West End News: April 6

Spring has sprung here in the West End. The sap is running and so are the snowshoe hares who are still sporting their winter attire. Grackles and redwing black birds have made their appearances. Our yard is serving as a personal lost and found stash as items unknowingly dropped into a snowbank back in December are slowing reemerging.

Another sure sign of spring is Lutsen Mountains annual Mountain Meltdown. This weekend they will be celebrating the last full week of skiing for the season. On Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 9th there will be a live music on the outdoor stage (weather permitting) and a barbeque. Music starts at 11:30 both days and the last band takes the outdoor stage at 4pm. If you, like me, have a small human who makes going out to live music late at night a challenge, or if you’re simply an early to bed kind of music lover this is a great opportunity to catch some really great tunes before the sun goes down. If you are a night owl, stick around for the late night music at Papa Charlie’s. Lutsen has been open into April every year for the past 26 years, if 26 years of spring skiing isn’t worth a good celebration I don’t know what is.

Congratulations are due to the Fika family. Many West End residents are frequent visitors to Josh Lindstrom and crew at the Fika coffee shop in the Clearview building in downtown Lutsen. If you tried to get your coffee fix on a certain weekend in mid-March you may have noticed that they were closed for a few days. They had a good reason though as they were in Duluth welcoming their fourth child. While the Lindstroms have not yet had the good sense to move their family to the West End, we are glad to have Fika Coffee in our midst and wish them the very best with their new baby boy.

Congratulations are also in order for Birch Grove School which received the 2017 School Finance Award from the Minnesota Department of Education. A friendly reminder that Birch Grove is having its Kindergarten round up on Tuesday April 11. If you’ve got a kiddo who will be 5 years old by September 1st, 2017, they are invited to come check out our neighborhood school. You can register on Birch Grove’s website or by calling 663-0170.

Okay, now what you’ve all been waiting for - the ice report. There is quite of bit of standing water on top of the ice, especially near shore. In many places, water can be seen, and more noticeably heard, seeping up through degraded spots creating little bubbles and a sense of anxiety for us ice measuring technicians. My sources tell me that as of April 5 there is, drumroll please, still 17 inches of ice. That’s seven inches less than last week though, so we’re moving in the right direction, and fast.

For WTIP, I’m Clare Shirley with the West End News.