Bear Coat

Thanks to Claudia Wyrick for sending me photos of me wearing the bear coat in the July 4th parade.  As many of you know, the museum founder, Axel Niemi, wore the coat in the parade every year.  The coat was made over 100 years ago and for a time was owned by the U.S. Postal Service.  When the railroad was shut down in 1910 and the tracks were all removed by 1914, the only way the town of Grand Marais was able to get mail was for a postal service employee to dogsled to Seney.  He wore the coat to stay warm on the 25 mile journey.  Last year, Sandy Neely donated the bear mittens back to the museum.  Apparently her late friend, Jim Becker, had acquired them from Axel several decades ago.  I promised Sandy that I would wear the coat and gloves in the parade this year.  Thankfully, it was not too hot.

I passed out dinosaur buttons to the kids during the parade.

 

The mittens....