Broadway in the BW & Ely Must-Do’s

Visiting Ely? Let the folks who live here help you decide what to do while you're in the area! Repertory theater professionals living in Ely for the summer -- Olivia, Dovid, Austin, and Jacob -- talk through the Ely area tourism MUST-DO's as suggested by the Tuesday Group audience. 

But, wait... what's Tuesday Group? Tuesday Group is a free, weekly educational forum that takes place over lunch at the Grand Ely Lodge.  If you're in town on a Tuesday, swing by the Grand Ely Lodge between 11:30am and 1:00pm to meet a few people, learn something new, and enjoy lunch. 

Eager to get to a specific topic? Here's the breakdown of our conversation: 

1:30 | Jacob, Olivia, Dovid, & Austin introduce themselves

9:08 | The Ely audience is passionate and interactive; they go beyond surface level.

11:23 | Word of mouth makes the world go 'round.

13:00 | Discussing themes in NLAA's Oklahoma! What made our local production unique?

20:10 | What should we know about NLAA's forthcoming production of Jesus Christ Superstar?

30:01 | Must-Do Activities in Ely: Have a leisurely afternoon on a pontoon

33:02 | International Wolf Center & North American Bear Center

35:07 | Meet the Root Beer Lady at the Dorothy Molter Museum

38:07 | Ely's Historic State Theater -- $7 movies!!!

40:20 | Ely Steam Sauna ("sow-na")

42:48 | Admire the d'Havilland Beavers at the USFS Seaplane Base on Shagawa Lake

44:12 | Semers Park Beach & Adventures on the islands

45:15 | Find a favorite rock, maybe pillow rock??

46:46 | Ely Winton History Museum at MN North Vermilion Campus

48:24 | Bois Forte Heritage Center & Cultural Museum

48:48 | Find Your Listening Point -- Sigurd Olson's Listening Point

49:13 | Best Hikes in Ely

52:10 | Soudan Underground Mine Tour

56:05 | Take an Ely Folk School Class! (But what even is a folk school?)

59:16 | See a Northern Lakes Arts Association (NLAA) production!!

Boundary Waters Connect -- Considering moving to northeast Minnesota? Let us help you! We offer programs and services for new, established, and prospective residents to strengthen our social fabric. 

NLAA Presents Newsies, Jr -- Two shows only! Friday, July 3

NLAA Presents Jesus Christ Superstar -- Buy your tickets today! Various shows July 17-26

Northern Lakes Arts Association -- The Northern Lakes Arts Association (NLAA) is a premier arts & cultural nonprofit organization in Ely. NLAA was one of the founding organizations of the Ely Cultural Alliance. 

Ely Cultural Alliance -- Offering a summer passport program! Pick up a copy of the Ely Summer Times, and find our passport in the centerfold. Secure stamps from each participating loction to enter a drawing for a prize basket. Attend the Ely Cultural Alliance Toast to the Season event on Sunday, September 13. 

Transcript

Lacey Squier 0:08

Judan Underground Mind Tour.

Dovid Adler 0:10

I wanna go so bad.

Lacey Squier 0:11

Me and Dovid have been.

Dovid Adler 0:12

Yeah, we went two years ago and it was really, really cool.

Lacey Squier 0:16

Did your guide sing to you?

Dovid Adler 0:18

What? Sing like a song in specific? Or just throughout the thing? Miles underground and it was freezing down there. Terribly cold. Yeah, it was it was definitely one of my favorite days of that first summer I was here.

Olivia Sauerberg 0:38

I've never seen anything like that before in my entire life.

Dovid Adler 0:40

A singing Torga.

Jacob Stevens 0:41

I was just gonna say it sounds like a job for you. I was like, I'm a little intrigued.

Lacey Squier 0:51

Welcome to Wilderness Edge, a podcast for people who are curious about communities on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. My name is Lacey Squire, and I invite you to join me in conversation with a group of professional theater artists who are spending the summer in Ely as part of the Northern Lakes Arts Association's Broadway in the Boundary Waters cast. We'll talk through a list of tourism must-dos in the Ely area, as well as the cast's first impressions of life on the edge of the wilderness. Hey friends.

Olivia Sauerberg 1:22

Hey.

Lacey Squier 1:26

Oh my gosh, this is gonna be so delightful. I wonder

Jacob, Olivia, Dovid, & Austin introduce themselves

Lacey Squier 1:30

if you'd be willing to take turns and introduce yourselves to our listeners.

Jacob Stevens 1:35

Yes. Okay, I can start. Um hello everyone. Um my name is Jacob Stevens, and this is my first year at Northern Lakes Arts Association, and um I'm playing Jod Fry in Oklahoma and Caiaphys in Jesus Christ Superstar.

Olivia Sauerberg 1:52

Cool. Thanks. Hey everyone, I'm Olivia Sauerberg. Um, this is my third summer with Northern Lakes. Um, and I am playing Lori in Oklahoma and Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar.

Lacey Squier 2:05

Third summer. I know. Welcome back. Thanks.

Dovid Adler 2:10

What's up, Ely? Um, my name is David Adler. Um, this is also my third summer in Ely with Northern Lakes Arts Association. I'm playing Cord Elum in Oklahoma and Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar.

Lacey Squier 2:24

Jesus? Can you get like a three-peat star or something like that from the Northern Lakes Arts Association for coming back?

Dovid Adler 2:31

I'm gonna ask Ian.

Lacey Squier 2:32

Yeah, yeah. You should. We gotta get you some sort of like glass table desktop golden record thing. Yes, drinks.

Austin Anderson 2:41

Maybe a cross, don't you think?

Lacey Squier 2:43

Maybe. What a fitting, what a fitting thing. Right.

Austin Anderson 2:47

Hi everybody. My name is Austin Anderson. This is my surprisingly second year um at the Northern Lake Arts Association. Um, I was here for Into the Woods, and so I'm happy to be back doing um JCS as uh Judas and Oklahoma's Allie Hackham.

Lacey Squier 3:05

Do the thing. Can you sing it?

Austin Anderson 3:07

Oh what a Allie Hackham. Jesus Christ, I can do Ali Hockey.

Lacey Squier 3:17

Sorry if that was undue pressure. I had never seen Oklahoma, and that was a very like memorable little bit of your character. That was a very uh very fun uh character that you brought to life.

Austin Anderson 3:31

I don't know if it's a through line in many productions of Oklahoma, but here Ian really lets us um experiment to our our fullest extent.

Lacey Squier 3:41

Well, I did sort of have that, I as you heard me say, I hadn't seen Oklahoma before, and it I left thinking like, I think that there were some elements that were unique to this production. 100%. I had a lot of curiosities about you know what what was driven by Ian as a director and what was driven by this cast in particular, and I just found myself feeling very curious about you know our local adaptation and and what was different about it compared to other renditions of Oklahoma.

Speaker 4 4:12

Oh yeah.

Lacey Squier 4:12

And I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But okay, let's circle back to Oklahoma. In the meantime, I want to I want to keep learning a little bit about y'all. I'm curious, like, what was your exposure to Ely and other Wilderness Edge communities before you became acquainted, or like before you got booked as cast members through the Northern Lakes Arts Association? Did you have any awareness of these communities or or was this your introduction to them?

Jacob Stevens 4:42

Um I'm this is Jacob speaking, by the way. I don't know if I have to say that probably not. Um I'm actually from Minnesota. I grew up born and raised um from Minnesota, actually Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, if anyone's listening, um, from shout out.

Lacey Squier 4:58

We love our southern Minnesota community.

Jacob Stevens 5:00

Yes, of course. Um, so I have always like known of Ely as like the marker of that's like boundary waters territory, you know. I had never been up here before though, and so it is very lovely to experience the beautiful scenery and just everything that the northern Minnesota wilderness has to offer. Um, not that I've explored it all, but you know, I think there's definitely more to do.

Lacey Squier 5:30

It'd be hard to explore it all.

Jacob Stevens 5:32

Yeah.

Lacey Squier 5:32

1175 likes, y'all. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Just a few. Just a few. Just a few. How about y'all?

