CRANE LAKE — The grand opening of the newest Voyageurs National Park visitor center had all the makings of this sort of celebration: a long red ribbon, giant scissors and dozens of politicians touting the project.
With the Crane Lake Visitor Center now complete, the park finally has a visitor center in each of its four gateway communities. Just in time for Voyageurs National Park's 50th birthday.
Crane Lake is at the southeastern end of the park, on the south shore of Crane Lake. The park begins on the north shore. The community also serves as a gateway to the Boundary Waters to the east and the wilderness's Canadian sister, Quetico Provincial Park, to the north.
On a hot June 6 afternoon, a crowd of proud locals and far-flung park enthusiasts listened to local officials, county commissioners, state legislators and even Sen. Tina Smith, who said she saw a pair of moose calves on her drive from Duluth.
“Got here and had a chance to have this incredible building, this fruit of the labor of everyone in this community, and it is so spectacular," she said. "It’s going to play such an important role.”
It was a lot of speakers, but it wasn't unwarranted. It took eight years for the visitor center to come together. That's not counting the years of the idea floating around with no real progress.
Various agencies supported the project financially, including the state Legislature, the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation and the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, which distributes state lottery dollars.
Some of the lawmakers who advocated for the project died before it became reality, including state Sen. David Tomassoni and state Rep. David Dill.
Republican Rep. Roger Skraba and DFL Sen. Grant Hauschild currently represent the area at the state level.
"The more that folks like Grant and I — you know, opposite parties — work together and resolve issues and problems, the more [Crane Lakers] see that they can work together and resolve them, too," Skraba said.
Not all locals have come around to the idea of the national park, even after 50 years. Some didn’t want the visitor center, either.
"And then it started happening, and then they're like, 'Oh, I guess it's okay.' And you know how when 80 people have an opinion, it can really get pretty contentious," Skraba said in his speech. "And then when it's done or starting to get done, everyone's like, 'That's great.' Now they have some pride."
Nancy Beste spends most of her time in Crane Lake and the rest in Saginaw. She thinks the visitor center will help give Crane Lakers a sense of ownership
“That I think will get a little bit better, I hope, as time goes on, but I think that’s part of it is that this is where we live, this is our thing and we should be able to say how we’re going to do it," she said.
The center soft opened two weeks ago, and there have already been over 400 visitors.
"It's going to help also getting people from out of this area coming up here to find out more about it," Beste said.
Christina Hausman Rhode, executive director of Voyageurs Conservancy, the park's philanthropic partner, said there are plans for permanent exhibits in the visitor center that will tell stories that aren't being fully told in the park right now, including those about the mosaic of waterways, indigenous people and dark skies.
