Birch Grove Foundation Director Patty Nordahl was all smiles as she introduced ribbon cutters Jack Laboda and Katrina Burkett (with helper Skip Lamb between them) at the unveiling of the newly installed playground equipment at the Birch Grove Community Center/School on Saturday, September 29. Jack and Katrina not only cut the ribbon, they also then played on the equipment with about 20-30 other children throughout the afternoon.
After months of work by a multitude of construction crews and volunteers, the new playground, hockey rink, warming house, outdoor learning center and outdoor woodfired pizza oven were unveiled on Saturday, September 29 at the grand opening of the 1 percent recreation and infrastructure sales tax funded projects built at Birch Grove Community Center in Tofte
The county allocated $970,000 for the projects, but Cook County Auditor Braidy Powers said Birch Gove Foundation has said that less money was spent on the work, “but we won’t know how much less until all of the bills come in,” said Powers.
On a sun-splashed day set amidst beautiful fall colors, more than 100 people attended the three-hour ribbon cutting festivities that featured music by Tim Haus, a potpourri of food including an opportunity to make pizzas and then have them baked in the new oven, and short thank you speeches by a variety of people including Cook County Commissioner Bruce Martinson, Tofte board members Jim King and D.C. Olsen, and Patty Nordahl, director of the Birch Grove Foundation.
Above: Patty Nordahl introduced Ginny Storlie for the ribbon cutting and commemoration of the new skating rink and warming house to the memory of Ginny’s late husband, Derald. Storlie recounted Derald’s love of hockey and his push to establish hockey in Cook County. Left: It took between 2-3 minutes to bake a pizza in the new brick oven. The people eating the pizza had to make them, rolling out the dough and putting the toppings on them before turning them over to the people manning the oven to be baked. Common words to describe the pizzas were “Yum, and “this is sooo good!”
Hearth oven dedicated to Muriel Michaelson
Nine sweet unpaid “hobbits” who had helped build the Birch Grove outdoor pizza oven were recognized. The hobbits were members of the Hearth Oven Bread Baking Initiative Team (HOBBIT). They are Gerry D’Amor, Jeanne Larson, Trevor Higgins, Bill Huggins, Matt Kartes, Eric Frost, Heidi Boehlke, Jan Horak, and Doug Nordahl.
The workers placed a time capsule at the base of the pizza oven under bricks and mortar. Two items, a monarch butterfly and a copy of the Cook County News-Herald, were mentioned as representative of the items stored in the capsule.
With Roger Michaelson of Tofte cutting the ribbon, the oven was dedicated to the memory of his late wife, Muriel.
Derald Storlie Memorial Ice Rink
At the ribbon cutting for the ice rink, Ginny Storlie recounted how her late husband, Derald, began the hockey rink at Birch Grove. “We moved here in 1986 and operated Sawtooth Outfitters. After a while Derald said, ‘Are we still in Minnesota? Where’s the hockey?’
“You see, we were a hockey family. Derald started a club in Grand Marais and then he got some money from the community fund and he and his buddies got together and built a rink here. On Thursday nights guys of all ages would get together and elbow each other and knock each other down and have a great time.
“In November of 2000, Derald passed away and his old hockey coach Doc Bingham made a sign commemorating the rink to Derald. He told me he was going to make a better one but I said don’t even think about it. This is just what Derald would have wanted.”
That sign, faded but well loved, will be placed inside the new warming house. Ginny and her son Jeff Storlie cut the ribbons for the rink and the warming house, both fabulous facilities that kids and community members will enjoy for years to come.
Outdoor learning center
As each project was noted another ribbon was cut until it came to the last project, the outdoor learning center.
The building had been moved from the woods to the west side of the Birch Grove Center grounds and was refurbished for the students at Birch Grove Community School. As the final speech ended, Greg Gastecki, project engineer for Edwin Thoreson Inc., came forward and asked for the microphone.
Gastecki told the crowd that, “D.C. [Olsen] has gone above and beyond what was called for. Whenever we needed anything we could call on D.C. day or night and he was there for us. He was there through all of the projects for anyone who had a question or a problem. I just want you folks to know that all of this went as well as it did because of D.C. He was really great to work with and we appreciated his efforts very much.”
It was a fitting end for those who have followed the Birch Grove 1 percent projects process. Olsen has been a masterful volunteer juggler, keeping many balls in the air and making sure things didn’t get dropped or forgotten. A shy man, D.C. stood silently off to the side, head down.
In the background the kids were having none of the speeches, none of the hoopla. They were too busy playing, laughing and enjoying the day and romping on the new playground equipment—a fitting tribute to Olsen’s hard work. And likely, the tribute he enjoyed the most.
And a tribute even the nine hobbits could get behind, as well as all of the other elves and fairies and gnomes who helped with these projects.
Leave a Reply