The Crow’s Nest Reopens Thursday! And Are the Monarchs Back?

The Landmark Inn's famed Crow’s Nest is back. Kind of.

THE LANDMARK INN’S famed Crow’s Nest is back. Kind of. The sixth floor restaurant/bar disappeared decades ago and was eventually replaced by two separate venues--the cozy Northstar Lounge and the spacious Sky Room, which was used mostly for banquets…Now, though there have been no major structural changes; they’ve been combined again into an updated version of the Crow’s Nest.

“It’s a modern take on the past,” says Ben Graves, the CEO of Graves Hospitality which owns the Landmark. “We’re paying homage to the Crow’s Nest that everybody loved back in the Seventies.” The furnishings, the colors, the wallpaper, and photographs all harken back, in a modern way, to the glory of the Crow’s Nest.

For the next few weekends--Thursday through Sunday evenings--the Northstar section of The Crow’s Nest will open to the public again after the long pandemic shutdown. And then, in early July, the full Crow’s Nest will open, as well….The menu features small dishes--shrimp cocktails, mushroom pasties, deviled eggs, charcuterie, etc--along with cocktails, wine and beer. And that stupendous view of the Lake and the city.

Downstairs, the old Piedmont/Capers/Heritage Room restaurant is hosting private events, but has not been completely converted to a new dining venue yet. It’ll be called The Parlor, but details for its new iteration haven’t been worked out yet….Not likely to become a conventional restaurant again.

Overall, the Landmark Inn has been updated—it’s lighter, brighter, seemingly more spacious…and dare we say, a little more hip? But hip, in a classy way.

Down the street, not much outside dining on the 100 block of Washington Street these last few weeks. Noise, dust, and barriers everywhere, and now there’s a gigantic hole in the middle of the street….Completion date for the project was originally set for late this week. Seems unlikely.

One retailer told us he sold $1500 of goods one day when the street was open. The next day, after the street was blocked off, the cash register totaled $14 for the entire day.

Incidentally, there’ll be no parking meters on the block when the job’s completed. Pay stations, instead. You know, the fancy, high-tech types that require you to memorize your license plate number.

It’s starting to look like a normal summer. The Rotary West suddenly reversed itself, and said, “Heck yeah! We’re gonna have a HarborFest this August, after all!” And the Fourth of July Parade is back on, along with the fireworks…and the Food Fest, and the Blueberry Festival, and Blues Fest, and the Beer Festival….Just about everything is coming back except for Hiawatha and Art on the Rocks—they’ll return next summer.

The Wednesday Farmers Market is starting this week, as well. Not as big as the Saturday Market, but it’s been growing, and it’s convenient for downtown workers…Special feature this week for procrastinators: Free Covid vaccinations at the Market.

Live music! The Marquette Symphony Orchestra has scheduled an outdoor concert—led by acclaimed conductor Octavio Mas-Arocas--at the Presque Isle Bandshell this Saturday, June 19th. Tickets are a dirt-cheap ten bucks….At the other end of the musical spectrum, Lakenenland will host a two day outdoor festival August 20th and 21st. Some of the featured acts—Flat Broke Blues Band, Trailer Hitch, Whiskey Ryan, and Derrell Syria.

It’s strictly anecdotal so far, but it sure seems like there are more monarch butterflies fluttering about this summer than in the recent past. “I’d like to think our work over the last decade planting milkweed and getting rid of invasive species has helped,” says Carl Lindquist, the executive director of the Lake Superior Watershed Partnership. Volunteers and students have been doing the bulk of the work…Monarchs, whose population is declining worldwide, feed on the nectar of the milkweed flowers.

Hot much? The National Weather Service in Negaunee has already recorded two days of 90  degrees or more this summer. “It’s unusual, a really quick start to summer,” says TV6 weather guru Karl Bohnak. He says it’ll be warmer than average this summer in the UP….And how about this? A mere 38 inches of snow fell along the shoreline of Marquette and Harvey this last winter. The underutilized snow plow truck operators may want to consider getting into the taco truck business.