Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 865 - 889 of 9971
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD - Friday evening rain threatened to shut down a performance by the Dweebs, a northern Midwestern family band that was scheduled to perform on the small stage of the Gogebic County Fairgrounds. Luckily, a little ingenuity and a lotta pluck saved the day and didn't seem to faze the audience that watched and cheered them on from under three nearby canopies. Although the band also had a canopy, it was not adequate to prevent water from dripping onto...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] HURLEY — The first day of school in Hurley is Sept. 1 and the Hurley School Board was busy with details for the coming school year at its meeting Monday evening. Elementary Principal Steve Lombardo said they are running the New to School program for incoming pre-kindergarten students this week. The program runs from 8 a.m. to noon. He said they had 18 of the 28 pre-K students registered for this year attend on Monday. “We’re continuing it the rest of the week. Not everyone can make it every day,...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD - Despite interruptions from Mother Nature, the Gogebic County Fair drew lively crowds over the past weekend and allowed local residents to participate in a wide range of fun over a 4-day weekend schedule. Light rain hit the Ironwood fairgrounds, off and on, from Friday evening through Saturday, but it was not enough to cancel activities. One unfortunate casualty was that a new performance by the Stateline Drill Team - a mounted horse show...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Historic Ironwood Theatre was jam-packed — not only with people — but also with joy, spirit and nostalgia as Jay White performed his “Sweet Caroline Tour” for a highly interactive audience on Saturday night. White, who is a Neil Diamond cover artist, came dressed for the role with coiffed hair, a series of glittery shirts and all the mannerisms that you would expect of the original music legend. Throughout the evening, he often wandered the stage, but sometimes played guitar as he sang o...
IRONWOOD - The Gogebic County Fair kicked in on Thursday afternoon as registrations continued throughout the evening. The Midway was busy with games in gear, fair food flowing, and long lines at favorite rides such as the tilt-o-whirl. "It's amazing," said Genesis Rady of Ironwood, who was taking a break with her friends on the outskirts of the carnival area. "It's so fun." On the small stage, popular tunes such as those by Chicago were offered to an appreciative audience by Superior Horns and...
A survey now underway is aimed at gauging the economic and social impact of arts and culture in this region. "It kicked off a couple months ago," said Howard Sandin, vice chair of the Upper Peninsula Arts and Culture Alliance, which is based in Marquette. On behalf of the alliance, Sandin said he already has been collecting surveys at several local events such as at last weekend's Main Stage event for the Emberlight Festival. Surveys also will be collected on Saturday, from 6-7 p.m. at the...
HURLEY - For the first time in three years, there will be a Paavo Nurmi Marathon this weekend. It was canceled, like pretty much everything else, in 2020 because of the pandemic and it didn't happen again in 2021. Fans of the Paavo are pretty excited to have it back for the 52nd running Saturday. As of midday Wednesday, over 160 people were signed up across all the events, including 43 half-marathoners and a similar number for the full 26.2 miles. They may get a lot more signed up in the final...
SAXON, Wis. - One of the most popular events at this year's Iron County Fair was the draft horse pulling contest, in which four 2-horse teams pulled thousands of pounds in an attempt to show who's boss. It turns out that every team left with an award, but that seemed less important than the sheer excitement that the Sunday contest generated among all parties: horses, drivers and members of the audience who watched in anticipation from the fairground grandstands or from behind a fence...
IRONWOOD — The Ironwood City Commission held a closeout public hearing on the Downtown City Square project prior to the regular meeting on Monday. Routsala Concrete Construction finished concrete work in the city square and embedded a steel city logo near the intersection of Aurora and Lowell streets in June. Jerry Wuorenmaa, executive director of the Western U.P. Planning and Development Region, reported the completion of the project to the commission. Wuorenmaa said that a Community Development Block Grant provided $1,475,927 toward administr...
SAXON, Wis. - Saxon had a high-energy weekend with three fun-filled days of activities at the Iron County Fair. As the aroma of familiar fair foods wafted throughout the air, ongoing music - whether live or piped in - provided an additional lift, along with the squeals of kids enjoying a host of carnival rides. Rain posed a threat on Saturday, but resulted only in some inconsequential sprinkles during festivities that drew a steady stream of people of all ages moving in every direction....
Email calendar items and community news to [email protected]. For more information, call 906-932-2211. Tuesday, Aug. 9 Pickleball, 9 a.m.-noon, Patterson Courts, Ironwood. Bessemer St. Vincent de Paul, financial assistance, 9-10 a.m.; food pantry, 10 a.m. to noon. 906-663-4436. Gogebic County Veterans Service Officer, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Ironwood Memorial Building. 906-667-1110. Ironwood St. Vincent de Paul, food pantry and financial assistance, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., located behind Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church. 906-932-4325. Friends of...
