Norrie Club holds annual Christmas tree burn

By RICHARD JENKINS

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Ironwood - The flames from the Norrie Amateur Sports Club's annual Christmas tree burning were visible all the way from Hurley's Silver Street Saturday night as the club continued its annual tradition of burning as many Christmas trees as its members could lay their hands on.

This year's event had over 300 trees, according to club president Steve Lehto Jr., with the initial pyre made up of 215 trees and 43 wreaths and the rest staged around the fire to be added as the flames died down.

In addition to the trees, there were also between 70 and 80 pallets as well as logs waiting to be burned.

"Comparing it to other years, I would call (the main pile) massive because we've probably got the (largest) amount of cribbing under this one that we've ever had," Lehto said. "What we do is we crib a bunch of logs and everything else underneath, so when the trees burn down, all the other logs are already ignited so we can keep the fire going."

This is the the seventh year the club has hosted the burn, Lehto explained, adding it started as a way to get rid of brush pile in the lot next to the club house.

"There were just a bunch of people sitting in the club house one night and we had a brush pile back here ... and they had to burn the brush pile, and somebody got the idea 'there's a bunch of trees in snowbanks all over town, let's go pick them up and throw them on top of the brush pile,'" he said. "The idea was born that way, and the next year I got involved and one of my buddies came with me and we started traversing all the streets in the middle of the night (looking for trees)."

The fire has gotten bigger each year, although this year's burn was a little down from last year's record of 405 trees. Lehto said he believed this was partially because more people were switching it artificial trees.

In addition to the burn, the night consisted of a snowshoe hike through the surrounding area prior to the lighting of the fire.

Organizers estimate approximately 50 people went on the hike. Lehto said he didn't know how many people attended the burn, but guessed it could be as many as 300 to 400 people, adding the entire parking lot was filled and people were lining the surrounding roads.

In addition to the refreshments inside the club, this was the first year the club had an outside beer tent, something Lehto believes was responsible for the large crowd staying longer than previous years.

He said the event wouldn't have been possible without the club members who went the extra step to help out and prepare for the annual tradition.

The Norrie club was founded in 1932 as sports club for some of the miners in the area, Lehto said, and has had softball and trapshooting teams in the past.

Lehto, who became club president as of Jan. 1, said he hopes to bring back the sporting aspect that is part of the club's legacy.

"We're hoping to bring more recreation back again ... we originated as a sports club and we'd like to bring back the sports," he said.

More information on the club is available at it's Facebook page.