Around the Circle This Week: July 21, 2022

Tall Masts on Our Horizon: We are less than one week away from a host of tall-masted ships sailing across Lake Superior for the Festival of Sail Lake Superior in Two Harbors, Minn. (Aug. 4-7) and Festival of Sail Marquette (Aug. 12-14). One of the most impressive visitors this year will be this vessel, the Nao Trinidad from Spain. Both events will have festival food, beer gardens, live music and entertainment and vendors (like Lake Superior Magazine - please stop by in Two Harbors to say "Hi" to our editor and publisher). We'll have the official Lake Superior Festival of Sail program (for Two Harbors) for sale at our table. These are highly attended events and logistics can be tricky and changing. Do buy tickets early and keep up online with the parking and logistics updates. But then, come by and enjoy the views or visits with up to 10 ships in Two Harbors. Going on to visit in Marquette will be the Nao Trinidad, U.S. Brig Niagara and Pride of Baltimore II. A reminder, too, the Lake County Historical Society’s Depot and Lighthouse Museums will be open extended hours with a special price on tickets that cover all of the society's historic sites plus events on the lighthouse grounds in the heart of the festival. (This does not include the festival entry fee.)

Ride U.P. & Down: Tour de France, meet Tour Da Yoop, Eh. For the fifth year, bike enthusiasts will take on 1,200 miles of lakeside biking starting this Friday. The ride circles the perimeters of the entire Upper Peninsula, which organizers call "Michigan’s secret biking paradise." It promises lake views (on three Great Lakes) and endless nature. This year, the tour launches on Friday; it begins and ends in Manistique. The bikes go clockwise, doing 120 miles each day. While the goal is to complete the full tour, the motivation is raising funding to support childhood cancer care and research through the U.P. Lions Club. The do-it-all-at-once tour takes place over 10 days, but organizers encourage tackling sections at your own pace for self-supported rides if that suits you better. Once you finish the 10 sections no matter how long it takes, you earn the right to wear either the "coveted" red plaid jersey (10 sections in 10 days) or the green plaid version (more than 10 days to complete). Founder James Studinger, seen here, earned his plaid in 2018. Watch the ride roll along on Facebook. This year, Houghton will celebrate its first Bicycle Day on Tuesday (Aug. 2) when the tour is scheduled to kick-off its 117-mile Keweenaw Peninsula stage. The public is encouraged to participate in a ceremonial bicycle parade, which takes place at 8 am starting from Bridgeview Park in downtown Houghton, will be led by City Manager Eric Waara and accompanied by a police escort across the Portage Lake Lift Bridge. That evening there is a Bike Day Party at the Keweenaw Brewing Company.

The Great Lakes Solution?: Could the Great Lakes be the answer to unlocking the supply chain? It's a question that Stephen Starr asks for the BBC  in a story posted this week. Stephen's story considered the entire length of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system as an alternative route for cargoes bottlenecked in the major coastal ports. Eventually the story, just like the waterway, gets to the head of the lakes. "Located more than 2,200 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, the Port of Duluth-Superior was at its peak in the 1950s, when it handled about 70 million tonnes of goods such as iron ore and agricultural grain, making it the largest freshwater port in the world," Stephen writes. "By 2017, the amount of cargo it handled had fallen by more than half. But today, as America's major coastal ports struggle to meet demand, the Great Lakes has the potential to expand capacity of the country's shipping industry. The Port of Cleveland, for example, is currently only moving about 10,000 containers a year but could potentially handle about 100,000 containers. Six hundred and thirty miles northwest of Cleveland, the Port of Duluth-Superior – the largest in the Great Lakes – has expanded its facilities to include a customs station that now allows it to handle international cargo. Its first overseas shipment of containers – 200 containers of bagged kidney beans destined for Italy, France, Germany and Hungary – set sail in late May." Last fall, the Duluth Seaway Port Authority announced that it had approval to begin maritime container-handling operations at the Clure Public Marine Terminal, adding waterborne container shipping capability to its existing land-based intermodal business. In June this year, Duluth Cargo Connect, a partnership between the port authority and its operating agent, loaded the first containerized cargoes of 2022 for export, with containers filled with kidney beans for the Spliethoff-chartered vessel Nunalik. On Wednesday, Duluth Cargo Connect posted this photo on its Facebook page, announcing: "We're getting everything hooked up for a big weekend. Three ships inbound, each carrying different types of cargo to our docks. Forecast calls for mostly sunny skies and lots of heavy lifting. We wouldn't have it any other way!"

3D Beneath the Inland Sea: The Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society presents a second year of The Keeper's View at Split Rock Lighthouse. This year "Bring History to the Surface" features an evening with experts on shipwreck mapping while tours explore the infamous Mataafa Blow of 1905 that was responsible for the creation of the lighthouse. The evening caps with a meal catered by Bellisio’s and a beacon lighting to celebrate Split Rock’s 112th anniversary. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and you can choose the 7 or 8 p.m. presentation by Jeff LeMoine and Andrew Goodman of 3DShipwrecks.org on the evolution of shipwreck documentation and 3D imaging, like this 3D model  by Timothy Pranke of the Madeira, wrecked in 1905 off the coast where the lighthouse would be built. The event is sponsored by the Split Rock Lighthouse History Site, Lovin' Lake County and the GLSPS, a winner of a Lake Superior Magazine Achievement Award. Buy advance tickets online – they are going fast!

