Fisherman’s Picnic, Art & Lots of Live Music

Greetings from the North Shore, where we celebrate the 97th annual Fisherman’s Picnic, the opening of 41 entry points in the eastern part of the Boundary Waters, and the men and women who are out there fighting wildfires to keep us safe.

Fisherman’s Picnic runs from Thursday, July 30 through Sunday, Aug. 2, featuring Crazy Days Sidewalk Sales, craft shows, daily contests and prizes, live music, kids’ activities, and so much more. Fireworks will be on Saturday night, and a Parade will take place on Sunday.  And don’t forget to try one (or six) of the Lion’s Club’s famous fishburgers. The stand opens at 11:30 am on Thursday when the Mayor samples one. They’re made from locally caught, fresh, Lake Superior herring on a bun.

Over the weekend in downtown Grand Marais, you’ll find music in Harbor Park, bingo, food trucks, the loon calling contest, cutest puppy contest, rock skipping contest, a fish toss and more. There is also a Fisherman’s Picnic Trail Run 5k Saturday morning. Get your collectible button; it’s your pass to participate in events all weekend long.

The Lion’s Club big raffle includes a $10,000 prize and lots of other great prizes at  $5.00 a ticket.

Check it out:

For more information,  click here.

There are lots of other things to do this weekend, too, including an art opening, author talks, a musical based on a Shakespearean play and more.

First up is a chance to make art at Joy and Company during the Art Counter Project. The shop holds this event every Thursday from 3-4:30 pm, where participants can make something cool and bring it home.

Projects vary each week. The event is free, but a $5 donation is appreciated.

The Grand Marais Farmer’s Market is back to it’s old location in the parking lot of the Cook County Community Center this Thursday.

The market is a great place to stock up on locally-grown and locally-produced foods for the weekend. Look for all kinds of vegetables, hand-picked berries, artisan breads, baked goods, and maple syrup. Open to all.

At  5:30 pm, the Johnson Heritage Post will host “Stories That Matter: Women of Cook County.”

The presentation will feature stories from local photographer Maude Toftey, who was a teacher in Grand Marais and a hobby photographer who took photos for the Cook County News Herald, among many other projects. The Historical Society has around 500 glass negatives of Maude’s photos, capturing life in Cook County in the early 1900s.

The event will also feature stories about the late  Joan Drury, an award-winning feminist author, activist, and publisher who dedicated her life to uplifting women’s voices through her work at Spinsters Ink, the Harmony Women’s Fund, and the Norcroft writing retreat. Joan also founded Drury Lane Books and is the namesake behind the Violence Prevention Center’s Joan Drury Award, which recognizes a Cook County community member who is committed to feminism and gender equity through volunteerism, community commitment, personal awareness, promotion of education, awareness, and outreach, and philanthropy.

Admission to the Johnson Heritage Post and this event is free and open to the public. However, due to the popularity of this event, advanced reservations will be required. Stay tuned for more details about when reservations will become available.
Cook County Historical Society members will have access to make reservations before the general public. To become a member, visit: www.cookcountyhistory.org/support.

On Thursday night, the play, “As You Like It, A Musical,” will be performed at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts at 7 pm. Performances will also be held at 7 pm on Saturday. Performances are also scheduled for Friday, Aug. 7, and Sunday, Aug. 9.

This is a funny, well-crafted play featuring a cast of talented actors, creative sets and costumes as well as a wonderful band. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online here.

July 30 is the last day to participate in the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department’s online auction.

The auction is a fundraiser for the department. It closes at 10 pm on Thursday, July 30. Click here for more info.

The Cook County Market, which features arts and crafts from artists who live in Cook County, will be open on both Friday and Saturday on Wisconsin Street across from the World’s Best Donuts during Fisherman’s Picnic.

Artists will vary each day, but look for pottery, fiber art, books, artwork, and more.  The market will be open from 10 am to 4 pm.

On Friday at 6 pm, the Grand Marais Public Library will hold an Author Talk with Michael Risku, author of “Following the Fish.” The book is a history of commercial fishing along the North  Shore.

