Tuesday, 6/12

Well...that was a lot of fun!

Last's night “Great Fire Tour” went off without a hitch, as I was joined by a whole lot of people on a beautiful evening on the streets of downtown Marquette as I babbled about the fire that almost leveled the city 150 years ago. Just how many people? Well, this many people--

Actually, the picture (borrowed from WJMN Local 3) really doesn't do the crowd justice. I don't know for sure, but someone from the History Center estimated that around 120 people showed up, so we'll go with that number for now. And it's funny; I didn't know if anyone aside from one really dorky history buff even cared about the sesquicentennial of the event.

Guess that goes to show what I know.

Of course, that wasn't the half of it. After I posted yesterday's blog/history lesson about the fire, I shared it on a Facebook group, where it then got picked up by a couple of other sites, and before I knew it 3,359  people (at least as of 8 this morning) had read it.

3,359 people!!

Now, mind you, these babblings usually get around 100 people reading them on any given day. Sometimes it's a little less; on days when I feel like actually promoting it it that number could double or even triple. But to have 3,359 read it blew my mind. Like I said before, I had no idea if anyone even cared, much less having 3,359 people care (or, at least, care enough to read about it) about the history of the great fire.

Maybe there's hope for the world after all. 8-)

So thanks to everyone who showed up for the tour, who sent their apologies for not being able to show up for the tour, who read the blog, or who just sent along a message thanking me for sharing part of Marquette's history. I'm glad you enjoyed it, hopefully at least as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

So once again, thanks.

Oh, by the way.  Look at the picture from Local 3 again.  Notice the guy standing next to me with the speaker on his head?  You may be thinking to yourself, "Self, why is there a guy with a speaker on his head?"  Well, that's my dad, who volunteered to serve as a human speaker stand last night so the 120 people could hear what i was saying.  So thanks a whole bunch, dad!!

Tomorrow, the story of the one building still left in downtown Marquette that bore witness to the fire of 1868.  Then I'll stop talking about it.  Promise.

(jim@wmqt.com)