Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By ZACHARY MARANO
Ironwood — The Downtown Ironwood Development Authority is preparing to decorate the city for the holidays. Community Development Director Tom Bergman said the Department of Public Works puts lighted wreaths on 79 light posts in the city of Ironwood every year.
Bergman said that the money to purchase the wreaths is donated to the DIDA throughout the year by local businesses, organizations and individuals.
At the DIDA meeting on Thursday morning, Community Development Specialist Tim Erickson said that this year, past donors have given a little extra money and the DIDA has a lot more to spend on the Christmas wreaths.
“I think we’ve exceeded our highest amount (of donations) ever by a lot,” Erickson said. “I glanced at it yesterday and I didn’t do the math, but I don’t think we’ve ever eclipsed $2,000 in donations before. So, we’re doing a lot more with donations.”
Erickson said he understands that the DPW was waiting until after Veterans Day to take down the flags from the light posts. He said that the wreaths will probably be up before Thanksgiving.
In addition, the city of Ironwood received a 10-foot-tall lighted Christmas wreath from Santa’s Wreathe Company in Gile, Wisconsin. Erickson said that the city of Ironwood always purchases their wreaths from the company and the large wreath was a thank you for their business.
Erickson said that they will hang the wreath on the Historic Ironwood Theatre building. They are working with HIT Operations Manager Bruce Greenhill and trying to get one of the fire trucks from the Ironwood Public Safety Department to install it. Greenhill, who attended the meeting virtually, laughed that they will need to find a very long extension cord to plug it into an outlet.
High school students from Luther L. Wright will also attach Christmas lights to the posts. Erickson said that two groups went out to do the lighting and Kim Corcoran, the new mayor, was part of the first group. He thanked Corcoran for her help and said they will probably hang up the rest of the lights in Downtown Ironwood City Square today.
Erickson said that historically, the Range Master Gardeners have put the lights up in Pocket Park, but the person who did that passed away. Bergman said that he will see if he can get volunteers together and put lights in the park. He said that finding the lights and ornaments will probably be the biggest piece of that puzzle.
Bergson said that they are holding a public hearing on the city of Ironwood’s revised zoning ordinance. He said that the Ironwood City Commission and Planning Commission will hold a combined workshop on the ordinance at the next city commission meeting and they may be ready to adopt it in December.
In his update to the board, Erickson said that he met with the First Friday committee at Northwind Natural Foods Co-op in Ironwood on Wednesday and the committee accomplished their goal of making a calendar of events for 2022. The committee will hold monthly meetings at the co-op at 8 a.m. on the Wednesday after the first Friday of each month, he said.
The DIDA did not have time to set its goals for 2022, which was an item on the agenda. Bergman said that they will slim down the agenda for next month’s meeting so they can focus on goal setting. They will also review their 2021 goals. The DIDA’s next meeting will be held at the Ironwood Memorial Building and via Zoom at 8 a.m. on Dec. 16.