 

North of Duluth, off of Hwy 61, picturesque old fishing structures hint at the era when commercial fishing was the prime pursuit of families in a string of villages and towns that includes Knife River, Tofte, Hovland, and many more. A history of this industry—netting trout, herring, whitefish, and smelt for sale in local communities and beyond—begins with Indigenous fishers who traded and sold their catch to the fur companies, and includes later arrivals hailing from Nordic fishing traditions. The book recounts this picturesque history.

After the presentation, there will be time for questions and a book signing. Light refreshments will be served. Free.

On Saturday, at 9 pm, the Fisherman’s Picnic Trail Run will be held in Pincushion Recreation area.

There will be several different races:

• 10k Trail Race – All Ages
• 5k Run/Walk – All Ages
• ¼ Mile Kids Run/Walk – 7 and Under
• 1 Mile Run/Walk – 12 and Under

Participants should arrive around 8 am. To find out more, click here.

At 10 am in downtown Grand Marais, booths open, contests start, food trucks open up, and the picnic continues.

At 11 am, Drury Lane Books will host a Meet and Greet with author and illustrator  Eliza Wheeler.  She wrote “A Cozy Summer Day.”

Eliza grew up in northern Wisconsin in a family of teachers, musicians, and artists. Some of the strongest influences on her creativity have been the wild Wisconsin seasons, canoeing the Brule River, picking blueberries with her grandmother, and digging through the snow with her brothers. She was a recipient of the prestigious Sendak Fellowship, as well as the SCBWI International Conference Portfolio Grand Prize for her artwork. She lives in Minneapolis.

The event is free and open to all and runs from 11 am to 1 pm. 

At noon on Saturday, a fundraising silent auction to support Cook County students’ international Spanish language and culture trips, will be held at Voyageur Brewing Co.

All proceeds go to fund the brand new income-based ¡Vamos! scholarship open to local students traveling to Costa Rica in 2028. This scholarship fund is managed by Cook County Higher Education.

Bid on items from local artists and businesses including Corrie Steckelberg, Betsy Bowen, Natalie Sobanja, Hannah Palma Laky, Laura Muus, Angry Trout Café, and many more. The silent auction continues until 3 pm.

At 1 pm on Saturday, Dale Mulfinger will give an Author Talk about his book about famed Minnesota architect Edwin Lundie at the Cross River Heritage Center in Schroeder.

Throughout a 50-year career in St. Paul, architect Edwin H. Lundie (1886-1972) designed more than three hundred projects, predominantly residences, many utilizing either Northern European or Early American themes. His architectural designs, along with the Prairie School inventions of Purcell and Elmslie and the modernist themes of Ralph Rapson, are collectively considered the best work of Minnesota architects in the twentieth century. What set Lundie apart from his colleagues was his devotion to detail and love of fine craftsmanship.

There are several examples of Lundie’s work in Cook County. The event is free and open to all.

An opening reception for the new Arrowhead Artist Exhibition at Studio 21 featuring work by James Ellis and Mary Stafford will be held from 3-5 pm Saturday. Ellis is a painter; Stafford is a photographer.

Ellis’s paintings explore light, atmosphere, and form, often inspired by the landscapes and unique environments of the North Shore. Through rich color and thoughtful composition, his work captures quiet moments of stillness and presence.

Stafford’s photography offers an intimate counterpoint through macro images of flowers frozen in time where light, line, and texture take center stage. Her work transforms delicate natural forms into meditations on resilience and healing, using the preserved beauty of each subject as a quiet metaphor for endurance. Together, Ellis and Stafford create a contemplative dialogue that invites viewers to slow down and experience the subtle power of observation and reflection.

The public is invited. Light refreshments will be served.

On Sunday, the International Yacht Race: Grand Marais to Thunder Bay begins.

One of the oldest annual races on Lake Superior, the course has been changed many times over the years. This year’s race begins in Grand Marais, MN, and finishes in Thunder Bay. Watch the start of the race in the Grand Marais Harbor at 11 am on Sunday and follow the yachts as they make their way north along the shore to Thunder Bay through the day and into the next. The race is hosted by the Lake Superior Yachting Association.

And at 1 pm, the Fisherman’s Parade begins in downtown Grand Marais.

This is the best parade of the year here, full of floats, thrown candy, honking horns, sirens and laughing crowds.  The drawing for the $10,000 Grand Prize follows.

And Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center will hold its weekly Porch talk at 1 pm. The topic this week is Wolves. Free and open to all.

