MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) -The city of Marquette officially dedicated the Marquette Cultural Trail Wednesday across from Gaines Rock.
19 News attended the ceremony and showed us how this new addition is using public art, history, and storytelling to connect the community with its past and future.
It may look like just another trail, but the Marquette Shoreline Cultural Trail is anything but ordinary, stretching from the Carp River to Presque Isle, it weaves together public art, history, and heritage all along the lake shore bike path.
“That’s what this trail is about. It’s really about sharing information and lifting each other up and lifting that history community, that cultural community, the environmental community. So all of the dots are connected,” said Marquette’s Arts and Culture Manager, Tiina Morin.
Each stop along the trail features these striking vertical structures in total, eight cultural monoliths with artwork and bilingual storytelling in English and Anishinaabe. It’s designed to be a reflection of the area’s environment, history, and indigenous roots.
“These all have been sites of value, of importance, and we’ve all used them for different reasons. And I think it’s really important to bring attention to these sites and why they’re so attractive and how they’ve been used and how we impact our environment,” said Morin.
The cultural trail relies heavily on Native American art and design. Sherry Loonsfoot-Aldred is one of the artists behind these remarkable structures
“For each area, there’s a history there of, you know, the Anishinaabe living there, or zones where, you know, buildings were put up, you know, like the lighthouse. So they’re specific to each spot, and they’re the special attributes to that place and the history of it,” said Loonsfoot-Aldred.
The city has plans to expand the trail to 14 of these sites in the future
