As I scurried from one event to another during the North Shore Dragon Boat Festival and Fisherman’s Picnic in recent weeks, I couldn’t help but picture an anthill. I’ll bet that is what our little harbor town looked like from the sky. I’ll bet it looked a bit like a sand hill pawed open by a bear’s claw —worker ants running from one food stop to another, from one race or game to another. I imagine that it looked like unorganized chaos. It’s no wonder we are all so tired—we’ve been busy, busy people.
Even though I write this Unorganized Territory several days after the Fisherman’s Picnic’s last event—the drawing for the $10,000 on Sunday afternoon—the flurry of activity continues. Folks are stopping by Joynes’ Ben Franklin and Sven & Ole’s Pizza to look at the list of prizewinners. They are calling us at the Cook County News-Herald to find out if they won a prize (see the list of prizewinners on page A4.) The Grand Marais Lions are cleaning up the Fishburger stand and packing away the information in their information booth. The American Legion is pulling up stakes and storing the big bingo tent for next year. And I’m sure Lumber Camp organizers Niel and Jenny Atkinson are still trying to find room to store all the log rolling and sawmill stuff that they brought to Wisconsin Street.
As Grand Marais winds down, Grand Portage is gearing up for the next big community event—Rendezvous Days. PowWow participants are putting lastminute touches on their dance regalia, getting ready to answer emcee Murphy Thomas’s call to “Dance your style!” Voyageur re-enactors are stitching 1800s-era clothing and stocking supplies for the rendezvous encampment at the old fort. And dozens of others are working on the schedule for the Fun Run, the softball tournament and of course, bingo. Busy, busy people.
The week after Rendezvous Days is the Cook County Fair, so there is another cadre of folks working on schedules, planning displays and arranging entertainment. Along with them are the gardeners, crafters, and bakers who are deciding what to enter in the fair. More very busy people.
To visitors, it may seem that all of these events just seamlessly happen. Of course there is occasional chaos. Sometimes the line at the Fishburger stand seems neverending or the anticipated appearance by bagpipers doesn’t occur or a windstorm takes down festival tents. But watching the myriad events taking place relatively smoothly, it is easy to forget that there are dozens and dozens of hard-working volunteers handing all the details, making these events happen—like hardworking ants in an anthill.
I am especially impressed by the organization behind it all because I reside in Unorganized Territory. Regular readers know that the name of my weekly column has dual meaning. I literally live in unorganized territory—outside of the City of Grand Marais proper. I’m in the Grand Marais extended fire department district and my property tax statement declares that my house is in unorganized territory.
But most of all, unorganized territory is my perpetual state of being. I am on a never-ending quest to be a more orderly person. Post-it notes and my Daytimer calendar are the lifelines that keep me on track. My cell phone calendar alarm feature helps me remember meetings— most of the time. During Fisherman’s Picnic and other events, my organizational skills are sorely tested, as there are always simultaneous events that I want to take part in, volunteer for, or cover for the News-Herald. It is a juggling act.
As it is for all of the busy folks involved in all of these festivities. I am sure there are a number of News-Herald readers nodding their heads right now as they read this column, mumbling under their breath, “I hear you, Rhonda.”
Thank you to all of you busy people for all you do. Thank you for organizing canoe races, for gathering silent auction items, for keeping score and timing contests, for making posters and hanging banners, for filling water tanks, and for getting dunked in them. Thank you for blowing up balloons and for selling ice cream, raffle tickets, beer and hotdogs and brats. Thank you for decorating floats and booths and even yourself for the parade. Thanks for trucking logs and cleaning up sawdust. Thanks for dancing and drumming, for performing in plays and singing on stage. Thanks for calling bingo and for racing minnows and for tossing fish.
Thanks for keeping the anthill running! Go to the ant, thou sluggard, learn to live, and by her busy ways, reform thy own.
Elizabeth Smart
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