It was a heart-wrenching decision, but with concern about the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grand Marais Lions Club announced that for the first time that anyone can remember, they were canceling the four-day Fisherman’s Picnic.
The decision was made at the Lions’ Tuesday, May 12 meeting.
Following the meeting, Secretary Millie Spry said, “We will be looking into doing some virtual or social distancing activities, but the Picnics of the past will not be happening this year. We did try to gather information from various sources before making the decision. We felt we had to make the decision now to allow people to make or change their summer plans.”
This summer, the 91st Fisherman’s Picnic was scheduled to take place from July 30 to August 2. It is such a popular venue that each year on January 3, people drive up from the Twin Cities and beyond to stand in line early in the morning outside of the Grand Marais Recreation Park office to secure a place for their trailers or tents for the Picnic’s long weekend.
Class reunions are traditionally held over the Fisherman’s Picnic weekend, as well as family get-togethers, and it is where long-time friends meet up for a yearly visit.
As far as Grand Marais businesses go, the Picnic is typically their busiest weekend of the year.
“Visit CookCounty Executive Director Linda Jurek addressed the Lions at the start of the meeting,” said Spry. “A big concern for many of the Lions,” said Spry, “is that they are older, many deep into their retirement years, and catching the coronavirus is a risk they don’t want to take.”
Looking ahead, Millie said the 36-member club would search for ideas to make up for the loss of revenue due to the cancelation. The Lions receive most of their annual income from the proceeds of fish burgers, Fisherman Picnic button sales, and raffle tickets sold for prizes, especially the $10,000 grand prize.
“All of the money that we take in gets redistributed back into the community,” said Spry, adding that last year the club had $25,000 in its coffers.
Those dollars said Millie, go to non-profits and the area schools who, she surmised, will be more in need this year than ever.
“We will tackle that issue (fundraising) at an upcoming meeting,” she added.
One thing the Lion’s emphasized is that although this year’s annual summer celebration has been canceled, plans are underway for next year.
“Even though there will be road construction downtown next year, we will make every effort to do the Picnic even if we have to make adjustments in location,” Millie Spry said. “Right now, it seems easier to deal with road construction than the virus.”
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