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As the pandemic throttles down it’s looking like things will be returning to more normal levels this coming summer. One big “live” event making a comeback is WTIP’s Radio Waves Music Festival.
On March 1, 2022, the Grand Marais Park Board approved a special event permit for the WTIP Radio Waves Music Festival to be held in the Sweetheart’s Bluff Recreation Area in the campground. A vote that was music, quite literally, to many people’s ears.
The event will start Friday, September 9 and run through Sunday, the 11th.
The three-day festival will feature 20 acts and is expected to draw as many as 1,200 people. New Park board member WTIP Director Matthew Brown didn’t vote on the resolution to avoid a conflict of interest.
The Park Board welcomed Kay Costello as the newest member to the board on March 1. Previously Costello has served on the Grand Marais City Council. She joins Matthew Brown as the two newest members to the council. Brown began his tenure last month.
Council approved Harbor Park busking permits for Tom Knutson and Pete Cavanaugh. The musicians will play from June to September, two-hour shifts, four to five times a month. Pete said last year because of his busy performing schedule he only played twice in the Harbor Park. A handful of musicians will likely get busking permits to play in Harbor Park before the season starts, noted Cavanaugh. Some musicians will play more dates than others. Cavanaugh said the musicians work together, starting music at 11 a.m., but no earlier, and not playing too late into the evening.
Plein Air Grand Marais will be back late summer. The park board approved the special event application to host an art display in Harbor Park on Wednesday, September 14 and Thursday, September 15.
Parks and Rec Director Dave Tersteeg reported that the March 1st date opened the September bookings for reservations, and about 200 bookings came through the first day.
“The trend of larger RV units booking a week or two continues,” he said. “Labor Day and Radio Waves weekends also booked quickly.”
Tersteeg gave the board an update on the work of landscape architect CJ Fernandez, who has been detailing plans for the Landing, the entrance to the park located near North House Folk School.
“Plans for the Landing are 90 percent complete and suitable for construction bidding,” Tersteeg said. The goal is to solicit bids by late March and have the work done this summer.
Tersteeg told the board that the Grand Marais Area Tourist Association (GMATA) approved up to $10,000 to purchase new holiday decorations for the downtown district, as well as earmarked $1,000 to be used for the promotion of Gunflint Hills Golf Course.
Gunflint Hills Golf Course Superintendent Paul Jones presented the board with suggested 2022 rates for the nine-hole golf course. Most of the rates will stay the same as 2021, with small increases to 9-hole green fees, 18-hole green fees, and a few other changes. Council approved the rates suggested by Jones, who added that the numbers of daily rounds played last year was up from the year before. As the golf course improves, Jones said of the course which annually loses money, “We are getting close to getting in the black numbers.”
At the end of the meeting a vote was held to elect the board chair for 2022. Current chair Stephen Aldrich was nominated, and he was unanimously voted to serve again in that capacity.
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