Olivia Sauerberg 5:39

I had never been. I I feel like as theater actors in these like professional contracts, we kind of go to places we would have never gone to before. Yes. Um, like I've spent a time in Iowa, I've spent time in like it's kind of you go all over the place wherever it takes you. Um, so it's really nice to be here, and like as someone who like lives in New York City, it's a very different energy and like the most refreshing and and soul inspiring way. Uh I think.

Lacey Squier 6:06

I love to hear it. That's kind of I mean, I think of that as New York City though. I'm like, I want to go to New York City and that would be so refreshing and soul inspiring. Yeah, buildings for like for like five days, maybe yeah, then you're ready to get out of there.

Olivia Sauerberg 6:19

Yeah, yeah.

Dovid Adler 6:20

Yeah. I also had never been to Minnesota before 2024.

Speaker 4 6:25

Yeah.

Dovid Adler 6:26

Um, and I didn't really know what to expect, but it's been really lovely. And I spent some time in upstate New York, so lots of trees up there and woods and such. So I I was used to that. Um, but it's been really, really lovely to be in Ely.

Austin Anderson 6:44

I would have said no, but thinking about it, I feel like before and afterwards of working here the first time, uh, I had been to Montana before. I'd been in Big Fork, which is almost very similar, like this. Like it's very close to Kalispell and Whitefish and Glacier National Park. And so being around like this amount of wilderness isn't out of the ordinary for me. And so I feel like being here is so refreshing because sometimes you get asked to do a show in the middle of Pennsylvania where it's Amish country, and you know, there's people who are riding in horse and buggy compared to like, you know, just finding, you know, deer deer and wildlife just right in the smack dab of zups. Is it zuops? Zoops. Well, zups.

Lacey Squier 7:37

I mean it's the zuponsich family.

Austin Anderson 7:39

The zupons family.

Lacey Squier 7:41

Zupponsich, yep. But I mean, colloquially, people call it zups.

Austin Anderson 7:45

Zups.

Lacey Squier 7:45

You're in good company. In about who really knows Ponswitch.

Austin Anderson 7:48

Yeah.

Lacey Squier 7:48

I love her.

Austin Anderson 7:49

Yeah. So, but no, I I love I love being in Ely because I think very much like what Olivia said, it's so nice to be in a quiet and welcoming area when comparatively to New York City, where there's like what 8.3 million people. I feel like I've never seen that all. Yeah, you're right. You know, compared to 3,000, I feel like I've gotten 3,000 hellos compared to 8.3 million smiles, even. Yeah. So it's it's so so interesting to see the the push and pull and what makes being in like a uh a town so far away from like the cities like very special in a way.

Lacey Squier 8:34

Well, and how cool that your careers, your lives just afford you the ability to go from place to place and sort of challenges you to identify what's beautiful about each place, even if it's not an obvious kind of beauty, or I don't know, like thinking of middle of nowhere Pennsylvania or rural Iowa, like I don't I love uh I love prairie land and a rolling hill and small town.

Speaker 4 8:59

Right.

Lacey Squier 8:59

Um what's like I don't know, now I just have all these questions about like the weirdest places you've ever had to go, or like, or how does Ely

The Ely audience is passionate and interactive; they go beyond surface level.

Lacey Squier 9:09

what what's different or unique? Have you observed anything about the Ely audience that stands apart from other audiences?

Dovid Adler 9:18

They're very passionate. Since we're able to like uh get into an assembly line and shake everyone's hand after the shows, you really get to hear everyone's opinion. And uh they're some of the most passionate like audience members I've met. And that's really refreshing. A lot of people just don't care. They're gonna leave and they're just gonna be like, oh, you know, let's go get ice cream.

Jacob Stevens 9:43

But they love to share their experience with you. Yes. Like I play Judd Fry, who, if you haven't seen Oklahoma, is a villain. And um, but but I I think, and I think many other people think that he's just a very misunderstood character. And I have had a couple people after the shows come up to me and say, just like, wow, what a complex character, and to just not take um that character at surface level and to to uh hear that the work that I'm doing at as an actor and to put into my character is being um received by the audience, and so you don't always get to hear that. And so it's very nice to talk to the um locals after or whoever's at the show. Yeah.

Lacey Squier 10:33

So it's kind of an interactive audience and an audience that's maybe more insistent on inserting their own perspective. And yeah, I didn't mean to say that in such a judgmental sounding way, but just like people like, let me tell you what I think about what you just did, or let me tell you about the last time I when I saw Oklahoma in New York City, or whatever. A lot of that, yeah. I love it.

Austin Anderson 10:54

I think they're very grateful and then very thankful too. And I I don't know if y'all feel this way, but I felt from Thursday all the way to Sunday, the audience grew more fond of the show in a way. I feel like from Thursday, it was all opening night is always like a roar, but Sunday, I feel like Sunday was like our most lively audience at a at a 2 p.m. You know? So they they were loving it. So I think, and I think

Word of mouth makes the world go 'round.

Austin Anderson 11:23

also people say word of mouth is super big. Yeah, and I don't think I've seen it play more of a component in ticket sales than here. Yes. I think people I think people really, really trust the people in their community when they say, hey, if there's something to do this weekend, go do this.

Lacey Squier 11:40

Yeah. You know, I do believe that's something I have come to observe about life up here is at least as I see it, from my perspective, it's very in person. Yes. And obviously there's a lot, it's so cool that we have digital tools to help us connect, but the phrase I've been using for a while is word of mouth makes the world go round.

Speaker 4 12:01

Yeah.

Lacey Squier 12:02

Cause we'll say, like, well, we put an ad in the paper, we have an ad in the radio, we put posters at the grocery store, we have all these things, but the message isn't getting out the way we want it to. And it's like, well, tell your friends and tell them to tell their friends. Like it's yeah, there's nothing quite like someone saying, Oh my gosh, have you seen Oklahoma yet? You have to go. Yeah.

Jacob Stevens 12:21

Yeah.

Lacey Squier 12:22

Which is what I was doing all day Sunday because I went to the Saturday night show. Yeah.

Jacob Stevens 12:27

So you're the reason we had such a life based on day crowd.

Lacey Squier 12:30

You're welcome. Um, I I can't take credit for that, but I do think that the work that y'all are doing stands on its own, and the program has such a reputation for being awesome. Um, but yeah, I was really struck by Oklahoma. I hadn't seen I didn't know the plot, and I found that it took me, I guess, spoiler alert for listeners who don't know the plot of Oklahoma, but my like my

Discussing themes in NLAA's Oklahoma! What made our local production unique?

Lacey Squier 13:00

I clung to the like trope of wanting the underdog to succeed. And I just like I denied every clue that the plot gave that Judd was gonna be a gnarly character, and I just like thought it was gonna be like, oh, but what we want the quiet lonely man to have love, you know? Right. Like it took me so long to let go of the idea that Judd would be differently redeemed or redeemed at all, I guess, in the plot. Um and I really appreciate like Ian's director's note in the playbill because it set me up to be thinking about the themes of like, well, why is Judd's character this way? Right. And what like I don't know, it it made me think a lot about toxic masculinity and like the kind of cyclical nature of loneliness, and yeah, yeah, and I was so caught in thinking, like, well, why did Lori feel like she had to say yes to him anyways? Yeah. Um and why did Lori not give herself permission to just love Curly? You know, like I was really like totally grip gripped with those thoughts, and I got lost in them during the amazing dance scene.

Austin Anderson 14:26

Oh my gosh.

Lacey Squier 14:27

Like, what a mesmerizing thing.

Austin Anderson 14:30

Am I right?

Lacey Squier 14:31

Yeah, right. Totally, totally. And who was it Evelyn who's the choreographer?

Austin Anderson 14:36

Uh Catron.

Lacey Squier 14:37

Oh, Kat Tron, yes. Shout out to Katron because the choreography was dynamite.

Jacob Stevens 14:43

Oh my goodness. Evelyn did the fight choreography.

Lacey Squier 14:45

Oh, that's where that's coming from. Well, I mean, bravo on the fight choreography.

Jacob Stevens 14:50

Those they feel so real.

Lacey Squier 14:52

Yeah.

Jacob Stevens 14:53

I mean it's not, don't worry.

Lacey Squier 14:55

How are you doing? Yeah.

Jacob Stevens 14:57

I mean, I'm healing out pretty well, so yeah.

