Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 1176 - 1200 of 9650
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - A commons area of the nearly completed Pat O'Donnell Civic Center will not only have bay windows overlooking Mt. Zion, the wall will also have a new "Find Your North" sign with the Ironwood logo, which was delivered to the facility last week. "It's beautiful," said Michelle Rigoni-Sivula, civic center manager. "I just think that it's wonderful." The 200 pound sign of metal and wood was built by students of the Northwoods Manufacturing...
By Zachary Marano [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Gogebic County Fair Board met on Monday to discuss business as the first day of the fair is only five weeks away on Aug. 12. Items on the meeting agenda included finding business vendors for the vacant spots at the fair and making the fairgrounds ready for the big event. Fair coordinator Terrtu Anderson said that the fair is low on vendors this year. Many vendors simply do not have enough staffing to attend this year’s fair, she said. Board member Holly Ramme said she knows a ven...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD - Joy abounded in Wakefield as the community returned to a full slate of Fourth of July events after canceling most of them due to COVID-19 last year. Wakefield's regular July 4 parade, as well as its children's parade, also had been cancelled in 2018 due to thunderstorms. A Saturday Community Picnic in Eddy Park drew a crowd of people who filled the main pavilion and then spread throughout the park lawn and over to the beach area. John and Anna...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER - Bessemer marked the Fourth of July with a slew of activities over the past week, including a big weekend of events, ending with its traditional Thunder of the Mountain fireworks display over Massie Field. The celebrations began with the traditional Poncho's salute at 6 a.m. The salute was followed by a Sunday worship service in Bluff Valley Park at 9 a.m. Families gathered later in Massie Field for games, which included sack races and a...
HURLEY — Iron County sales tax is up and it may be due to online shopping, or at least its ability to track purchaser origin for tax purposes, according to reports at the county board of supervisors meeting on Tuesday. The monthly sales tax for June was $230,834, according to the report from county clerk Michael Saari. That is a $66,992 or 29% increase over the June 2020 total of $231,834. Every month of 2021 so far has a double-digit increase over the previous year. “That is really good,” Saari said. County Board Chair Joseph Pinardi said he a...
WAKEFIELD - Thursday evening's 45th Annual Hometown Variety Show was loaded with local talent, including several musicians, a living history performer, a 45-year-old comedy act, and - for the first time - fire spinners. The nearly two-hour show, which normally takes place in the gym of the Wakefield-Marenisco K-12 School, instead was held this year outside of the building, facing Sunday Lake. Denise Haas, known as "Big D," acted as emcee for the show, which started with the audience reciting...
IRONWOOD — Summer art classes will return this month at the Downtown Art Place. The programs will provide participants with opportunities to learn new skills from artists from the local studio. According to a news release from the DAP, classes will be held from July 26 to Aug. 12. This year’s events will kick off with “Ceramics with Candace” at the DAP Clay Studio on July 26. The complete summer classroom schedule can be found on the DAP website. The website says the classes are open to all ages, but children under the age of 10 must be acco...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY — The Iron County Board of Supervisors decided 5-7 against a resolution declaring the county a Second Amendment sanctuary at its Tuesday meeting. The resolution should have been a discussion item but was added as an action item on the agenda, said board chair Joseph Pinardi. A discussion would have been preferable to consider possible revisions that might have made the resolution more acceptable, he said. Pinardi said he was a gun owner but didn’t see the need for the resolution. He, alo...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER - The city of Bessemer paid homage to area veterans with its annual Tree of Honor ceremony on Wednesday evening. Each year, the Fourth of July committee holds the event to pay tribute to area veterans by having their names read during the ceremony and placed on a plaque by the Tree of Honor, a spruce tree, which is located in a small park on Sophie Street. The tree was lit up with small red, white and blue lights during the ceremony. The...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — Work on Ironwood’s $2 million water and sewer project involving several areas of the city could be completed by the end of July, according to the project engineer at the city commission meeting on Monday. The city commission 5-0 approved a $22,326 change order for Jake’s Excavating and Landscaping, LLC, the project contractor. The change included $9,108 for the water line portion and $13,218 for the sewer line portion. “We’ve run into some things, many of them very routine, that we n...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] RAMSAY - The Gogebic Miners girl's softball team will be playing at Ramsay Field next year. The Bessemer Township board voted 4-0 on Monday, to allow the school district to use its field for home games starting in spring of 2022. Township Supervisor Jeff Randall said he was on "cloud nine" when superintendent of Bessemer Area Schools Dan Niemi and a couple school board members approached him recently to request use of the field. "I thought it was a...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — The band that started the monthly First Friday live-stream performances nearly a year ago will be the first to welcome back live music from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 2 at the Ironwood Downtown City Square. The Kalamazoo-based Myron Elkins and the Dying Breed came to Ironwood in September 2020, intending to perform their first Upper Peninsula appearance before a First Friday audience. Revised COVID-19 rules on gatherings made the band the first live-stream First Friday performance witho...