and watch how others do it if it is a through-the-ice dip.) Linger in the water or the breeze until the heat has dissipated, then back into the hot room for another round. 42

A brush and bucket of water may be used to help exfoliation or scrub off ground-in grime, but soap is generally not used in a sauna. It’s a clean like no other. When you’ve had enough, your pores have released all kinds of dirt and toxins, your brain has let go of the day’s small irritations, and your body feels relaxed and invigorated all at once. But that’s not quite the end. A sauna is best on a partly-empty stomach, so now it is time for some special snacks and plenty of water. Adult beverages can be part of it, too, as long as you’ve had enough water to avoid dehydration. Ideally the rest of the evening is spent relaxing with friends, and a great night’s sleep is likely to follow. Saunas are not ALWAYS serene, peaceful affairs.

The Ely Winter Times

Some advice about that plunge through the ice: wear heavy wool socks to prevent cutting your feet on the ice and to give you better traction to avoid a fall. The hole is usually in a spot without current and where you can touch–often only waist dip so you have to duck to get the full impact. It’s good to have a buddy just in case you need help getting out, but most people pop out so fast they don’t even know how they did it. The first time may take some courage, but after doing it a couple times you’ll look forward to it, and then there’s the bragging rights. About the option for rolling in the snow–be sure the area under the snow is free from anything that you wouldn’t want to fall on. Crusty snow can cut, and even softer snow can scratch your skin when it’s cold. You probably wouldn’t feel it until later, so check yourself and your buddies to be sure it’s only superficial. Ely has plenty of saunas at the cabins along lakeshores, but if you don’t have a friend to share with, you can get a pretty good approximation at the Ely Steam Bath. As the name suggests, this is a wet experience. And the cold part is a shower that can be as warm as you like or turned to the icy winter temperature of Ely’s city water system. There are separate men’s and women’s rooms plus private rooms, so nudity is the usual practice, although a 2019-2020

suit is certainly an option for the modest person. Saunas are becoming more popular, so much so that there are places where you can rent a perfect little sauna building that is trailered to your party. A guide may be included to introduce you to the culture and practice of taking a sauna. So far this doesn’t exist in Ely, but it’s an idea if you’re looking for a unique business opportunity. There are plenty of books on building saunas, taking saunas, and the Finnish culture around saunas. Arguably the best is Sauna Magic by Garrett Conover. Personal stories and photos convey the sense of deep health and connection that is the essence of sauna yet nearly impossible to put in words. You can find a copy at the Ely Library, Piragis, or Mealey’s Gift and Sauna Shop.

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© Kahsha Hyde

Invisible?

by Becca Brin Manlove During our “You’re amazing, I hope you like me too” phase we hiked up to Old Baldy, a knob of granite above Burntside Lake’s North Arm. I was a new staff member at YMCA Camp du Nord; Mike Manlove was the year-round caretaker. From the ridge above the camp, glimpses of the lake glinted through breaks in the trees. Mike helped me identify pine species by silhouette. Just when I thought he might kiss me, he said, “Let’s play hide and seek!” We were a mature twenty-four and twenty-seven. I laughed. “Um, OK. You hide first.” “Count to fifty.”

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“Fifty! Don’t go far. I’ll get lost trying to find you.” “Count to fifty.” I counted quickly. “Here I come, ready or not!” I turned around. Mike was just behind me, lying in a little needlestrewn clearing with his eyes shut. “I found you.” “No, you didn’t. I’m invisible.” His joke was doubly funny because Mike was not an invisible kind of guy. Only five feet ten inches tall, most people thought of him as much larger because of his powerful build. His laugh was unfettered and loud. The stories he told made other people laugh with him. His love was solid as the ledge rock we were

The Ely Winter Times

sitting on. We were married that October, in a snowstorm. He died twenty-five years later. I miss him most when I’m in the woods. Pausing on skis to absorb the silence in a stand of pines, I remember working on the North Arm Trails as Camp du Nord winter staff. After a big snowfall, we dropped lunch, a thermos, and tools into a Duluth pack and strapped on snowshoes. Mike, heavier and stronger, led the way while I stamped along behind firming up a base. Our favorite lunch stops were a fallen tree alongside a chattering stream or a tumble of boulders on the shore of a newly frozen pond. We widened our trail on the way down. The next day we skied

2019-2020

on yesterday’s track, carrying snowshoes so that we could set base on a farther reach of trail. Mike, always the wrestler, sometimes grabbed me up, threatening to dump me into the snow. I watched for moments when he was bent over, tightening a binding or pulling nippers out of the pack, to try to shove him over. We talked about mundane things. Should we haul this long, stout stick out for knocking over what Mike called poop castles forming in the outhouses? We planned water hauling and other logistics for du Nord guests. Arguments broke out at times. Two strong-willed people doing cold, arduous work isn’t a fairy tale after all. But we laughed more than we fought. We talked seriously too. I’d learned how to snowshoe in Mr. Anderson’s Earth Science class in Cloquet Middle School. My mind expanded like ice in a bucket when he taught us about the interconnectedness of soil, plants, animals, and the weather on snowshoe field trips. A heavy snowfall meant better warmth and cover for grouse, not just the hassle of shoveling the driveway. Mr. Anderson taught us about the Greenhouse Effect (now called Climate Change). Scientists were trying to raise the alarm already in the early 1970s. Mike’s dad was a YMCA and Lutheran Church Camp Director whose second Bible was A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. Mike and his brother, Steve, helped their dad with erosion control projects on an overgrazed ranch 45