Lacey Squier 15:00

Yeah, but I I thought, and then it ended very sort of like with this like little haunting note. Yes. And that stuck with me as well, because there's this, I mean, I don't know, like there's this sort of climactic terrible thing that happens at the end. Yes.

Speaker 4 15:19

Yeah.

Lacey Squier 15:19

And Aunt Eller is sort of like giving Lori a bit of like real talk, wake up call, grow up, like sorry about it, a little heart to heart. And then it ends with just Lori on stage and Curly calls her, but then so does Jud. Right? Yeah. And I was like, what?

Olivia Sauerberg 15:39

Yeah, I think I talked a lot with Ian, of course, about this and like the dynamics of it all. Um and like Ian is really interested in kind of twisting the classic Oklahoma on its feet a little bit and like diving more into like the community aspect of Oklahoma and like doing a show like Oklahoma in a small town where everybody knows everybody already. It kind of like mirrors that in a way. Um, and also kind of approaching it a little bit as well from like a feminine perspective. Um, and the question of like, well, Lori's deciding whether she wants to be married for a decent amount of the show, in my opinion. And then it's like the well, the feelings towards Jud, the feelings towards Curly playing on that. And I think that the ending note was Ian's kind of brain child. And um Ian, I'm obviously I can't say it perfectly as it's his idea, but um, the idea that like in life you always make a choice, and like there's always this negative space of this other choice, and the echo of that and that timeline or like what could have been will always live in you, and you you go back to thinking about that and you oh all the what ifs, what ifs playing with that. And I think that like we also played with the fact that something so traumatic is happening on her wedding day right in front of her. This thing of shock of seeing the man that she loves. Spoiler alert, when this airs, the show will already be over. So if you haven't seen it, then you're not gonna see it. You missed it. Um you missed it, you missed it. But like seeing Judd die in front of her by the hands of the man that she loves, a man that she does have love for, I think, as well, is it's really interesting. And it was really fun to play in like the dichotomy of all of that and get into the nitty-gritty of what can just be silly sometimes. You know, people can just think of Oklahoma as beautiful music and like not that much depth to it. But at the end of the day, I think there's a lot more to it than that. Oh, yeah, and y'all infused a lot of depth.

Jacob Stevens 17:40

I I also think it's something to say about how um you know Judd dies and then it's like bam, they move on, like so quickly, and then the show's over. And there's really no, like you said, redemption for that. And so I think Ian's ending really acknowledges, like you said, that alternative choice that she could have made, and it doesn't just go forgotten, you know.

Lacey Squier 18:10

Well, and I thought too, from a maybe like a a feminist perspective or from a different perspective, like what the fear and the sort of like potential harm that sort of gets um represented through the dream sequence and the sort of ominous nature of how the Judd character says Lori's name at the end, it's just like a reminder that like the risks of those behaviors aren't gone from our society. Absolutely, like it's sort of threatening sounding, and it's this looming threat, and it isn't gone. Yeah, right. And the Lori character will have to live with that forever. Yeah. Um, and curl and every character, right? Yeah. Um, and it also is just like one final note to the audience like, think about Judd. Yeah, yeah. People forget about Judd. Yeah, and that's sort of exactly why presumably he was showing up in society the way that he was. Yeah, because he got forgotten about. I don't know. That's like where my brain was going. And I I went like, yeah, I just went up to all of you probably afterwards and was like, I have to go home and read so many think pieces, I have so much to think about, which is why I like art. And that's what's cool.

Olivia Sauerberg 19:29

What Ian really wanted with this too is if people just wanted to come see the classic Oklahoma, you get to see that. But if people also came in with a perspective of like never being exposed to it or like wanting more from it, they could also glean that from the show. And it sounds like at least for you, it did its job.

Lacey Squier 19:47

Yeah, yes, yes. I think the people of Ely were, and if if I can use myself as an example, then definitely open to the contemplating the the themes and the topics presented. So thank you for doing the work of putting them on stage and making them so darn compelling as well.

Dovid Adler 20:06

Well, thanks for coming.

Lacey Squier 20:07

Yeah, thank you. Very kind words.

What should we know about NLAA's forthcoming production of Jesus Christ Superstar?

Lacey Squier 20:10

So tell me about JCS. Jesus Christ.

Austin Anderson 20:16

I think you gotta go. No, you're the you're first, and then I'll but I'll betray.

Jacob Stevens 20:21

You're the first perspective.

Austin Anderson 20:23

Well, this is I think besides Oklahoma, everybody in the community, the second you say Jesus Christ Superstar, they either start singing at you, yeah, like or you they go, Oh my gosh, that's from when I was in school. You know, like they just go ballistic about it. And it's I I I wrote a paper about this in school that it was my favorite musical at the time, because I think it has such a new and fresh perspective on a story we all know all know the ending of. You know, I I think like who doesn't know at the at the end that Judas betrays Jesus and Jesus dies and resurrects, and you know, that's the world we live in. What? Oh my god. You know, spoiler people.

Lacey Squier 21:18

I know I've actually never read the Bible, and recently someone sent me, you know, just like a silly thing on the internet of someone doing a book review of the Holly Bible, which I thought was super funny. Um, but I do in fact know the major movements of the story of the Holy Bible, so don't worry. No, exactly.

Austin Anderson 21:35

It's like I don't I don't think anyone is ever shocked at Jesus Christ superstar. Like, I can't believe he died.

Speaker 4 21:41

Yeah.

Olivia Sauerberg 21:42

You know.

Austin Anderson 21:43

Um, but it's it's such an interesting show because I think it really hits home for you know a lot of people who are raised Catholic and and then Christian. But I think it's such a moving piece because. It it really falters this line between like, is this the actual story of like the actual telling of Christ? Or is it just this is some guy who has really gotten his like his his ego inflated and really does believe he is, you know, the the coming of the coming of Christ. And so from the perspective of Judas, it's like a really good friend of his who's like, you know, gone way too far in um his mission and what he sought out to do and what like he wanted to lead by an example has now gotten so out of hand he wants to stop it before he gets in trouble, and then ultimately it gets a little crazy for everybody involved. So you know it's it's it's really gripping and it's really short. You know, so it's it's it's super crisp and it's like an hour and 20 minutes. So it's just music.

Lacey Squier 23:03

It's just one act only.

Dovid Adler 23:05

It depends. It depends how it's gonna be directed. It could be one act, but it could be two.

Lacey Squier 23:10

Yeah, so do you know what like Ian's the director?

Austin Anderson 23:14

Yeah, yeah, we'll probably have um two acts, I think. That would be my guess.

Lacey Squier 23:19

Yeah, well then we gotta get our cookies and lemonade.

Austin Anderson 23:22

Yeah, usually the meatback and all that.

Lacey Squier 23:24

Yeah, I'm always brainstorm cookies darting out of there. Like I want my piece of brownie and my little lemon. Yeah, we're we're bring my dollars for the 50-50 raffle.

Austin Anderson 23:35

Andrea not being in Jesus Christ Superstar is a little worrisome because we we will miss pastries on Friday. Yeah, you know.

Lacey Squier 23:45

Well, maybe listeners will hear this and they'll provide, you know, just drop off the pastries that you make to the Vermilion Fine Arts Theater at Minnesota North on Fridays. Yeah, or their sun up to Sunbound.

Jacob Stevens 23:58

So yeah, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

Austin Anderson 24:00

Yeah, yeah. Any old time honestly. We'll take it. We would be happy to sing for any any any form of um uh bakery or or or pastry. Yeah, please.

Lacey Squier 24:10

Well, duly noted. Yeah, duly noted. Um Jesus, do you agree with the plot as presented?

Dovid Adler 24:16

Yeah, I I love Jesus Christ Superstar because I think everybody knows these characters, like Austin was saying, or these people, but the show really uh humanizes the story and takes it from Judas's perspective and set with a rock score, yeah, like music that pretty much everyone can relate to. It just it makes the story so interesting and like it's gonna be a lot of fun to play with um all that.

Austin Anderson 24:48

So yeah, I can't wait.

Lacey Squier 24:50

How exciting. It's so exciting.

