The Moving Matters group and the Grand Marais Recreation Park have worked together to create some “Billboard Bikes.” The bright blue and yellow bikes have been placed on bike racks around town to call attention to the location of those racks, as well as to demonstrate the proper way to attach your bike.
With summer finally here and snow and ice a distant (or distinct?) memory, Jack Stone of Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply will begin stand up paddleboard demonstrations in the Grand Marais harbor.
“We intend to do the majority of these demonstrations directly south and a little west of the Lake Superior Trading Post,” Stone told the Grand Marais Park Board on June 3, 2014.
Because he isn’t charging for the demonstrations Stone wasn’t applying for a vendor permit, but he felt he should consult with the park board before beginning this new activity in the harbor. The demonstrations will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day with 6-7 paddleboards in the water at any one time.
Plus, Stone said, “On the weekend of July 19-20, we hope to have a more elaborate demo weekend. We are hoping to bring in one or more of our stand up paddleboard vendors to help us. We will be putting up some tents and hope to attract some additional traffic between the art festival weekend and dragon boats.
“To do this we will need to move farther to the south between the Trading Post and the Coast Guard station, but we don’t want to interfere with anything.
“The hope is to make this an annual event and if it is successful, bring in other retailers and vendors,” said Stone.
“Well, if you are going to put up a tent you will need to get permission from the city,” said Parks Department Manager Dave Tersteeg.
Stone said he would apply for one. He provided proof of insurance and signed an indemnity and hold harmless clause with the city of Grand Marais protecting the city in case of any accident associated with the paddleboard demonstrations.
Little Free Library proposal
Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux introduced himself to the board and asked if he could put a “Little Free Library” in Harbor Park.
“A Little Free Library (LFL) is just what it sounds like. It is a ‘take a book, return a book’ gathering place where community is developed and literacy is promoted through the sharing of literature and stories,” said Arrowsmith DeCoux.
Currently there are over 15,000 LFL worldwide, and the count is rising. Arrowsmith DeCoux said he would get books from the Grand Marais Library Friends and the Grand Rapids Library Friends. Arrowsmith DeCoux said he could build a roughly 2’x3’ log structure designed LFL for under $200. The structure would be either mounted on a post or an existing structure present in the park, he said.
“The design could be just about anything, but some people have suggested a dove-tail cabin design or log structure.
“I think it would be adorable and would go over very well,” Arrowhead DeCoux said.
Arrowsmith DeCoux said he received an $800 grant from the Great Place Race, which was sponsored by Moving Matters to produce three or four Little Free Libraries in the county. He would like to build and place these small structures in Grand Portage, the Lutsen/ Tofte area and one at WTIP radio.
While the park board seemed very receptive to the idea, Tersteeg pointed out that Harbor Park doesn’t have plowed pathways in the winter so it would be hard for people to use the LFL, and that anything put in the park would have to be cleared by the Grand Marais City Council, the Minnesota Land Trust and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
“Getting permission from the Land Trust and the DNR would be the hard part,” Tersteeg said.
Park Board Member Sally Berg said she thought the LFL would be well suited to go into the Johnson Heritage Post grounds. “The Cook County Historical Society owns the JHP building and I think they would like this idea. There is a lot of traffic there and there is snow removal.”
“If we do run into problems with Harbor Park, this could work at the Johnson Heritage Post,” said Arrowsmith DeCoux who asked for a motion of support from the park board so he could take his request to the Grand Marais City Council and see where it goes from there.
Berg moved and Board Member Robin DuChien seconded a motion to support Arrowsmith DeCoux’s request to establish a LFL in Harbor Park. The motion passed with unanimous support from the board.
Yellow bike billboards
“I love the yellow bikes,” said Berg.
There are about a half dozen bikes whose wheels have been painted yellow and are parked at the pool building in the bike rack. Active Living Steering Committee volunteers put them there to draw attention to the rack—one of seven bike racks that were purchased in the last couple of years and put throughout the city.
“They got abandoned bikes from the law enforcement center and painted them yellow and blue to draw attention to the racks; people weren’t using them because they didn’t notice them,” Tersteeg said.
Originally the goal was to have a “Yellow Bike” loaner program like those that operate in other cities, said Tersteeg. “Unfortunately no one wanted to take on the liability. So yellow bikes are parked throughout town as demonstrations of where and how to secure one’s bike, but they aren’t available for the public to use,” he said.
“I hate the yellow bikes!” said Berg to a roomful of laughter after Tersteeg explained the program to her and the board.
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