in the Black Hills. Together we were concerned about the consequences of our actions on the future of the woods around us and on the planet. At du Nord, we lived in Belfry, a oneroom cabin with no running water. Once a group of guests (as I remember, they included a judge, a professor, and a 3M executive) lobbied for flush toilets in the winter cabins. One complained that the outhouse for their cabin stunk. Mike laughed. “That outhouse didn’t stink until you guys got here.” The cabin was used mostly on weekends. Frozen poop doesn’t stink—much. In 1984, we built a home of logs cut from a stand near Soudan. We watched Len Bielawski, our log builder, hug each Did you know that eating vegetarian or vegan one day a week reduces your annual carbon footprint by nearly a ton? Plant products use 10% as much fossil fuels to produce as animal products. Over a lifetime, eating vegetarian is better for the planet than driving an electric car. And a meal like beans and rice is easy on your budget and good for your health. Too busy to cook? Try Oriental Orchid’s Curry Tofu (Don’t say you don’t like tofu until you’ve tried this!), or Wild Mushroom Ravioli at Grand Ely Lodge, or a veggie special pizza. Crapola has delicious smoothies with soy milk that can be breakfast or lunch. And Organic Roots always has tasty vegan options.

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tree, looking up the bole to determine how straight it was. Building with local materials and labor was important to us. We burned wood as our main heat source and used off-peak electric heaters as back up. We didn’t install running water until our second child was born. In these ways our carbon footprint may have been smaller than the average American, but it wasn’t unusual in Ely. We contributed plenty to the current climate crisis in other ways. Driving nine miles to work, sometimes in separate cars, and delaying installment of more efficient windows and doors are just a few examples. I continue to drive too much, leave lights on, and stay silent about climate change. Local consequences of global warming are no more invisible than Mike was in our game of hide and seek. Arctic sea-ice melting means that our boreal air-conditioning system is faltering. The biggest change in the Ely area is in nighttime winter temperatures. Already we’ve lost an average of a week of ice cover on lakes in the fall and one and a half days in the spring. On a year when ice doesn’t leave until fishing opener or, like this past November, sets up extra early, we can’t see the problem, but the long-term data is clear. The Minnesota DNR website contains good information on climate change concerns for Minnesota including astonishing temperature and precipitation data. Warmer winter temperatures have drastically increased mortality of The Ely Winter Times

tamarack from the Eastern larch beetle. Swaths of these gold-lace-in-the-fall, lowland trees are succumbing across Minnesota. The emerald ash borer, which can survive winter temperatures to 30 below zero, moves ever closer, threatening black ash, another wetland tree. Our dramatic polar vortex last winter may have helped slow the beetle populations into the Ely area, but the trend of warming winter nights will continue. Moose, bat, and bee populations are struggling while Ely sees an increase in raccoons and skunks. Populations of evening grosbeaks and other boreal birds have dropped dramatically. The causes are multifaceted AND climate change amplifies other deleterious factors. When Mike died I learned how to adapt, how to mourn the loss of a loved one. He’s been gone twelve years now, but he still isn’t invisible. His life continues to ripple out through our two 2019-2020

children, the trails he laid out and maintained, and the stories people tell about him. I’m not sure how to adapt to and mourn the loss of the boreal forest. My granddaughter may tell her children about tamaracks turning gold in the fall, adventures on frozen lakes, bats swooping over the lakeshore at dusk and reducing the mosquito population, and moose munching aquatic plants. But these iconic northern occurrences may be invisible to future generations of Elyites. I have hope. People in the Ely area are already doing many things to shrink their carbon footprint. A partial list includes: re-purposing items through Ely Swap and Sell Facebook page and Ely Drop and Shop; re-placing leaky windows and doors; shopping the Farmers Market; turning down thermostats (one stalwart local keeps her thermostat at 48 degrees at night and 55 during the day); heating with wood; 47

riding bikes; buying energy efficient cars, furnaces, water heaters, and lights; eating less meat; refurbishing existing homes rather than building new ones; installing solar panels; supporting political candidates and businesses that are addressing climate change; electing to pay extra on power bills to support renewable sources of energy. Although national and international policies are important, taking action as individuals and local communities is essential to making the needed changes. We still have an opportunity for another decade or so to drastically cut carbon emissions and so reduce the speed of climate change. The global temperature has risen one degree Celsius (C) and will continue to rise to 1.5 C above the pre-industrial level because we’ve literally been pushing on the gas pedal and only just begun to apply the brakes on this fossil fuels hotrod. But if we can cut emissions enough to hold the rise to 1.5C rather

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than going to 2 C or worse, remnants of the boreal forest may linger on north facing slopes and in deep valleys around northeastern Minnesota. I struggle to grasp what sounds like a tiny difference. One detail that helped me was that it’s the difference between the Arctic Ocean being ice-free once every ten years (2C) or once every 100 years (1.5C). Trails and buildings constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) of the 1930’s can still be found in the Ely area. The CCC was a government response to a human-caused change— the devastating dust storms, as well as the stock market crash. People were starving. Americans rose to the challenge then. We can do this now. I don’t want the boreal forest to become invisible here. I want my granddaughter to snowshoe with her children and grandchildren, telling them, “I didn’t ever get to meet my Grandpa Mike, but he loved it out here.”

