Insider Guide: Penny Barney

Penny Barney is originally from Grand Marais, though she and her husband spent a significant amount of time working in Arizona. She was an applied psychology major in undergrad and found that her life trajectory seemed to keep taking her back the fields of school counseling and alternative education. So she earned her Master’s of Education in school counseling and continued working in the field of alternative education with at-risk youth and teen parent programs. She and her husband, who also works in the field of education, moved to Arizona to develop and open a new alternative program school in Phoenix.
 
After three years there they were spending their summer back home in Grand Marais and found out that the positions of both Superintendent and Principal were available at Grand Marais Schools. Because both work in education and they have such varying but complementary backgrounds, people had always told them to work as a “team” – which never totally made sense to Penny until these two positions opened. Because of their experience with alternative education and their ability to really speak towards the latest advancements in education (and possibly also their youthful energy) they got the positions, somewhat unexpectedly. In a matter of weeks, they were back living in Grand Marais.
 
Grand Marais is a very small village of about 4,500 year-round residents. Grand Marais Schools is just one K-12 building housing only about 45 students, but because of their remoteness (the next closest school district is about an hour away) they are one of five isolated school districts in the state that receives separate funds because they can’t feasibly consolidate.
 
It’s remoteness is also its appeal. However. Located on the eastern shore of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Grand Marais is a big tourist destination. There are beautiful beaches and sand dunes with tons of opportunities for outdoor recreation whether that be hiking, camping, kayaking or really anything else. “It’s a really laid-back, mellow kind of place,” Penny states. “It’s very peaceful, very calm.” She describes it as an ideal location for people who desire a slower pace of life and fewer distractions, who want to see the stars and night and lead a more natural life. “People have their own gardens, they’re into canning and raise chickens … [there is definitely a] subculture of eating local. And we’re right on the shore of the largest fresh water lake in the world.”
 
Penny also thinks it would be an ideal spot for the entrepreneurially-minded, whether for an Internet-based or tech business, even to promote eco tourism in the area and offer guided tours of Pictured Rocks and into the woods. There are also a couple of resorts for sale, which a savvy entrepreneur could really take advantage of with the huge tourism push that happens in the summer. “The population here doubles if not triples in the summer and people are always looking to spend money,” she explains. “If someone wanted to come in and open a restaurant 9 months out of the year they could really make a living.”
 
As it is now, people in Grand Marais are willing to drive 45 minutes or more for a great meal because the options within the town are limited. But Penny does recommend the West Bay Diner, “a true old diner” that serves “amazing sandwiches so big you can barely wrap your mouth around them.” They also have a great breakfast and serve ice cream and soda in glass bottles. It’s an infamous place in Grand Marais. “Everybody that comes to Grand Marais goes there.”
 
Lake Superior Brewing Co., which was formerly the Dune Saloon and still pays homage to the old place with a sign that reads “Lake Superior Brewing Company: Home of the Dune Saloon,” is a really popular destination with great pizza and burgers. Located at the end of a popular roadway that runs from Munising to Grand Marais right through the National Park, bikers (of both the motorcycle and bicycle varieties) will often stop here since it is sort of the “end of the road.”
 
In the summer the Grand Marais Music and Arts Festival the second weekend in August is a huge event featuring all different types of music and art, bringing in bands from Detroit and all over the state ranging from folk to rock to bluegrass (it actually started over 25 years ago as a bluegrass festival). It’s held right next to the local campground and people buy a weekend pass and can come and go as they please. Their Fourth of July Festival is also very popular, and the annual Michigan Brewers Guild U.P. Fall Beer Festival is held every September in nearby Marquette. “Summers are very busy,” Penny says. “People running a business in the summer are busting their butts. The payoff is that as soon as they’re done they have the serenity of water and beaches.” During the quieter months, you can walk along the beach for miles and be totally alone. “There is no other beach in the world [where you can do that].”