No HarborFest but a New Store and Plenty of Golf
Read the latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell
CONFUSED? YEAH, WE all are. The CDC says one thing about masks, the state waffles and says another, and the individual stores, restaurants, and institutions are left to make up their own policies. It ain’t easy being a business…or an American…these days. But it’s better than living in India or Brazil.
No HarborFest again this year at the Lower Harbor, because of the lingering uncertainty about the pandemic. “We’ve been struggling with this decision,” says Rotary West president Eric Froberg….The good news, though—the club will hold a fundraising gala this summer at a time and place not yet determined.
A new business opening on Washington Street downtown on Wednesday. It’s 906 & Co. Bath items, home goods, candles, and other stuff that make you feel good and make your house look good….Owner Ryan Walker isn’t daunted by the pandemic or the street construction taking place directly in front of his shop. It’s the right place for him, he says, at the right time. His homemade soaps, by the way, are works of art.
New city manager Karen Kovacs takes the reins on June 7th. She and her family are now looking for a home to buy. Uhh, yeah, good luck in a very tight market with a tiny inventory….How excited are they to move here from Milan downstate? “We visited Marquette back in October,” she tells us, “and my husband said, ‘Promise me if you ever get the opportunity for a job up here, you’ll take it.’” The opportunity presented itself, and now here they come.
Conventional wisdom has golf as a dying sport with golf courses nationwide closing every other day. Here in Marquette, maybe not….”It feels strange to say it, but 2020 with the pandemic was a very good year for us,” says Bob Raica, the president of the Marquette Golf Club. Why? Because most us, including health officials, deemed golf, played outside with natural distancing, to be a “safe sport”.…Membership at the club climbed by about 50 last year, and almost 100 this year—including more under-35 folks. A better deal with the bank is helping, as well.
The pandemic wasn’t nearly as kind to the YMCA. Membership dropped to only about 30% early on, but has since rebounded a bit—up to around 50% of the pre-pandemic numbers. Mass vaccinations are helping, but summertime always depresses membership. “We’re holding our own,” says CEO Jenna Zdunek. “Honestly, the biggest problem we’re having is finding enough staff.”
We’ve heard that before, over and over again.
Drama is coming back to Marquette, and we mean that in a good way. Lake Superior Theater has announced a full season this summer, starting July 6th with “Last Five Years.” Theater president Peggy Frazier says we’ll see fewer actors on stage this season—and they’ll all be vaccinated—and two fewer rows of seats for the audience, to allow for a little more social distancing.
And this! Broadway star Sandra Joseph (“Phantom of the Opera”) will return to the Marquette Boathouse for a one night performance on July 24th with her husband, fellow Broadway star, Ron Bohmer….Anyone lucky enough to have seen them here two summers ago came away mesmerized. Tickets this time will be limited, expensive…and prized.
So….we’re starting to travel again? Kind of, mostly domestically. Holiday Travel’s Laura Chapman says her business is now about 20% of what it was pre-pandemic. “Europe is usually my big summer sell,” she says, and it’s not happening. Travel to most countries remains extremely limited….Winter bookings, though, are picking up because we’re an optimistic bunch. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
And finally, this weird and depressing report from a trial downstate, as reported by Bridge, Michigan’s superb online news magazine. A neo-Nazi leader and his fellow whack jobs have been planning (dreaming?) to make the Upper Peninsula a “white ethno state.” The idea being, we’re already overwhelmingly white, so the transition would be relatively easy….Yeah, take your dreams, schemes, and business elsewhere—maybe to prison.
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According to the Marquette West Rotary Club Facebook page, and their web page, ( https://marquettewestrotary.org/ ) Harborfest is a go for this year. (They did announce in April it would be cancelled, but due to changes in the Covid situation, it's back on!)
Just to be clear, Harborfest takes place the end of August, and is seperate from the Fourth of July festival. Which is also on this year, including fireworks. However there has been no one stepping up to organize a parade!
The nazi nutjobs want to be Yoopermensch? No way, eh.