The Ely Winter Times

Books for Blizzards Almost everyone has a story about a relationship with an animal, wild or domestic, that was a pivotal moment in their life. In Our Wild Calling, Richard Louv has collected some of the most interesting and combined them with research that shows how human-animal connections improve our mental and physical health and enrich our spiritual lives. Just as important, from the critters’ perspective, such connections may be what saves some animal species, as well as individuals. Author of Last Child in

the Woods and Vitamin N (for Nature), Louv is a superb writer whose urgings have changed the world for the better. Wildlife of all kinds was much more plentiful before European settlement of Minnesota. In Hunting Adventures on the Minnesota Frontier readers will find photos and magazine articles that portray just how abundant were waterfowl, deer, moose, black bears, caribou, and other animals hunted or trapped as settlement began and developed into the early 1900s. Not

Order by phone, mail, or the website, or find it at your favorite stores. $13.95 + $6 shipping to U.S.

PO Box 188, Ely, MN 55731 • 218-365-3375 • www,RavenWordsPress.com

2019-2020

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surprisingly, many of the prime hunting locations then are favorites with hunters today. Accompanied by photos gleaned mostly from MN Historical Society files, these essays connect readers with past generations of those who fed families, made a living selling game to eastern food specialists, and began to realize that overhunting could be detrimental to the wildlife populations. A perfect gift for the hunter in your life. Great writing and a page-turner of a story make The Twenty-ninth Day one of the best adventure books you could read. The cornerstone is a grizzly attack that the author survived, but the canoe trip in the Canadian tundra where it

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occurred is nearly as fascinating. The group of six young men on a Camp Menogyn coming-of-age trip have to make the hard choices a wilderness emergency provides, and rise to the challenges with admirable courage. It’s hard to imagine, from our cozy cabins in a Minnesota mid-winter, why a person would want to trek (maybe trudge is more accurate) across Antarctica pulling 250 pound sledges. But two women did just that. Perhaps the three million students in 65 countries who followed their expedition, learning science, geography, and how to follow their dreams, motivated the two women who were both teachers. Whatever it was, their story in No Horizon So Far will make you feel warmer this winter, and fill you with admiration for these two whose The Ely Winter Times

voices alternate in telling not just about the trials of their record-setting trip, but many of the details of just how they accomplished fixing meals, getting along in stressful conditions for three months, raising funds for such an adventure, and more of the everyday issues. Two long-time Elyites share both their everyday and extraordinary life experiences in Rooted in Rocky Soil. Friends since junior high, Ray and Rose began this book as a story about Ray’s heart transplant. But it has evolved into a memoir rich with family, love of the outdoors, and the sense of humor that undoubtedly helped them through some rough spots. Any Ely-loving readers on your gift list would appreciate this book. Jack and the Ghost has the appearance of a carefully-crafted book for young people, but the message is for anyone who has dealt with grief and loss. Simple and charming, it is “a book with readers who need it” as one reviewer puts it. Set on the shore of a big lake–Lake Superior for those who know it, although it is not named–the story is a reminder that healing takes time, but eventually the present can overtake the past in our hearts and minds. A small hardcover book with full color illustrations, it was written by two rock musicians. 2019-2020

The second in the Play Wild series from Ely publisher Legacy Bound, Where We Run, A Dogsledding Story is as delightful as the first book, Where I Fly, which was about pond hockey. Here a parent and child streak across snowcovered lakes and along wilderness trails, dreaming of running a big race and relaxing into the steady trot of their dogs, ending at a winter camp with a cozy tent and northern lights. A nonfiction section explains mushing terms and provides information about winter animals.

Chapman Street Books

Quality used books on all subjects. Bring yours in for a discount. Big free box. Also home to Prairie Fire Tobacco, with imported and domestic blends. 139 E. Chapman St. 218-365-2212 51

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The Ely Winter Times

Racers on skinny skis and fat tires sped along Hidden Valley trails in the 2019 races. see ElyNordic.org for 2020 race details.

Check Ely.org, posters, WELY, local papers and the Ely Shopper for updates and additional events. Ely Folk School and Community Ed classes are at their websites. Events listed are open to the public; some may require prior registration. Many are free. A high school sports calendar is available at the school’s general office. VCC - Vermilion Community College. Area code is 218 unless noted. Most locations are shown on the maps on pages 31-34; church addresses are on page 35. No reason to ever complain about “nothing to do” in Ely ...

