Andrew Hanegmon speaks about the Iron Range Makerspace, a creative laboratory concept that would provide specialized technical equipment to members at an affordable cost. (PHOTO: via Iron Range Makerspace FB page)
Last week, hundreds gathered to share ideas for the future of Minnesota’s Iron Range. In an MPR forum (listen to it here), specific pitches for diversifying the region’s economy encouraged new action and featured new voices in this oft-beleaguered region I call home.
I wrote about my take on the event’s core theme in last Sunday’s column and penned more perspective in my April 10 column.
So, it’s a week later. What’s different?
On the surface it would seem that not much has changed. Same economic problems. Same school funding problems. The towns, other than the advent of springtime, look the same, too.
Hope often comes in small green shoots, however, seldom in sudden epiphanies.
At that same meeting in Hibbing on April 13, organizers from the Iron Range Off-Road Cyclists group handed me a flyer.
On Thursday, April 28, at 6 p.m., the Iron Range Off-Road Cyclists will hold their Spring Kick-Off at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm. The event aims to inform interested people about what’s happening in off-road biking on the Mesabi Range and to detail plans for new trails around Chisholm.
In addition to that discussion, former Duluth mayor turned Tunheim Group consultant Don Ness will speak about the connection between outdoor recreation, economic development and building community.
For more on the Iron Range Off-Road Cyclists, visit their website.
I also saw Andrew Hanegmon at the MPR forum. He’s one of the key backers of the Iron Range Makerspace, a concept I wrote about in a column earlier this year. That organization continues to develop its plans to house creative design and fabrication equipment in a member-supported community workspace.
The next meeting for the Iron Range Makerspace will be tomorrow (Thursday, April 21) from 6-8 p.m. at the Hibbing Community Senior Citizens Center, located upstairs in the Hibbing Memorial Building on 23rd St. East.
For more on the Iron Range Makerspace, visit their website.
Small changes. Incremental advancement of new ideas. That’s how it happens.
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