News

It might have been a bit later than usual when Shagawa Lake was officially declared open, but it made it in time for Saturday’s fishing opener.
The date officially was Sunday, May 6 at 1:16 p.m. as declared by Grand Ely Lodge employees Jakob Dahlin and Toni Zaverl.
There were many May guesses, but the winners came from the third week of entries which had some errors when compared to the original entry slips.
Connie Olson, Hills, MN was one minute off the result and took the top $100 GEL Gift Certificate prize.
Second prize went to Jesse Sislear of Blaine, 31 minutes off the mark with 12:45 p.m., He gets the $50 Ely Echo credit.
Third prize ($25 GEL Gift Certificate) Bill Meyer of Ely, 44 minutes off entry (12:32 p.m.).
Some errors were discovered in last week’s report which didn’t match the actual submitted entries. Those are now corrected.
Winners have been notified by US Mail.

by Tom Coombe -

by Tom Coombe -

The board of the Donald G. Gardner Humanities Trust voted to award $17,736 to local artists, art organizations and fine arts events at its April 11 board meeting.
“The Gardner Humanities Trust was very pleased with the applicants for this year’s spring grant round,” stated Keiko Williams, executive director for the Trust. “There were several new applicants this year which is always nice to see. The Trust has also been working on updating some of the grant guidelines to try and make questions more clear or to clean up any discrepancies. So people should be sure to check for any changes in future applications.”
Individual artist grants are awarded for unique, short-term opportunities that will impact an artist’s career.

From groundbreaking and ribbon cutting to VCC graduation and much more, the Ely Echo answers the needs of the community and fulfills its obligations as the only legal newspaper in Ely. You are invited to subscribe! 218-365-3141.

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TO REMEMBER the Ely United Methodist Church, Lily Tedrick gave Pastor Dana Thompson a piece of artwork she created.

Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony was held on May 6 at the VCC auditorium. This is the First Grade Daisy Troop #1321 after they bridged over to become Brownies. Pictured with leader Tiffany Zemke were: (l-r) back row: Kayla Larsen, Aubrielle Poppler, Siiri Nelson, Annika Eastham, Ivy Ohlhauser. Front row: Amelia Strom, Anika Boerst, Mikala Shusta, Lindi Zemke, Miriam Messerschmidt. Not pictured: Mady Henry.

Midwest Starz Dance Competition held at Duluth Marshall High School, April 20-22 with Studio North competitors taking the following awards: Senior Jazz - High Gold, 2nd in category; Senior Lyrical - High Gold, 3rd place in category; Junior Jazz - Gold, 2nd in category; Junior Hip Hop - High Gold, 3rd in category; Minis Jazz - High Gold, 2nd place in category; Minis Musical Theater - High Gold, 1st in category; Emma Larson Lyrical Solo - High Gold, 4th in category; Lauren Olson Lyrical Solo - High Gold, 4th in category; Madelyne Roderick Contemporary Solo - High Gold, 5th in category; Jaicee Krings & Dakota Hanninen Jazz Duet - High Gold, 3rd in category; Charlie Carlson & Izzy Schiltz Hop Hop Duet - High Gold, 2nd in category. Pictured are the Studio North Senior Competition Team: Emma Larson, Jaicee Krings, Dakota Hanninen, Madelyne Roderick, Lauren Olson, Hailey Schaller, Gabby Motes, Cora Olson.

Ely Memorial High School’s National Honor Society held its annual spring induction ceremony on Sunday, May 6. Inductees (left-right) Sarah Isbell, Hannah Jankovec, Ana Bercher, Kalyssa Eilrich, and James Schwinghamer. Also inducted but not shown were: Jenna Merhar, Erika Mattson, Raif Olson, Brooke Pasmick, Nate Nettiffee, and Apolonia Homer. Photos courtesy of Ben Gustafson.

MiningMinnesota released results from a statewide survey that reinforce public support in Minnesota for copper-nickel mining and strong support for allowing projects to be proposed and follow a rigorous environmental review process.
Statewide voters favor building new copper-nickel mines in Northeast Minnesota (44 percent), compared to 38 percent opposed. While in the 8th Congressional District, a majority of voters (57 percent) support copper-nickel mining, whereas only 28 percent oppose this type of mining.