North Shore Health Hospital and Care Center is a long way toward completing a major growth and remodeling of its facilities.

About 75 percent of construction is complete on $24.5 million in expansions and renovations.

Hospital officials marked the milestone with an open house, Friday, July 28. 

“Part of our goal is to allow North Shore Health to be relevant to the community, the needs of our community, be flexible, and be positioned for the future,” said Kimber Wraalstad, hospital administrator. 

“We have hit some big milestones, like completing work on the hospital, a new emergency room, and a new emergency room drive-through.”

As a critical access hospital in the far reaches of northeastern Minnesota, the finished product will provide increased services to residents and tens of thousands of tourists who visit Grand Marais and the region each year, said Wraalstad.

The project included 26,150 square-feet of new construction and 42,680 square-feet in renovations.

Also included are 16 private in-patient rooms, four separate emergency room bays, new living and kitchen facilities for residents of the 37-unit care center, a new pharmacy, offices, and major interior and exterior renovations.

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation supported the project with an infrastructure grant to the city of Grand Marais.

The project, which began after Labor Day in 2015, is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2017.

When complete, the facility will seek to expand the number of health care services it offers, such as offering chemotherapy treatment, said Wraalstad.

With about 150 employees, the health care center is the largest employer in the region. The project employed about 146 construction workers.

Pictured above: A new joint nursing station is part of a $24.5 million North Shore Health Hospital and Care Center expansion and renovation.

David Dill was an advocate for the outdoors.

Dill loved fishing, bird hunting, snowmobiling, and supported all types of outdoor recreation.

He also was relentless in listening to the concerns of constituents and the communities he represented. 

In a fitting tribute to the late District 6A/3A state representative from Crane Lake, the city of Two Harbors is naming an expansion of its Burlington Bay campground after Dill. 

The 31-unit “Representative David Dill Addition, will be dedicated to Dill at 3 p.m., Monday, Aug. 14.

The addition is designed to accommodate large-size campers and recreational vehicles.

Dill, a legislator from 2003-2015 and former Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation Board chairman, passed away in 2015.   

The 137-unit city-owned campground is one of the most popular campgrounds on the North Shore.

Dill in 2011 helped secure $1.25 million in state bonding money for the campground expansion. 

“It’s always full,” Dan Walker, Two Harbors city administrator said of the campground. “From the fishing opener to October, we’re always booked solid.”

The campground offers a public beach and a launching area for kayaks and other watercraft. Along with expansive views of Lake Superior from the tiered campground, some of the camp sites are located directly on the waterfront.

In June, the city also opened a new commons area building at the campground, offering laundry facilities, showers, and offices.

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation provided funding assistance for infrastructure development of the campground expansion and commons building.

The campground is so successful that about $200,000 in annual revenue from the campground is being used to help pay for repairs of city streets and infrastructure needs, said Walker. 

“It’s really nice for the community,” Walker said of the campground. “Number one, it’s good for the businesses in town. And all our auxiliary businesses also benefit from it.”

The public is invited to the dedication.

Pictured above: The Two Harbors Burlington Bay Municipal Campground now offers a new modern bath house.  

The Ely Area Veterans Memorial is a lesson in history.

Each of 11 pedestals within the 30-foot circular memorial are engraved with the map of a country and list the number of people who served, number of U.S. deaths, and total POW/MIA’s from wars and conflicts dating back to the Spanish-American War.

“What we’re trying to accomplish is to honor all who have served in the military for their sacrifices and also make it educational,” said Tony Colarich, vice-chair of the Ely Area Veterans Memorial committee.

The memorial, which started out as a design drawn on a napkin by Ely area veteran Dick Zahn, will be dedicated at 2 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 12.

The memorial is located at the intersection of Pioneer Road and Miners Drive, on a city-donated lot.  

Completion of the memorial is a tribute to the many veterans from the Ely area who have served the nation.

During World War II, Ely had the most men and women who served per capita of any city its size in the United States.

“Coming out of the depression, a lot of guys worked in the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) camps,” said Colarich. “They took a lot of guys from the CCC camps.” 