Winter 2019-2020 Ely Area Calendar NOVEMBER

22, 7 pm 23, 10-3 24, 6-9 pm 27, 7 pm 28, 3 pm 28, 5-8 pm 28, 6-9 pm 28, 6-9 pm 28-Dec 8 29, 12-4 30 30, 10-4 30, 2 pm 30, 5-7 pm

Ely Area Concert Association: Jason Farnham, piano Washington Auditorium Gifts that Give Fair, fair trade & local gifts, non-profits First Presbyterian Church Thanks Gathering Community Celebration, 365-6921 LedgeRock Comm. Church Celebration of Thanksgiving, a community gathering First Lutheran Church Thanksgiving Potluck, all welcome | elyfolkschool.org Ely Folk School Festival Tree Lighting, Silent Auction & Raffle, Northwoods Partners Grand Ely Lodge Thanksgiving Night Shopping, ely.org Downtown Ely Open House and Tours - come and see our renovation! Historic Ely State Theater Festival of Trees, Northwoods Partners fundraiser Grand Ely Lodge A Handmade Christmas in Ely (arts & craft show) Grand Ely Lodge Small Town Christmas, SHOP LOCAL!, ely.org, Downtown Ely A Handmade Christmas in Ely (arts & craft show) Grand Ely Lodge VCC Theatre NLAA Fall Show, “Scrooge in Love,” multiple dates, see ad below Christmas Parade & Tree Lighting, bonfire, Santa, ely.org Downtown Ely & Whiteside Park

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DECEMBER 4, 3:30 pm 5, 3:30 pm 6&7, 10-4 7, 1-3 pm 8, 11 am 8, 2 pm 9, 3 pm 10, 6 pm 11, 1:30 pm 12, 7 pm 13, 1:30 pm 14, 1-3 pm 14, 4-6 pm 15, 1-4 pm 15, 2-5 pm 15, 6 pm 15, 6 pm 17, 3:30 pm 18, 1:15 pm 18, 4:30-6

Good Vibrations for Winter Wellness, teens & adults, elylibrary.org Ely Library Pinterest Projects for all ages: Winter calming bottles, supplies provided Ely Library Homestead Holidays: Coffee, baked goods, gift items Nelimark Homestead Museum Craft and Christmas Cookie Sale ($7/lb) & Dessert Social First Lutheran Church Children’s Slovenian St. Nicholas celebration, all welcome Catholic Church Basement Ely Community Christmas Cantata Washington Auditorium Friends of the Library Book Discussion, Brave New World, elylibrary.org Ely Library Free Skillshare: Connect, Acquire, and Convert Ten Below Co-working Film Fiesta (with popcorn), Fred Clause, elylibrary.org Ely Library Ely Schools Winter Choir Concert & Art Show Washington Auditorium Make Your Own Gifts 101 (teens & adults), elylibrary.org Ely Library Mrs. Claus Party w/ Santa, ely.org Amici's Event Center Embarrass Finnish Ice Candle Celebration 984-2084 Embarrass Town Hall Kids Christmas Workshop, 365-5605, all welcome Grace Lutheran Church Santa Day, bring the kids to visit with Santa Grand Ely Lodge Ham BINGO Catholic Church Basement Reflections Dance Company Winter Showcase VCC Theatre Monthly Movie Matinee (with popcorn), Elf, elylibrary.org Ely Library Elementary School Winter Concert Washington Auditorium Music by local group, The Accidental Ensemble Ely Library

Cut your own Christmas tree. Permits $5 at the US Forest Service.

Ely Field Naturalists caught many of these snow snakes in photos last spring as melting began and the elasticity of the white covering showed itself. This one found by Steve Voiles was the most viper-like. 54

The Ely Winter Times

Regularly Scheduled Events (open to all - newcomers and beginners)

All week Mon thru Fri Mon thru Thu Mon, Tues, Fri, Sat Mon, Wed, Fri Monday Monday Monday 2nd&4th Monday 2nd Monday 4th Monday Tuesday Tuesday Tues&Thurs Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday 1st or 2nd Wed 3rd Wednesday Thursday Thursday Thursday Thursday 1st Thursday 3rd Thursday 4th Thursday Friday Fri & Sun Saturday Saturday Saturday Sunday Sunday

