West End News: July 5

Last call for the Schroeder Historical Society’s annual Lundie Vacation Home Tour. Saturday, July 14th is the date of the eighth annual tour of homes and cabins designed by renowned architect Edwin Lundie. This year, the tour will also include some vacation homes designed by architect Dale Mulfinger, who will be on the tour in person. There is a charge for the tour, but the proceeds benefit the Schoeder Historical Society. Call Suzanne at 663-7706 for more details and registration.

The big Tofte 4th of July celebration is in the record book for another year. I call it the biggest small town celebration in the northland. I’m not sure if I coined that phrase, or if I heard it somewhere. The highlight for me this year was my mother, Mary Alice Hansen, being named Tofte Citizen of the Year. It is a great honor for her and she got to ride in a convertible in the big parade. Mary Alice was instrumental in the founding of the North Shore Commercial Fishing Museum and served for many years at the Tofte Town Clerk. It was nice of the town officials to honor her, especially because she now lives in Grand Marais.

The Memorial Blood Center Bloodmobile will be in Tofte, at Zoar Lutheran Church on Tuesday, July 17 from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Contact Polly at 663-7398 for an appointment.

As I write this, the Forest Service is working a wildfire near Parent Lake north of Schroeder. After one day, the lightning caused fire is 3 to 5 acres in size. It’s only a quarter of a mile from last year’s big Pagami Creek fire. The Forest Service is working it with a big water bomber and it will likely just be another routine fire for them. The amazing thing is just two weeks ago we were recovering from one of the biggest rain events in the history of the forest. It is an excellent example of how fast things change with the weather and fire danger. The lakes are still very high, but two weeks of hot dry weather have driven the fire danger right back up.

We lost a good friend here at Sawbill this week. Ed Erickson, from Chetek, Wisconsin, was a favorite visitor here at Sawbill for at least 40 years. Ed retired as a school counselor about ten years ago. It is hard to describe how attentive and empathetic he was with other people. For starters, he remembered the name of every person that he ever shook hands with. He would question them closely about the spelling and pronunciation of their name, at which point you could almost see him consciously commit it to memory. It was remarkable how just this small courtesy endeared him to people. He was a relentlessly positive and upbeat, but he was very serious when it came to fishing. His wife caught a 13 pound walleye on Alton many years ago and they had it mounted in what can only be described as a shrine in their rec room.

About ten years ago, Ed got seriously lost while grouse hunting. A search was organized and John Oberholtzer of Lutsen found Ed, who was tired and hungry after nearly eight hours of wandering through swamp and thicket. Ed and OB have had a special bond ever since. As I told Ed’s family, he will be missed by all who knew him, but we can take consolation in knowing that he is in a place where the fish are always biting. That is Ed’s heaven, for sure.