Every year the gales of November whip Lake Superior into a fantastic, frenetic frenzy.
It is a photographer’s dream.
Towering waves rise up and crash over the break wall. Rise up higher still and splash and smother the Coast Guard lighthouse. Careening water chases high up onto red rock cliffs and scrubs clean grey-pebbled shorelines.
Inspired by these sights and sounds, the Superior Storm Festival was born six years ago and will be celebrated in Lutsen and Grand Marais Friday, Nov. 9 through Sunday Nov. 11, 2018.
For those hardy souls—some would say slightly crazed folks—from noon to 1 p.m. the Annual Wave Dash will take place at Lutsen Resort.
For those brave enough to run headfirst into the surly surf, they will receive a special festival gift. They will also gain bragging rights to pass on to friends and family for years to come. After the dash some participants will cozy up to a beach bonfire with a cup of hot cocoa while even more will hop into the hot tub at Lutsen Resort.
At 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10 at Lutsen Resort, Professor Elizabeth Minor of the Large Lakes Observatory at the University of Minnesota at Duluth (UMD) will share a biochemist’s view on storms, how they work, what impact they have on Lake Superior, and how they affect the animals and plants in Lake Superior.
She will talk about the Solstice Flood in June of 2012 and of the Wisconsin storm of July 2016—two recent “500-year” flood events in the northland.
Also on Saturday at 7 p.m., local historian Jim Shinners will do a shipwreck presentation at the Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery.
Sunday, Nov. 10 at 10 a.m. on Artist’s Point there will be a Lakeside Poem and Remembrance of those lost at sea by Jim Shinners.
Other weekend events include classes on how to “Paint up a Storm.” Locals and visitors alike will be encouraged to curl up next to the fire and call-in to the local radio station WTIP to play storm-themed trivia. Last but not least, there will be plenty of opportunities to visit local coffee shops and pubs to try out the area’s specialty storm-themed beverages.
For more information about events, times and places, visit www.visitcookcounty.com/stormfest.
November gales can be deadly
While the powerful November storms are fun to watch and photograph, over the years there have been 350 shipwrecks and more than 1,000 lives lost.
The most destructive and deadliest of these storms occurred in 1913 on November 7 and was called the White Hurricane.
During this storm more than 250 people died, 19 ships were lost and 19 more were stranded.
Of course Gordon Lightfoot made the most famous shipwreck song of all in 1976 when he recorded “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”.
The Canadian troubadour recorded the haunting, achingly beautiful lyrics about the lost ship and turned it into a monster hit. At the time it went down the Edmund Fitzgerald was loaded with 26,116 tons of taconite pellets. It disappeared into 535 feet of water 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point on November 10, 1975 in a ferocious Northeaster.
Her entire crew of 29 perished in the stormy sea.
Lightfoot used the melody for the music from an old Irish dirge he had first heard when he was about 3 ½ years old. It was music that stirred his soul and awakened a passion for music that lives with him to this day.
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