Welcome to Ely, Minnesota!

With Rae Lovald!!!

Rae has published numerous short fiction stories, and is currently a staff writer and editor for Pop-Up Times magazine.

On the lake at Ely, Minnesota

Ely is a sportsmen’s paradise on the edge of a million acres of wilderness where no motorized means of transportation is allowed.  It’s a tourist town whose population multiplies during the summer months and then returns to peace and quiet after Labor Day.  It’s a well-kept secret for celebrities who like to vacation here, some of whom currently own summer homes here.  And it’s pronounced E-LEE!

Why Ely, Minnesota?

We have lived in Ely for twenty years and can’t think of anywhere else we’d rather be.  It’s a friendly small town that is a tourist destination for thousands every summer.  Ely has landed at or near the top of numerous contests and ratings for best family vacation destinations, best fishing vacations, and many other categories in national magazines such as Field and Stream.  Charles Kuralt, who certainly traveled enough to know a good vacation spot when he visited one, ranked Ely as his own personal favorite vacation destination.

Restaurants

Cuisine in Ely ranges from just three chain restaurants (Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, and Subway) to landmark local places like the log-walled Chocolate Moose restaurant and the restaurant at Burntside Lodge where President Johnson’s daughter Linda Bird Johnson once dropped in for lunch.   

Hot local topic

As always, controversy surrounds environmental issues where loggers and miners square off against environmentalists.  Local government is also a polarizing topic which can become very heated at times.

What is the city known for?

Most of the iron used to make the battleships during World War II came from iron mines in the area, which is still known as the Iron Range or just ‘the Range’ to locals.  While the rich iron ore has been depleted, low-grade ore known as taconite is still mined in the area, though no longer in Ely itself.    

Anyone we know from Ely?

Will Steger, environmentalist and polar explorer

Wildlife photographer Jim Brandenberg

“Ragnar”, mascot for the Minnesota Vikings football team

Dr. Lynn Rogers, black bear ecologist

Actress Jessica Biel.

Describe Ely

Ely is an interesting mix of blue collar workers, government employees, outdoors people, and artists.

The main ethnic groups in Ely are people of Slovenian ancestry and those of Finnish heritage.   With only about 4,000 people, Ely isn’t large enough to really have suburbs, although the city of Winton, which was once the ‘big town’ built by timber barons around the turn of the twentieth century, could now be considered a suburb of sorts.

Something that might interest the Petit Fours type readers

Ely has a diverse arts community including the annual Ely Art Walk, where local artists’ works are featured in the windows of local shops during the week of the Voyageur Winter Fest in February, which also features snow sculptures by artists from around the country.  Summer brings the juried Blueberry Arts summer craft fair, featuring handcrafted items from dozens of exhibitors.  Ely’s Northern Lakes Arts Association supports various other events, including annual community theater productions of Broadway musicals and smaller shows throughout the year.  Various artists and art events are now funded by the Gardner trust, which came into being when the local library sold a painting which they expected would sell for about $30,000.  Instead, it sold for over a half million dollars.  The trust now funds an amazing variety of artists and arts projects which would not usually be possible in such a small town.    

Something that would catch the attention of Hot Tamale readers

Sled dog mushing, world-class backcountry canoeing in the nearby one-million acre Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA), numerous local bars including the Kwazy Wabbit, The Portage, Chainsaw Sisters Saloon (now closed but the name is too cool to omit), world-class fishing, cross country skiing, thousands of miles of snowmobile and ATV trails, wildlife watching to catch a glimpse of  local moose, whitetail deer, black bears, timber wolves, bald eagles, great blue herons, and hundreds of other species, dozens of campgrounds, and other outdoor activities bring close to a million visitors to Ely each year.

A must see, can’t miss thing you would recommend to someone new to the city

The International Wolf Center, including a wolf-howling excursion.  The Wolf Center is dedicated to educating its visitors about wolf ecology, helping to dispel the negative stereotypes about this elusive and fascinating animal.  Along with exhibits, there are also resident wolves visitors can observe.

Web sites highlighting the Ely, Minnesota

www.ely.org

www.wolf.org

www.bear.org

FYI – Nevada Barr was in town a while back researching one of her recent books set in Isle Royale and William Kent Krueger‘s books are set in the Range town of Aurora.  So this area has its author-fans!

Tags: Ely Minnesota, Rae Lovald, Travel the World

About the author

Tami Brothers | http://www.tamibrothers.com I’ve always wanted to live a fun, sexy and exciting life. But when my clumsiness left me with an aversion to high heels, my fear of wardrobe malfunctions cut out those plunging necklines, and my skydiving instructor politely suggested I take up golf; I decided the only way to keep from breaking my neck would be to write about such a life.

Don't stop there. Try...

• Hong Kong Part II with author Anju Gattani
• Turkey with author Anne Fraser
• Gulf Shores, Alabama with author Susan Carlisle