Events & Activities

Everyone is welcome!
Big Wheels can get very loud with horns honking and a large crowd. Please feel free to bring headphones or earplugs. I will have a supply of earplugs available due to donation from NorthShore Mining.
ALL CHILDREN MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT.
Big Wheels is held in the parking lot on Outer Drive.

This Year 7th Annual Outdoor Sports Expo is coming together..... The date is Saturday, May 17th, 2025. Mark your Calenders.

The 4th annual Historic Green Door Smelt Fry in Beaver Bay, MN. This is a long held tradition that was brought back in 2022 and we are looking forward to another year of celebration. Planning has begun and we cannot wait to see you all on May 17th.
Follow the event on facebook for details including ticket sales, volunteer opportunities, and schedule!

Photography & Art at the Rock, a monthly exhibit in the lobby of the Split Rock Lighthouse Visitor Center that showcases local artists, landscape and wildlife photographers of the area.
For the month of May our featured artist is Jill Beim
Artist Statement:
Based in Silver Bay, Minnesota, my creative focus spans the wild landscapes of northeastern Minnesota, from the rocky shores of Lake Superior to the serene beauty of boreal forests and remote northern bogs. I’m inspired by the dynamic relationship between land, water, and sky, often chasing the aurora borealis and capturing the starry nightscapes that define this remarkable region. I also find endless inspiration in the winter season, from the icy shoreline to the raw power of winter gales. My work celebrates these environments while emphasizing the need for their conservation.
My journey into nature and conservation photography began while volunteering at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge, where I was captivated by the behaviors and habitats of sandhill cranes, bald eagles, trumpeter swans, and countless grassland and forest birds. What started as a personal passion soon evolved into a dedicated mission to use photography as a tool for illuminating conservation issues and inspiring environmental stewardship.
Through my photography and storytelling, I aim to deepen connections to the natural world and inspire action to protect it. I welcome opportunities to collaborate and connect with others who share a passion for conservation and creative expression.
Beim’s show will run from May 1-31. She will be onsite:
May 17, 1-3 pm
May 24, 10 - 4 pm
This event is included in regular site admission.

Try your chances at a meat and 50/50 raffle while supporting a good cause! Don't miss out. It will only last until the meat is all gone.
Thanks to Cooperative Light & Power for sponsoring the event!

We hope to see you there! If you are alumni, we love having our former classmates and good friends return to this community to reminisce, have some fun and make new memories! We also hope to welcome new visitors to our community! Come for a day or weekend of fun with the whole town! Visit local businesses, parks + don't forget to stop down to Lake Superior.


Bay Days will be a great weekend packed with activities for everyone. From the parade, kids games, food + craft vendors, car show, street dance and numerous activities in between, there will be something for everyone! See you there!

World renowned recording artist and performer Charlie Parr will open the 2025 season of the Silver Bay Music in the Park Concert Series at a free concert at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 18th at City Center Park Stage in downtown Silver Bay. The Rocky Wall Entertainment Board is thrilled that Charlie has agreed to kick off our concert season again this year!
Fans who have been following Charlie Parr through his recording career and decades of nonstop touring already know that the Duluth-based songwriter has a way of carving a path straight to the gut. His voice sounds weary but insistent, his accompaniment sparse and sorrowful. By the second line, the listener has no choice but to be transported on a journey through the burrows of his troubled mind, following him through shadowy twists and turns as he searches for a way out.
“Parr’s ability to paint us a picture of his surroundings is astounding. His keen, empathic eye for the human experience can be mind-blowing in its specificity, whether he’s recounting his day or placing us on a creek bed in the rain beside him.” said Maeri Furgeson, in a review of Charlie in No Depression, The Journal of Roots Music.
Charlie Parr is an American country blues musician. Born in Austin, Minnesota, he spent part of his childhood in Hollandale before starting his music career in Duluth. His influences include Charlie Patton, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis, Dave Van Ronk, and Mississippi John Hurt. He plays a Mule resonator, National resonator guitar, a fretless open-back banjo, and a twelve-string guitar, often in the Piedmont blues style.
This FREE outdoor concert will be held on Friday night, July 18th at Silver Bay’s City Center Park near City Hall. You are encouraged to bring a lawn chair and blanket for comfort.

