Jerry Fink, a lifelong resident of Ely and founder of the Ely Klown Band, has been selected as Grand Marshal for the Ely Fourth of July parade.
Fink is no stranger to the parade — his first Independence Day performance with the Klown Band took place nearly 34 years ago.
“I started the Ely Klown Band in 1991. On the Fourth of July, we went down the road with 13 people,” said Fink. He began recruiting band members by flipping through old Ely high school yearbooks and reaching out to the people featured.
“I was just calling people, and word of mouth got out, and we got 13 people to go down the road the first time. And it was fun, and it took hold,” Fink said.
At its highest, the band included 48 people. One year, Fink found a way to talk his “way into the Vikings” and get a group down to the game to perform on the field for the 1997 opener.
“And the Vikings, they paid for quite a bit of stuff for us, free tickets, they paid for the bus down there and back. So it was a good time. People were very excited, especially the Klown Band members. It’s been a good thing. We’ve been representing Ely in a good light since then,” Fink said.
As a drummer and accordion player, he has played in eight different local bands over the years, ranging from rock to country and polka. His extensive history of band membership includes a stint with the Electras, a group that was inducted in 2010 into the Mid-America Music Hall of Fame.
“That band was good. We ran that for four and a half, five years, and did some recording with that, down in Minneapolis at the recording studios. And you know, we didn’t have any smash hits or anything. But we did alright for kids from Ely,” Fink said, “I see some of our records now on eBay, and they’re going for up to $1,500 a piece.”
He cites his Slovenian heritage and its song traditions as important to his early involvement with music, describing how family and friends would “come over with guitars and a few accordions” and sing.
“My dad bought my first set of drums in 1962. He was a button accordion player, and he bought that button accordion in 1928 and I learned how to play it, and I still play that very accordion. Now, it’s well over 100 years old, but it sounds good. I used to drum with him on a wood board with two kitchen butter knives,” Fink added.
Besides his talents as a musician, Fink has pursued a number career paths, including some time working at the mines in Babbitt, then Mountain Iron — a drive of 57 miles which he did two times a day, every day for 30 years. He retired at 55 but has kept himself busy since then selling real estate part-time, a job which he picked up after meeting two realtors from the Cokato area “by happenstance.”
“We got to talking and became friends,” Fink said, “And I never thought of real estate before, but I knew one thing, I was bored and I needed something to do, because I’m a type A personality. That’s who I am.”
He emphasized his appreciation for the Ely community. He maintains a large collection of historical photographs and objects representing the town’s mining history, which he collected so that it would “stay here” in the area.
“Ely is a good, good place to live, and the people are good here,” Fink said.
He is “extremely happy and proud to be asked” to serve as Grand Marshal in this year’s parade.
