Chasing the End of Summer: On the Sea, On the Land

Greetings from the North Shore, where we can feel fall in the air in the evenings, but can see beauty in our gardens as they finish their summer “work.

All good. Here’s hoping for a beautiful fall and a kind winter.

And art-making continues.

Joy and Company holds its Thursday afternoon Art Counter Project in the shop, which runs from 3-4:30 pm. The event is open to the public, and participants experiment with a different art technique each week and can take their project home. The event is free, but a $5 donation is suggested.

There are other art-making opportunities at the shop, too. There is plenty of chalk around to draw on the concrete floors, and blank paper is available for what they are calling “stranger doodles.” There are also art-making/play activities outside.

And at 4:30 pm on Thursday, the Grand Marais Farmer’s Market opens in the parking lot of the Cook County Community Center.

The market is held from 4:30-6 pm and features lots of locally grown produce, fresh flowers, baked goods, artisan breads, homemade jams and jellies, locally harvested maple syrup, and more. Open to all.

This is the last Thursday of the season to take the Sawmill Tour at Hedstrom Lumber.

Tours are held at 10 am and 1 pm. To find out more, click here.

 Sugar Loaf Cove Nature Center is hosting a bird-banding session from 7 am to 11 am on Thursdays.

The event is held from 7 am to 11 am every Thursday through Sept. 24. It’s a great opportunity to learn about the process of banding birds as well as have a close-up look at Cook County’s local birds and migrants passing through. Free and open to all.

On Thursday night, Arrowhead Animal Rescue will host Bingo at Up Yonder from 6-8 pm.

Everyone is invited to try a Bingo card or two and support Arrowhead Animal Rescue at the same time. Open to the public.

The Minnesota State Fair opens on Thursday and runs through Labor Day with lots of things to see and do.

The temperatures are predicted to be better this year, in the low 80s. Bonnie Raitt kicks off the music offerings with a concert on Thursday. To see a schedule of all the events, get tickets and more, click here.

On Friday, Drury Lane Books will host a Full Moon Poetry Reading with poet Ryan Vine at 6 pm. Vine is a fiscal year 2026 recipient of a Creative Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Vine will share from his newest collection, The Cave, a book of poems about fatherhood, trauma, and place, and the confounding ways in which we move through our experiences to become who we are.

The reading will begin at 6 pm, followed by some time for questions, conversation, and book signing. There will be an opportunity for others to share their work as well.

The event will be held in the fire circle on the beach behind the shop.  If it’s rainy or windy, it will be held in the shop. Open to all.

For those who would like to learn more about the history of Grand Marais and its harbor, the Cook County Historical Society holds a Harbor History Walking Tour from 7-8:30 pm in the summer. The last walking tour is next Friday, Sept. 4.

The tour is free. Meet outside the History Museum at 7 pm.

The Cook County Market opens at 10 am on Saturday in the parking lot of The Hub.

The market features a variety of work by local artists and artisans, including paintings, pottery, rock lamps, jewelry, hand-dyed fabrics and clothing, fused glass, hand-made lotions and balms, to name a few. Briand Morrison will play from 10 am to 2 pm. Free and open to all.

At 11 am, Kevin Kager, the Muffin Man, will host the Children’s Story Hour outside Drury Lane Books.

This is a fun time for children and adults alike. Free.

Care Partners’ Annual Ice Cream Social Fundraiser will be held on Sunday, Aug. 30 from 2-4 pm at Sydney’s Frozen Custard.

Donate, enjoy a delicious frozen custard sundae, say “Hello” to friends and neighbors, get the scoop on volunteering at Care Partners, see the beautiful raffle quilt, and maybe purchase a raffle ticket or three.

 The North Shore Swing Band will once again provide live music. Proceeds go to help Care Partners provide support and companionship for community members on the journey of aging and end of life. Contact Care Partners at 218-387-3788 with questions.

On Monday, the August Ecstatic Dance session will be held on Paradise Beach.

Ecstatic Dance is an intentional, judgement-free space for free-form movement without words.
An invitation to embodiment, fun, healing, flow, and play. Open to all. Free. To find out more, click here.

Exhibits:

The Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery is exhibiting work by Marcia Roepke.