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD — After discussing limited progress on a sensitive situation regarding Plymouth Lake, members of the Wakefield City Council voted Monday evening to send the issue back to the Planning Commission for further discussion. The action related to a report from City Manager Robert Brown Jr., who explained limited progress made in a June 18 meeting, in which he met with Plymouth Lake property owners Harry Butler and Rod Ritter, as well as several other city and local trail officials. It had been h...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — A shoreland restoration project to improve navigation on three miles of the Montreal River from Norrie Park is now in the final project agreement phases, according to reports at the Downtown Ironwood Development Authority meeting on Thursday. Tom Bergman, director of community development for the city of Ironwood said, the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board has granted final approval of the $150,500 proposed project to include $25,200 in city matching funds and an additional $...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] GILE Wis. - The third annual Luoma's Saxon Pub Bass Tournament took place Saturday, with fishermen, local and visiting, gathering early in the morning to put their boats in the water at the Gile Flowage. The tournament, which has become a tradition for local fishing groups, had 29 teams competing this year, up from the 27 from last year. Bar owners Kyle and Alena Luoma hosted the event, with organizers setting up a weigh-in station and refreshments near...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood City Commission preliminarily approved the first licenses under its adult-use marijuana ordinance during a special meeting with the city planning commission on Thursday. The 4-1 city commission approval followed a unanimous 7-0 planning commission approval of 10 applications in five categories of marijuana retail, growing, processing and micro-businesses in Ironwood. The approved applications were recommended by the city department of community development following a s...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] MARENISCO TOWNSHIP — A vote to acquire White City radio tower in the Kimberly Hill area might result in Marenisco Township getting a greater range of broadband internet options. The action at the Monday evening meeting of the Marenisco Township Board of Trustees followed a historical review of the site by town supervisor Bruce Mahler. He said that in 2007 the state Department of Transportation owned the tower, but sold it to the township when the DOT no longer needed it. According to Mahler, the township...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER - Highway construction will continue on through the Bessemer Blast holiday events, with approval from the Bessemer City Council on Monday. The city council 4-0 approved the request of the Michigan Department of Transportation to allow its contractors, James Peterson Sons, to continue work on U.S. 2 from Monday, June 28, through Wednesday, June 30, during the week of the Bessemer Blast. Council member Terry Kryshak was not present. "They would...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD — More than a week of celebration now begins in Wakefield with “Family, Friends, Freedom” as this year’s Fourth of July theme. The Matt Ahonen Memorial 24th Annual Softball Tournament begins today at 5 p.m. and continues at 9 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday at the softball field area on Cemetery Drive. Next Thursday, July 1, the Hometown Variety Show will be held at 6 p.m. at the Wakefield-Marenisco K-12 School. The show will be held outside on the north side, facing Sunday Lake. In the eve...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY — The Hurley Public School Board lifted the mask mandate on Monday with instructions to the administration to monitor pandemic guidance recommendations leading into the next academic year in the fall. The action was effective immediately following a 5-0 vote. The school board and around a dozen others present for the regular meeting removed their face coverings — something that hadn’t been done at the meetings since the pandemic order started in March 2020. The board action included langu...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] MARENISCO TOWNSHIP - After nearly a year without an official full-time lead in law enforcement, the Marenisco Board of Trustees on Monday unanimously approved the hire of James Webber as the town's new police chief. Webber, who was hired as part-time support about a month ago, will start his new full-time role on July 1. Monday's vote was unanimous with town clerk Donna Kenney describing Webber's service thus far as "just awesome." "I do love your...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] MERCER, Wis. - Weekend activity varies from one household to the next, ranging from family brunches to gardening to a number of chores, errands and other options. For members of the Northwoods Traditional Archers, it's a great time to practice their skill, as they did on Saturday morning at the Northwoods Wildlife and Wetlands Club Range in Mercer. According to David Steinhorst, who heads the range's archery committee, the total group consists of 15...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] MERCER, Wis. — A special meeting of the Mercer town electors was postponed on Thursday after it was determined that public notice was not provided within the period required by Wisconsin statutes. The special meeting was to be held prior to the regular town of Mercer Board of Supervisors meeting, but was not posted within the timeline required, according to town clerk Debbie Hohner. The special meeting will be rescheduled with a date that will be posted within 15 days, but not more than 20 days p...
