A quick about-face for Farmer Q’s.
The last we heard, the little store on Washington Street cherished for its fresh downstate produce had closed up shop.
The announced reasons? Co-owner Tom Brian had gotten a good job downstate, and he and his wife Susan said they were fed up with the shoddy treatment they had gotten from some of the local farmers, the Food Co-op and the Downtown Development Authority.
Turns out, there was a little more to the story than that.
Whatever the reason, they ain’t leaving town. They’ve closed on the property now occupied by Cliff’s Muffler Shop in south Marquette.
Farmer Q’s is coming back to life. It should be open by Mother’s Day but they won’t be taking part in the Farmers Market.
Which is just as well. They had had a rocky relationship with some of the farmers and the DDA, which runs the Farmers Market. They should stay as far apart from each other as possible.
The new location is little more than a glorified gas station at this point but they’ll fix it up. Most important, it’s got a large parking lot out front, something the market didn’t enjoy on Washington Street.
All in all, it’s good news for fruit and vegetable lovers in Marquette.
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The race for the six county commission races is starting to shape up.
Three of the incumbents, Steve Pence, Gerald Corkin and Bruce Heikkila have all filed their papers to run.
And five other candidates have taken out packets, indicating a possible run.
The most notable of the five–former Marquette Mayor and City Commissioner Johnny DePetro.
DePetro says he hasn’t decided 100% whether he’s running but he’s talking to friends and constituents who are encouraging him to run.
If he does, it would set up an interesting race in the First District: the incumbent Pence, one of the UP’s sharpest and most respected attorneys, taking on DePetro, one of the city’s most likable and folksy politicians.
DePetro says he’s got nothing against Pence–he’s voted for him in the past–
but he just likes working in government. If he does run, it’ll be a race of interesting and sharp contrasts.
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While Lundin Mining and the city of Marquette continue working on an agreement to allow Lundin’s trucks to use the city’s roads on their way from Eagle Mine to the Humboldt Mill, there’s increasing focus on a bypass. The bypass would divert the trucks around the northern edge of the city.
The proposed bypass would take the trucks off of 550 near Sugarloaf Mountain, westward and then south to US-41 around Midway Drive.
The trucks, estimated to be about 90 a day, would therefore miss the most populated and congested parts of Marquette.
Lundin, for its part, says it’s concerned right now with finding a tentative route for the trucks. Once that agreement is reached with the City Commission, then it will turn to the bypass.
The good news for Lundin and city officials? So far, environmentalists haven’t raised any objections to the bypass. Activist attorney Michelle Halley says that issue is not on her plate, and Save the Wild UP is likewise not involved. At least not yet.
Something’s going to have to give. Lundin’s Eagle Mine is a reality. It starts up within six months or so, and that means huge trucks, loaded with nickel and copper, will be taking to the roads, past homes and businesses. Ninety a day–that’s almost one every 15 minutes.
That’s a quality of life issue–something we take very seriously in Marquette.
You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com