Just to let the people driving or walking by know that there was an Earth Day celebration going on in Harbor Park, Denny FitzPatrick and Naomi Tracy-Hegg dressed up in worldly costumes and waved at the passersby. Naomi is a member of the Nordic Nature Group who helped to sponsor and organize harbor cleanup. Events began at 10 a.m. with a harbor beach cleanup and continued through the day with a march for science and speeches that followed, a lecture at Voyageur Brewing with geologist Dr. Green began at 5 p.m. and a 7 p.m. film titled “A Plastic Ocean” about the giant plastic mess floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that was shown at the library with about 30 people attending concluded the day.
Among the more interesting items found on the Grand Marais harbor beach sweep last weekend was a Celtic ring, a tiny pink troll carrying an Easter basket, a plastic head of Captain America, a tawny brown almost calcified bone, a pink plastic sandal, and a large metal spring.
Held on a sunny, blue sky April 21 Saturday with a skim coating of ice covering the bay, more than 50 people took part in the community cleanup in celebration of Earth Day.
An international trio brought in the most substantial piece of trash: a bent-up portion of a culvert that weighed 21½ pounds.
Martin and Petra said they came from Czechoslovakia for the cleanup and called their friend Kyle from Thunder Bay, Ontario to join them. That was mighty adventurous of them, but when pressed they admitted that Martin was an engineer who was recruited to work in Duluth for a company who does international business, Petra was his wife, and Kyle was a friend from Thunder Bay who worked at the Thunder Bay Airport.
In celebration of Earth Day – one day early – more than 50 people turned out to help pick up litter and trash on the Grand Marais harbor beach on Saturday, April 21. All told, about 157 pounds of refuse came off the beach and surrounding area.
“We came last night and stayed at the Grand Marais Recreation Park and learned about this cleanup and decided to join in,” said Martin with a smile.
While the prize for the unique found item, the pink sandal, went to Jim and Rebecca Wiinanen and their grandson Kaj Erickson, the award for picking up the most cigarette butts (279) went to Joni Peterson.
Spearheading the cleanup was Arrowhead Indivisible, Grand Marais Recreation Director Dave Tersteeg and the Nordic Nature Group.
The day was filled with work, a march for science, speeches about the importance of keeping the environment clean, and a film screening of “A Plastic Ocean” held at the Grand Marais Public Library at 7 p.m.
Geology professor Dr. John Green also gave an Earth Day Rock Talk at Voyageur Brewing Company at 5 p.m. with about 40 people attending.
The March For Science was held at 3 p.m. with about 40 people taking part in the peaceful walk through town. Following the sign-holding hike there were speakers at Harbor Park that included Gunflint District Ranger Michael Crotteau; Cook County High School physical science, physics, anatomy, and physiology teacher Chad Benesh; and Tess Dornfeld, who holds a BA in human ecology, Carlton College. Tess is currently working on a Master of Arts (MA) degree in Global Environmental Policy at American University in Washington, D.C.
No one took credit for putting these aptly named painted rocks on the ground, but the instructions on the back were to hide them so they can be found again, and again… These small stones offered a bit of whimsy and fun to the beachcombers who were picking up litter on Saturday.
The beach cleanup was part of the Alliance for the Great Lakes Adopta Beach Program which is in its 25th year. In 2016 more than 15,000 volunteers took part in the 1,388 cleanups held across the Great Lakes beaches. All told 35,000 hours were donated as volunteers picked up more than 40,000 pounds of trash, with 87 percent of that being plastic.
This year volunteers picked up 157 pounds of trash in and around the Grand Marais harbor beach, said Dave Tersteeg, who noted, “The kids in the Nordic Nature Group were amazed that there was so much trash collected. But then they were pretty saddened that people would leave so much refuse littered on the ground.”
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