Pockets of Cook County still maintain undisturbed night skies despite increasing light pollution in downtown Grand Marais. These 1’s on the Bortle scale, which measures the intensity of darkness in the night sky, allow people to witness what is becoming increasingly scarce in an over-lit world: darkness. Above winter campers can be seen enjoying the Milky Way in the BWCA. Photo courtesy of John Stember
Sometimes, when it’s 10 degrees below zero and the stars crackle and burn in the dark, do you peer up into the endless night sky and pause in fascination? Thankfully for Cook County, which sits relatively low on the Bortle scale of light pollution, experiencing pristine dark sky without driving eight hours is still possible.
In celebration of this vulnerable resource, Grand Marais hosted its second Dark Sky Festival, the only of its kind in the Midwest. The two-day event reveals the impacts of local light pollution, promotes the potential in after-dark tourism, and presents the exceptional work of nocturnal photographers, local experts, and enthusiasts passionate about the night sky.
The idea for the festival originated a few summers ago with Joel Halvorson, who oversees UMD’s traveling planetarium, and Visit Cook County. “One of the number one questions we [get] from visitors is asking about northern lights, which are really hard to predict, but the dark sky is definitely an asset. We want to do what we can to let people know what a gift that is up here,” said Lily-Nelson Pederson of Visit Cook County.
Over the course of Friday and Saturday, the Dark Sky Festival showcased films, forums, and presentations from local ethno astronomer Mark Hollabaugh and photographers Bryan Hansel and Travis Novitsky. With similar festivals popping up across the continent—like Death Valley’s or Jasper, Alberta’s—people are beginning to realize darkness as a resource is disappearing.
For over one-third of the world’s population, the Milky Way is no longer visible. According to a 2016 study published in the journal of Science Advances by Fabio Falchi, “More than 80 percent of the world and more than 99 percent of the U.S. and European populations live under light-polluted skies.”
So what does little Grand Marais have to offer? “Number one, it’s dark,” chuckles Bryan Hansel, who presented on Cook County’s unique night sky and the challenges facing Grand Marais’ increasing light pollution. “Another way of putting it is we’re one of the darkest spots east of the Mississippi River,” said Hansel. Other unique features in northern Minnesota include northern light displays at lower latitudes and glassy lakes for starry reflections, which Bryan and Travis have popularized through their stunning imagery. Maybe more importantly though, “Add in the fact that the Midwest is not really overwhelmed with dark sky festivals,” tells Hansel.
Unfortunately however, in the 15 years since Bryan moved to Grand Marais, a lot has changed. Overlighting at the school, hospital, and gas stations have increased light pollution to the point where northern light displays are rarely visible from town. “I think if we let it [go] out of control for another fifteen years, we’re going to lose our night sky in town… So it is something that has to be done now.”
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