Blueberry festival starts Friday at Whiteside Park

It won’t be too hard to find something new at this year’s Blueberry/Art Festival.More than 40,000 people are expected for the 24th annual event, which starts Friday at Whiteside Park.And while the scene will almost certainly be similar: a park overflowing with visitors for the three-day arts and craft show, the scenery will have quite a few changes.Over 40 new exhibitors are in the lineup, which includes 221 exhibitors filling 264 booth spaces, and 26 food booths.“We think our quality is just excellent this year,” said Rita Grose, who organizes the festival for the Ely Chamber of Commerce. “There are several new exhibitors that I’m extremely impressed with.”Started on a downtown avenue with only a handful of exhibitors in 1981, Blueberry weekend has since evolved into Ely’s premier summer event, with attendance growing by leaps and bounds and exhibitors from around the upper Midwest clamoring for booth space.Chamber organizers are bracing for another busy weekend.“We’re excited,” said Grose. “We’ve had lots of calls from people asking when is it, blah, blah, blah, the whole bit.”The festival typically attracts visitors from throughout the United States, and former Ely residents return in droves for the weekend. They’re joined by day-trippers from the Iron Range and Duluth, and those coming from outside the area fill up lodging facilities months in advance.Those going to Whiteside Park this weekend will find many familiar vendors and food favorites, along with the various new exhibitors.The usual array of arts and crafts booths with everything from wood carvings to jewelry and toys to taxidermy are lined up.Newcomers have a few different items for sale.Julie Crabtree comes to the festival from Wisconsin and brings her award-winning embroidery, while Minnesotan Sue Roe will be selling her humorous books about bears.Other newcomers are selling fireplace lamps, carvings on moose antlers and art work from paper mache.“There’s a husband and wife team (Mike and Sue Pekoc of Wisconsin) that make wooden lake maps to scale,” said Grose. “I’ve got one of Farm Lake and it’s just beautiful work.Some exhibitors come from as far away as Arkansas, Tennessee and Ohio to set up shop, but the vast majority are from Minnesota.Ely is well represented, including many exhibitors as well as organizations such as the North American Bear Center, Vermilion Community College and the International Wolf Center setting up booth space.Ely’s Northern Lakes Arts Association will again sponsor a storytelling tent but another popular staple from the last two years - the climbing wall assembled by Voyageur Outward Bound School - will be absent.“It was a case of the time they needed to set it up and getting people there during the festival,” said Grose. “They may be back next year.”Another festival mainstay is the food court on the northwest side of the park. Blueberry favorites such as potica and pastries will be on sale, along with a wide variety of ethnic fare, plus traditional Blueberry/Art weekend items including the Ely firemen’s famous turkey legs and the always-popular fried bread and gyro sandwich stands.The Ely Jaycees will also run a beer garden, just off of the food court.Festival organizers plan “fun for the kids” each day with pony rides, a petting zoo and moonwalk, and the park bandshell will include live entertainment throughout the three days.On the docket this year include the Friday music of the Starlighters, while Saturday includes three performances by rock band Breathing Machine.Local favorites Ted Fyder and Rutka’s Rangers will play Sunday.A special program and map/guide for the 2004 festival is included in this week’s North Country Saver. It contains a complete listing of all booths and exhibits, a schedule of events, and numerous advertisements from local businesses celebrating this week’s festival with specials of their own.Hours have been set from noon to 7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.If previous festivals are any indication, Whiteside Park will begin to fill well before Friday’s official noon start time.