Ice skating rink open M-F 3-8, Sat 12-8, Sun 1-6 Ely Rec Center Seniors’ Dinner, noon, all ages (60+$4) 24-hrs reservation 365-4139 Sr Citizens Ctr Open Swimming, 9 am - 9 pm, bring your own towel Grand Ely Lodge Ely Rec Center open for 5-12 grades, 3---8 pm Ely Rec Center Pickle Ball, 8am - 12pm, ElyClasses.com VCC Gym Game Night, smear and cribbage alternate, all ages, 6-9pm Ely Senior Center Intro to Welding, 6-8:30 pm, ElyClasses.com Ely HS Welding Lab Open Knitting, 6:00 - 8:00 pm, beginning in January Sisu Yarn Shop Fluoride Varnish Treatment, free, 5:40-6 pm Ely Community Health Ctr Friends of the Library Book Group Discussion, 3 pm Ely Library Care Givers Support Group, 10 am, 365-8019 Ely Hospital Conference Rm B Tuesday Group (Speakers & discussion), 12 noon Grand Ely Lodge Ice Skating, kids welcome (no hockey) 1:30-2:30, ElyClasses.com Ely Ice Rink Beginners TaiJi and Better Balance, 10 am, 2/4 to 4/23 Ely Rec Ctr Coffee with a Cop, 9-10 am, join the conversation Front Porch Memory & Movement Senior Exercise, 10:30 am, 365-8019 Senior Center Ice Skating, kids welcome (no hockey) 1:30-2:30 pm, ElyClasses.com Ely Ice Rink Woodworking Class, 6-9 pm, Jan 8 - Mar 25, ElyClasses.com Ely HS Shop room Women’s Basketball, 7-8:30 pm, ElyClasses.com Ely Memorial Gym Volleyball, 7-8:30pm all levels welcome, ElyClasses.com Ely Memorial Gym Ely Field Naturalists, 6:30pm, 235-8078, see month for exact date CL 104, VCC Food Shelf open 11am - 6 pm 15 W. Conan Watercolor Group beginners last Thurs of month, 9:30-11:30am 235-8965 Ledgerock Church Community Exercise, 10:30 am, all welcome, 365-8019 First Lutheran Church Ice Skating, kids welcome (no hockey) 1:30-2:30, ElyClasses.com Ely Ice Rink Free Clinic 5:30 - 7pm Ely Community Health Ctr Writers’ Group, 5pm, 235-1984 Boathouse Brewpub Poets & Pints, featured poets and open mic, 7- 9pm Northern Grounds Heart of the Woods Quilters, 6-8pm, 365-4907 Ledgerock Church basement Preschool Storytime, 11am, 365-5140 Ely Public Library Archery Club for grades 4-12, 6-7pm or 7-8pm, elyclasses.com NAPA Basement Open Knitting, beginners welcome, free 1-3pm Sisu Yarn Shop What’s for Dinner? 7pm, 365-4695 Int’l Wolf Center Karaoke, 9pm to Close Ely Steak House Vermilion Range Amateur Radio Club Meeting, 9am Front Porch See church services and locations in Spiritual Gatherings, page 35.

Call or email your events for a listing in future issues: 365-3375, raven1@ravenwords.com

19, 7 pm Ely Schools Winter Band Concert 19, 7 pm Poets & Pints, poetry open mic 20, noon Vet Tech graduation, vcc.edu 21, all day Ely & Winton Christmas Bird Count, 235-8078 24, 7 pm Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, all welcome 27, 3:45 pm Girls’ Basketball Hoops-for-Hope Tournament 27, 7:15 pm Boys’ Basketball Ely Holiday Tournament 2019-2020

Washington Auditorium Northern Grounds VCC Theatre Ely-Winton area First Lutheran Church Ely Memorial HS Gym Ely Memorial HS Gym 55

JANUARY 4, all day 4, 10-3 5 5, 2 pm 8, 3 pm 8, 6:30 pm 11, 6 pm 13, 3 pm 14, 6 pm 15, 3:30 pm 15, 7 pm 16, 6 pm 16, 6 pm 16, 7 pm 17-19 17, 6:30 pm 18-19 18, 10-4 pm 20-21, 6 pm 22-26 23, 3:30 pm 23, 5-8 pm 56

Isabella Christmas Bird Count and lasagna dinner, 753-6110 Isabella area KC PRO Ice Racing, Kids Snowmobile oval race Fall or Shagawa Lake Reflections Dance Company Winter Session begins, molson727@gmail See FB page MN Youth Ski League begins, ages 4-14, mysl@elynordic.org Hidden Valley NASA @ My Library: Space Gardening, elylibrary.org Ely Library Ely Field Naturalists meeting, all welcome VCC Cl 104 Aldo Leopold Birthday Celebration Ely Field Naturalist Resource Ctr Friends of the Library Book Discussion, Always Outnumbered Always Outgunned Ely Library Free Skillshare: Who is Your Ideal Customer? Ten Below Co-working Movie Matinee (with popcorn), Title to be announced Ely Library Dick Beardsley, Motivational Speaker, dickbeardsley.com Washington Auditorium Creating Your Own Art Papers, theartcorner.net The Art Corner Storytelling Evening, “Live life on YOUR terms, not someone else’s” Senior Center Poets & Pints, poetry open mic Northern Grounds North Country by Dogsled (expedition), wolf.org Int’l Wolf Center Hogwarts House Cup Alumni Championship, adults, must pre-register elylibrary.org Wolf Family Rendezvous, ages 6 and up, wolf.org Int’l Wolf Center Creating Your Journal, theartcorner.net The Art Corner Auditions for Ely Community Spring Musical, Fiddler on the Roof, 365-5070 VCC Theatre Northland 300 Special Olympics Snowmobile Ride, www.northland300.org Grand Ely Lodge Pinterest Projects (kids), Quilts, materials supplied, must pre-register elylibrary.org Ely Winter Festival Wine Tasting Fundraiser Northern Grounds The Ely Winter Times

Quilting classes for all ages and an extensive quilt show, including a national awardwinning quilt, will be held at the Ely Folk School during the week of the Quiltmaker’s Gift show. Find the schedule at ElyFolkSchool.org and QuiltmakersGiftEly.com 24, 6 pm 24, 7 pm 25 25, 2 pm 26, 2 pm 31, 3:30 pm

