The Minnesota Iron Rangers hockey team, based in Hoyt Lakes and in its sixth year of competition, has a unique culture of community service. The team’s 25 players ages 17 to 21 live with host families in Hoyt Lakes and the surrounding communities August through April each year. They spend a lot of their time off the ice serving East Range communities and organizations. 

The players volunteer with local youth hockey programs and camps through coaching and mentoring. They volunteer at Mesabi East Elementary School by reading to classrooms and participating in physical education classes, and they work for United Way assembling “Buddy Backpacks” for distribution to low-income school children. The players build homes for Habitat for Humanity, stock groceries at area food shelves, process recycling, and do grounds cleanup in the fall for assisted living facilities. 

“The team is developing not only hockey players, but responsible citizens,” said Cherie Grams, Rangers secretary. “A player’s ultimate goal is to advance to college-level hockey and continue their education, but in the meantime they are developing as civic-minded young adults.”

This Tier 2 Junior “A” hockey team competes in the Superior International Junior Hockey League, a branch of Hockey Canada's junior league. The league has six teams, two in Minnesota and four in Canada. Attendance at the 27 home games averages about 200 fans, many of them from outside the region. The out-of-town fans generate economic impact to the East Range through increased spending at hotels, restaurants, grocery and convenience stores.

The team is a non-profit organization managed by a local board of volunteer citizens. Players come from not only Minnesota, but the entire Midwest and Canada.

An aggressive advertising campaign was launched this season to broaden the fan base and increase the team’s economic impact. Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation supported this project with a Culture & Tourism grant. 

Visit the Minnesota Iron Rangers website.

The Business Energy Retrofit (BER) grant program helped alleviate energy upgrade costs to 55 small Iron Range businesses over the last 16 months. The results are impressive.

From Sept. 2016 through Dec. 2017: 

• 55 small businesses assisted
• 618,927 kilowatts in energy savings
• $29,069 in utility rebates back to small businesses (rebates paid to date, 62% more rebates potentially forthcoming)

A small business with an aging building can benefit immensely from energy efficiency upgrades, benefits such as reduced utility bills, improved building aesthetics and increased building life. However, these upgrades can be financially cumbersome to small businesses that often operate on smaller margins. 

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation funds this program, and it is administered through a partnership with Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency (AEOA). To learn more email Vince Meyer at AEOA or call him at 218-735-6828.

The Hibbing artist community will soon be engaged to enhance the city’s downtown curb appeal through art mural wraps on eight highly visible utility boxes. Artists will be asked to submit designs that reflect the unique culture, people and history of Hibbing. Eight designs will be chosen to be transformed into vinyl wraps to encase the streetlight utility boxes. 

Utility wraps are a relatively new art form that have been implemented in many rural and urban American cities. The wraps are fairly easy to maintain, last about 10 years, and are reported to deter graffiti.

This public art project is being led by the Hibbing Area Chamber of Commerce’s downtown steering committee whose goal is to implement new initiatives that improve the vitality and attractiveness of downtown. 

“Cultural assets are important to economic development,” said Lory Fedo, Hibbing Area Chamber of Commerce president. “Beautification projects like this help promote downtown as a central gathering place.” 

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation supported this project with a Downtown and Business Corridor grant.

Why is art important? How does it directly affect you? 

Beginning Monday, Jan. 22, these questions will be explored through "30 Days of Art." This collaborative social media campaign is an effort of Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, Blandin Foundation, Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation, and Lyric Center for the Arts. 

Each day, one of the four participating organizations will post an article on a variety of art-related topics, such as economic and community impact, upcoming events, artist and arts organization profiles and more. 

Look for the hashtags #30DaysofArt and #ArtsontheRange and be sure to share the posts on your own social media pages!