West End News: October 13
Congratulations to Gunnar Fraham, a senior at William Kelly High School in Silver Bay, on acheiving the rank of Eagle Scout. For his Eagle Scout project, Gunnar constructed a pollinator garden at his high school, using native Minnesota pollinator plants. He did extensive research even before the hard work of constructing the garden.
Gunnar’s Eagle Scout ranking is all the more remarkable because there is no Boy Scout Troop in Silver Bay, so he completed all the requirements on his own. He’s what the Boy Scouts call a “lone scout.” Gunnar is also a top student, accomplished athlete and all around nice guy.
Gunnar’s mother is the well-loved West End girl, Renee Fraham, originally from Schroeder, who has kept the Tofte District Office of the U.S. Forest Service running smoothly for the last few decades.
Lake Superior water levels, which were at record lows just a few years ago, are now at higher than normal levels. Typically, the big lake drops about an inch during the month of September, but that didn’t happen this year. The lake actually rose slightly and is now seven inches above the long-term average for this time of year.
The 7th annual North Shore Commercial Fishing Museum Storytelling Dinner is scheduled for Friday, October 21st at Lutsen Resort. This year’s story-tellers are Georgie Dunn, who was a photojournalist in the early 1980s and spent four years documenting the fishing way of life on the North Shore.
One of Georgie’s favorite subjects back in the ‘80s was Clint Maxwell, from Beaver Bay. Clint will be joining Georgie at the dinner to tell stories from his lifetime of experience as a Lake Superior fisherman.
Call Lutsen Resort for reservations, 663-7212, by October 19. For more information, go to www.commercialfishingmuseum.org or call the museum at 218-663-7050. Be there, or be square.
Also at Lutsen Resort, over the first weekend in November, the 26th Annual Bluegrass Masters event will return for three days of non-stop bluegrass music. This year’s “master” is Nashville guitarist, Jim Hurst. I could give you the long list of Jim’s performance and recording credits, but I’ll just say that if you make your living as a Nashville guitar player, then you better be damned good.
As always, Jim will teach workshops all day on Saturday, November 5th and then will present a concert at the Lutsen Resort Ballroom starting at 7 pm. Tickets for the workshops and concert are sold at the Resort, starting Friday morning, November 4th.
Jim Hurst’s concert is certainly reason enough to plan on attending, but the real draw, in my opinion, is the continuous series of jam sessions that take over Lutsen Resort that whole weekend. Bluegrass musicians converge from several states and provinces to play impromptu music with each other in every nook and cranny in the main lodge building. Although there are beginners among the musicians, many are long established and respected musicans with an incredible level of skill. Everyone is welcome to come to the Lutsen Resort and listen to these sessions. There is no entry fee and you can literally stand right next to the musicians as they play. Evenings are the busiest time for jamming, but literally anytime you stop by over the weekend, you will find musicians jamming.
After 27 years, the Masters Bluegrass Weekend is a significant regional cultural event that happens right under our noses here in the West End. You owe it to yourself to stop by for a listen.
The fall colors are distinctly past their peak up here in the woods, but the tamaracks are starting to turn, which is a good consolation for the loss of some leaf color. I look forward to the dropping of the tamarack needles that turn backwoods roads and trails into paths of gold.
My recommendation for good leaf looking this week is the 600 Road between Tofte and Schroeder. Not only a beautiful drive but you can check out the new wooden bridge over the Temperance River and new pavement on the Sawbill Trail, if you haven’t seen them yet. Both are great additions to the wonderful West End.
For WTIP, this is Bill Hansen with the West End News.
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