Benny the Beard Fishing Troll

In late July, the Cedar Springs United Methodist Church celebrated their 20th mission

trip to Habitat for Humanity HiawathaLand in Manistique as it was celebrating its 30th

year. This year nine volunteers packed up for a week of installing and finishing drywall

in two Habitat houses that will be put up for sale in the fall.

On Thursday afternoon, we had off to explore. This year as our first stop, we chose to

check out a new attraction in Germfask, which is located north and east of Manistique.

Northland Outfitters commissioned Danish artist Thomas Dambo to construct one of

his unique “scrap wood” trolls. Located right on the Manistique River in their

campground, Dambo created the 14-foot tall “Benny the Beard Fisher” from about five

tons of scrap wood. Benny’s beard of twigs and branches dips right into the Manistique

River as he reclines on the banks.

Dambo has constructed over 100 trolls worldwide with the largest 60-feet tall! He uses

these installations to highlight the waste of wood products. According to Dambo, in the

US 12 million tons of wood are sent to the landfill each year. Much of this wood could be

repurposed or reused and not wasted.

The Tahquamenon Logging Museum in Newberry was our next stop. The museum

commemorates the Upper Peninsula’s logging heritage and the history of the Civilian

Conservation Corps (CCC). The museum is spread out in a series of buildings that

include a log cabin and number of preserved CCC buildings and outside exhibits. Two

looped videos tell the logging and CCC stories. We could have used more time here.

Our last stop was at Tahquamenon Falls State Park. The parking lot was almost empty.

On our previous visits, it was difficult to even find a parking place. We’d tried to eat at

the Tahquamenon Brewery on earlier trips, but it would have closed before our number

was called. With the parking lot baren, we thought we’d try again. This time we walked

right in and sat down!

After an enjoyable supper we walked to the upper falls. We couldn’t go down to the

overlook as it is under construction, but the view is still beautiful.

It was a great afternoon; we all learned some new things and had fun doing it!