Austin Anderson 24:52

I think what David said with like the music, I think from the second the the second song starts, there's like a really, really moving bass line in the second song, Heaven on Their Minds, that I think sets the tone for the rest of the show. It it really fills the the theater with uh I think like a sense of anxiety, you know. I I would say, you know, like the like that really gets really gets your blood. It gets a pulse with a big thing. Yeah, it gets your blood something a little bit. And you're like, oh god, this isn't um uh oh what a beautiful morning. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A banger from Oklahoma who don't know.

Olivia Sauerberg 25:27

And it's like it it kind of takes this story that most people have heard probably a lot of times throughout their life, and kind of makes it so compelling and like eye-catching, and there's like huge dance numbers, and like you got like Pilot and Caiaphas, and like all these characters that like you like people have heard about, and like now they're singing like an 80s disco jazz funk number like that. Um and like when I've the people in the community have like talked to me and like they've been like, Oh, like what are you doing this summer? And I tell them that every time I say Lloyd, they're like uh and then I say Mary Magdalene, and they're like, ooh, and so like it it's it's definitely I think a lot of people are very excited about yeah this show.

Austin Anderson 26:12

And and Jacob's got a lot of really, really, really low stuff to sing. True, and if and another villain, right?

Jacob Stevens 26:19

I know another villain really that's scary.

Dovid Adler 26:22

Villain era.

Lacey Squier 26:24

I don't know, but I know that you make an excellent villain.

Jacob Stevens 26:27

Oh, thank you. Yeah, um, I just wanted you to say that. Um yeah, I play Caiaphas, and he is the villain. He's the high priest, and there's a whole gang of high priests, and um But I feel like you're the highest.

Lacey Squier 26:40

I'm the gang leader, yeah.

Jacob Stevens 26:43

He's the most important priest. Yes. Don't let don't let him fool you.

Austin Anderson 26:46

He is the highest priest of the high priests.

Jacob Stevens 26:48

Yes, the highest of them all. Um yes, and my character sings very low in the bass clef, and it is unlike any role that I've it's it's the lowest singing role I've ever had to play in my life.

Lacey Squier 27:03

So is it like is that difficult? Is that challenging? Is that scary? What do you do?

Jacob Stevens 27:07

Um so it's it it depends on what I'm doing like around the show. Like I feel like this summer I really am not singing very high at all. Like the highest Judd sings is probably like a a D, you know, or in the trouble clef. So like it's um if I'm used to singing lower, it's it's easier to sing like when you're in that zone. Right, when I'm in that zone of bass clef type singing. But um yeah, I I'm super excited to to play the role and um hope hopefully, you know, it's hard to like really be loud and like resonant when you're down there. So um hopefully the mics work. Yeah, could you give us a a taste for the listeners at home? Uh you know, why not you sing heaven on our minds?

Lacey Squier 28:00

Yeah, we'll save it for the production so people gotta, you know, you gotta get your tickets, folks. You want to get them in advanced. Ely is not great at getting tickets in advance, but if you have a particular seat that you love to sit in, then you gotta do that. And I do. I always sit in the middle of the back row. And I wonder if people like when you're on stage, can you see the audience?

Dovid Adler 28:21

Yes, fully.

Lacey Squier 28:23

I feel like it must be I just every once in a while I realize, like, wow, what have I been doing with my face? Because half the time I'm sure I'm just like sort of like mouth agape, like in awe, or like just like RBF by accident, but just so in it.

Dovid Adler 28:40

Anything is better than sleeping. Yes, I'll say that.

Lacey Squier 28:44

Do you make a point of like not looking?

Dovid Adler 28:45

No, I look at people.

Lacey Squier 28:46

Do you?

Dovid Adler 28:47

I make eye contact.

Jacob Stevens 28:48

Yeah, I do not know. It's so fun. Yeah, and I hate knowing where specific people are sitting because my brain is always distracted. Well, I mean, like, that's fine. But like because I can't see the back row anyways, you know. Yeah, but like if I know that, oh, my friend's coming to the show, oh, and she's in the front row, house right. Oh, great. Now I'm gonna be thinking about that the whole time. And that's just me, but yeah, um, yeah.

Olivia Sauerberg 29:14

I don't ever like to look at people ever. I don't want everything, it's just a blur. I kind of keep my eye line always above, unless it's like directed, like in the last number of Oklahoma, we are like looking out into the audience a lot, and then it's like eh, at this point the show's basically over. Yeah, like whatever. But um, yeah, it's like a blob.

Austin Anderson 29:34

Beginning of Oklahoma when we all start out and Truman is just singing into the void. Um, I don't think too many people are looking at Allie Hackham. So uh I look I look around at everybody in the front and try and catch uh who's there and who's not. So it's that's a fun little game I have. Yeah, only got four more chances for that.

Lacey Squier 29:55

Uh five.

Austin Anderson 29:56

Five, five, five shows.

Lacey Squier 29:58

Live shows in total.

Austin Anderson 30:00

Yeah, got to

Must-Do Activities in Ely: Have a leisurely afternoon on a pontoon

Austin Anderson 30:01

something like that.

Lacey Squier 30:02

Well, we had the pleasure of um hosting you all at Tuesday Group a couple weeks ago. So the entire cast or close to the whole cast was at Tuesday Group. It was a very chill experience. Y'all just introduced yourselves and then there was time for QA. And it sort of evolved into like what do the people of Tuesday group, like what does this group of locals think that y'all should be doing with your summer in Ely. So I wonder if we could talk through that list. I would love to.

Speaker 4 30:33

Please.

Lacey Squier 30:34

Because I'm I'm just so curious, like, you know, what is it like to just drop into Ely for the summer? Because you're you're more than tourists for some of you. This is your third time being back, your second summer back, like so you're you're you're residence of this place, but it also is kind of like a short little stage or something, you know. Um okay, so I'm gonna go through the list. You tell me if you've done them, and tell me what you think. Let's just do a little bit of free associating, shall we? Pontoon boat ride. Yes, me and Jacob did it.

Jacob Stevens 31:07

We uh Lindsay, what's her last name again?

Lacey Squier 31:10

Lindsay Lang.

Jacob Stevens 31:11

Lindsay Lang has a pontoon and invited us whoever wanted to come in, like groups of like seven or eight on her pontoon on what lake was that? Do we know? Was it Vermillion?

Lacey Squier 31:22

Burnside.

Jacob Stevens 31:23

Burnside, yes, and she was like, it's the best lake ever.

Lacey Squier 31:27

And the people of Burnside love Burnside.

Jacob Stevens 31:29

Yes, she was very proud.

Olivia Sauerberg 31:32

It was the kindest gesture, and we had so much fun, and it was so cool to just like talk with her and like hear about her life and everything. It was so great.

Jacob Stevens 31:38

Shout out, shout out, Lindsay Lang, and Lindsay Lang.

Lacey Squier 31:42

It might not make a lot of sense for listeners who are thinking about coming up to Ely and scoping it out to like call Lindsay Lang for a boat ride, but they can call uh Silver Rapids Lodge and Lakeview Lodge. So Silver Rapids Lodge is on White Iron Lake and Lakeview Lodge is on Chagwa. And for you all for the summer, if you ever want to rent a pontoon, those are places where you can rent them for a full day or a half day. Okay. It's super fun. And my friends and I sort of like, I mean, quote unquote, discovered this last year. And it's like, oh, I don't need to like become a person who owns a pontoon.

Speaker 4 32:17

Exactly.

Lacey Squier 32:18

I just need to have a cohort of friends who each takes turn paying for a rental, and I could go out multiple times this summer. Right. Exactly. So pretty life-changing realization.

Dovid Adler 32:28

It's a great idea.

Lacey Squier 32:30

I love a leisurely hangout on the water. Relaxing. Nothing like it. Sunbathing?

Dovid Adler 32:36

Yeah. Nothing better.

Lacey Squier 32:38

Nothing better.

Jacob Stevens 32:39

I love this. Vitamin D and D, you know, I'm a good book. I'm original sorry. I'm originally from Minnesota, and like, you know, we have lakes down southwest Minnesota, but not like up here. You know, like it's just something special.

Lacey Squier 32:52

Well, and we got the Boreal Forest. It's just it really is something special. Best to be taken in from a boat.

Austin Anderson 33:01

Oh yeah.

International Wolf Center & North American Bear Center

Lacey Squier 33:02

Um, what about the International Wolf Center?

Austin Anderson 33:04

How can you not load those wolves?