The Dockside Sessions, a 3-part  free concert series at North House Folk School, starts on Wednesday, Aug. 5, with a performance by singer/songwriter Chastity Brown.

The series will unfold on a timber frame stage built by North House Folk School students during a July course, adding another layer of community craftsmanship to the project. Like Dockside Sessions itself, the stage is the result of many hands working together to create something that will be shared by everyone.

Community members and visitors are invited to bring a lawn chair or blanket and settle in for an evening of outstanding live music in one of Minnesota’s most scenic settings. In the event of inclement weather, concerts will move indoors to Up Yonder.

Dockside Sessions Schedule

August 5: Chastity Brown
August 12: Molly Dean
August 19: Bad Bad Hats

Dockside Sessions is a collaboration between the North Shore Music Association, WTIP Radio, and North House. Open to all. Free.

Ongoing:

The weekly bird-banding sessions at Sugarloaf Cove and Nature Center are held every Saturday from 7-11 am

The event is free and open to all and provides a unique opportunity to see the process and learn more about birds on the North Shore.

The Biggest Blueberry Contest continues on the Gunflint Trail, where the blueberries are just beginning to ripen.

Participants are invited to bring their biggest blueberry to participating lodges and resorts and have a weigh-in.  To find out more, click here.

Exhibits:

The Borderlands exhibit continues at the Johnson Heritage Post. Here are comments by Staci Drouillard about this important exhibit:

“The show “Borderlands” is at the Johnson Heritage Post until Aug. 9. The work is by four North Shore artists: Stephan Höglund, Jeanne Hedstrom, Heidi Sobanja and Betsy Bowen. All are friends and visionaries who create art with love, intelligence and purpose.

The border theme really hits hard, and has inspired me to think about the ways that borders, real or perceived, must be made more permeable. 

Wildfire, for example, knows no borders, but the hard, imaginary line across the borderlands has us pointing fingers and abdicating our responsibilities, instead of working together to put the fires out. The dividing lines are drawn in nearly every realm now, and are diminishing our view of what is important.

It’s that old “forest for the trees” cliché, except people are literally dying because of it.

Stephan’s sculptures pierce the veil between this earthly world and a spiritual one, where mystical warriors stand sentinel over the rocks, water, and trees of our homeland. They are saying it’s not too late.

The masterful oil paintings of Jeanne Hedstrom cross borders of all kinds, serving as interpreters and documenting the beautiful transitions that occur between time and place; water and sky, darkness and light.

 

Heidi Sobanja’s paintings take you on a border-defying trip, where deserts meet mountains, mountains meet clouds, and horizons become transport stations to the places at the world’s edge.

 

A panorama painting by Betsy Bowen bridges the northern border to the southern border in five small panels.

 

The scene illustrates the dichotomy between sandscape and waterscape, and how the two worlds merge and diverge. A white bird flies along, perhaps a symbol of freedom, or a talisman of peace, reminding us that borders are a human-centric phenomenon, and if we are to save ourselves, we must seek the unencumbered view of a high-flying bird.

Comments posted on Facebook, July 26, 2026. 

Deborah Birkeland will be the Artist of the Month at Tettegouche State Park in August.

The title of the show is “Between Storm and Silence.” The opening reception is Aug. 7.

 Deborah is a retired ELCA pastor turned artist and lives near Silver Bay.

 

The Walker Art Center is exhibiting an installation by Suzanne Jackson entitled “What Is Love?”

The exhibit highlights her lifelong devotion to beauty as a political force. As the first major museum retrospective devoted to the artist’s career, the exhibition spans six decades of work and highlights her evolving engagement with poetry, dance, and theater.

 

Artists at Work: 

Online Findings: 

The band, Cloverland, from Marquette, Mich, played on the deck of WTIP Radio last week and talked to music director Will Moore. To listen, click here.

Online Music:

Photographs:

 Here’s a selection of what we found:

Wildlife:

 Potpourri:

 Landscapes, Waterscapes & Hjordiscapes: 

Have a great weekend, everyone! Maybe it will rain a little, too!

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And a big thank you to Jeremy Lopez for his outstanding live music schedule and to Yvonne Mills for all the time she puts in proofreading this less-than-perfect writer. Thanks to you both. And Thank you! to Visit Cook County for its very useful Events Calendar.