Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
AS PART of the Smithsonian "The Way We Worked" events, a presentation of The Norrie Boys took place Sunday afternoon at Theatre North. Started from a picture of a group of boys back in the 1950s, the presentation looked at what it was like to grow up as a kid in the Norrie Location of Ironwood. Gene Belmas, one of the Norrie Boys from the picture, shared his childhood experiences for Sunday's presentation.
IRONWOOD - A special program of "How Our Community Shaped our Lives: The Norrie Rascals" took place Sunday afternoon at the Theatre North.
The program started with Nicole Ellet-Petersen, one of the English instructors at Gogebic Community College, reading a few of her students' essays based on the Malcolm Gladwell book "Outliers."
The book covers the topic of success and the ingredients in achieving it, which include not only hard work but also the role of community as a major influence, as well as timing and a few others items.
Ellet-Petersen's students read "Outliers" and were then asked to go out into the community and interview successful people to see these influences in action.
One of the students also read her own essay, as well as another of a fellow student.
Norrie Boys
The second part of the program started with a picture of the "Norrie Boys" and a look back on what it was like to grow up in this area in the 1940s and 50s, told by one of the Norrie Boys himself, Gene "Boykie" Belmas.
Belmas described the Ironwood area as being divided into "locations." He lived in the Norrie Location. It was a way to narrow down the part of town everyone lived in.
Belmas reminisced about his childhood, telling stories of growing up in a mining community as well as comparing life for a kid back then to life for a kid in the 21st century.
Belmas had the audience laughing and reminiscing right along with him as he shared stories of growing up in Gogebic and Iron counties.
Activities such as Sunday picnics at Little Girls' Point, hay rides with the youth group and listening to radio shows like "The Shadow" are how Belmas and his siblings kept themselves entertained.
Belmas even shared stories of their winter activities including jumping off of garage roofs and riding on the back bumpers of cars into town.
Coinciding with all of Belmas' stories was a picture slideshow, highlighting the area and the activities of the time.
It was an afternoon of sharing, storytelling and laughing for the attendees of the program.