Ely lost two veterans in the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and 52 Ely veterans were killed in action during World War II, the most of any U.S. city its size. 

A special pedestal at the memorial also honors the seven Ely area servicemen who survived the brutal Bataan Death March during World War II.

Zahn, who served in the Minnesota National Guard, Army and Navy, chaired the charge to get the memorial built. 

“After I drew the memorial on a napkin, I made a wooden model of it and brought it to city hall,’ said Zahn. “I never visualized it being done so soon, but I wanted to make sure we didn’t have to wait another 50 years before something was put up.”

Mesabi black granite for the monuments was quarried near Babbitt. Construction materials were purchased locally, along with donated materials from local businesses and in-kind services.    

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation supported construction with a Culture & Tourism grant.

An American flag, flags of all five military branches, the Merchant Marines, and a POW/MIA flag, fly above the memorial and are lit at night. 

“It’s really an awesome sight at night,” said Colarich. 

Pictured above: Dick Zahn and Tony Colarich helped lead development of the Ely Area Veterans Memorial.        

The Giants Ridge Chalet and Event Center in Biwabik was honored as one of the top projects of 2016 by Finance & Commerce magazine at a July 26 ceremony at the Minneapolis Event Center. 

After opening last summer, the stunning 34,000 square-foot chalet has been serving skiers, golfers and wedding and event guests. The chalet also includes a rental shop, ticket area, gift shop, food court, and the Burnt Onion restaurant.

Exterior amenities include a fire pit and large concrete “skier beach.”

Read the Finance & Commerce article featuring the Giants Ridge Chalet and Event Center.

Pictured above: Marianne Bouska, Commissioner Mark Phillips, and Linda Johnson, all of Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation, attend the Finance & Commerce Top Projects of 2016 awards ceremony. 

The first Adirondack chair was built in 1903.

But it was nothing compared to the Adirondack now standing outside the Two Harbors Chamber of Commerce R.J. Houle Information Center.

Hardly a minute goes by before moms, dads, kids and even grandmas stop to pose for a photo on the oversized chair near the shores of Lake Superior.

“There are people in the chair every day,” said Janelle Jones, Two Harbors Area Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive officer. “It’s really just fun. It gets people to stop here so we can get them into our information center and tell them about our area and our businesses.”

The massive chair was built by Two Harbors High School industrial art students. 

“We’re always trying to incorporate the school,” said Jones. “When they found out we were going to do this, the students went up the North Shore to measure other chairs just to be sure we had the biggest.” 

The chair was put into place just in time for the peak summer tourism season.

Since then, visitors from across the nation and plenty of locals have been trying it on for size. 

“We’ve had birthday parties and even reunions at it,” said Jones. ‘We’ve even had grandmothers with their canes up there, so it’s just kind of a lot of fun.”

Once the chair’s pressure-treated wood dries out, it will be painted blue and emblazoned with “Lovin’ Lake County” and #twoharbors.com

“We’re always trying to think of something different,” said Jones. “To me, it’s strategic marketing.”

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation supported the project with a Culture & Tourism grant.

Pictured above: Janelle Jones, Two Harbors Area Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive officer, shows off the oversized Adirondack chair adjacent to the chamber’s information center.

The second in a series of small business forums is planned for Thursday, Aug. 31 at Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm. 

Entrepreneurs on Tap is being hosted by the Recharge the Range Small Business Strategies Action Group. 

The forum, titled “Starting Your Business on the Iron Range," features a panel discussion led by Anna Anderson of Art Unlimited in Cook. 

Panelists include: Megan Kellin, Lake Time Magazine, Lake Bride Magazine, Rapids Hotel and Lake & Co.; Keny Adams, Country Kitchen Franchises; and Carol Carlson, Comet Theater. 

They will speak about real experiences of successful startups, effective tips and tools for bootstrapping, crowdfunding how tos and available resources. 

Doors open at 5 p.m, with the forum running from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. 

The event is free to the public, but registration is requested. 

Register for Entrepreneurs on Tap.