Fishing tournament
https://www.facebook.com/lakesuperiorsalmonclassic

Jeff Slate is known as a world-class frontman and songwriter on the New York City music scene, where his band’s monthly residency in the heart of Chelsea draws sellout crowds and famous guests. But it was a long and winding road to that coveted place as part of New York’s cultural firmament.
Slate came up in the mid-1980s US East Coast post-punk scene, playing CBGBs and other legendary clubs of the day as the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter of the Mindless Thinkers, named by Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols at a drunken aftershow party. By the early '90s, Slate was a solo artist, and made his name after working with The Who’s Pete Townshend, touring with Sheryl Crow and founding the mod-influenced band The Badge. Taking a page from the likes of The Kinks, The Who and the Small Faces, The Badge released three albums of original material, as well as numerous singles, EPs and live releases, before going on hiatus.
Since then, Slate’s solo releases have included famous friends and A-list session players, and his songs have appeared in advertising and films, and on television, including in the hit show Gossip Girl. Slate has toured throughout the US over the past 13 years, sharing the stage with Roger McGuinn, Jeff Tweedy, Willie Nile, Margo Price and Sheryl Crow, and touring as support for Jakob Dylan’s Wallflowers in 2024, as well as headlining the Woody Guthrie Center and the opening of the Bob Dylan Center, the Switchyard Festival at Tulsa’s legendary Cain’s Ballroom, and Tom Petty Weekend in the late artist’s hometown of Gainesville, Florida. He’s even been an all-star counselor at the celebrated Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp!
A guest host on SiriusXM, Slate is the co-author of the 2017 book The Authorized Roy Orbison, with the late-legend’s sons, and Guitar, the memoir of guitar slinger Earl Slick, from 2024, and has written liner notes for albums by Orbison, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix, among many others. In 2023, Slate interviewed Bob Dylan, one of only a handful the icon has given this century.
Jeff’s fourth solo album, The Last Day of Summer, featuring Dave Stewart, Duff McKagan, Earl Slick, members of Paul Weller’s band and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, was released last May via Schnitzel Records. The photo shoot for the album was done by none other than famed rock photographer Bob Gruen.
This FREE outdoor concert will be held on Friday night, July 25th at Silver Bay’s City Center Park near City Hall. You are encouraged to bring a lawn chair and blanket for comfort.

New Primitives was founded in Minneapolis in 2003 by drummer, singer, and songwriter Stanley Kipper. When he lived in southern California, Stan played, toured, or recorded with Minnie Riperton, The Bee Gees, Joe Walsh, Bill Withers, former Eagle Randy Meisner, Jay Ferguson, Andrew Gold, Karla Bonoff, Melanie, and Gypsy. The hits these artists made influenced Stan in making his own music: funky R&B/American Reggae with world music influences.
The band's first two records, New Primitives and American Nomads, received nationwide airplay, including top ten chart positions across America and Canada. Stan holds a 2020 Midwest Rock and Country Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award, and he and Chico were inducted into the St. Louis Classic Rock Hall of Fame for the band Gypsy.
In 2018, New Primitives recorded their third album, a live offering recorded at A440 studios in New Hope, a suburb of Minneapolis. This latest record, Primitive Road, was released on November 8, 2024.
This FREE outdoor concert will be held on Friday night, August 1st at Silver Bay’s City Center Park near City Hall. You are encouraged to bring a lawn chair and blanket for comfort.

In partnership with The Marshall W. Alworth Planetarium for their yearly Dark Sky Caravan, Split Rock Lighthouse is hosting Darky Sky Night.
To celebrate our dark skies, the evening will begin with a presentation by John Gregor, owner of Coldsnap Photography. John will share his approach to night sky photography, covering the Milky Way and Aurora. He will discuss how he prepares for a shoot, including selecting locations, timing, and the apps he uses for planning. Additionally, he will explain his camera techniques, from lens selection and exposure settings to composition. To conclude, John will demonstrate his post-processing workflow in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop, showing how he enhances his images to achieve his creative vision.
After the presentation, Planetarium staff will set up telescopes for everyone to enjoy and give live tours of the night sky. In addition, John will be on hand to give hands-on demonstrations on how to photograph the night sky. If it’s cloudy, don’t worry! We will still have fun activities and digital sky tours so you can learn what to look for when it clears up.
If you have ever wanted to look up at the stars above Split Rock Lighthouse, now is your chance!
Please be sure to pack bug spray, a head lamp, and dress appropriately for the weather.
This event is free and open to the public and registration is not required, but attendees are encouraged to RSVP. Tickets are not required for admission. RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dark-sky-night-at-split-rock-lighthouse-tickets-1291715759609?fbclid=IwY2xjawJiaflleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHvUPd9Z9K_q96bqvFFOtWNyKngdxxWTs2avNQYYMlJBzK_uyucbkwhovYAlB_aem_ETRqe-Zn-oodPpelVc53-A

The Rock Splitter Trail Fest is back and better than ever! New this year is the Rock Splitter Enduro, showcasing the best backcountry descents in the region! After a full day of gravity fueled adventures on Saturday, we return on Sunday for the classic XC race. A 20+ mile singletrack loop with technical climbs, fast descents and Grade A views of the North Shore! Registration is open now! Muscle bike and E-bike classes for both the Enduro and XC race!
Register Here:
https://www.coggs.com/events-/split-rock-rocksplitter

Cody Dylan Brown at the Silver Bay Lounge Friday, Oct. 3rd starting at 8:00pm!
Stop in and listen to some awesome music!
FREE entry, 21+