Lacey Squier 33:06

I have been.

Austin Anderson 33:07

They're so cute.

Olivia Sauerberg 33:08

They're so cool. Feeding time. Did you go to that? It was the craziest thing I ever saw.

Lacey Squier 33:14

Was it just utter madness?

Olivia Sauerberg 33:16

It was madness.

Lacey Squier 33:17

Was it like kind of scary?

Olivia Sauerberg 33:19

I just think they're so cute. And I was so interested, and I'd never really known a lot about wolves. I just I don't know. Um, but it was so cool to hear like their like mate, how they mate and like live. And I remember coming back, and this was not this summer, this was two summers ago. I like came back and I was like, everybody, this is everything you need to know about wolves, and it was awesome. Everyone's so interested. So it was it was awesome.

Lacey Squier 33:40

Word of mouth makes the world go round.

Austin Anderson 33:42

I feel like it's a great place to with people with young kids too. It's not as scary as the Bear Center, or you know, ages like four through ten, you know, like they're not as huge and and towering over the kids, like the you know, they're not as proximal, like at the bear center, you could just like exactly they're just right there, right? Um they're so well behaved too.

Lacey Squier 34:06

So you've been to both, yes, the wolf center and the bear center.

Austin Anderson 34:09

Oh my gosh.

Lacey Squier 34:10

What a delight.

Austin Anderson 34:11

We actually had three people who were all new this year go, what was that? Like uh this past weekend, and they loved it. They said they hadn't I mean, I don't think they'd ever been to another bear center in America.

Lacey Squier 34:26

But I think um Nor have I now come here now I think about it.

Austin Anderson 34:30

I think I've only seen a Wolf Center, a bear center, and it happened to be in Ely, Minnesota. So, you know, another great reason to come and visit. Um but no, they they said that it was the coolest thing and they would recommend it to anyone who's coming here for the first time. That's the first place I should check out is the Bear Center.

Lacey Squier 34:46

Yeah.

Austin Anderson 34:47

I agree.

Lacey Squier 34:48

Amazing. Well, and I just like it's great to be able to spend some time in like the curated sections, and they both have places for kids to play and coloring pages and sort of like passive activities, and then you get to see the animals like up close and personal. It's pretty

Meet the Root Beer Lady at the Dorothy Molter Museum

Lacey Squier 35:07

cool. What about the Dorothy Multer Museum? Have you all been there yet? Where is that? I have not sure.

Olivia Sauerberg 35:13

That but that's we've tried the root beer. We had got some welcome baskets from our amazing board, and they all had some of the root beer in it.

Jacob Stevens 35:20

So I met one of the like interns because they they must hire interns for the summer, and they're staying, or one of them is someone staying by us, like where we live. And I met this group of girls, and one of them at the Arts in the Park um festival that we sing at every Tuesday.

Austin Anderson 35:39

Another great thing to come check out.

Jacob Stevens 35:41

Please come listen to us sing. Um buy things. Um, but uh one of them gave me like a free uh root beer like chip. And I was like, I need to get my ass to the Dorothy Malter Museum. Yes, get root beer.

Lacey Squier 35:56

So if you've been to the Wolf Center, then you've driven past the Dorothy Malter Museum. So it's on the east side of town. Okay, and there's a beautiful stand of red pines that's very well maintained. Thank you, um, Dorothy Moulter Museum crew and collaboration they have with Vermilion um forestry students. But you would just turn south off of that main drag in town when you see a sign for the Dorothy Moulter Museum. And the story is, and Brett, you're welcome to chime in if you know this more accurately or better, but Dorothy Moulter was the last non-Indigenous resident of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. So when the wilderness was formed through an act of Congress in 1964, it was kind of like, all right, everyone, get out. And she was like, na dog, and and like really held out um for a long time. Yeah. And there's a lot more to the story. I don't know if there's any top line layers that should be added, lest I get in trouble.

Jacob Stevens 36:56

I think that's the new bumper sticker quote, na dog. Na dog, Dorothy Moultur.

Lacey Squier 37:01

Yeah, and like she was just an insanely strong woman, independent woman, and she operated, long story short, there's so much more nuance to be had, but operated this sort of like property where Boundary Waters trekkers would then go and either stay or help out or just visit, but they'd get like a bottle of root beer. Like, can you imagine being on like a 10-day trip in the wilderness? You have no cooler, no ice, no carbonated beverage of any kind, and you're just like living off of granola and boiled coffee. Right. And then you stumble across a place where you can pay a nickel for a bottle of root beer. That's crazy.

Dovid Adler 37:40

That is crazy.

Lacey Squier 37:41

At my house, we play the game of answering the question, what would you do for a Klondike bar? Like in a very literal sense, like literally, what would you do for a Klondike bar?

Speaker 4 37:50

Yeah.

Lacey Squier 37:50

And I just think like if you're in the midst of a wilderness journey, like what would you do for a bottle of cold bubbly root beer? Oof, probably. And that is Dorothy Moulter. That's her legacy, root beer lady. Oh my god. So you gotta go to the museum, okay? It's on the list.

Dovid Adler 38:06

We will check that out.

Ely's Historic State Theater -- $7 movies!!!

Lacey Squier 38:07

Um, have you been to Ely's Historic State Theater?

Dovid Adler 38:09

Yes. It's one of my favorite places.

Lacey Squier 38:12

You're so passionate about it. Tell us why.

Olivia Sauerberg 38:15

Um, I live in New York City. A movie in New York City is like $25. I'm an AMC Stubbs lister in the city. Where can you see a movie for $7? They got hot dogs, they got soda, they got, I mean, the a bar, like everything. It is anything. Yeah, but you can get a margarita.

Dovid Adler 38:33

Yeah, yeah. I've never been to a movie theater that you can get alcohol or THC drinks.

Lacey Squier 38:38

You can get both at Ely State Theater.

Austin Anderson 38:40

It's amazing.

Lacey Squier 38:41

It's pretty exciting.

Austin Anderson 38:42

Yeah, I'm not a big movie watcher, but you know, what can you do for seven dollars these days? I don't think a lot. So I think bar that right, exactly. I think that gets me out the house. And you know, I I saw Toy Stories coming soon. I'll be sat. Maybe the minions.

Lacey Squier 38:59

Yeah, I mean I saw the Toy Story movie as sort of the the theme is like screens.

Austin Anderson 39:04

Yeah, iPads.

Lacey Squier 39:06

I feel really it's like my child. I love talking about that topic.

Austin Anderson 39:09

Oh my gosh.

Lacey Squier 39:10

Screen addiction.

Austin Anderson 39:11

I I I heard that a bunch of um I guess we can call them youngins. Because I think all of us identify a little older in this room.

Lacey Squier 39:23

Um but I identify as older, right?

Austin Anderson 39:28

Um but I heard that they're they told their parents that they're um uh looking to find more time outside and off the screens because of Toy Story 5. Amazing. Come on, Disney. Save in 2026.

Lacey Squier 39:44

First hoppers. Yeah, I know. Toy Story Five. Hoppers is of I haven't seen it.

Jacob Stevens 39:49

Oh, it's you need to see Hoppers. It's so good.

Lacey Squier 39:54

I'm sorry, but every time I go into Disney Plus, I just re-watch Beyonce's Blackest King.

Austin Anderson 39:58

Oh my gosh. I mean the truest thing about me. If there's something second to watch after that, it hoppers. It's hoppers. It is. I I got Dubid and Olivia, and I told y'all, not a movie person, but oh my goodness, I got Dubai and Olivia and Jacob. I said hoppers. I said, please go watch it. Oh my god.

Lacey Squier 40:18

All right, that's intriguing. Yes, that's intriguing.

Ely Steam Sauna ("sow-na")

Lacey Squier 40:20

Well, maybe you can watch it before or after you go to the Ely Steam sauna.

Dovid Adler 40:25

Yes, I've been wanting to go there.

Olivia Sauerberg 40:26

But they followed me on Instagram last year. Amazing. I follow them back now, and I'm I'm looking to book an appointment.

Lacey Squier 40:33

It is so you can rent you, you there are public like steam rooms um broken down by sex, I guess you would say, the male or female space. But then you can also rent a sauna, like a smaller sauna space for your small group of whatever makeup you prefer. Yes. And both are um highly recommended cultural experiences.

