Shanty Days is Algoma’s annual celebration of life on Lake Michigan. It also hints at remembering the 50 years of commercial fishing industry that Algoma was best known for.This year’s Shanty Days celebration is the 23rd. Yesterday was the 2-hour-long parade and tonight the city will end weekend with fireworks.
It’s been just over one month since the Wisconsin smoke ban for all public spaces went into effect. The night was July 4, I was spending some time with a family as they launched some small fireworks over the lake in celebration of Independence Day. A neighbor came down the hill to visit and notify the family that the police had been driving through the neighborhood trying to discover the source of the fireworks to put an end to them.The friends announced they were going over to Hudson’s Bar later that evening to smoke their last cigarettes in a public space. I met up with them shortly after and took these shots of those last cigars and cigarettes. Scott the owner of the bar was giving away free cigars to those who wanted. I accepted and participated in the final smoke off as it were. These images are from that night, before those last clouds of smoke faded and the air cleared. It is now becoming a common sight to see people congregating on sidewalks, smoking and engaging in conversation. I wonder what adaptations and sights winter will bring.
