Birchy Set to Open, OB/GYN's Leave UPHS-Bell, Arts and Culture Moving Ahead, Power Lines Coming Down, L&M Fleet Opens, NMU Shines, and the Blues and Old People

The Latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell

BIRCHY. IT’S MORE than just a cute, new name for the Birchmont, that tired, old motel on US 41, south of downtown…“We’re honoring its past as the Birchmont but we’re refreshing and upgrading the motel,” says Josh Paquette, a partner in the Base Hospitality Group, which bought the Birchmont…Upgrading? That’s an understatement. Paquette and his partner, Charlie Holsworth, are undertaking a total renovation—new furnishings, bathrooms, paint, flooring, windows, and decking.…And they’re looking toward a new, younger market—tourists who are into adventure, biking, hiking and such…Paquette and Holsworth anticipate lawn games out front, nighttime gatherings around the fire pit, and acoustic music on the weekends.

Price range for rooms? From $125-200 a night…The Birchy opens Memorial Day weekend.

THE BASE HOSPITALITY GROUP is also converting that old building on Baraga Street into a new, 13-room boutique hotel with the slightly unwieldy name Explore Marquette Historic District…“It’ll be designed for visitors who want to immerse themselves in Marquette’s past and present,” explains Holsworth…It’ll be higher-end in pricing. Anticipated opening? Likely midyear, 2025.

WONDERING WHAT OTHER hotels will be charging for a room this summer? Let’s take a midsummer date, July 12th, a Friday…Hampton Inn and Suites starts at $301 a night…the Landmark Inn is at $299…The Fairfield is $269…and the Holiday Inn is $223.

WORD COMES TO us that two OB/GYN’s at UPHS-Bell have resigned and taken other jobs…No reason given publicly, and UPHS won’t confirm the specifics, but does respond with this: “We respect our staff’s choices to leave whether it be for personal reasons or alternative professional responsibilities…Staff turnover is expected and a customary experience—not just in the UP…As needed in instances such as this, we utilize temporary locum tenens (temporary doctors) and/or established community partners to ensure continuous service with no impact to patient care…”

A little perspective is called for here: Staff turnover regularly occurs in all businesses. It’s just that the UPHS system has been plagued by turnover and employee discontent for the last several years so, rightly or wrongly, we pay more attention to it. AND, let’s be honest, losing a doctor is more important to the community than losing a salesperson (or a part-time journalist).

BIG EXCITEMENT AT Marquette’s Office of Arts and Culture…Architectural bids came in this week for the revamp of the old LSCP building on Front Street. It’ll be converted into the new home for Arts and Culture, as well as what Arts and Culture Manager Tiina Morin hopes will become the “living room for Marquette,” a cozy, comfortable, welcoming spot for residents and tourists alike…A place to sit and talk, surrounded by Marquette’s art displays, while enjoying a view of the Lake…New landscaping and parking, as well…Construction schedule uncertain: “It all depends on when the design is approved and when the work can get started,” says Morin…Hopefully, by Fall, with completion by Fall 2025.

MARQUETTE’S NEW CULTURAL TRAIL will also likely make its first appearance this Fall…We’ll see at least the start of installing eight historical venues along the lakeside bike and walking path—signs, information, landscaping, benches…Each of the spots will mark an important part of Marquette’s history—cultural, economic, and maritime, with a heavy emphasis on this region’s indigenous past…The eight locations will extend from Presque Isle to the Carp River…The new trail and the New Arts and Culture Office will be spotlighted during Marquette’s Art Week June 25th-29th.

THIS IS HOW you get things done…In early 2022, the Marquette Board of Light and Power informed residents along Lake Street (where South Beach is located) that, if they raised enough money, they could get the unsightly power lines along the street buried. Great! But they’d have to raise at least $60,000 from the 48 homes on the street…"We immediately started going door-to-door, discussing it among ourselves and trying to figure out how to raise the money,” says Cary Gottlieb, one of the homeowners…

Complications cropped up: turns out there were also wires overhead from Spectrum-Charter, from 911, and from the city for its Water Treatment Plant…Negotiations ensued with all the parties, and inevitably, prices went up. The total needed was now $150,000…Still, they managed to raise it—some households giving several thousand, others hundreds, and others not able to contribute at all. Still, mission accomplished. Work is now underway…Neighborhood power!

GOTTLIEB, BY THE way, is one of five candidates running for the two open City Commission spots this year…Also running are former City Manager Bill Vajda…Jim Rankin, a semi-retired, former Department of Corrections employee…Matthew Luttenberger, a Lakeview Arena employee who’s run for nonpartisan political office seven other times in the past…and Jermey Ottaway, an incumbent who was appointed to his seat in December of 2022…The primary comes up in August.

IT’S TRULY A phenomenon…NMU’s Department of Theatre and Dance has exploded in popularity, production, and enrollment in the last few years…A few years back, there were about 25 Theatre and Dance majors at NMU; now there are more than 100, coming from twelve different states…Used to be a few theater productions a year; now there are twelve…

What accounts for this remarkable upsurge? Much credit has to go to Bill Digneit, the dynamic Department Head…but then you also have a veritable All Star cast of professors, directors, and producers…an ambitious Admissions Department…and a particularly appealing message to young theater and dance majors: “These freshmen and sophomores—these actors and singers and dancers—are not meant to sit on the sidelines,” says Digneit. “They need to get on the stage. Now. And we’ll get them on the stage.”

NOTHING WRONG WITH a moderate amount of drinking, right? Wrong, apparently…Ireland is adding a cancer warning label to alcohol containers in 2026, according to Axios…Other countries are lowering their recommended alcohol consumption levels. Various studies have linked drinking to cancer and heart disease…Swell…By the way, Americans are, in fact, reducing their intake of alcohol—back in 2009, we averaged almost five drinks a week. Now we imbibe fewer than four drinks a week…So, where’s the nearest cannabis shop?

L&M FLEET SUPPLY made its debut in Marquette at the old Shopko location last week. A packed parking lot, curious shoppers filling the aisles…First impression? It's huge with a remarkable variety of merchandise—tools, camping, hunting and fishing supplies, sporting goods, clothes, tires, automotive equipment, toys, pet supplies, lawn and garden stuff, some food. Basically anything you need. Friendly employees, as well…You gotta wonder how Menards and Lowe’s feel about the new competition.

AN UNFORTUNATE SIGN of the times…This year’s Blues Fest will be the last one, not because it’s not popular—It is. And it attracts top flight musicians and enthusiastic fans from all over the UP and beyond…But the members of the Marquette Area Blues Society, which the stages the festival, are getting older. You simply can’t do things at age 60 that came easily to you when you were 30…The Blues Society will still be hosting concerts, just not the big, annual three day blues bash…Talk to the folks who run the other big events and festivals in town—the ones that depend on volunteers—and you’ll hear the same story: the volunteers are getting older and older, and not enough young people are stepping up to take their place.

POEM OF THE WEEK

The Willow

When life is young, without a care,
Alone we walk, and free:
The world, a splendid merry round
Of rhythmic melody.

Before the end, grim sorrow calls
Into each mortal ear,
When friendship fades to memories,
And love lies in its bier.

Then, then it is that sympathy
Is holden close and dear;
Ah, then life's consolation comes
Commingled with a tear.

—Georgia Douglas Johnson