Hogwarts House Cup Students Championship, grades 6-12, must pre-register Quiltmaker’s Gift Musical Performance Annual Snowmobile Fun Run rally, snowmobilefunrun.com Quiltmaker’s Gift Musical Performance Quiltmaker’s Gift Musical Performance Hogwarts Prep School, grades 2-5, must pre-register

elylibrary.org Ely State Theater Ely, Babbitt, Tower Ely State Theater Ely State Theater elylibrary.org

The deadline to enter the essay contest for a FREE one-week Boundary Waters canoe trip for kids ages 15 to 18 is FEBRUARY 9TH, 2020

For the past two years Jason at Ely Outfitting Company has provided a kidsonly, fully outfitted 5-day canoe trip to the winners of an essay contest with the theme “Why I want to go on a Boundary Waters trip with my friends.” The entries were moving, thoughtful, and often laced with humor. An anonymous donor provided a second trip so there could be two winners last year. Still, the judges found it hard to choose. This year Joseph Goldstein, who founded Kids For the Boundary Waters, a group that has lobbied politicians and federal appointees in Washington D.C. for protection of this wilderness area, is joining Jason in providing trips for teens. Instead of one winner bringing up to three friends, there will be seven winners going on a trip together with two guides. These guides are also young, but they are experienced BWCAW travelers and have

2019-2020

wilderness first responder training and experience leading expeditions. This year, travel to Ely will be included in the prize, along with lodging and dinner the nights before and after. The trip will be June 21-27. The essay prompt is “Why do you want to explore the Boundary Waters, and how would winning this contest break down any barriers potentially preventing you from exploring the wilderness?” One new qualification for this year’s contestants is that they must never have traveled in the BWCA. You can learn more and read some teens’ blogs about wilderness and the BW, as well as Joseph’s amazing story of receiving a Make a Wish Foundation award that was the beginning of his mission to get kids involved in wilderness protection and activism, at KidsForTheBoundaryWaters.org and ElyOutfittingCompany.com

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FEBRUARY

1, 8am-3pm 1, 11am 4, 10am 5, 6:30pm 6-16

Winter Wildlife Photo workshop w/ Heidi Pinkerton, must pre-register High School Nordic Ski Race, Ely Pursuits Beginners Tai Ji Quan class starts, 365-8019 Ely Field Naturalists meeting, all welcome Ely Winter Festival, elywinterfestival.com

wolf.org Hidden Valley Ely Rec Ctr VCC CL 104 Ely Area

Get schedules for the Ely Winter Festival & Wolf Track Classic online or in town the week prior to the event.

6-16 Ely ArtWalk Outdoor Gallery, free guide at Front Porch and Chamber Downtown Ely 6-14, all day NLAA Amateur Snow Carving Contest, judging held February 8 Whiteside Park 6-16 Northwoods Medallion Hunt, collect wooden nickels, win prizes, ely.org Ely Area 6, 1pm Film Fiesta (teens & adults), film TBA Ely Library 6, 6-8pm Creating Artist Papers, theartcorner.net The Art Corner 7, 4-7pm Annual Spaghetti Dinner, Ely Community Resource fundraiser Catholic Church 7, 6-9pm Great Nordic Beard Fest Boathouse Brewpub 8, 10-5 Dorothy Molter Museum Open House and Tours Dorothy Molter Museum 8, 10am Kubb Tournament, ElyKubb.com Whiteside Park 8, 10-1pm Open House and campus tours VCC admissions office 8, 10-4pm The Art is in the Play: Acrylic and Mediums, theartcorner.net The Art Corner 8, 11-2 Whirlwind Family Activity Day, Free, 365-4451 Dorothy Molter Museum 8, 12pm Annual Fish Fry for All, yum... 365-6900 Veterans on the Lake 9, 10am&1pm Brew Your Own Rootbeer, pre-register at rootbeerlady.com Dorothy Molter Museum 9, 6-8pm Raven Loonatics in concert VCC Theatre 10, 3pm Friends of the Library Book Club, The Great Alone Ely Library 11, 6-8pm Cardmaking, theartcorner.net The Art Corner 11, 6-7:30pm Free Skillshare: Get Clear on the Value You Deliver Ten Below Co-working Ely Folk School 13, 6pm Writers’ Night Out all welcome, register at 365-3375 or RavenWordsPress.com 13, 3:30pm Movie Matinee(kids & families), film TBA Ely Library 13, 5pm Dorothy Molter Annual Fundraising Dinner, pre-register at rootbeerlady.com Grand Ely Lodge 14-17 Great Backyard Bird Count, BirdSource.org/gbbc Ely and USA 14, 3 & 6pm Brew Your Own Rootbeer, pre-register at rootbeerlady.com Dorothy Molter Museum 14, 7-9pm Valentine’s Concert with Courtney Yasmineh & Tim Stouffer Northern Grounds 14, tba Candlelight Skiing, see info at elynordic.org Hidden Valley 15, 10-5 Dorothy Molter Museum Open House and Tours Dorothy Molter Museum 15, 1-3pm Snowshoe to Pictographs with Outward Bound, free 218-491-6789 Hegman Lake 15, tba Skinny/Fat Bike & Ski races, see Ely Nordic Facebook for registration info Hidden Valley 20, 6pm Storytelling Evening, “Falling in love, with people or places” Senior Center 20, 7-9pm Poets & Pints, poetry open mic Northern Grounds 22-23 WolfTrack Classic Sled Dog Race, WolfTrackClassic.com Ely area 22-23 Sled Dog Art Show, to benefit Wolf Track Classic Grand Ely Lodge 22, 2:30 Mesabi Symphony Orchestra Concert, Young Artist Competition Winner VCC Theatre 22, 4-6:30 WolfTrack Classic Musher all-you-can-eat Spaghetti Dinner (food at 5) VCC Cafeteria 23, 7am Mushers and teams gather, public welcome Ely Softball Complex 23, 9am WolfTrack Classic Sled Dog Race Starts Ely Softball Complex 23, tba Wolf Track Classic Awards and Dinner, starts when last team is in Grand Ely Lodge 28-March1 Women and Wolves: Northwoods Winter, must pre-register wolf.org 28, 3:30pm NASA @ My Library, topic TBA Ely Library 58

