Audio Articles on Hometown Focus is sponsored by Rock Ridge Public Schools.
As 2024 draws to a close, the Hometown Focus once again takes a look back at some of the stories we wrote and events we shared through all 52 editions of this publication. Once again, we ask, "Whatever happened to...?" Read on for some updates of things that happened in the last 12 months.
January 5: The "winter" began -- and continued -- with warm temperatures and mostly bare ground.
While that may have delighted those who don't like the task of shoveling snow, it was a disaster for outdoor recreation enthusiasts and businesses who depend on the arrival of snow and snow-related activities. For the first time ever, the state of Minnesota made economic disaster loans available to businesses for a lack of snow.
The meteorological winter months of December through February were the warmest on record across the state, shattering the old record by 2.2 degrees, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Areas of the state recorded record high temperatures, record high minimum temperatures, and all-time monthly high temperatures. Defying its nickname as "Icebox of the Nation," International Falls recorded its first-ever 50-degree day in January.
Most precipitation fell as rain throughout the winter, and lake ice formed late, went out early, and was inconsistent across the region. A late March snowstorm dumped up to 24 inches of wet, heavy snow across the region, but at that point it was too late to salvage the winter recreation season.
January 5: The former YMCA facility in Mountain Iron reopened as Mesabi Fit, after a multi-year fundraising and renovation process. Mesabi Fit held a grand opening on February 5.
The first year of being fully open has been fairly smooth, said Austin Schackman, a team member at Mesabi Fit. The facility has a solid membership base, and facility renovations have been ongoing.
In late December, the facility's sauna was undergoing a complete renovation and refresh, he said. As the year progressed, the facility was able to add 24/7 access and popular fitness programs like Silver Sneakers.
Plans also continue for a unique new "dome" to be built over the current soccer fields outside the facility. This will allow for year-round use of a large, heated and cooled playing field for sports like soccer, football, and baseball.
Site work for the dome, which is expected to cost around $2.5 million, should begin in 2025. Funding from Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation is dedicated for the project.
February 2: We began the month by saying "farewell" to two long-time staff writers, Kirsten Reichel and Jill Pepelnjak. They had both worked at HTF for several years as second (or third) careers, but the time had come for them to move fully into retirement.
Read more about what Kirsten has been up to on pp. 16 - 17. Jill fills us in with these words:
"It has been more than a year now since I wrote for Hometown Focus. Although I miss the team and the work, retirement has given me time to do more of the things I love.
"More time playing with the kids. These little ones keep me young. More time reading books, lots of them. More time being lazy. (I know, I'm shameless.) More time getting together with forever friends. These get-togethers always bring back so many fun childhood memories and boost my spirits.
"More time counting my blessings... family and friends, to name just a few. More time thinking about my life... past, present and future. However, I need to live more in the present, avoiding the rollercoaster of thoughts that comes with too much reflection.
"I hope the new year offers you, too, more time to enjoy life. Laugh more. Remember, you deserve it."
And by the end of the summer, Interim Editor Cindy Kujala, who has also worked at HTF for many years, was ready to step away from the editor's desk. She, however, had no plans to retire; Cindy jumped right into a new job working with young students at Rock Ridge Public Schools.
Editor Abbigail Pratt officially took over following Labor Day weekend, marking a new chapter at HTF.
February 16: Beyond the Yellow Ribbon -- Hibbing/Chisholm Honor and Restore Project at the Maple Hill Cemetery in Hibbing began meeting to plan how to revitalize the veterans' section of the cemetery. Throughout the spring, summer and fall, volunteers worked with Perpetual Care of Minnesota to respectfully but vigorously clean most of the veterans' headstones throughout the cemetery.
"Over the course of the summer, we had five volunteer work days with over 100 volunteers, including groups from US Steel, Walmart, Grace Lutheran confirmation classes and soldiers from the Chisholm National Guard unit," said committee member Chris Magnusson. A final few rows will be cleaned in the spring of 2025.
Now that the headstones have been cleaned, volunteers will begin taking pictures of headstones and uploading the information on the "Find a Grave" website to assist in genealogical research. In the summer of 2025, volunteers will begin raising foot-stones that have sunken under the grass, Magnusson said.
A revamping of the flag pole display at the cemetery is also underway, with plans to replace and/or add poles and flags, as well as lighting so the flags can be properly flown all summer.
March 22: The International Wolf Center in Ely announced that it was one of three organizations to split a $2.45 million endowment from Chicago resident Eileen Sutz, who was passionate about wolf education.
International Wolf Center staff are using the funds to develop and distribute educational modules to teach environmental educators anywhere in the country about wolf behavior, biology, and habitat and ecology, said Executive Director Grant Spickelmier.
They have pilot-tested the modules with educators in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Colorado, all places where wolves are expanding their range and where public education will be needed and useful, Spickelmier said.
Educators will use the newly-developed curriculum "so they can go out and teach others and do educational presentations about wolves in their area," he said. The modules are free to those who go through the training process, Spickelmeir said, though they are not currently available to the public. That might change in the future, he added.
