It wasn’t heavy enough to make her arm shake from holding it up, but this is one big blueberry. This bruising blushing bombastically big beautiful blueberry took first place in the opening week of the Biggest Blueberry Contest held on the Gunflint Trail.
Robin Strangfeld won the first round of the Gunflint Trail Biggest Blueberry Contest with the submission of her 20.05- gram blueberry. That big beautiful berry was almost twice as big as a typical wild blueberry.
The contest is three rounds, with one winner in each round. There is no cost to enter, and even if your entered berry isn’t the biggest one of the week, you could still win a prize in the drawing, said Nancy Seaton.
The final round of the contest ends on August 12, 2017.
Each first place winner receives $100 in Gunflint Trail cash, which now makes Robin a professional blueberry picker. A grab bag of donated prizes from free canoe rentals to slices of blueberry pie will be given away in weekly drawings.
“The winner intends to make pies with her crop of blueberries, and her goal was to fill her freezer,” says Dave Seaton of Hungry Jack Outfitters.
Dave is the husband of Nancy, who came up with the idea for the contest. Nancy wanted to draw attention to the fact that there are “tons” of blueberries on the Gunflint Trail, which people (birds and animals) love to pick and eat.
“People who are not usually competitive are jazzed about the contest,” said Dave. “It has attracted the attention of visitors, locals, and neighbors, and gives people something light and fun to talk about.”
Quite a few of the businesses along the Gunflint Trail (also known as County Road 12) in Cook County have joined to host the first annual Biggest Blueberry Contest which began on Friday, July 21. Blueberries are measured by weight and must be picked fresh and not store bought. The weekly contest has three rounds, with prize drawings occurring on the last day of each round:
There are weigh stations at Bearskin Lodge, Boundary Country Trekking, Nor’Wester Lodge, Way of the Wilderness, Golden Eagle Lodge, Hungry Jack Outfitters, Rockwood Lodge, Tuscarora Lodge, Gunflint Lodge and Chik- Wauk Museum & Nature Center, all of which are along the Gunflint Trail. Berry pickers submit their biggest blueberry at these locations.
“So far more people have entered than we expected,” Nancy said. “This has turned out to be a lot of fun. It’s a great way to celebrate blueberry picking on the Gunflint Trail.”
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