The bike tour went well, thanks for asking.
When I do these “Pop-Up” tours for the History Center, I never know how many people might show up. This is the first bike pop-up I've ever done; in fact, the first bike tour of any kind in almost five years. But what with this being Marquette and all, I supposed I shouldn't have been surprised when 23 riders (& a roller blader!) showed up for the little ride around this municipal bike haven.
And I was happy with that.
As I had mentioned yesterday, the reason Marquette has such an amazing bike path system is that it's built upon all the rail lines that snaked their way through the city's industrial past. And a lot of the people on the tour said they had no idea their bike paths used to be gateways to grunge. Some of the pictures I showed, actually kind of blew their minds.
Like the old coal yard where Lower Harbor Park how sits--
The vastness of the old Cliff Dow chemical plant--
All the sawmills that populated North Marquette--
And the dirty old DSS&A roundhouse where the pristine new UP Health System hospital how sits--
Marquette has undergone many changes during the 172 years of its existence; the change from dirty industrial hub to clean outdoor playground may be the biggest of those changes. At least that was the consensus from everyone on the bike tour last night.
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