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2019-2020

MARCH • APRIL • MAY

4, 6:30pm Ely Field Naturalists meeting, all welcome VCC CL 104 6, 7pm Boundary Waters Choral Festival Washington Auditorium 10, 6pm Free Skillshare: Understanding the Customer Value Journey Ten Below Co-working 12, 7pm Music in Our Schools Concert Washington Auditorium 14, 10-4pm Painting with Paper, theartcorner.net The Art Corner 19, 7-9pm Poets & Pints, poetry open mic Northern Grounds 19, 7pm Ely Area Concert Association: Sultans of String Washington Auditorium 20, 7-10 Ely Folk School Irish Dance, music by Friends on the Range, 235-0138 Senior Center 21, 1pm Corn Hole Bean Bag Toss tournament, AmicisEventCenter.com Amici’s 22 Reflections Dance Company Spring Session begins See FB page 26-Apr4 Ely Community Spring Musical, Fiddler on the Roof, see posters for dates & times VCC Theatre 28 3-5pm Polka Party, Free for all ages sponsored by ECR Amici’s Apr 4, 5pm Annual ECR Art Auction, ElyCommunityResource.org Amici’s Apr 8, 6:30 Ely Field Naturalists meeting, all welcome VCC CL 104 Apr 14, 6pm Free Skillshare: Create Your Customer Value Journey Ten Below Co-Working Apr 16, 7pm Poets & Pints, poetry open mic Northern Grounds Apr 17-19 Tracking the Pack, wolf.org Int’l Wolf Center Apr 18, 10-4 Creating Your Journal, theartcorner.net The Art Corner Apr 18, 6pm Jr/Sr Prom Grand March Washington Auditorium Apr 22, 6pm Earth Day Gathering Ely Field Naturalists Resource Ctr May 1, 7pm Elementary Spring Musical Washington Auditorium May 5, 5pm Art Exhibit Opening and Gala Art & Soul Gallery May 5, 7pm Ely Area Concert Association: Sundae & Mr. Goessl (guitar/vocal duo) Washington Auditorium May 6, 6:30 Ely Field Naturalists meeting, all welcome VCC CL 104 May 7 Minnesota Fishing Opener, the REAL end of winter whatever the weather Ely Area Lakes May 8, 7pm Middle School Musical Theater Washington Auditorium May10, 2pm Middle School Musical Theater Washington Auditorium May 12, 6pm Free Skillshare: Understand Marketing Campaigns Ten Below Co-Working May 12, 7pm VCC Graduation VCC Gymnasium May 12, 7pm Ely Schools Spring Band Concert & Art Show Washington Auditorium May 14, 7pm Ely Schools Spring Choir Concert & Art Show Washington Auditorium May 15, 7pm Studio North Spring Dance Recital Washington Auditorium May 16 Jeremy Hiltbrunner Cystic Fibrosis Walleye Contest, 235-8134 Silver Rapids Lodge May 16, 2pm Studio North Spring Dance Recital Washington Auditorium May 16, 10-4 The Art is in the Play: Watercolor & Pastels, theartcorner.net The Art Corner May 21, 1:15 Elementary Spring Concert Washington Auditorium

You’ll find Italian flavor in the decor and food at Sir G’s

The Ely Dining Guide Ely restaurants provide an outstanding choice of excellent foods in a variety of atmospheres. Hours vary, so call for current open times. $: dinner entreés, or whatever it would cost for a meal for those not serving dinner. C: children’s menu, All Ely restaurants have veggie and gluten-free options. # location on the maps pg. 31-33 Many places have menus on their websites; search the name + Ely.

