THE BALL DROP is back for New Years Eve in Marquette. And it'll be a new ball dropped from a new building. You can thank the Double Trouble boys and the Downtown Development Authority. A couple of weeks ago, JP Electric announced that, after a few decades of conducting the ball drop from the Savings Bank ... Continue Reading
A High Rise on the Shore, High Praise from the Rest of the World
WELL, IT'S FINALLY begun. Take a drive down Lakeshore Boulevard near the Hampton Inn, and you'll see that, at long last, construction of One Marquette Place is underway on the shore of Lake Superior. Actually, crews are moving dirt right now to fortify the ground in preparation for the installation of massive ... Continue Reading
Questions about Upfront, a New Training Studio Downtown, and 906 Technologies on the Move
LET'S NOT GET overly excited about the reopening of the Upfront (to be renamed The Harbor) just yet. It's not a done deal, not even close, according to an executive who works for the current owner Rhys Mussman in Indiana. This executive indicates there's been no apparent progress on getting financing for the deal over ... Continue Reading
A New Day for the YMCA…and for Gophers Bakery
THERE'S NO OTHER way to put it: 2016 has been a nightmare for the Marquette County YMCA. Lawsuits filed against it. The CEO fired. Dozens of bills, totaling more than $5 million, unpaid. Staff laid off, programs cut. The Board of Volunteers dwindling to a mere five members (bylaws call for between 11 and 25 ... Continue Reading
Ball Drop in Jeopardy
LOOKS LIKE MARQUETTE won't be celebrating its traditional New Year's Eve ball drop this year. JP Electric. which has conducted the drop on a volunteer basis since 1988, will not be involved this year. Owner John Prince says he and his staff are getting older, the ball drop has always been a little risky, and it's time to ... Continue Reading