Starry Starry Night, the annual community event held on Black Friday, was successful on Friday, Nov. 24. With equal parts economic stimulus and cultural heritage, the event brought hundreds of people to Grand Marais to celebrate the holidays.
Toni Whaley of Grand Marais Mercantile said that the numbers are a little down in its 25th year, but that the event is providing a great opportunity for those that live locally and across the region.
“Seems a little slower than it has been, but the economy is a little rocky right now so I would expect that a little bit, but everyone is excited and having fun. It’s one of the big events for us throughout the year,” she said.
Despite lower numbers, there were plenty of positives from the event. The parade greatly increased in size compared to last year, both by entries in the parade and people watching. The caroling after the tree lighting expanded to include a performance by local children as well as an adult choir. Good weather, live music at the Dunes Saloon and lots of shopping at local stores celebrated the holiday season.
One aspect of Starry Starry Night is that other businesses not considered a store were getting involved. A sled dog team that trains in Grand Marais was able to sell merchandise at The Breakwall restaurant. Non-profit groups sold Pickle Barrel memorabilia and pecan pies in the lobby of the Superior Hotel. The hotel, which is owned and operated by Rick and Mary Capogrossa, also is the business location for the Grand Marais Pilot and Great Lakes Review, which saw numerous people coming to renew their annual subscription and buy the annual Christmas Card ads that run in the holiday editions.
“(Renewals have) gone very well. I’ve already gotten people who put their checks in the mail, but with Starry Starry Night, they come in and say hello when they renew, which is very nice,” Mary Capogrossa said. “It’s a lot of fun stuff when everyone’s excited and people are happy with the paper.”
This year’s event faced some extra challenges. Starry Starry Night was starting to become an official Grand Marais Chamber of Commerce event the last few years, but the organization was hit with a tough situation when it was discovered that federal tax filings were not submitted for over a decade. The Chamber was able to commit to the popular rock show and car show events in the Fall because funding was already in place, but Starry Starry Night was the first event to run in Grand Marais since the problems were discovered.
“We had a little bit of a burp with the Chamber and that really isn’t a secret to anyone, but we pulled ourselves back together. We’re not going to let it go. Too many people have sacrificed a lot to keep the Grand Marais Chamber together and got Grand Marais through a lot of lean years when we really needed help drawing people here,” Whaley said. “We’re not as much in that position as we used to be, but we want to hold it together and keep having our major events like Starry Night and the music festival and some other events that we don’t want to see go away.”
Now that the tough transition has passed, Whaley and other organizers can focus on next year’s event. Various items have already been suggested like a live nativity scene, children’s events and the hopes of getting more lit up floats in the night parade.
“We always have an enthusiastic group in Grand Marais. All you have to say is ‘we’re gonna’ and people show up and put their best foot forward,” Whaley said.
