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The City of Winton is calling for demolition bids for 2 buildings located at 436 Main Street N., City of Winton. The empty buildings consist of 1 residence and 1 garage. The buildings are currently being tested for hazardous materials. Bids must be sealed and marked “Demolition Bid” on the outside of the envelope.
Bids may be mailed to “City of Winton, 102 Main Street N., Winton, MN 55796” or placed in the Community Center Drop Box, located at 102 Main Street N, City of Winton. All bids must be received by 6:00 PM on Monday, December 5, 2022, at which time the sealed bids will be opened and read aloud at the Winton City Council meeting. For further questions, please contact Mayor Kathy Brandau at 218-343-3008 or City Clerk Anne Jackson, 218-365-5941. The City reserves the right to reject any or all bids.

We are thankful for the life of our wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Joyce M. Maki died on November 25, 2022, at the age of 90.
Joyce was born January 17, 1932, to Martha (Kolari) and Tom Kilpela in Palo, MN. Martha married Anthony Kokal around 1943. Anthony adopted Joyce and her brother Leonard. Joyce graduated from Eveleth High School, where she was active in 4H and home economics. She moved on to the University of MN Duluth and St. Mary’s Medical Technician school. While in college, she met her future husband, Robert M. Maki. They were married in Eveleth on March 27, 1954, when Bob was home on leave from the Army.
She later joined him at Fort Benning, Georgia, where they lived off base until his discharge in January 1956. They returned to Ely to settle down. Joyce and Bob made their permanent home on Ely’s Chapman Street in 1959 and spent many joyous years summering at the cabin, built by Bob, on Fall Lake.

Maxine Sharp, 98, of Ely, passed away on Wednesday, November 23, 2022 at Carefree Living in Babbitt. Family arrangements have been entrusted to Kerntz Funeral Home of Ely.

by Tom Coombe
In two decades time, the Festival of Trees has become a staple of the holiday season in Ely.
The 20th festival begins in grand manner, as usual, on Thanksgiving night with a tree-lighting ceremony back on the docket after the Covid-19 pandemic prompted cancellations the last two years.
The ceremony begins at 5 p.m. at the Grand Ely Lodge and is open to the public, as the lobby is turned into a winter wonderland of sorts and filled with decorated Christmas trees, wreaths, chairs for care and a holiday boutique.
The festival remains a fundraiser for Northwoods Partners, which provides an array of services for Ely’s elderly, and organizers have watched in wonder as it has taken off in popularity.
“After the third or fourth festival we worried about a saturated market, how many people in Ely will need a tree?” said Shirley Sayovitz, who has been involved since the event’s beginning.

by Tom Coombe
For the second straight year, the International Wolf Center welcomed new pups.
Rieka’s arrival in 2021, which coincided with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and resulted in attendance more than doubling at the local museum, was only the beginning.
Instead of taking a year or two off from welcoming new pups, the IWC instead introduced Blackstone and Caz to its ambassador pack.
“Over the winter we lost two of our older wolves, Denali and Grizzer, (and) we decided we needed to bring in some fresh blood,” said Grant Spickelmier, IWC Executive Director. “It’s the first time in the history of the organization where two summers in a row we brought in pups. ”
Despite that, attendance of just shy of 23,000 from June through August fell short of 2021 levels, which totaled 25,893.

What a season! What a team!
It’s not often that a local group of kids can capture the attention and hearts of an entire community, but that’s exactly what the Ely Timberwolves’ volleyball team did over the course of the last few weeks.
An unbeaten season led to the school’s first-ever section title and state tournament berth and ultimately, a sixth-place finish in Class A.
The Wolves took much of the Ely area along for the ride.
Fans came out in droves for Ely home games.
It wasn’t all that long ago the balcony in the Memorial Gymnasium was closed during volleyball games.
This year it was filled with people, particularly for a pair of home playoff games that all but filled the gym and created an atmosphere not seen there since the days when enrollment was triple what it is now, and the place was packed on home basketball nights.

by Tom Coombe. Echo Editor
For a few magical weeks in 1987, Ely was undoubtedly a football town.
Only weeks after some Minnesota Magic, as the Twins captivated the entire state with their improbable, Metrodome-fueled run to the World Series title, Ely’s football team traveled to the ’Dome for its first and still only appearance in a state championship football game.
In the week leading to the contest and really for at least a couple of weeks before, Ely football created a buzz in town, even sending deer hunting to the backburner as guys like Jon Kastelic, Bob LaTourell, Lance Ronn, Bill Muhvich and a host of others led the Wolves to 13 consecutive wins.
Coach Larry Mischke’s motto - Can’t Be Scared - was attached to placards and homemade signs and someone even created a “Wanted” poster with Mischke’s photo.
Right after Thanksgiving, the Wolves, and seemingly all of Ely, made their way to Minneapolis for the big game.

by Tom Coombe
When the Class A state volleyball tournament was seeded, the Ely Timberwolves didn’t crack the top-five and their unbeaten record was largely overlooked.
A week later, nobody in Class A volleyball was overlooking the Wolves.
In the span of three days, the Wolves took a set from and gave the defending state champions a scare, followed up with the program’s first-ever state tournament win, and were on the short end of a state consolation championship thriller.
The Wolves wound up sixth in the Class A state tournament, ended a storybook season with a school-record 30 wins and perhaps most of all - put Ely volleyball on the statewide map during the course of a dramatic state tournament run at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center.

by Tom Coombe
The season couldn’t have ended on a much higher note for the Northeast Range/Ely Nighthawks.
While the girls swim team won’t be sending anyone on to state, the Nighthawks set three team records and had four medal-earning performances at the Section 7A meet, which wrapped up last Saturday at Hibbing.
The Nighthawks also brought home an academic honor while both head coach Cheri DeBeltz and assistant coach Lynn Gulbrandson won respective Section 7A Coach of the Year honors.
“We had a great section meet,” said DeBeltz. “Overall, we had 95 percent lifetime or season-best swims and we had our best finish at the section meet.”
Overall, NRE was eighth among 11 teams in a field that included many schools with much higher enrollments.