Grand Marais Community Reacts to Losing Three Businesses to One Fire

GRAND MARAIS, Minn. — Fueled by strong winds, a Monday afternoon fire ripped away three businesses from Grand Marais, ones run by local families that are friends to many in the area.

“We know these people, we know their families, we know their kids,” Grand Marais resident Kati Stieler said. “White Pine North had just switched owners. It was a new young couple that had just purchased White Pine North. They just got it up and running, so for them this is just shocking.”

Neighbors who heard the sirens and saw the smoke billowing from downtown Grand Marais walked over to watch the scene unfold.

Some of them have had a hand in helping shape these places, making the losses sting that much more.

“I feel kind of sad because I did the frontal carving on White Pine North 20 years ago or something like that,” Fritz Sodanja, a Grand Marais resident, said. “Part of being an artist, you create history. Well part of my history’s gone. So I feel a loss.”

At a time when many places are partially or completely shut down during the pandemic, the fire has taken away the business owners’ source of income.

Their friends and neighbors aren’t even able to offer a hug.

“Everything going on the last few weeks, the last few months, really, and now to have this, it’s really surreal,” Stieler said. “It’s devastating for our town, and we’re here for each other we can’t hug each other.”

The next steps for the Crooked Spoon Cafe, White Pine North, and Picnic & Pine are unclear.

If they choose to rebuild, the community around them will be ready to lift them up again.

“I sure hope they rebuild because I’ll be sad if they decide not to,” Stieler said. “They’re the foundation of our town, they’re the center of our town. People come in town, out of town with these places, people gather there, our friends are there.”