Meet your Cook County Neighbor: Steve Fernlund
Feb 18, 2024 06:53AM ● By Editor
A Boreal Community Media exclusive - February 18, 2024
How did you land in Cook County? Will you share with us how your journey led you here?
People who study tourism economies around the globe have coined the term “The Halo Effect” of tourism. Visitors come to tourist areas, eventually buy a second home, and then move to the area permanently--either to retire or to build a different life.
That describes us.
In the 1980s, our family, Becky, the four kids, and I started irregular touristy visits to the North Shore as time allowed. After several stays at what is now Caribou Highlands, we acquired a townhome at Norwood Shores in Lutsen. We are control freaks; we never entered ours into the rental pool. By 1994, we were coming up here every other weekend.
When a business deal in 1995 made it possible to retire at the ripe age of 40, and with only one kid left in high school, we moved to Cook County.
We left the area after the millennium changed and moved full-time to Las Vegas, NV, in 2001 due to the similar halo effect.
Becky always wanted to return to the North Shore when we “retired” for the last time, and we came back to Colvill in 2017, buying our house from old friends Jeff and Vicky Wentz.
Many say the North Shore is changing. Some say for the better, others say for the worse. What are some of the significant changes that you have noticed throughout the years, especially since the pandemic?
There should be no doubt the North Shore is changing. It always has.
When I’m nostalgic, I say for the worst, and when a friend does well, I say for the better. Mostly, I’m ambivalent.
The pandemic changed the lives of everyone everywhere, but life has returned to normal overall.
When we were here before, North House Folk School was just starting, and WTIP was in its infancy. Both are now sleek, professionally operated enterprises. Those changes can seem either worse or better, depending on my mood.
Housing and worker shortages were a problem in the 90s, and nothing has changed in either area.
The most striking change to my mind is that the wealth and income gap in Cook County has increased dramatically and is rarely acknowledged. It may result from more large-scale resorts or the “Halo Effect” bringing wealthier people to live here and rapidly growing house and land prices.
Another significant change is the growth of the tourism industry and the promotion efforts that keep it going. In the “old days,” less than a handful of events, all during the summer months, attracted and entertained visitors. Now, it seems like something is going on every weekend of every month of the year.
Where is a favorite spot in the County that you head to in order to unwind and relax?
We have a carved plaque hanging by our woodstove proclaiming “The Fernlund Mountain Cabin.” It was a gift from friends in California many years ago to my parents, and they mounted it at their house in Crosslake. This is a long-winded way of saying that my favorite spot is our old house on the Ridge in Colvill. Walks in the woods or smoking on the porch and watching the big lake get my head straight.
Steve with his grandson, Connor
You and Joe Friedrichs recently created and co-host a podcast called "The Shore Thing". How did that come about? Do you alternate selecting topics? Are you enjoying this new endeavor so far?
The Shore Thing started when I got a phone call from Joe around the holidays. We knew of each other and had met briefly once or twice. He told me about his decision to leave WTIP and asked if I was interested in doing a podcast with him focused on North Shore issues.
After he told me what a podcast was (I’m not a Luddite, but podcasts weren’t on my radar), I thought it would be fun. I’d get to know Joe a bit, and we’d tackle some of the issues that might be a bit controversial, such as the recent issues with North Shore Health and the Lutsen Resort.
About selecting topics, I’d say alternate is a good word. Not systematically, but we each have different issues we think deserve attention. Once we choose a topic, we brainstorm questions to guide the discussion.
I’m having a blast, and so is Joe.
Did your love for writing develop at an early age? Who or what inspired you? Do you have a favorite piece that you have written about that stands out in your mind?
A love for reading developed at an early age. In grade school--maybe fourth grade--I got the “kissing disease,” mononucleosis. Back then, doctors treated it differently. I was confined to the house and missed about six weeks of school.
A tutor who came to our house to help “educate” me encouraged me to read. She told my mom not to worry about what I read, so I was inundated with books like “The Hardy Boys” and biographies of my sports heroes and every comic book imaginable. Becoming a writer wasn’t something I’d considered.
In my business career, I got involved in lots of different writing. From birthday card notes for employees and customers to articles about my chosen business for national trade magazines. Then, I got involved in helping draft legislation and legal briefs. Anyone who wants to learn to write should try that.
I still read a lot, from mysteries to literature, history, biography, current affairs, and even philosophy.
Writers that inspire me include Mark Twain, Hemingway, and Steinbeck. My favorite author was Jim Harrison, whose poetry, fiction, and journalism style inspired my writing.
The things we write are like our children. Some make us proud, some disappoint, but we love them equally.
One that stands out from a couple of years ago was a column I wrote for the Northshore Journal on “over-tourism.” It's a phrase I discovered quite by accident when reporting on the effort of local tourism promoters to extend the lodging tax for another 15 years to fund ongoing and new promotion efforts.
In my weekly column, I wondered if North Shore tourism wasn’t reaching saturation like the tourism centers in Europe where the phrase was coined. More than anything I’ve published recently, that column generated the most feedback, positive and negative.
Lastly, do you have any hobbies that you enjoy when you are not busy working? Has the mild winter allowed you to enjoy these hobbies more or less?
I know I’m strange, but my only hobbies are reading, writing, and walking the dogs. Moving snow could be a hobby in a typical winter since I don’t work too hard at it, but this has been a bizarre winter. On the other hand, moving firewood from the woodpile to the house a couple of times a week and bringing it into the house a few times a day keeps me busy outside, whether we have snow or not.
