Interesting Spring Events around Lake Superior

Some Recommended Events and Festivals around Lake Superior

It has been a cold spring in the upper midwest region and around Lake Superior. Looks like things might start to warm up in a week or so.

We often take a trip up to the Lake Superior region in May to see spring break out and enjoy some of the attractions that later in the summer could be quite busy. Here’s a list of a few things going on we either plan to attend or would if the time allowed.

Milwaukee Road Steam Locomotive #261 near LaCrosse, Wisconsin

National Train Day and Steam Locomotive Railfest – Duluth, MN May 11-12th

The center of activities will be at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum with special programs and train rides celebrating National Train Day. What makes the weekend and the event really neat though is that the Milwaukee Road Steam Locomotive 261 will be arriving from Minneapolis pulling a set of classic railroading train cars. This will be the first excursion of #261 in four years as it has been out of service for a major re-build and maintenance. Some of the 261’s luxury cars will then join and be pulled the North Shore Scenic Railroad’s Steam Locomotive #2719 on a day excursion trip to Two Harbors and back.

Chequamegon Birding Festival & Bayfield in Bloom – Ashland &  Bayfield, WI May 16 – 18th

The Birding and Nature Festival is headquartered at the spacious Great Lakes Visitor Center in Ashland. Several workshops will be held there as well as exhibits on display. Even if you aren’t registered for the Festival you can still enjoy the exhibits. You can also go up to their observation deck to view migrating birds as well as check on the record of sightings. The Visitor Center also has a network of nature and hiking trails, some of which are set up to entertain kids. We never fail to stop in the Visitor Center on our trips around the lake. It is a great facility. While a number of the festival activities take place at the Center, many field trips and nature hikes are held elsewhere in the region. If you enjoy the natural world and/or birding, this is a major event that you’ll want to sample. See the event schedule here.

While you are in the neighborhood you can also catch the Garden Expo event in Bayfield on Friday. Wisconsin Public Radio hosts its “Garden Talk” radio show as the center piece of the Expo. If you can’t make the Chequamegon Festival, Grand Marais, Minnesota also hosts a nature and birding festival – May 30 – June 2nd. Later that month Grand Marais hosts a classic car show – June 15th and still later there is the Wooden Boat Festival June 20 – 22nd. Find out more about these activities at the North House Folk School website.

Grandma’s Marathon Festival – Duluth, MN June 20 – 22nd

Duluth’s Grandmas Race is the premier spring event (actually kicks off the first day of summer) around Lake Superior. The race starts in Two Harbors, Minnesota and runs along the lake shore along Scenic Highway 61 and finishes in Duluth’s Canal Park. There are numerous points along the route where you can set up your lawn chair and watch the race. Of course the biggest crowd is in Canal Park along the last quarter mile of the course. Even though there are lots of others around you can generally get a good view of the racers on the home stretch.

The 26.2 mile marathon is only one of several races going on that weekend. There’s also the half-marathon, 5 and 10K runs, a kids run, to mention a few. There’s music and food tents Friday and Saturday and other events associated with the festival. See more of what is happening at the Grandmas Race Website.

Waterfalls

Another reason we like going up to Lake Superior in late spring, in addition to bug-less hiking and camping, is seeing the waterfalls in their springtime glory. Here’s two links on our SuperiorTrails website to waterfalls.

Minnesota North Shore Waterfalls

Western Upper Peninsula Waterfalls

As summer looms closer we’ll return here to write a new entry to give you a list of interesting events and places to visit around Lake Superior. There are many. We also are planning  a 360 degree Lake Superior Circle Tour loop early this summer and hope to do a few daily reports from our tour in the pages.

Happy Trails,

Ross

UP 200 Sled Dog Marathon

up 200 sled dog race

Start of the UP200 Sled Dog Marathon – Marquette, Michigan Upper Peninsula

Friday night in Marquette thousands of people lined up along snow covered West Washington Street to watch the beginning of the UP200 Sled Dog Race, a qualifying competition for the famed Iditarod Alaskan race. Downtown businesses provided a festival atmosphere with music and entertainment plus several serving free hot chocolate and coffee. Frank Moe of Bemidji, Minnesota drew Bib #1 and starting position for the 24th running of the UP 200 (which is actually 240 miles in length).

up 200 sled dog race
Musher Frank Moe and his team of “athletes” roar out of the starting gate
up 200 sled dog race
Kevin Malikowski’s team running along the lower harbor

Sunday afternoon around 1 pm, Ryan Anderson of Ray, Minnesota crossed the finish line winning his fourth in a row and unprecedented UP 200 race. His neighbor Keith Ali also from Ray, Minnesota finished second. Ali had previously won the race three times. Ryan Reddington, who came all the way from Alaska to compete, finished third. Reddington’s grandfather was a founder of the famous Iditarod Sled Dog Marathon. Another Minnesotan, Troy Groeneveld finished fourth. Martin Koenig of Seeley Lake, Montana finished fifth.

We had a companion accompany us to the race: Flat Stanley – a paper cutout pal of our Grand Niece Kylah who is using Stanley as part of a school project. Stanley was there at the beginning and at the finish line.

