Summer fair reaching milestone in Pass Lake

A "bigger and better" version of Pass Lake's summer country fair is being planned to coincide with this year's 100th anniversary bash. The Saturday fair, to be held on Aug. 24, is to include vendors, agricultural and animal exhibits and country music at night. The event will be followed by a Sunday church service and brunch, organizers said on an online post. Volunteers have been working on a new building for Salem Lutheran Church in the hope that it will also be ready in August. The previous church on Highway 587 burned down four years ago. It was constructed in 1932 after a congregation established the Salem Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pass Lake. The cause of the 2020 fire was undetermined, but the church was insured. The new 1,500-square-foot building, which is being constructed just behind the site of the one that burnt, appears almost exactly the same as the original, although it's about three metres wider. Designed in the Danish style by Thunder Bay's Leonard Alfred Wood Architect, it includes a bell tower about two metres high. Most Pass Lake homesteads were patented from 1935 to 1950, starting at 50 cents per acre. Anyone wanting to help with the August fair can contact organizers by email at Passlakecountryfair@outlook.com.

Carl Clutchey, Local Journalism Initiative reporter, The Chronicle-Journal