The wolf center in Ely will be hiring a new staff member in the spring to help create more training modules, Spickelmeir said. The wolf center's mission is to educate the public about wolves, and this project had already been in development when the surprise endowment came up, he said.
The multi-year funding allowed the project to happen more quickly, something that is needed as wolf populations recover, Spickelmeir said.
"If you get good facts out about wolves, people can make good decisions for their future," he said.
March 29: We shared the story of Monseigneur Joseph Buh, who ministered throughout northeastern Minnesota in the late 1800s and was a beloved and impactful Catholic priest, according to historians.
"He was one of those selfless priests," said Father Richard Kunst, pastor of St. James and St. Elizabeth Churches in Duluth. Father Kunst is an avid historian of the church, and is helping lead the current effort to canonize Monseigneur Buh.
The Catholic Church requires evidence of at least two miracles as a sign someone should be considered for sainthood. If those miracles should occur, the church would continue its investigation. Exhumation of Monseigneur Buh's body is also a step for his cause for sainthood.
"My role is to introduce his story more to the Catholics in our Diocese," Father Kunst said. "I'm responsible for getting that story out, and we will see how the people respond."
According to a post on the Diocese of Duluth website, the sacred exhumation of the casket containing the body of Mon- seigneur Joseph Buh was carried out at Calvary Cemetery in Duluth on July 25.
The post reads in part, "After a careful and lengthy dig, the casket and body of Monseigneur Buh with natural decay were found. Exhumed were a fair share of his skull, skeleton bones, and pieces of his casket, as well as fragments of his cassock, his clerical collar, and a plaque attached to his casket reading 'Rest in Peace.'
"The remains of Monseigneur Buh have been moved to a secure and temperature controlled place. This will allow some time for the preparation of his final resting place at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary [in Duluth]."
May 17: The Tower Soudan Underground Mine State Park had been closed for extensive renovations for two years. In May we wrote about the mine's long history, their plans to reopen the underground tours on Memorial Day after being closed due to the pandemic and a $9.3 million reconstruction project, as well as the 100th birthday party planned for July 27 for the historic hoist engine that raises and lowers the mine cages.
Every underground tour that was scheduled for the first three or so weeks of the season was sold out, said Assistant Park Manager Jim DeVries. But then it started to rain. And it rained. And rained some more.
A reported 7.6 inches of rain fell in 24 hours on top of the mine in mid-June, and previous rains had left the soil already saturated. A lightning strike in the park had cut power to the dewatering pumps, and the lower levels started to flood.
Replacement pumps were installed, but it was too late to save the tourist season. Some of the replacement pumps also failed, and the lower levels of the mine didn't fully dry out until early October, said DeVries.
Now, every electrical connection, transformer, and switch that had been submerged needs to be replaced, and the three locomotives that moved visitors along the tour route also need replacing. The reconstruction project is ongoing through the winter, DeVries said.
Underground mine tours will re-re-open in the spring of 2025, DeVries said, "with every finger crossed that I can come up with -- toes, too."
May 24: The pond at the Minnesota Discovery Center (MDC) has been a focal point for visitors for the last 40 years. But time and the elements had taken their toll, so in May the MDC announced a $1.58 million investment from Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation to repair and refresh infrastructure across the center's 660-acre campus, including the pond.
This summer, workers with Veit & Company repaired about 50,000 square feet of pond liner (that's about 57 pickleball courts), and fixed pumps and water systems along the pond's winding route around the campus.
Workers wrapped up major construction in August, just in time for the pond to be featured at several end-of-summer events and festivals at the center, said Ethan Bexell, operations director at the MDC. Other features of the project included controlling erosion around the pond's edges and re-establishing native plants in the area.
"We ended up with a great end product," Bexell said.
"We extend sincere gratitude to the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation for their unwavering financial support and commitment to the revitalization of our treasured institution," said Minnesota Discovery Center Executive Director Char Conger.
"Together we are laying the groundwork for a brighter future for the Minnesota Discovery Center and the communities it serves."
June 21: The Hill Annex Mine State Park in Calumet was deauthorized as a state park and is now closed, in preparation for scram mining to begin in the near future. But in the meantime, fossil collecting at the former state park will go on.
Minnesota Discovery Center paleontologist John Westgaard continued unearthing fossils from the exposed hillsides of the former mine and state park. Westgaard operates on an annual research permit that he hopes will be able to continue.
"I've been in contact with the company that has proposals for the property, and it sounds like we will be able to continue" collecting fossils dating back to the Cretaceous period, approximately 90 million years ago, Westgaard said. The Hill Annex Mine site is "so very rich in the fossil occurrence, the longer we can work there, the more we can get out of the ground."
The 2024 collection season was good overall, Westgaard said. In late January, he plans to present the year's findings for Hill Annex Paleontology Project supporters and donors at the MDC. Everything Westgaard and project volunteers collect becomes part of the public fossil collection at the MDC.
