Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Dirk Wierenga speaks with library director Lynne Wiercinski Friday about his documentary project called "Route 2 Elsewhere." As part of the project, people will have an opportunity to submit a 1,000-word story about life along U.S. 2 in rural America.
By KIM E. STROM
Ironwood - Filmmaker Dirk Wierenga of Grand Haven began a 1,000-mile journey in March to bring national awareness to what rural areas, like those in the Upper Peninsula, have to offer. He plans to shoot a documentary entitled "Route 2 Elsewhere" and write an accompanying book. He spoke with the Daily Globe in Ironwood Friday about the project.
The route - much of it along U.S. 2 - begins in Sault Ste. Marie and ends in Williston, N.D. Wierenga said people along this route are invited to write their own essay about life in rural America and submit it to him for possible publication in his book in conjunction with the documentary.
The entire project may take roughly two years to complete and Wierenga hopes to garner national attention with his work.
Over the next 10 months Wierenga will travel back and forth along the stretch doing interviews and shooting footage. "It's all about booms and busts," he said of the historical economies of the communities in the region.
In Sault Ste. Marie, it was the fur trading business that was a boom (or expansion) to the area. When that fell away, the area was a bust, he said. Then there is the lumbering industry. Heading west, copper and ironmining were the boom, then bust. Further west, it was the agricultural areas that have their own boom and bust, he said.
Each of these areas have been losing population for decades because of no diversity in economic development, he said. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Ironwood for example, had a population of 6,251 in 2000. In 2017, it was down to 4,971.
According to Wierenga, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that 16% to 18% of the nation's population lives in rural areas. "People in urban areas less and less so understand or appreciate or are interested in rural America," he said.
He hopes the resulting documentary and book will "draw attention to areas that are absolutely beautiful."
"If you're off the radar, people have no opinion or they don't care. Most people have a misconception of what rural is," said Wierenga. "There's huge hope here. ... There's natural resources, space and water."
Wierenga said he is working with local chambers of commerce and 96 libraries to promote rural areas and his project.
Lynne Wiercinski, library director at the Carnegie Library in Ironwood, said the library is pleased to work with him and that encouraging creative writing "is part of their make-up."
For more information on the on the writing contest for being included in the Wierenga's book, search for Route 2 Elsewhere on Facebook. Winners of the contest will be listed on Facebook in March 2020, said Wierenga.
