Member, Minnesota Newspaper Association (in spirit)
Vol. CXXIII — No. 24  •  Misquah, Minnesota  •  The Chain of Lakes
Tuesday, June 16, 2026  •  One Dollar (Two if you take the crossword)
The Misquah Pilot-Independent loon seal
The Voice of the Chain of Lakes

The Misquah Pilot-Independent

“Where the coffee’s hot, the lakes are cold, and all the children are above average.” — Serving the Chain since 1903.



Misquah & the Chain

News

City Council

Council Names Stop-Sign Subcommittee, One Member Short

Three appointed to study the corner at Birch and Second; the fourth seat goes begging after Bunde declines “on principle.”

The City Council on Monday appointed three members to the new subcommittee charged with studying a proposed fourth stop sign at Birch Street and Second Avenue, leaving the panel one seat short of the four it had, after some discussion, decided it ought to have.

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Insurance since 1948

Bergstrom Agency

Home • Auto • Farm • Boat

“We’ll cover the dock. We can’t cover the geese.”

On Main, above the bank

Looking Ahead

Fourth of July Plans Take Shape; Parade Route Unchanged, There Being One Street

The committee finalizes a schedule that closely resembles last year’s, and the year before that, by design.

The Independence Day committee met Thursday at the Legion and finalized plans for the Fourth of July celebration, which will, the committee is pleased to report, closely resemble the celebration held last year, and the year before, and for as long as anyone can reliably remember.

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Around Town

Bear Returns to Daybreak Dumpster; Café Answers With a Bungee

A third straight visit prompts a chain, a cord, and a stern note the bear has declined to acknowledge.

A black bear that has developed an interest in the dumpster behind the Daybreak Café returned for a third consecutive night Sunday, prompting the café to secure the lid with a bungee cord, a length of chain, and what owner Marge Tollefson described as “a stern note the bear has not, so far, acknowledged.”

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Public Works

Hydrant Flushing Ends; Three Calls to Donna, Exactly as Predicted

Clear water returns to the east side by Thursday; the water department reports the disruption “well within the normal range of grievance.”

The water department completed its annual hydrant flushing across town last week, restoring clear water to the east side by Thursday and generating, by the department’s own tally, three telephone calls to City Clerk Donna Skoglund — exactly the number the department had predicted, and, it noted, “down one from last year.”

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City Council

Council Tables Fourth Stop Sign for Third Straight Meeting

Matter referred to a subcommittee that does not yet exist; Mayor reminds all present there is no rush.

The corner of Birch Street and Second Avenue will keep its three stop signs and one bare post for at least another month, after the City Council voted 4–1 Monday night to refer the question of a fourth sign to a subcommittee that does not, at present, exist.

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Commerce

New Minnow Tank at Tim’s Greeted With Quiet Civic Pride

A 200-gallon unit replaces a tank that served since the Carter years and “developed a personality.”

Tim Brevik installed a new 200-gallon minnow tank at Tim’s Bait & Liquor on Thursday, retiring a unit that had been in service since 1979 and that, in its owner’s words, “developed a personality toward the end.”

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Around Town
Brush pickup through June 20. Place brush at the curb, butt ends out. Public Works will not take anything “a reasonable man couldn’t lift,” and reserves the right to decide who that is.
Hydrant flushing begins Monday, east side first. Residents may see cloudy water; the water department asks that you run a cold tap a minute and not “call Donna about it.”
Food shelf low on coffee and canned fruit, the First Lutheran volunteers report — and, they add, “never not low on coffee.” Donations accepted Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
Garden Club plant sale Saturday on the library lawn, 9 a.m. until sold out. Proceeds support the boulevard pots, three of which survived the winter.
VBS schedule set. Sacred Heart holds Vacation Bible School June 16–20, First Lutheran the week after — staggered by long arrangement so the children can attend both and the churches can split the difference.
Lions pancake feed cleared $1,140 for the scoreboard fund, leaving it roughly $9,000 and one more pancake feed short of the goal.
Post office lobby now locks at 6 p.m., following the raccoon. The raccoon has not been seen since and is not considered at large so much as “moved on.”
Township gravel pile is by the shop, and is for the township. The township is aware that some has gone missing, and knows roughly by whom, and will leave it at that for now.
Community supper Wednesday at the Legion, 5–7 p.m., free-will offering. This week’s hotdish is tater-top, by popular and, the Aid stresses, nonnegotiable demand.
Loon count Monday at dawn, all public landings. Volunteers tally loons on the Chain for the state survey; the loons, as in past years, decline to hold still and are estimated.
Historical society seeks help photographing the contents of this newspaper’s back room before our pressman, Earl, reorganizes it “and loses the thread again.” Cookies provided.
Curve by Tim’s to be repainted, the county says, “when the truck’s up this way.” No date was given, and none was expected.
Business Notes
Sorensen Hardware will close early Saturdays through Labor Day so Walt can fish. The sign reads “Gone Fishin’,” Walt says he’ll be back by three, and neither has proven fully reliable.
Northwoods Realty reports three lake lots sold on Whitefish this spring, all to buyers from the Cities, all of whom asked first about the internet.
The Daybreak Café has added a second pie case. Management calls it “an investment.” Eunice Dahlquist calls it “about time.”
Vik’s Auto Body cites a busy spring — the usual deer, and one dock backed into at the landing, about which Lloyd Vik says he “won’t say more, out of respect.”
First State Bank reopens its Christmas Club on Monday. The bank notes, for the record, that it is currently June.