The Boathouse • Ely’s only brewery serves seasonal brews and great food in the family dining

room or bar. Fill up with specialty burgers, pulled pork or brisket sandwiches, four kinds of reubens, and walleye fish and chips. Winter-only piled-high pizza. Beer in growlers to go and BW containers. Big TVs for sports. Full bar. 47 E. Sheridan St., 365-4301 $9-17, C #19

Britton’s Café • Great local flavor in the

food and the guests, Britton’s has served meals longer than any other Ely restaurant. Open from 6 am to 1 pm, their hearty breakfasts will keep you warm all day. Homemade breads and baked goodies, French toast specials. Lunches feature Ely ethnic specialties. Take-out available. 5 E Chapman St, 365-3195 $5-13 C #11

Crapola • Did you have a crappy morning? If not yet, stop on in and add some healthy fiber to your diet with locally made, mostly organic granola, yogurt parfaits, full-ofnutrients and delicious smoothies, cookies, and fair-trade coffee. Buy extra to take home in bulk, or as gifts in pun-filled packaging. Bumper stickers and T-shirts too. 16 N First Ave, 365-6161 $5-7 #16

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Ely Steak House • If you’re hungry for a meaty meal, this is the place. Perfectly prepared

steak, walleye, chicken, the famous Bucky Burger, and PRIME RIB on weekends. Discounts for early diners till 4:45 and for seniors. Full bar with seasonal specialty warm-you-up winter drinks. Ely’s winter night hotspot with pool and karaoke. 216 E Sheridan, 365-7412 $12-40 C #26

Evergreen Restaurant • & Antlers Lounge at Grand Ely Lodge. B’fast, lunch, and dinner emphasizing flavorful specialties like Wild Mushroom Ravioli and Caesar Prime Rib sandwich. Lounge has extensive appetizer menu, happy hour, and Vikings game specials. Easy access from Trezona and snowmobile trails. Open 365 days. 400 Pioneer Rd, 365-6565 $8-26 C #68 Front Porch • Ely’s coffee and computer hot spot with free wi-fi and fireside sofas, kids’ play

area, and a private room for meetings. Fair trade coffee and tea, special hot chocolate flavors, chai, lattés, pastries and pie, wraps, quiche, homemade soup and chili, smoothies, muffins, and desserts. Ely Winter Festival Headquarters. 343 E Sheridan St 365-BEAN $5-8 C #31

Insula Restaurant • Gourmet seasonal menu with many locally sourced and organic ingredients served in a congenial atmosphere. Fresh and unusual flavor blends in the New American cuisine and old favorites like reubens and fried chicken. Breakfast frittatas, delicious desserts. Specialty cocktails, wines, and beer. 145 E. Sheridan, 365-4855 $9-32 C #20 Gator’s Grilled Cheese Emporium • Comfort foods and healthy alternatives, homemade

pizza, salads, soups, and of course grilled cheese. Sandwiches are piled high with fresh ingredients, and you can choose your favorite additions for a custom-made lunch. A cozy fireplace and plenty of games for lingering and entertaining the kids. 955 E. Sheridan St, 365-7348 $7-13 C #61

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Grounds • Early morning espresso, roasted-on-site coffees, teas, and hot chocolate. Quiche, soup and sandwich specials, made-from-scratch fresh-baked pastries, and breads. Sunday morning bottomless mimosas. 56 by-the-glass fine wines, MN crafted beer, and specialty cocktails on tap. New this winter–off-sale wine and liquor. Open 6am to 9pm. 2 W. Sheridan St.. 365-6010 $5-8 #6

Northern

Organic Roots • Organic local foods to go or eat in the intimate setting. Special dietary needs can be accommodated without a fuss and there are plenty of vegan and gluten-free options. Daily flatbreads, soups, salads, and sandwiches with vegan options. Deli counter, ready-to-go wraps and salads, healthy sweets. Also bulk organic produce. Lunch Tues-Sat,. 141 E. Chapman St 365-2799 $5-14 #21 Fast Food Options

Sir G’s • Canneloni, lasagna, capelletti and more Italian meals at one of Ely’s most popular dining spots. The pasta is made by hand right there, and they season their own meat for flavorful fillings and delicious meatballs. Plenty of pizza options. Save room for the Italian desserts. Wine and beer. Takeout (call ahead) and delivery. 520 E Sheridan, 365-3688 $11-18 C #36

Dairy Queen - 1441 E. Sheridan Crapola - 16 N. 1st Ave. E Log Cabin Coffee - 1340 E. Sheridan Northland Deli - 1230 E. Sheridan Plum Bun Bakery - 402 E. Sheridan Subway -1520 E Sheridan Zup’s Deli - 303 E Sheridan

Please thank our advertisers!

Oriental Orchid More than 100 Vietnamese and Chinese menu items. Weekday lunch specials. Call ahead for faster take-out or eat in. Free hot tea. 506 E. Sheridan St., 365-7502 $9-18 Snowbank Lodge Call a day or two ahead for a homestyle dinner at this historic resort. Beer and wine coolers. 14564 Snow Lodge Rd, 365-6032. $19 complete dinner and dessert.

Stony Ridge Open most winter weekends, call to be sure. 50 varieties of Ely’s biggest burgers plus stuffed hashbrowns and chili. Full bar. 60 N. Lakeview, 365-6757 $10-25 C

Winton Roadhouse The menu changes daily with specialty flatbreads, meal-size pretzels, and pizza. Full bar, sports on big TV, pool. Special events. 252 Main St, Winton, 365-3339 $6-10

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