June 28: The Iron Range has been adorned with many historic murals. One that was familiar to generations of Eveleth school children is the Works Progress Administration-era mural that hung in the Franklin Elementary School library.
The fanciful, colorful mural was painted in 1938 on the upper part of the north wall of the library, which was originally the school lunchroom. Members of the Eveleth Heritage Society scrambled to save the mural after the elementary school was closed and slated for demolition this year. In June, the society announced that the mural had been successfully removed from the library, and the six large panels were being stored in a downtown Eveleth location.
At the end of 2024, society member and Eveleth historian Craig "Figgy" Ritacco learned that they had gathered the necessary $8,000 in funds to complete phase two of the project. That includes mounting the mural on an acid-free, protective backing, cleaning the painting, repairing small holes in the canvas, and re-installing the mural in its new location, which hasn't yet been determined.
Phase two funding was raised from private donations, a donation by the City of Eveleth, a donation by the Eveleth Elks Club, and a grant from Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation.
In Ritacco's ideal world, the mural would find a new home in the gymnasium complex that was left standing after the former Eveleth High School building was also recently demolished. Ritacco is in talks with Eveleth city officials about placing the mural there, which would be "about 100 yards from where it started," Ritacco said.
"I'm very fond of my hometown," said Ritacco, who now lives in Minneapolis. "It's important to keep this history in town."
June 28: Northern Minnesota officials continued grappling with the aftermath of devastating floods after the June 18 rainstorm that dropped nearly eight inches of rain on some parts of northern Minnesota. Previous rains had left soils saturated and rivers already rising.
On June 21, Governor Tim Walz, along with other politicians and officials, visited the City of Cook and other locations that were severely impacted by flooding. Individuals, organizations like the United Way of 1,000 Lakes, and local, county, state and federal agencies jumped in to offer disaster relief and assistance.
St. Louis County waived disposal fees for flood-damaged debris brought to area landfills. The Salvation Army sent volunteers to distribute meals to flood victims. The county assessor's office determined that that 374 structures on 332 parcels qualified for property tax relief because of flooding damage.
The City of Cook received $2.5 million in economic recovery funding, enabling grants of $25,000 to affected businesses, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency distributed $3,045,000 in grants to 448 applicants in the months after the flooding. As of early August, an initial damage estimate of $11.8 million was compiled, though that is likely to be revised upwards.
In Cook, some businesses remain closed due to flooding damage, while others are still being rehabilitated. In November, the Cook City Council voted to rebuild the Cook Public Library, but on land outside of the flood plain of the Littlefork River. Doing so would mean that FEMA and state disaster funding would cover the costs of new construction.
August 9: Portions of The Mesabi Trail were used this summer for two new (and newish) events this fall: the second annual Tomassoni Tour -- Cycle for ALS on September 19, and the new Essentia Health Iron Range Half Marathon on August 17.
The half-marathon attracted 186 participants for its inaugural run along 13.1 miles of the Mesabi Trail, leaving from the Mesabi Trail headquarters in Eveleth and ending at the Iron Trail Motors Event Center in Virginia. The race was a certified half-marathon, sanctioned by USA Track & Field.
Kate Putnam, a board member of the marathon, said the first marathon "went better than we could have imagined," and they are planning for another half marathon in August of 2025, along approximately the same route.
The second annual Tomassoni Tour, created in honor of former state legislator David Tomassoni, who died in 2022 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The event, where bicyclists took to the Mesabi Trail near Tower, raised $282,000 to benefit ALS patients and search for a cure for the disease.
The event included former Minnesota Twin and Major League Baseball World Series champ Kent Hrbek, who performed as live auctioneer. MLB World Series champ Terry Steinbach and his wife Mary also participated in the tour.
The Tomassoni Tour will return in 2025 from September 18 - 20, and online registration opens on January 1 for returning cyclists and March 15 for new cyclists.
August 16: Pulsar Helium, the company working to bring the first-ever helium deposit into commercial development in Minnesota, continues to make progress towards that goal. In early August, Pulsar confirmed what they had strongly suspected: there is a rich and untapped deposit of helium gas trapped underground in the forests outside of Babbitt.
As the fall and winter passed by, company officials were busy conducting more seismic testing and sinking more exploratory wells to better understand the size of the helium reserve. Watch for ran updated story about their progress in a future edition of HTF.
October 5: The Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability, working with the electronics recycling company Global E-Waste Solutions, helped Iron Rangers responsibly clean out their closets and basements during the first "industrial scale" electronic waste collection event on the Range.
Anything and everything with a cord or a battery could be collected for deconstruction and precious metals recovery and recycling. Approximately 175 households responded by bringing out their old televisions, vacuum cleaners, spent batteries, old speakers, and much more. The company took in and recycled 11,390 pounds of E-waste: that's about five and 3/4 tons of waste kept out of landfills.
Keep cleaning out the garage, because the next E-waste collection will be at Earth Fest 2025 on April 26 at the Iron Trail Motors Event Center in Virginia.