The Grand Marais Public Library is more than just a place to check out books—it’s a community hub offering educational programs, resources, and a gathering space for all ages.
“We’re a little bit one part community center, one part repository of information, and one part Office Max,” Librarian Ryan Leng said.
While the public library offers services such as book, magazine, and DVD rentals, the library also provides monthly programs and events, among various other services. The public can access a photocopier, printer, fax machine, and scanner at the library.
The small Grand Marais Public Library is one of 27 public libraries within the Arrowhead Library System, serving seven northeastern Minnesota counties. The network of public libraries allows for collaboration, exchange of resources, and support to provide programming and events.
Each month, the Grand Marais Public Library hosts a handful of events ranging from reading programs to educational workshops, collaborative knitting classes, and more.
Throughout this past winter, the library has hosted an All-Ages Winter Reading Program where adults and children can read and participate in a game of bingo to earn coupons to local businesses or a free book from Drury Lane Books in Grand Marais.
Also, in recent months, the library has held creative writing workshops with award-winning novelist Brian Malloy, drawing a group of local writers. Malloy is the author of The Year of Ice, Brendan Wolf, After Francesco, and Twelve Long Months. According to his biography, his novels have been a 2002 New York Times New and Notable Title and an Oprah Daily pick for best of 2022.
Leng said that in each creative writing workshop, Malloy focuses on specific skills such as developing sensory imagery, strategies to write scenes and flashbacks, novel subplots, and a variety of others. The workshops will continue once a month for the remainder of 2025. Leng said the workshop topics and schedule can be found on the Grand Marais Public Library website (grandmaraislibrary.org).
Another well-known author, Cary Griffith, recently visited the Grand Marais Public Library to discuss his most recent book, Gunflint Falling: Blowdown in the Boundary Waters. Leng said Griffith did a book tour in each of the 27 Arrowhead Library System public libraries, but the Grand Marais location had the biggest turnout.
“We blew every other library out of the water with attendance,” Leng said. “Here, the book is so beloved. People were there when it happened, and they remember those stories.”
Looking toward the spring, Leng said the library plans to host a birding program, perhaps in April or May, and invite a local expert or naturalist to talk about birds along the North Shore. Also, around Earth Day, on April 22, the Let’s Plant Trees non-profit organization will visit the library to provide free trees and discuss reforestation efforts in Minnesota.
Further into the summer, the library has many other creative ideas for educational events and programming. In June, the library will launch the youth summer reading program and intends to host an educational talk as Juneteenth nears.
One of Leng’s favorite events the library has hosted in his one-and-a-half years with the library was a talk by rock hound Al Trippel called The Geology of Cook County.
Trippel, a former geologist for a mining company in Nevada, lives in Grand Marais part-time and is a rock enthusiast or ‘rock hound.’ Leng said he wasn’t sure what to expect for the turnout for the educational talk about geology, but as community members trickled in that evening, it was clear the library staff needed to set up more chairs.
“We had 88 people show up,” Leng said. “So, it was just such a big hit, and that was a lot of fun.”
In addition to events and programs, the public library provides a quiet place for residents and visitors to connect to Wi-Fi, do research, order books by catalog, or connect with fellow community members.
Leng said one of the many things he enjoys about working at the Grand Marais Public Library is seeing the patrons who visit the library. “We have a group of regulars that come in,” he said. “We have a good community of people that come in and use the place, whether once a month or multiple times a week.”
