Miner celebration

By MEGAN HUGHES

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Ironwood - Local historians gathered in what appeared to be a perfect spot to talk about the region's mining heritage on Saturday - a wide spot in the Miner's Memorial Heritage Park Trail - for a presentation that marked the second of the ongoing Emberlight Festival's Performance Infusions.

The Ironwood park trail is the site of Emberlight's third annual outdoor art exhibit, as well as a series of planned Performance Infusions focusing on a variety of topics on occasional Saturdays through the festival.

The crowd gathered at 1 p.m. for the event, taking a seat in chairs they mostly brought along. The event included guest speakers, musicians and the reading of poetry.

They included Ivan Hellen, a historian for both the MMHP Trail and the Erwin Township Historical Society, Larry Peterson, a local historian from Ironwood, musician Bob Michaels, and poet Kathleen Carlton Johnson of Lake Linden.

Hellen spoke about his own experience researching the mining history in the area, and his inspirations for doing so.

"There were people here before there were miners," Hellen said. "As these people walked the land they had no idea the riches that were beneath their feet."

He spoke about his own familial ties to the mining culture, as well.

"My grandfather worked 45 years in the Bonnie and Geneva mines," he said. He explained that his grandfather worked as a timberman, a position where he would install the timbers that supported mine shafts.

Hellen ended his portion of the presentation with a recitation of a poem, titled "A Tribute to Ironwood," which he had written and read at a conference on U.P. history.

Peterson spoke about the importance of actualizing history and making it feel more real.

"Ivan and I try to actualize history. What it was like in the minutia," he said. "What was it like for the miners and their families?"

He explained that one way they do this is to look for small things that are culturally significant. He used the examples of recipes, such as the pasty, which he said has become a cultural icon of food. He explained that these recipes were passed down, the techniques of folding, crimping and even preparing the ingredients were something that families would carry from generation to generation.

Peterson spoke about the importance of the role of the household in the miner's life, and about the impact on wives and children if their husbands died while at work. According to his research, if the husbands died while on the job, the families were compensated poorly, and because of it, women would find themselves looking for work that they could do.

"These women went off alone and would end up managing boarding houses and things that they had not been expected to do, but were very successful at," said Peterson.

At the end of his presentation, Peterson spoke about how he researches as a luddite (someone who does not use modern technology). He gathers a majority of his information from microfilm, other area historians and written texts.

After Peterson presented, the crowd listened to a reading of Johnson's "When it Comes: A Poem for Voices." The poem is written from the perspective of the miners, and involves many speakers reciting the refrain in a style similar to that of a Greek chorus.

Michaels played his guitar and sang songs from the mining era.

Following the presentation, audience members were encouraged to take a walk of the historic trail.

Director of the Performance Infusion series and Emberlight board member Karen Mallum told the Globe she was extremely happy with the turn out. "I was happy with the crowd and I was very happy with the way it went. It flowed along really nicely."

Artistic Director of Emberlight Miles Mykkanen spoke highly of the event's success. "Standing on top of these mine shafts, in a space like this and having a program like this is so moving. It is exactly what we are dreaming Emberlight can bring to this area."

The next Performance Infusion will be Saturday at 1 p.m. along the MMHP Trail, focusing on the nature of crafting.