Friends of the MMHP Announce November Meeting & Give Updates

IRONWOOD, MI - Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - The Friends of the Miners Memorial Heritage Park (MMHP) announced yesterday that their next meeting will be on Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010, at 7:00 PM at the Gogebic Community College in Room B22 (or a nearby room) of the Jacob Solen Business Center.

The Jack Frost Parade is coming on December 3rd, 2010 at 6:00 pm.

•Our float will be entitled "Miners Christmas." People are welcome to help with the float, which will include stringing popcorn and cranberries for a Christmas tree and building a simple frame of a house.

All are Welcome to the Monthly Meetings:

•The December meeting will be held a week earlier than usual (the 3rd Tuesday instead of the 4th Tuesday): Tuesday, December 21st, 2010 at 7:00 pm.

The SISU Ski Fest is coming in January!

The Friends of MMHP would like to be a visible presence during the race weekend as it is the time to show the community as well as visitors the beauty of Miners Memorial Heritage Park.

  • The Friends of MMHP will have a booth at the Ski Expo.
    • We will be looking for volunteers to man the booth at the Memorial Building on Friday January 14 from 4 - 8pm and Saturday January 15 from 10am - 4pm.
  • The Friends of MMHP will be running one of the Taste N' Tour Stops.
    • Saturday January 15, 2011 (Volunteers needed).
  • Banner "Welcome to Miners Memorial Heritage Park" will be hung at the SISU trail's entrance into the park.
  • We hope to have a post SISU Fest snowshoe and/or ski event looping through Miners Memorial Heritage Park.

A Few Goals for the Year:

During the last Friends of MMHP meeting, the Fund Development Committee gave each committee goals. Some of the big goals of the year include:

  • Establish and clearly mark a looping trail through the Miners Memorial Heritage Park.
    • Put up trail head markers at an official parking lot.
    • Create a clear map of the marked trail.
  • Create a subcommittee within the History Committee to focus planning the Memorial Headframe.
  • Apply for grants and work on creating a master plan for the park.
  • Keep the City of Ironwood updated regularly on our progress and plans!

We thank all of those who have donated money and joined us by paying membership dues!

Membership funds will help promote our park with brochures and banners, but more importantly we will begin to put that money into the park. We have a strong base of volunteers who are ready to get to work to mark trails. We need money to create trail heads, a kiosk, maps and signs to lead people to the park. We need funds to improve parking near the trail head. In the coming months we will be applying for grants that may pay for the needed trail improvements in the future, but funds from such grants will not be available for over a year.

Donations are important, especially now, to give us the ability to demonstrate to the community that Miners Memorial Heritage Park will be an asset for this community and it will be a park that can be accessible to everyone from the old to the young.

For those interested, a membership form has been attached to this article. If people have ideas of what we can give people for their membership dues, please pass them along.

Thank you for your support!

Monie Shackleford
President
Friends of Miners Memorial Heritage Park
P.O. Box 52
Ironwood, MI 49938