Small Town Lip Synch Challenge hits West End

In October 2018, a group of creative Cook County residents decided to launch a “Small Town Lip Sync Challenge,” similar to those produced by police departments across the United States. Instead of just the sheriff's office, the video hoped to bring in the whole city of Grand Marais. 

Headed up by Jaye White, over 100 Grand Marais community members joined forces to dance around the city, lip synching to the song Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. To see the Grand Marais Lip Synch Challenge, click here. 

As hoped, the video scored thousands of clicks on Facebook and views on YouTube.

But organizers didn’t stop there. At the end of the Grand Marais video, they issued a challenge to the townships on the west end of the county—Lutsen, Tofte and Schroeder.

The West End of the county took up the challenge and created its own Small Town Lip Synch Challenge set to the song West End Kids by New Politics. Again, the community came together, with members of the West End fire departments, local businesses, the Birch Grove Community School and more, singing and dancing along. To see the West End Lip Synch Challenge, click here. 

WTIP’s Jane Alexander checked in with Jaye White, the mastermind of the Small Town Lip Synch Challenge to learn more about the West End video and about what might be ahead.