Make Plans: Here are a few events coming up soon to put on a fun-do list:

Tuesday-Wednesday, Aug. 2-3: AirPower History Tour wings its way into Marquette on Tuesday and Wednesday, showcasing a variety of planes, including the stars of the show – the iconic B-29 Superfortress “FIFI” and the B-24 Liberator “Diamond LIL." It happens at the Sawyer International Airport and there will be planes to view on the ground, as well as the chance to book a ride on one.

Tonight: July 28: Uncle Floyd brings the '70s for tonight's Performances in the Park at the Donny Kilpela Memorial Park in Copper Harbor.

Friday, July 29: The DeVos Art Museum on the Northern Michigan University campus in Marquette features a closing presentation at 7 p.m. on its North of the 45th annual juried exhibition of artists living in the geographical area north of the 45th parallel in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. It will be followed by a reception to celebrate this year's selected artists. The event is free and open to the public. You can view the artworks online.

Saturday, July 30: See the night sky in a new way at the Stargazing: Night Sky Photography Workshop hosted by Nate Bett at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge. The workshop is within the newly designated Keweenaw Dark Sky Park.

Thru Aug. 13: The St. Louis County Depot in Duluth has gone wild. The Depot is hosting "Fierce Hearts: Art by Animals," an exhibit of admittedly "modernistic" artworks created by the critter residents of the Lake Superior Zoo. The pieces, done by bears to snakes, will be available for purchase at the exhibt or online. They can be picked up after the show.

Thru Aug. 14: The hunt for the Gunflint Trail's Biggest Blueberry continues. Blueberries will be measured by weight, and must be picked fresh and not store bought. Find more rules online.

Today-Saturday, July 28-30: If you have never seen the Lumberjack World Championships, you must put it on your bucket list. In fact, we suggest you take that bucket right down to Hayward this weekend. Zielies 62nd Lumberjack World Championships brings international competition to showcase the best sawing, chopping, speed climbing, log rolling, boom-running and a host of fast-paced action.

Thru July 31: Join in Washburn's Brownstone Community Block Party and all of the connected events this weekend, now through Sunday. There are self-guided garden tours, outdoor kids activities and crafts, baseball games, a Big Top Chautauqua performance, live music, vendors and water barrel fights, to name just a few. Now that's a block party.

Monday, Aug. 4: The young and old artists involved in the Storm Drain Art Mural project take up their brushes at 4 p.m. Monday when they meet on the sidewalks in downtown Superior. They will make stops at the corner of Ogden Avenue and Belknap Street; at Tower Avenue and N 14th Street; and finally at Tower Avenue and N. 13th Street. All are welcome to join to help remember protection of our waters.

Monday, Aug. 1: Just a reminder that Ontario enjoys a Civic Holiday on Monday. It's called Sir William H. Hearst Day in Sault Ste. Marie after the seventh premier of Ontario, who lived in the Sault.

Friday-Sunday, July 29-31: People from across North America will travel to Sault Ste. Marie to Crank the Shield this weekend. Organizers describe it as "Eastern North America’s most challenging and popular mountain bike stage race that combines amazing food over the duration of the event, cabin accommodations, baggage transport, event goodies, great aid stations and some of the best and most rewarding days you will experience on a bike."

Monday, Aug. 1: Enjoy an outdoor performance by Jamie Philp, Michael Abraham and Sean Mundy at 9 p.m. in Waverly Park on your Civic Holiday. It's part of the Waverly Park Concert series that continues through Aug. 22.

Photo & graphic credits: Nao Trinidad; Tour Da Yoop, Eh; Duluth Cargo Connect; Tim Pranke/3DShipwrecks.org;  Diamond LIL/Lake Superior Zoo/World Lumberjack Championship/Crank the Shield

Around the Circle This Week Blog Post Minnesota Superior, Wisconsin Sault Ste. Marie Thunder Bay Business Minnesota North Shore Books Maritime Duluth Seaway Port Authority Marquette Lake Superior St. Louis River Lake Levels Duluth Wildlife Winter Environment Shipping Photography Michigan Wisconsin Lake Superior Journal Weather Ice Isle Royale Welcome to the Big Lake Birds Mary Carlin Dougherty Ontario Ghost Stories Frederick Stonehouse History Moose Mike Link Kate Crowley Full Circle Superior Beargrease Lake Superior Circle Tour Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Sled Dogs Apostle Islands Wolves Biking Konnie LeMay Tall Ships Fish Bob Berg Outdoors

Thanks for sharing such a useful and informative content. - Concrete Contractors of Raleigh, N.C.

Frank Sanders | Is a Maritime Career Waiting for You?

I hail from the area around Butte Montana where we call the pastry povitica. My grandmother and mot

Jenny Butorovich Given | Potica on the Plate (“po-teet-sah”)

Great article! Don't forget to keep Copper Peak in the U.P. in mind summer or winter--it is specta

Gary R Ilminen | You're Gonna Love Winter

I loved your tributes to both of these places. An ancestor of mine lived there for a time in about

donna Creamore | Lake Superior Journal: The Vanishing Act at Pebble Beach

In 1976, I married my wife and we took a camping honeymoon. We started out going to Canada, it wa

Mr. David Lovell | From Dishwasher to President: Brian Daugherty of Grandma’s Restaurants

Education & Learning History Kids & Family

Education & Learning History Kids & Family

Education & Learning History Kids & Family

Education & Learning History Kids & Family

Education & Learning History Kids & Family

Education & Learning History Talks & Readings

Education & Learning History Kids & Family

Education & Learning History Kids & Family

©2020 Lake Superior Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. • 109 W. Superior St. #200 • Duluth, MN 55802 • 218-722-5002 • edit@LakeSuperior.com