Dovid Adler 41:00

Ely culture?

Lacey Squier 41:02

Just life culture, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I mean sauna culture is really important up here. There's a lot of, I mean, I think it's of course we have the indigenous peoples, you know, the Anishinaabe people and the Dakota before that who lived up here. And then when the logging started, that became the mining, then there were I think it 24 different like European ethnicities that were represented in the immigration to the Ely area. Chief among them were the Slovenians and the Finnish people. So Finnish sauna culture is alive and well, and it's also true that communities up here have a higher prevalence of people who live off-grid in dry cabins and don't have showers. So for often for people, like going to the steam sauna can be like how they access a shower.

Jacob Stevens 41:53

Wow.

Speaker 4 41:53

Wow.

Lacey Squier 41:55

So I myself have a shower at my house.

Jacob Stevens 41:59

Um, so I keep hearing you say sauna. Is that how y'all say it up here?

Lacey Squier 42:05

I think it's how they say it everywhere. Oh.

Jacob Stevens 42:08

That's like the right thing. That's where you're wrong.

Lacey Squier 42:11

No, I went to where I went to college, there was a sauna society, and um, those people were super annoying, but they made us all adopt what they considered the proper pronunciation. So I'm just I've just been sort of like yeah, wrist slapped into participating.

Jacob Stevens 42:26

Maybe we're saying No, I think we are, guys. I think we I think we are it's actually the Finnish pronunciation. Sauna. Sauna. Okay, well, there you go. I'll start saying sauna. You heard it here.

Lacey Squier 42:39

So you gotta get on the Ely steam sauna. It's the longest, um, it's the longest standing Ely business.

Speaker 4 42:46

Ooh.

Lacey Squier 42:47

Um,

Admire the d'Havilland Beavers at the USFS Seaplane Base on Shagawa Lake

Lacey Squier 42:48

have you been to the seaplane base to check out our U.S. Forest Service De Havilland beaver planes?

Austin Anderson 42:55

I heard that's the coolest thing to do in Ely. I feel it.

Lacey Squier 42:58

The people of Tuesday group were really enthusiastic.

Austin Anderson 43:01

That was that was the prime event.

Lacey Squier 43:04

We're really proud that we have an international seaplane base here run by our U.S. Forest Service, and the local folks who are the pilots for those beavers are scouting fires, they're running rescue trips, they're fighting fires. So it's really important that we have them. And it's a it's a vintage airplane that they just like people revere. They don't make them better than the De Havelin beaver. And as you can see, I have drunk the Kool-Aid even though I know none of this as a primary source. I just lived here long enough to be able to say all of those things with utter conviction.

Austin Anderson 43:44

That's amazing. I believed you. I thought you flew one of those beavers.

Olivia Sauerberg 43:49

Yes.

Lacey Squier 43:50

I mean, we are we are close personal friends with our neighbors who do this for their work. But also, if you ever go to Seamers Park Beach, like where else can you go to just Like, I'm gonna go to the local park that's on the lake, and then I'm gonna watch an airplane take off and land on the water.

Jacob Stevens 44:08

Right, yeah, it's just kind of cool. That's so like Minnesota, yeah. Yeah,

Semers Park Beach & Adventures on the islands

Jacob Stevens 44:12

you know.

Lacey Squier 44:12

Have you been to Seamers Park Beach yet? Does hanging out on a good, like busy day?

Olivia Sauerberg 44:18

Yeah, I love it. We've gone to Ely Pride every year. Oh yes. Which is always at Seamers, and then right? People always go there on the 4th of July too, right? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Um, and then it's nice. We always have a few locals that are in the shows um with us, and they always they're always I there's something that now it's every Thursday that there's like a bonfire at Seamers or something. Uh Friday nights. Friday nights, yeah. So Seamers is a great. I'm looking forward to the weather getting a little bit warmer in July to be more acquainted with Seamers Beach.

Lacey Squier 44:47

Likewise. I went there uh last night, Sunday night, and I was like, I'm freezing cold. Why am I here? And I still had a wonderful time, but there was no swimming to be had. Yeah. But I love Seamers Park Beach. I just love uh do you do you ever go hiking out of the islands out there?

Olivia Sauerberg 45:04

I've I've parlayed a little bit into the not not super far out, just in like the immediate one that's like kind of close, but yeah.

Lacey Squier 45:12

My favorite rock is on that island.

Find a favorite rock, maybe pillow rock??

Lacey Squier 45:15

You gotta you gotta find yourself a favorite rock, okay?

Austin Anderson 45:18

Okay. It wouldn't happen to be related to Pillow Rock, would it?

Lacey Squier 45:23

Well, I mean, I guess it's related to Pillow Rock as in they're probably like geological brethren. Right. Yeah. They probably are related for sure. But it isn't explicitly pillow rock, but I'm so impressed that you know about Pillow Rock.

Austin Anderson 45:37

I mean, if it wasn't the seaplanes and the beaver planes that I'm that I'm not reading off of this paper I have in front of me. It has to be pillow rock.

Lacey Squier 45:51

It has to be pillow rock. I mean, 2.7 billion years old. That's old.

Dovid Adler 45:56

I thought somebody said four billion. Someone did say four billion years old.

Lacey Squier 46:00

I think someone said four billion. And I'm just, I can't, I can't get around say for sure. But on at elie.org slash adventure, you can check out these like digital guides.

Speaker 4 46:12

Uh-huh.

Lacey Squier 46:13

And there's one, like there's itineraries for different subgroups, like an itinerary for families, an itinerary for like seasoned adventurers, okay, not like entry-level hikers. Um, and then one for history buffs, and it refers to Pillow Rock as a rare ellipsoidal lava flow formed beneath primeval seas 2.7 billion years ago.

Olivia Sauerberg 46:37

Wow.

Austin Anderson 46:37

Isn't Ely so cool? Incredibly cool. I don't think you get that in uh any part else of the country.

Lacey Squier 46:45

It is pretty

Ely Winton History Museum at MN North Vermilion Campus

Lacey Squier 46:46

cool. So speaking of how cool Ely is, have you been to the Ely Winton History Museum?

Austin Anderson 46:50

We have. That's the one attached to the theater, right?

Lacey Squier 46:54

Yeah, yeah.

Austin Anderson 46:54

Yeah, yes. I was I thought I was alone on that one. Yeah, I was like, I don't know what other museum I've been to by myself, but yeah.

Olivia Sauerberg 47:03

Sometimes we get like 15-minute breaks in between rehearsals, and we'll go and like walk around in there and check it out a little bit.

Austin Anderson 47:09

Yeah, no, and I I I like um what is it? They have such a dedicated team over there who are really I feel invested in upholding everything and making sure like you you follow the trail and what you need to do and the little pamphlet that they have. And I I had the sweetest lady, I don't remember her name, but she was like, if you could just after why uh checking this out, sign our little thing so we stay your guest book? Yeah, she'll we stay um relevant. And I was like, oh my gosh. And so did you sign it? Of course I did. I wanted to sign it twice over, but you know everyone go there now. Yeah, I I go in I go in there on breaks and stuff, and I love to check it out, and they have really, really sweet volunteer staff who just love to be there and tell you all about what's going on in there.

Lacey Squier 48:02

Yeah, honestly, so much of this town is run on volunteer love and labor.

Austin Anderson 48:06

Yeah.

Lacey Squier 48:07

And, you know, I think it's definitely our organizations would love to grow, and it's like getting enough people to be patrons so that they can grow enough to hire more staff. Yes. You know, so like we want people to check these things out. Um, speaking of museums, there

Bois Forte Heritage Center & Cultural Museum

Lacey Squier 48:24

is also the Boys Fort Cultural and History Museum. That's not in town, you would drive to um basically outside of tower.

Speaker 4 48:34

Uh-huh.

Lacey Squier 48:35

Um, but that's a really valuable wonderful learning experience. You can learn specifically about Anishinaabe history and heritage. Okay. So I put that on your list of things to do. And

Find Your Listening Point -- Sigurd Olson's Listening Point

Lacey Squier 48:48

then if you're headed that way out of town, you can also check out Sigurd Olson's listening point. So Sigurd Olson is, we kind of say like the Aldo Leopold of Northern Minnesota. Yeah. A very well-loved, um, well-reviewed, revered author, very prolific writer. Um, so you can see the cabin where he was riding from. Um, Burnt Side Lake.