Roepke’s show, titled “Painting Pictures with Words, Telling Stories with Paint,” combines her oil paintings from the last year with stories from “Trail Time” (her radio show on local WTIP North Shore Community Radio), as a grateful response to the beauty of the North Shore and the wilderness beyond the Gunflint Trail.

She will hold a workshop entitled ‘The Art of Noticing Writers” on Friday, Sept. 4, from 2 – 3:30 pm at the Heritage Post.  A scavenger hunt activity (geared towards kids) will be available throughout the exhibit.

Free and open to the public.  The exhibit continues through Sept. 13.

The Heritage Post is open from 10 am to 4 pm Wednesday through Saturday and from 1-4 pm Sunday. Free.

This is the last weekend to see the exhibit of work by the Arrowhead Artists for August: James Ellis and Mary Stafford.

This exhibition features the work of Ellis, an oil painter based in Duluth, and Stafford, a photographer from Carlton.

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.

Studio 21 is open from 10 am to 5 pm Thursday through Saturday. Free.

Deborah Birkeland is exhibiting paintings at Tettegouche State Park this month.

Birkeland’s work is inspired by the beauties of the North Shore. This is the last weekend to see the exhibit.

Upcoming:

Join the Cook County Historical Society at North House Folk School for its annual Planked Trout Dinner and Fundraiser on Tuesday, Sept. 1, from 5-7 pm.

Following its big Centennial Celebration with more than 100 attendees in 2025, the Historical Society is excited to return to a cozy, more intimate setting for this year’s gathering.

This popular event brings the community together to enjoy a fresh, open-fire Lake Superior trout dinner while celebrating local history and supporting the collection, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge about the history of Cook County.

This annual tradition highlights a once-popular method of preparing fish: securing fresh Lake Superior trout (or other types of fish) onto wooden planks and cooking it over an open fire. Indigenous peoples, including the Ojibwe and Tribal Nations across the continent, are credited with originating this technique, which was later used by North Shore commercial fishers and early white settlers.

Tickets are $35 for non-members and $30 for members, with proceeds supporting the Cook County Historical Society. Advance registration is required, and tickets can be purchased online here, or by stopping by the History Museum. The public is invited.

William Kent Krueger will give an Author Talk about his new book, God’s Country, at Drury Lane Books at 6 pm Sept. 5.

God’s Country is the latest book about Cork O’Connor. Doors will open at 5:45 pm. The Author Talk starts at 6 pm. If it is warm enough, the event will be held outside. A discussion and booksigning will follow. Stay tuned.

Kudos:

Dockside Sessions, a new,  free, three-part music series sponsored by the North Shore Music Association, North House Folk School and WTIP Community Radio, was a huge success, drawing large crowds to North House’s Commons to listen to live music under the evening sky.

From Chastity Brown opening the series, to Molly Dean, to a packed final night with Bad Bad Hats, the community showed up in a big way.

It was exactly the kind of gathering the three organizations had hoped to create.

The setting proved to be part of the magic. Musicians performed from the hand-built timber frame stage constructed by North House Folk School students, with the Grand Marais harbor and Lake Superior stretching out behind them.

Artists throughout the series remarked not only on the beauty of the setting, but on the warmth of the welcome they received from the community.  Music was at the center of it, but so was gathering: friends and neighbors finding one another, visitors being welcomed in, and all of us sharing these beautiful summer evenings together on the harbor.

The series was made possible with generous support from the Cook County Community Fund, Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation, and the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, along with the many supporters of North Shore Music Association, North House Folk School, and WTIP.

And this is only the beginning. Dockside Sessions will be back.

(Note: Comments excerpted from a North Shore Music Association press release.)

 Artists at Work:

 Online Findings:

 Online Music:

 Photography:

Here’s a selection of photographs we found:

Wildlife: 

Potpourri:

Landscapes, Skyscapes and Waterscapes:

Have a great weekend, everyone!

It would be great if you contributed to North Shore ArtScene this week. It’s a way to show your support and to make sure it arrives in your inbox every Thursday. To donate, just click on the icon below. And thank you!

 

 

Here’s a big thank you to Jeremy Lopez, Live Music schedule and tech support, and Yvonne Mills, proofreading, for their help this week. And a special thank you to Visit Cook County for its great Events Calendar.