Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
People gather to watch nearly 500 discarded holiday trees and wreaths burn in a blazing bonfire on Saturday as the 12th annual "Light up the Night" was held two months later than usual at the Norrie Amateur Sports Club, Inc., in Ironwood. There were also fireworks and music for the large crowd in attendance.
By TOM LAVENTURE
Ironwood - A little later was a lot better when it came to the annual holiday tree bonfire on Sunday.
The 12th annual "Light up the Night" was later than the typical January event but was larger than usual, said Steve Lehto, president of the Norrie Amateur Sports Club, the Ironwood organization that organizes the bonfire celebration behind their Aspen Street clubhouse.
The evening temperatures cooled but the heat generated by 452 discarded Christmas trees and additional holiday wreaths produced a lot of heat along with putting a warm glow on the smiling faces of families that stood on the oval surrounding the blaze. Children watched from the tops of tall snow banks that contained the flames to the area adjacent to Randa Field.
"Normally, it's held at the end of January, but because the bars and restaurants were closed for indoor service we pushed it to the end of February," Lehto said. "It's definitely the type of event that people have been saying they needed to just break the cabin fever. A lot of people have been locked down for just about a year now and are just wanting to get out and do something."
The delay to wait for the state of Michigan to allow for limited capacity indoors meant that some people could attend inside the clubhouse while the Norrie Club could also service the outdoor crowd from a tent.
"We cleared everything as much as possible for social distancing so we've got a lot of room," said Lehto, now in his sixth year as club president, and assisted by Ron Eliason, vice president; Jared Sobolewski, board member; and Neil Corcoran, lifetime member, along with other club members in binding an initial 276 trees with 165 remaining to toss on after the fire burned for a while.
About a half-hour into the burning the club started its fireworks presentation from the adjacent softball field.
The annual tree burning started as a club event, he said. It expanded to a community-wide event around six years ago when the Ironwood Area Chamber of Commerce requested that it become the final event of the annual Jack Frost Festival calendar of winter holiday activities.
The delay this year allowed for more trees and wreaths to be collected than normal, said Michael Meyer, chamber director. The delay also allowed the trees to dry out longer which helped the bonfire burn fast and bright.
"This year's Light up the Night was spectacular in some ways," Meyer said, adding a comment from his chamber blog that said, "Everybody had a 'pine' time."
The Norrie Club members work hard behind the scenes to make this event a success, Meyer said. Some people drop off their trees and wreaths but the club members also donate their time and vehicles to go around the region picking up trees and wreaths from people who call, he said.
To acknowledge the Light up the Night event as the conclusion of the 2020-21 holiday season, Meyer said he turned off the holiday tree lights outside the Ironwood Historic Depot on Sunday morning. The lights had been on since November.
"This year our tree stayed lit for a few more weeks," Meyer said.
This year's Jack Frost Festival is concluded, he said. It would be safe to assume that everyone is looking forward to the possibility of more traditional events such as the parade for the 2021-22 Jack Frost Festival.