Dovid Adler 49:12

That's awesome.

Best Hikes in Ely

Lacey Squier 49:13

Um, more in the hiking zone. Have you hiked the secret blackstone loop?

Dovid Adler 49:19

That sounds really familiar, but I don't know.

Lacey Squier 49:22

I don't think so.

Dovid Adler 49:22

We've done hikes, but we haven't always been told what the hike is that we're doing.

Lacey Squier 49:27

That makes sense.

Dovid Adler 49:28

We just go where we're told to go, and then we just do the hike.

Lacey Squier 49:30

And you're like, behold the beauty.

Dovid Adler 49:32

Yeah. I'm like, this is awesome.

Lacey Squier 49:34

Wish we've done twice.

Dovid Adler 49:36

Yep. And then we did. What's the one where you walk up to the waterfall?

Olivia Sauerberg 49:40

Dry falls.

Dovid Adler 49:41

Let's dry falls fast like this. Next on the list.

Olivia Sauerberg 49:43

We did that once last summer, two summers ago. And I'm itching to go again because it's basically just a pool. Yeah.

Jacob Stevens 49:49

Yeah. That one was awesome. But that's what I'm saying.

Olivia Sauerberg 49:51

Did you say you did that recently?

Jacob Stevens 49:52

Yeah, I did that a a few weeks ago with Sydney Cox. She plays Gertie in Oklahoma. And the one who laughed. Oh, and Annas.

Lacey Squier 50:01

The one who laughed.

Jacob Stevens 50:02

Yeah, the one who laughed. And Annis and Jesus Christ. Super sorry. Sorry, I didn't include that part. Um, but yeah, we had so much fun. It is like it took about like three hours. Because we went like around.

Lacey Squier 50:14

Oh, you went around?

Jacob Stevens 50:15

Yeah. Yeah.

Lacey Squier 50:16

Okay, you did the longer version.

Jacob Stevens 50:18

Amazing. We had a day where, you know, Judd and Gertie and Allie Hackham. I'll include you in this too. You know, they I think they were doing the ballet that week. And the ballet, if you haven't, if you're not informed, is like a really long The Oklahoma dream sequence.

Lacey Squier 50:36

Yes.

Jacob Stevens 50:36

Yes, the the the dream ballet.

Lacey Squier 50:38

It's like 10 minutes long.

Jacob Stevens 50:39

Yeah, 10 minutes long. It is. And so, you know, they have to choreograph all that. Well, Allie Hackham and Gertie and Judd, you know, we're not in it until like halfway through, really.

Dovid Adler 50:48

That's not true. Okay. I danced with Gertie like the whole time.

Jacob Stevens 50:51

We were doing something that week that we were a month.

Dovid Adler 50:55

I think the number.

Jacob Stevens 50:55

Oh, okay. Well, whatever. Um but uh yeah, we had some time and we did that.

Olivia Sauerberg 51:02

Yeah.

Lacey Squier 51:03

I mean, it's kind of a rigorous hike. Like that's not like a entry level, that's not a beginner-level hike.

Jacob Stevens 51:08

Yeah, I was I was not prepared for all the rocks. But you know, that makes sense, I guess.

Lacey Squier 51:13

Racks. Did you wear shoes that protected your toes?

Jacob Stevens 51:16

Um, I think I wore some Reeboks and you know, called it good.

Lacey Squier 51:21

Yeah.

Jacob Stevens 51:21

Yeah.

Lacey Squier 51:22

You got a workout for the day.

Jacob Stevens 51:23

I did. Yeah. It was great.

Lacey Squier 51:24

And like Olivia said, there's like a pool at the end of the waterfall. Yeah. It's pretty majestic. And I do encourage you to check out, look up Secret Blackstone. And that I think is like the most underrated hike. Like everyone knows the Bass Lake Trail and the you know, going to dry falls is it's the it's not overrated. It is appropriately rated and highly lauded. But the Secret Blackstone loop has some really beautiful, obvious stops, like points of overlook, and just like a it could be like a three-mile, you know, get in, get your heart rate up, sweat a little, yeah. Those leg muscles, and have a lunch. So 10 out of 10, highly recommend.

Dovid Adler 52:09

Awesome.

Lacey Squier 52:09

Sudan

Soudan Underground Mine Tour

Lacey Squier 52:10

Underground Mind Tour.

Dovid Adler 52:11

I want to go so bad.

Lacey Squier 52:13

Me and Dovit have been.

Dovid Adler 52:14

Yeah, we went two years ago, and it was really, really cool.

Lacey Squier 52:17

Did your guide sing to you? What?

Dovid Adler 52:21

Sing like a song in specific, or just throughout the thing.

Lacey Squier 52:27

I wasn't speaking metaphorically, but I could have been. I understand the question. Yeah. No, um at one point, he was just making jokes.

Dovid Adler 52:35

Yeah, he was like a stand-up comedian.

Olivia Sauerberg 52:37

You can think like, oh, the cave's gonna fall on you.

Dovid Adler 52:39

Um that sounds hilarious.

Olivia Sauerberg 52:42

Some people might not think it was funny as I did, but uh no, it was one of the coolest things ever. I felt like I was in Snow White.

Dovid Adler 52:49

Miles underground and it was freezing down there, terribly cold. Yeah, it was it was definitely one of my favorite days of that first summer I was here.

Olivia Sauerberg 52:58

I've never seen anything like that before in my entire life.

Dovid Adler 53:00

A singing tour guide.

Olivia Sauerberg 53:02

Yeah, well, you could do that.

Jacob Stevens 53:03

That's I was just gonna say it sounds like a jump for you. I was like, I'm a little intrigued. Singing tour guide of Ely.

Lacey Squier 53:10

I yeah, the because the miners used to sing songs. Um, and the tour guide when I went, and I've talked about this so many times on the What's a Beaulie podcast, people are probably sick of hearing me talk about it, but like there's a moment where he turned the lights off, and so we're in like the you know, negative 27 floor to kind of talking about what it was like for the miners to be working under there, whether or not they bought their own candle or something, right? And then he sang us a portion of a song, and it was so haunting.

Dovid Adler 53:39

Oh, wait, I did he did do that for us. I remember that. Yeah, it was really scary.

Lacey Squier 53:44

You blocked it out of your brain because it was so haunting, but I was I held on to it because the darkness, yeah, it was so dark and wait.

Austin Anderson 53:50

Do y'all think that's where the song from Snow White comes from? Where the where they go on the mines. Yeah, and they go, Hi ho. Is that is that because they sing the mines? Maybe. Maybe I don't know what you're talking about. Come on. All right, after Hoppers, you have to watch Snow White. Sure.

Lacey Squier 54:12

I think so. You know that's I think you figured it out, Austin.

Jacob Stevens 54:16

Is that where they whistle? Yeah. Uh whistle while you work. No, no, no, no.

Olivia Sauerberg 54:20

That's when she's cleaning the house.

Jacob Stevens 54:21

Oh yeah.

Olivia Sauerberg 54:22

Yeah, it's they whistle and it's off to the house. They're always whistling.

Jacob Stevens 54:26

Yes.

Olivia Sauerberg 54:27

They're dwarves. Obviously, they're whistling.

Jacob Stevens 54:29

Seven. Seven of them. That's her thing. What? Let's move on.

Olivia Sauerberg 54:34

Okay.

Lacey Squier 54:35

There's only two more things on the list, y'all.

What do YOU think should be on the Ely-area tourism must-do list??

Lacey Squier 54:38

And I I want to put a disclaimer for listeners. So this was again, it's a list of like must-do's for when you're experiencing Ely. If you have a little bit of time, if you take issue with this list, we would love for you to contact us and tell us what you think should be added. You have to go to the room. You have to go to Subway.

Dovid Adler 54:56

You have to go to the Subway and Dairy Queen.

Lacey Squier 55:01

Um, the ice cream place. Oh, well, I mean, there is a new ice cream place, and of course, Northern Expressions. Oh my god. Oh, I love Northern Expressions. You never get to go. But Sarah is so nice. Like, truly, one day, if you were to if you could choose a day that you wished she would be open at night, she would open for you. Really? Like she gave a Tuesday group presentation um literally about her love of Prince. Oh what? The artist.

