Community

Sault tribe makes fall donations of more than $850K

SAULT STE. MARIE – Organizations in the Upper Peninsula will receive a share of $856,473 in contributions from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The support to local government and community organizations is part of the twice-annual payments the Sault tribe has distributed since 1993 to U.P. communities based on 2% of its video gaming revenues from Kewadin Casino properties. Counties benefitting from the 2% contributions include Chippewa, Luce, Mackinac, Schoolcraft, Alger, Delta and Marquette. Examples of communities and local programs benefitting from the fall 2025 ...

St. Thomas bingo makes two $500 donations

ESCANABA — St. Thomas the Apostle Church recently made two donations of $500 each from funds raised during charity games at its weekly bingo nights. The $1,000 total given away was divided between the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots and the Delta County Sheriff Department's Shop ...

Salvation Army sets up Toy Shop

GFWC donates to Players for new theater lighting

ESCANABA — Local theater group Players de Noc recently received a $1,000 donation from the Escanaba branch of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. GFWC had received a request from Players for funds to help cover the cost of replacing the lighting system destroyed in the fire at the ...

New gift box service in IR highlights UP region

IRON RIVER — When Kalee Hernandez of Iron River launched her Upper Peninsula-inspired charcuterie gift box service, CharYooperie, in early December, she had no idea it would take off the way it has. "What started as a small idea has exploded into something the U.P. community has embraced ...

Marquette Choral to be in Carnegie Hall mass choir

MARQUETTE — Starting in January, more than 100 members of the Marquette Choral Society will be preparing for their April 20 performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Dr. Erin Colwitz will conduct a mass choir, made up of singers from the Upper Peninsula and across the country, along with a professional orchestra and soloists. The singers will perform Mozart’s famed “Kronungsmesse” (also known as the “Coronation Mass”), and then will reprise that work, plus Mozart’s “Vesperae solonnes de confessore,” back in Marquette at Kaufman Auditorium on April 25-26. For ...