Winter Festival in Bayfield Wisconsin

March 2nd thru the 4th.
It's that time of year again. Time for the Bayfield Winter Festival. Anybody want to jump into the lake? If not there is plenty of other activities to do. The link below has everything.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Celebrate-Snow--Ice-and-Cabin-Fever-at-Bayfield-s-Winter-Festival.html?soid=1103281454920&aid=GBXtAEJikUI

Book Across the Bay

The Book Across the Bay was a success and you can see from the satellite shot today why it was so. There is plenty of ice on the bay despite the warmer then normal winter.

Book Across the Bay

Despite the warm winter the ice on Chequamegon Bay is thick enough for the yearly event. While not ideal they are adding snow and making a XC track. The bay is shallow and does freeze quicker then the rest of the lake. The link is posted below for info.

http://www.batb.org/

The Ferry is still running!

The ferry boat is still running! You can argue climate change or climate cycles all day long but either way the ferry boats are still running. There is a Bayfield High School student that won a science fair project a few years ago on the subject. Below is the link from the story:

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/51325

The graphic is from the Duluth News Tribune as well.

Dogs and a mini blizzard tonight

One more picture of the Sled Dog race at the finish line this past weekend.

And tonight there is a mini blizzard and a cold front coming down from Canada. So winter is not done yet. I doubt the ice road will come to be this year but they have put the marker Christmas trees on the route just in case.

Bayfield Sled Dog race this weekend!

It's race weekend in Bayfield and the snow is holding out.

Ice Road this year?

Will there be a ice road this year or not? It would have to be plenty cold for a string of nights and so far that isn't looking likely. But it's early? You never know? Last year the road opened for a very short period.

Solar Flares and Aurora forecasted

This is the screen shot of the aurora at midnight in Bayfield. So far nothing reaching Bayfield which is good as it's very cloudy tonight and we wouldn't be able to see it anyway.There was a big solar flare on Monday.

Ice in the Channel

It looks like winter now with the channel frozen between Bayfield and Madeline Island. The ferry is breaking ice and still running for now. I doubt there will be a ice road this year unless February is very very cold.

Lighthouse News!

Five Apostle Islands Lighthouses To Be Restored.

The National Park Service's largest and oldest collection of lighthouses is due to get a major facelift. Five of the six light stations in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore will undergo some restoration. This is the most ambitious preservation effort in the Apostle Islands. It'll begin this spring and end in 2013, restoring and repairing not only the lighthouse towers but also many of the out-buildings where lighthouse keepers lived with their families.
As big as it is...to the tune of $7 million...Apostle Islands Lakeshore Superintendent Bob Krumanaker says they'd need twice that amount to get everything restored.
"We have no prospect of seeing that for the foreseeable future, and we knew that," he says. "So, we very carefully said 'Okay, what is the most cost-effective first increment of that using the available money? Let's not leave any light station half done."
So work will range from complete interior/exterior work to simply shoring up structures.
The six light stations with eight light towers range from the 1850's to 1900. Park Historian Dave Cooper says this is a challenge because no structure is the same.
"You've got an 1856 masonry tower and building on Michigan Island which represents one of the earliest lighthouse designs," he says.
Cooper says they'll save as much original material as they can. The $7 million federal grant was awarded in 2009, but it took more than two years to draw up designs to get to the actual work.
About the Author
Mike Simonson
Wisconsin Public Radio