Dovid Adler 55:26

We love Prince. Prince. We could bond. Yes. We're in Minnesota.

Lacey Squier 55:30

And she said that straight up. She was like, hey, if we're not open at a time when you wish we were, like, I'll seriously consider it. If I can do it, I would do it.

Olivia Sauerberg 55:38

Because I've been there two times, maybe three times in all my summers here. And I think it's some of the best ice cream I've ever had.

Lacey Squier 55:45

Wow.

Austin Anderson 55:46

It's so I've always been a rehearsal.

Olivia Sauerberg 55:48

Yeah.

Lacey Squier 55:49

Oh, you guys.

Austin Anderson 55:51

No my god. Okay. It's our five-minute warning. It's a five-minute warning. Thank you for listening.

Lacey Squier 55:57

It's been good. We still we can we're gonna just wrap it up. Two more things on the list. One of them is gonna be really obvious. But the second to

Take an Ely Folk School Class! (But what even is a folk school?)

Lacey Squier 56:05

last one, take an Ely folk school class. Or attend a free Ely folk school event.

Jacob Stevens 56:10

Can you explain what that means? The folk school?

Lacey Squier 56:14

It would be my pleasure.

Jacob Stevens 56:16

Because I've never heard of that until I came here.

Lacey Squier 56:19

I might accidentally you might give an inch, I might, I might take a mile. But the folk school movement dates back to the 19th century, and a Danish scholar and philosopher and theologian named NFS Gruntwig, but basically this guy had the genius idea that as Denmark went from a monarchy to a democracy, that probably the people who were formally peasants in the explicitly segregated society, in order to be able to participate in democracy, they needed to have access to certain education. And at the time, educational institutions were providing education in Latin because that was fashionable. And he had the novel idea that education should happen in the language of the people in ways that are relevant to the common people. So the folk school movement has taken on sort of this like tone of being like oriented towards handcraft, but preserving cultural heritage of the common people. So up here, it's a lot of like make your own paddle for paddling a canoe. Build a canoe in the Ojibwe style with birch bark. Um carve your own spoon. Learn how to. I mean, I don't think we have any knitting classes right now, but we had someone come from a different state and teach how to make a banjo out of a gourd. No wow. So it's like heritage crafts of the common people that you're trying to preserve.

Jacob Stevens 57:47

That's really cool.

Lacey Squier 57:48

Um, but then also there can be tones of like civic engagement and democracy literacy. So the folk school movement has many parts. The Ely folk school is 10 years old and has been very focused on like Iron Range and Wilderness Edge handcraft. So I teach things like pie making. What? Yeah. And this Slovenian delic delicacy called Petitsa. But because I'm really passionate about the sort of like philosophical and like foundations of the folk school movement, I'm teaching a series called Intro to Humanities. Okay. And we're doing dinner parties and reading a chapter of a book and discussing. Oh no. So one time we'll read a chapter of a book about humanism, like the philosophy of humanism. Um, a book called Your Brain on Art will be the second session. A book called Attensity about attention activism. I told you I was interested in the screen addiction conversation. Um, the fourth session, we're gonna read a chapter from Zen and The Art of Saving the Planet, and talk about like spirituality and religion. And then the fifth session, we're gonna talk about um the lyrics from Beyonce's Cowboy Carter album.

Olivia Sauerberg 58:58

Oh wow.

Lacey Squier 58:59

Wait, I'm there. We're at the three of those. We'll put a link in the show notes.

Dovid Adler 59:04

Yes.

Lacey Squier 59:04

Okay, I did. Thank you for asking. I said too much. The final thing, and the Tuesday group didn't recommend this because it was obvious, but we'll make it explicit.

See a Northern Lakes Arts Association (NLAA) production!!

Lacey Squier 59:16

But if you're gonna be in town, you should make a point of seeing a Northern Lakes Arts Association production. You must. Please.

Dovid Adler 59:25

Yeah, please, man.

Lacey Squier 59:26

We'd love to see you there.

Dovid Adler 59:27

What else are you gonna do?

Lacey Squier 59:28

I mean, it's everything else top thing on the list. Uh-huh. Um, and in the most immediate sense, that would be Jesus Christ Superstar, or what I will now forever call JCS. Yeah.

Dovid Adler 59:38

JCS.

Lacey Squier 59:39

Um, and if you can't, well, in addition to that, we have the Arts in the Park every Tuesday. Every Tuesday. Brightside park music at five, right? Yeah. There will be a production of Mean Girls. Yes. Yes, August 1st. And then something else.

Olivia Sauerberg 59:54

Newsies Jr., July 3rd. And you have your whole news basically your whole Newsies Junior team and Mean Girls team, right, sitting in this room with you. Yeah.

Austin Anderson 1:00:04

Pretty much.

Olivia Sauerberg 1:00:05

Wow.

Austin Anderson 1:00:06

We're excited to have those all in the docket.

Olivia Sauerberg 1:00:08

Yeah.

Lacey Squier 1:00:09

Thank you for being here. Thank you for engaging in this conversation with me. Thank you for having us. It's delightful.

Austin Anderson 1:00:16

Yeah. And you mentioned making pies, right?

Lacey Squier 1:00:19

Yeah.

Austin Anderson 1:00:20

You gotta talk to Ian about do you know the show Waitress?

Lacey Squier 1:00:24

I've never seen it, but I know of it.

Austin Anderson 1:00:26

You you have to go watch it. What is it on, y'all? Where can you stream that? I'm not sure.

Jacob Stevens 1:00:32

There's a pro shot something.

Austin Anderson 1:00:33

It's all about pies. Somewhere. Yeah. I feel like there's some other thing on it, but we'll see about that. I think you would.

Lacey Squier 1:00:37

Well, isn't it? It's a Sarah Borellis. Yes. She's behind the music. Yeah.

Austin Anderson 1:00:42

It's music, and it follows the story of Jenna, who's um just a gal in, I think, from Georgia, but it's very nondescript.

Lacey Squier 1:00:52

Um next episode, we're gonna really dive deep into whether or not Jenna's from Georgia.

Austin Anderson 1:00:59

Um, but you know, she goes through a lot of um, what is it, a lot of hardship? I was gonna say emotional battles, but I think hardships are the the right word.

Lacey Squier 1:01:08

And trials and tribulations, yeah, yeah.

Austin Anderson 1:01:10

Yeah, and finds um a lot of solace in her art as a um a pie maker. A pie maker.

Lacey Squier 1:01:19

I do think pie is a very I always whenever I teach it, I'm teaching it like as a philosophy and sort of directing people towards like what poetic lessons you can glean from pie.

Austin Anderson 1:01:31

Oh, wait, so you gotta watch this show.

Lacey Squier 1:01:34

You would love it. You would love it.

Jacob Stevens 1:01:36

You would love it. This is right, you are the target audience in that show. I think you might be Jenna in real life.

Lacey Squier 1:01:42

Yeah, I see. Well, I'll I'll I'll work on taking singing lessons from Ian so I can hear it right. Yeah. Just in my car, of course. Right. Um, well, okay, then when we get the surveys about what NLAA should do in the future, I will be sure to request waiting. Waitress.

Austin Anderson 1:02:00

Waitress.

Lacey Squier 1:02:00

Oh, waiting is something different. What is waitress. Okay.

Dovid Adler 1:02:04

Waiting for a good idea.

Lacey Squier 1:02:05

Any any final thoughts for the people?

Austin Anderson 1:02:07

Thank you for having us. Yeah. Please um if you see this in the time frame from when uh Jesus Christ Superstar is happening in Ely, please come out and check us out. And if you just miss us, I'm sure Me and Girls will be open. So come see me and Girls.

Lacey Squier 1:02:26

Yeah. And we'll put the link in the show notes directly for people to be able to buy tickets. All right, that is all for this episode. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for being here. Our special guests, Olivia, David, Austin, and Jacob. What a pleasure. Um listeners, thank you for listening. The Wilderness Edge podcast is produced by Brett Ross of Boreal Roots Media, and the music is made by Nick Allen. This podcast is brought to you by Boundary Waters Connect, which is the economic and community development project of Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness. You can learn more by visiting boundarywaters connect.org.