Festival full of fun, food, games, music

IRONWOOD - Saturday's Festival Ironwood schedule featured a full day of activities, ranging from a Walk, Run and Roll in Norrie Park in the morning to a performance by Shotgun Kelli that filled the dance floor to close out the evening, as well as a classic car cruise and a host of other events offering something for the whole family.

"This year's festival was very good," said Keith Johnson, one of the organizers. "It was an excellent event. We had a lot of good reviews, a lot of good comments from people. (I'm) very, very pleased with the vendors, the entertainment and everything else. The weather was fantastic."

Johnson credited the numerous volunteers that came together to help put on the festival for making it successful.

"We've got some great people that take on those events. Will (Corcoran, who also organizes the festival) and I just let them do it, let them run with it. If they need a hand, we give them a hand, but they do just a fantastic job with the different activities."

Saturday began with a pancake breakfast, organized by the Knights of Columbus, and an honor guard ceremony with representatives from American Legion Post 5 at Norrie Park.

The morning also featured registrations for several events including the two- and five-mile Walk, Run and Roll events, the classic car show and craft fair.

Ironwood's Depot Park played host to most of the days events, allowing festival-goers to enjoy a number of activities without traveling too far from one to the other.

Rack 'em

With the covered baggage area of the depot providing shelter from the sun and temperatures in the mid-80s, the 17th annual Great American Shoot-Out pool tournament was held on a pair of pool tables.

Six teams competed in the tournament, according to tournament organizer Gary Ryskewecz, with the team of Charlie Anderson and Chuck Lewis winning the tournament.

While the numbers have been declining since the tournament's inception, according to Ryskewecz, it still provided a fun opportunity for some games of pool.

The tournament has been lucky to have the weather cooperate every year, Ryskewecz said, although there had been some close calls - including one year where it was so hot a player got stuck in the melting asphalt patch he was standing on waiting for his turn.

Craft, cars and country music

The craft fair was also a success, according to Mary Hampston, who helped organize the crafters.

Hampston said not only did the merchants seem to see decent traffic but she has already been contacted by 10 vendors about reserving space for next year's festival.

Depot Park's two sand volleyball courts played host to the festival's volleyball tournament, which was won by the Dawghouse's team.

In the evening, the classic cars that had been on display - along with several vintage tractors and snowmobiles - formed a procession that went through downtown Ironwood and Hurley before returning to the Depot Park.

Saturday also featured music throughout the day with the entertainment culminating with an evening performance by the Marquette-based country band Shotgun Kelli, which frequently had the festival's dance floor full of revelers enjoying the music.