Star Tribune
Voters in Detroit Lakes OK sales tax for $17.3M beachfront pavilion
A historic beachfront pavilion in Detroit Lakes will be razed and replaced after voters approved a sales tax to fund a $17.3 million project.
About 2,800 voters or 56% said “yes” to the ballot question on whether the city should impose a 0.5% sale tax for 12 years, or until the city raises enough taxes to pay off bonds financing construction of a new pavilion, park and beachfront improvements. It came down to a margin of 618 votes, according to unofficial results from the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office.
“It was a narrow vote, but there’s a lot of nostalgia with the old pavilion,” said Detroit Lakes Mayor Matt Brenk.
“I remember when I was a kid we used to have the big dances there and everybody would turn out. I mean, it’s a place where a lot of people maybe attended a wedding or met their spouse. So there’s a lot of nostalgia and I think that was where some of the ‘no’ votes came into play.”
Some residents who opposed the project said it’s a waste of tax dollars. But many remarked that they were happy to see improvements made to the pavilion near Detroit Lakes City Park, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
The existing pavilion, not on the historic register, was built in 1915 and replaced a shelter built in 1897, which is the year the park was created. The pavilion is “a focal point of activity over the decades as it has played host to many dances, concerts, weddings, reunions, and other large gatherings,” the city said.
The municipal park beach in front of the pavilion, shown in June 1967.
Despite significant renovations in 2006 to replace the dance floor and build an addition for bathrooms and a kitchen, the foundation, walls and roof are still original from 1915. Age and deterioration have taken a toll.
A structural assessment in 2012 found several architectural deficiencies, namely floor damage, beam misalignment and roof leaks due to poor soil conditions that result in significant seasonal movement. The walls, windows and other building components have experienced significant rot from water leaks. In 2019, a wood beam above the south porch succumbed to years of water damage, the city said.
The Mataafa was driven ashore and broken in two by a storm. (Minnesota Historical Society)
There are at least 550 vessels that have gone to rest in the world’s largest freshwater lake (by surface area), according to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point, Mich.
The nonprofit behind the museum, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, has its own underwater research vessel that scours the lake for wreckage.
The team has had successes finding many long-lost storied ships.
The team was also part of an expedition that recovered the 200-pound bronze bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald.
A 1959 photo shows the Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald.
The Fitzgerald met its fate on the windy night of Nov. 10, 1975. It was carrying 26,216 tons of taconite pellets from Superior, Wis., to Detroit. It began to take on water and the captain reported that they had turned on the 17-year-old vessel’s pumps. Another freighter, the Arthur M. Anderson, trailed the troubled ship.
Minnesota’s counties are more polarized with fewer politically moderate areas.
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DULUTH – A deceased Itasca County commissioner candidate won re-election Tuesday by a landslide.
Grand Rapids, Minn., resident Burl Ives, 57, died Sept. 11, a loss that was well-publicized in local media. He was vying for his third term of the board that oversees the large county, which sits more than an hour northwest of Duluth.
Ives defeated Brian Oftelie with nearly three-quarters of the vote.
It was legally too late to remove Ives’ name from the ballot, said Austin Rohling, Itasca County auditor. Now, the board must certify the election results to declare Ives a winner before they can announce a vacancy — both needed to trigger a special election and likely primary, Rohling said. If all goes as expected, the election will be held in the spring, with a primary in February. An appointment, rather than a special election, requires at least half a term to be served.
So, why did people vote for him?
Rohling said Ives’ family asked people considering write-in names to instead vote for Ives.
They wanted him to win “one last time,” he said, so, for many, “it was a memorialization of a life’s legacy as a servant to the people.”
According to Ives’ obituary, he “had a knack for making friends wherever he went. Whether he was snowmobiling, cruising on his motorcycle, fishing, cooking up a storm with friends or striking up conversations with strangers, he embraced life.”
