Listen to "Blue Collar Town" written by Escanaba resident, Chris Brooks

I was tipped off to "Blue Collar Town" by Christina Henderson via Twitter. You can follow Christina at twitter.com/ChrisQuick. The song's writer, Chris Brooks, happens to be her boss and when she first made mention of it it was something like, "listen to boss' new song, "Blue Collar Town" and I thought that perhaps it was THE Boss - Bruce Springsteen. Instead, it's a great song written by an Escanaba resident about what's happened to Escanaba over the years and it can be equated to what's happened in Michigan and across the country as well.

Listen to "Blue Collar Town".

U.P. State Fair begins Monday, August 11

For those that didn't know, the U.P. has their own State Fair due to its isolated nature. Held each year in Escanaba since its inception in 1928 the Upper Peninsula State Fair is more accessible to Upper Peninsula residents than the Michigan State Fair held in Detroit. The gates are open at 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. and admission is only $8 for adults, $6 for ages 6-12, and kids under 5 are free. Monday, August 11th, is Preview Day and admission is discounted to $4 for adults, $2 for youth and kids under 5 are still free.

An even better deal than the admission price is the fact that you can attend all of the grandstand shows for free as they are included in the admission price. Down here there's a large fair in northern Indiana that charges around $14 for admission and includes grandstand shows. The U.P. State Fair looks like a pretty good deal.

We were up at the fairgrounds last Labor Day weekend and attended the U.P. Steam and Gas Engine Show. I have to say the fairgrounds are lovely and there are numerous permanent exhibits of interest as well.

The fair runs Monday through Sunday and the weather looks great.

For more information: Escanaba Daily Press article Schedule of events for U.P. State Fair

Amusing notes from the Escanaba police log

I have been a big fan of police logs since the time I was attending Western Michigan University. There are multiple instances of hiliarity on a college campus every week. Once a week or so (usually on Mondays) I take a look at the postings from the Escanaba police log as printed by the Daily Press. You can usually find all sorts of interesting happenings in a police log and today's was no exception.

Here are the ones that stood out:

10:50 a.m. Altered script, 2500 block of 1st Avenue North - Was the fancy lettering on a sign altered? Perhaps script was shorthand for prescription which would make sense.

1:03 p.m. Unwanted text massages, 200 block of North 12th Street - Now, I don't claim to know everything about technology, but I never realized you could receive a text massage.

1:47 p.m. E-mail threat, 400 block of 1st Avenue South - We can call the cops when we receive spam? Who knew? ;)

11:30 p.m. Man trying to get hit by car, 1900 block of 5th Avenue South - To increase your odds of winning a game of chicken with a motorized vehicle it is wise to make sure that you, too, are in a motorized vehicle.

Escanaba Pasty Shop Robbed

Dobber's Pasties, legendary Escanaba Pasty restaurant, was broken into last week. Two men and one woman, a Dobber's employee, broke a window which set off the alarm and made off with about $1,200 and some credit card receipts - all of which were recovered upon the suspects arrests. Dobber's is an Escanaba and U.P. landmark with pasties to die for. The question on a lot of locals minds is, "Why in the world did they take the money? They should have taken the pasties."

Via the Escanaba Daily Press

Visit Dobber's Pasties website where you can order pasties online and within a day or two you can heat up your frozen pasty for a taste of the U.P.

Watch this incredible photo slideshow of the Escanaba area

Bud Lemire of Escanaba put together this great photo montage of the Escanaba area set to music. There are incredible photos of breathtaking sunrises and sunsets, huge Great Lakes freighters in Little Bay de Noc, fog rolling in off of Lake Michigan, and much more. It is hard to capture the beauty of the Upper Peninsula in pictures, but I think that Bud did a great job. He has pictures of the Escanaba area in all four seasons (yes there are more than just Winter and construction seasons in Michigan).

If the player does not work, you can view the video here.