Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
A boy enjoys being inverted at the kids games attractions Wednesday at the Loon Day festival in Mercer.
By TOM LAVENTURE
MERCER, Wis. - The sunshine made for good shopping weather as thousands of people converged on Mercer on Wednesday for the annual Loon Day event that is coordinated by the Mercer Area Chamber of Commerce.
More than 250 vendors from around the country sold original merchandise in a major shopping and food event that doubles as a celebration of Mercer's reputation as the world capital of the Common Loon.
"This really is a good crowd," said Mike Schmitt, who came with his wife Sue and their two golden retrievers, Lucy and Leo, to sell their handmade hard maple and black ash cutting boards.
This is the second year attending the Loon Day event for the Nina, Wisconsin couple. This is the only event they attend other than the Oshkosh Farmer's Market.
"Last year we kind of got washed out," Schmitt said. "It was really coming down."
Mary Johnson has been coming to Loon Day for around 10 years. The Omro, Wisconsin resident keeps busy all summer attending some sort of festival or merchant event every weekend and said she looks forward to her corner spot at Loon Day.
"They have good traffic," Johnson said. "They usually give you the same space back if you pay early and that's what I do."
Johnson sells her handmade collage broaches with 700 different subjects. She also paints birds on windows, doors, boards and has some clothing art as well.
Along with the apparels, homemade jewelry, lawn art, baked goods and many unique items for sale there were also more attractions at the children's amusement park. The area nonprofit organizations were also present.
Northland Wildlife and Wetlands Club had a booth to inform the patrons about the shooting range just south of Mercer. The club also provides gun safety courses and supervises the archery and shooting class at the high school, and are part of the Adopt-A-Highway program.
"Loon Day is a good gathering of a lot of good people," said JoAnn Corullo, a NWWC member who is also in charge of the raffle she was selling tickets for at Loon Day.
"We try to have a raffle every year," she said.
At noon the Lakeland Barbershop Chorus sang songs on the theme of summer. The chorus out of Ascension Lutheran Church in Minocqua, Wisconsin, is the Northwoods chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society.