LAKE GOGEBIC — A project to repair damaged ramp planks at the Lake Gogebic State Park boating access site in Gogebic County will require temporary closure of the launch beginning Aug. 15. The construction is slated to take roughly two weeks, with the boating access site scheduled to re-open after Sept. 2, according to Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials. During the work, boaters will have access to Lake Gogebic via four other boating access points located on the lake. Those sites include: access at the Bergland Township Park, l...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] SAXON, Wis. - The Iron County Fair got off to a rolling start with registrations starting on Thursday evening at the fairgrounds in Saxon. There was activity throughout the grounds, with riders running their horses in formation on one end of the property while 4-H exhibits stood ready on the other end. In between, stalls for cattle and goats were mostly full while registrations were expected to continue into Friday. Spread throughout were food and...
MERCER, Wis. - Wednesday's Loon Day in Mercer was a huge success, with dozens of tented stalls lining Railroad Street, Lakeview Avenue and neighboring locales. The shopping extravaganza lured a constant flow of wandering adults, skipping kids and lolling dogs, all captivated by aromatic snacks and hundreds of items for sale. The temporary market offered items as small as key rings and as large as furniture. Welcome vendor staples such as pretty clothes and yard signs were available in...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD — Gogebic Community College faculty decided on Tuesday to close its Ironwood campus, including the Lindquist Center, on Wednesday and today “due to recent threats and uncertainty.” A Facebook post from the college says that Ironwood campus staff will be working remotely and the Copper Country Center in Houghton will remain open on these days. The Gogebic County Sheriff’s Department received a bomb threat directed at Gogebic Community College on Monday. College president Dr. George McNulty...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] Voters in Gogebic County renewed two millages in Tuesday's primary election - continuing support of the HOPE Animal Shelter and a parttime animal control officer; as well as the Gogebic Medical Care Facility. The animal control program millage renewal passed with 84% of the vote, 2,099 to 410. It calls for an annual levy of 0.2 mills over four years to support the operation of the HOPE Animal Shelter and part-time animal control officer. The...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD - The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners prohibited the use of several fairgrounds buildings on July 27, just two weeks before the Gogebic County Fair on Aug. 11-14. With less than two weeks left before the fair, the fair board met on Monday to discuss how to move forward with this announcement. Gogebic County contracted the Houghton-based firm U.P. Engineers and Architects to perform a buildings study earlier this year. The study...
HANCOCK — Six Upper Peninsula health departments and 36 community partners recently published the latest edition of the Community Health Needs Assessment covering all 15 U.P. counties. The 458-page report, now available online to the general public, provides information on the health status of U.P.’s 300,000 residents. The 18-month project was led by local health departments in collaboration with hospitals, behavioral health agencies and health foundations. It includes data on health across the lifespan, access to care, community issues lik...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HURLEY — The Hurley Education Foundation inducted three distinguished alumni from schools in the Hurley School District into their list of Distinguished Alumni and Friends at their 19th annual induction ceremony on Saturday. Col. Michael Downey, a salutatorian of the Saxon High School class of 1958, was the first of the new inductees to be honored at Saturday’s ceremony. Maj. Gen. Rodney Hannula, another Saxon graduate who was inducted into the foundation in 2019, gave a brief presentation on Dow...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] GREENLAND - Fine weather favored a great outcome for the Ontonagon County Fair, which celebrated its 50th anniversary at its Greenland location over the weekend. Saturday was the main day, and it was bustling with people enjoying activities from one end of the grounds to the other. One consistently popular choice was a ride led by Tim Duncan, who was hauling children in colorful, kid-sized carts that were attached to his tractor in a train-like fashion....
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] IRONWOOD - Eleven days, 685 miles. All on a bicycle. All on the Iron Belle Trail. That summed up the bulk of Tomas Quinones' vacation back to his home state of Michigan this month. He started at Belle Isle in Detroit on July 16 and rolled across the bridge across the Montreal River on Wednesday morning. If your counting, that's 12 days, but the software engineer from Portland, Oregon, took the second day off as he visited his parents in Grand Blanc...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] BESSEMER — Following a study of the county fairgrounds by U.P. Engineers and Architects, the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners decided to prohibit the use of the grandstand and poultry and exhibition buildings unless authorized by a structural engineer. The county contracted the Houghton-based architecture firm to perform a buildings study earlier this year. The study recommended against further use of the fairgrounds’ poultry barn. It said that the building should be repaired in “great detail” o...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HURLEY — At their monthly meeting on Tuesday, the Iron County Board of Supervisors agreed to request additional information before acting on the finance committee’s recommendation to increase the employee wages at a starting point of 4.5%. Board chair Joseph Pinardi said that he discussed the matter with Iron County Clerk Michael Saari prior to the meeting. They concluded that a 4.5% wage increase for all county employees would widen the gap between the highest- and lowest-paid employees. Ins...
