After the Ely Chamber of Commerce canceled the annual Blueberry/ Art Festival due to wildfire fears, a new event was organized.
Within 24 hours, they had vendors, a location, and the support of city officials, local businesses and media. Every bit of it was driven by one thing: a passion for supporting creators and makers.
Babbitt became the home of the Birch Landing Art Fair and then tied to Ely’s Blueberry Bazaar and booths set up in Tower as well.
The three cities working together was named the Blueberry Loop which included printed maps, signage, Loop cards and incentive stickers to encourage visitors to experience them all.
In Babbitt on Saturday, event organizer Karen Hamilton talked about how successful the event turned out to be.
“The traffic was backed up three blocks, and I counted a solid 200 people by the information tent in the first hour. Awesome. It’s fantastic,” said Hamilton.
She thanked everyone who helped to make the event a reality.
“Thank you to everyone everywhere who has shared it. The news stories on television, the articles in the paper, the ads, the promotions, all of the artists are so excited to be here.”
The response from the artists and from the public was overwhelmingly positive.
“It’s been nonstop. So many people saying thank you for doing this. Thank you for bringing this to Babbitt. I could cry. Seriously. It’s been the reception has been amazing.”
When the Forest Service closed the BWCA due to the wildfires, the surrounding communities took an enormous financial hit. Restaurants worried they couldn’t sell the food they had on hand, business owners, especially outfitters, were suddenly faced with massive drops in income.
Hamilton said her involvement with Ely’s Farmers Market had her realize the impact of the fires was far-reaching.
“The vendors who normally rely on Blueberry Fest were now trying to figure out how to pay their bills, or how to make sure their kids can go to hockey camp. We decided to do something and it turned out better than I could have imagined,” said Hamilton.