Flat Stanley at the UP 200 Sled Dog Race
Flat Stanley was there with Jo to watch the start of the race
Flat Stanley at the UP 200 Sled Dog Race
Flat Stanley was also at the finish line to see Ray Anderson win the race

Restaurants & Dining in Marquette

Sunday afternoon Jo and I went searching for a place to have lunch downtown and discovered Donckers Restaurant. Donckers is a blend of a candy & confectionary store, an old tyme soda fountain, and deli restaurant serving a large variety of breakfast, lunch, and dinner selections. Located downtown on West Washington Street a few blocks from the harbor. A funky place full of old fashioned character that has been well-earned since the establishment has been in business since 1896 and at this same location since 1914. The business was started by Fred Donckers as a simple, open air stand featuring candy, fresh fruit, tobacco and $.05 hot-buttered popcorn. As the business expanded, Fred moved indoors and built the current location adding a full service soda fountain and dining services.

Donckers Restaurant.
Donckers soda fountain has all the “sweets” your tooth would want, including their own line of chocolate candies
Donckers Restaurant.
Down the hall from the soda fountain is a coffee house atmosphere with a combo playing mellow tunes while others are playing board games

Jo had their Cheese Steak special and I had the Apollo Vegetarian sandwich. The sandwiches were delicious. Jo’s hot sandwich was thinly sliced beef with red peppers, onions, mushrooms, and cheese sauce was served hot and juicy and earned 5 stars. My veggie sandwich had ample portions of fresh, crisp vegetables- spinach, lettuce, onion, cucumber, and avocado spread – topped off with a slice of swiss cheese. Both of us had the veggie chips over the kettle chips. Pop was self-service in a large 20 oz tumbler.

Donckers Restaurant.
Upstairs is the Deli with a decent variety of sandwiches, wraps, salads, and soups. After the order this couple received their pet rock placeholder!
Donckers Restaurant.
We found a free table overlooking Washington Street. The retro table and chairs were quite comfortable. We didn’t have to wait long to exchange our rock for our food order.

The service is Deli style. You place your order and then are given a “pet rock” with a number on it as identifier of your order. When your meal is ready a staff member hunts you down, delivers your food and utensils, and retrieves the pet rock. We didn’t have to wait long for our order and it was served by friendly wait staff. It was apparent the staff has a good time and enjoys providing good and friendly service to customers. The prices are reasonable and made more so by the senior discount they gave us. We’ll definitely be back.

Ross

Duluth, MN North Shore Fall Events

Superior Dragon Boat Race Superior, WI

Duluth, Minnesota-Superior, Wisconsin Fall Events The big event in the Duluth-Superior Twin Ports area at the end of August is the  Lake Superior Dragonboat Race The race is held in a protected bay on the south side of Barkers Island. The island is the site of the festival part of the race. Yes, more music, entertainment, … Read more

Isle Royale National Park

Isle Royale

Hiking the Isle Royale National ParkImogen Reed, Guest Contributor At the far northwest of Michigan is an island closer to both Minnesota and Canada than any other part of the state. So far in fact, that if you wanted to drive from any other part of Michigan you would have to go through at least … Read more

Fall Color Thunder Bay Ontario

Things to see and do in Thunder Bay In this post: Fall Color, Golfing, Dining, and visiting Fort William During our recent Minnesota North Shore Color Tour, we decided to extend our travels to run up as far north as Thunder Bay, Ontario. The color was not as striking as what we found along Minnesota’s … Read more

Fall Color and Events – Duluth & North Shore

What’s Happening in Duluth and along the North Shore in the fall Duluth September Events The Duluth-North Shore fall season begins the second weekend of September with Duluth’s annual LakeWalk Festival. See more about Duluth’s Lakewalk here. Later that month the annual Oktoberfest will be held in Duluth’s Bayfront Park. German Beer & Food, Oktoberfest … Read more

Fall Color Michigan Upper Peninsula

tahquamenon falls

Scenic Fall Color Drives from Marquette to Sault Saint Marie, Michigan

During the last week in September, 2010 Jo and I toured the central UP to investigate first hand the fall foliage and color changes. Our trip began on September 20th and lasted through the 28th. (See Days 1 & 2 Reports Here) The table below gives you links to various portions of our trip so you can see what we found and notes of interest.

In many cases we were a little early for the best color but did find some nice fall color scenery at Tahquamenon Falls and around Marquette. Yet even the areas where color was just beginning to change were worthwhile visiting. The waterfalls were spectacular. We love the nice crisp fall air, no bugs, and less competition for motels, campsites, and various attractions and things to see and do. A vigorous fall hike doesn’t get you all sweated up like summertime!

Tahquamenon Falls
The Upper Falls at Tahquamenon Falls State Park
Grand Sable Dunes
Grand Sable Dunes from the Log Slide Overlook in Pictured Rocks National Park

When might you expect peak fall color in the Upper Peninsula? See our Fall Color Reports – Michigan UP

–Ross

UP Fall Color Tour – Pictured Rocks

pictured rocks national park

Monday September 20, 2010Munising, Michigan color tour – days 1 & 2 color tour – days 3 & 4 color tour – days 5 & 6 color tour – days 7,8 & 9 In late September Jo and I traveled to the Upper Peninsula with her sister Donna and our brother-in-law Dan to enjoy some … Read more

UP Fall Color Tour – 2

Wednesday, September 22, 2010 Brimley, Michigan – Wild Bluff Golf Course color tour – days 1 & 2 color tour – days 3 & 4 color tour – days 5 & 6 color tour – days 7,8 & 9 During the drive from Grand Marais to Brimley the color change was modest. As we got away … Read more

UP Fall Color Trip -Tahquamenon Falls

lower falls tahquamenon river

Friday, September 24thSault Sainte Marie, Ontario Thursday afternoon after touring the Corps of Engineer’s Soo Locks facility we crossed the International Bridge to the Canadian side. We camped at a nice KOA facility just North of town; Donna and Dan had a nice spacious suite at a hotel in town. It rained all afternoon and … Read more