The centennial celebration takes place from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at Petrell Hall. In addition to music, food, vendors and children's activities, here are some highlights:
Sunday: Pancake breakfast from 8-11 a.m.; history talk at 11 a.m.; time capsule presentation at 12:20 p.m. Admission is free; there is a charge for meals. For a complete listing of events, go to facebook.com and search for "Petrell Hall Centennial." For more information, call Kathy Unger at (218) 848-2622.
Petrell Hall is at 3345 Brimson-Toimi Road (County Road 353) in the Fairbanks Township-Brimson area, about 45 miles north-northeast of Duluth.
From Duluth, take Jean Duluth Road north (follow detours around flood damage) to its end at Normanna Road; turn right on Normanna Road (County Road 44), and follow it north past Pequaywan Lake and Hugo's Bar. Not far past the county highway garage and the Brimson fire hall, at a T-intersection, turn right and look for the Petrell Hall signs.
How is it pronounced?
Members of the Petrell Hall Centennial Committee said the common local pronunciation of the hall's name is "PET-rell." But some, including the family of the local settlers who sold the land for the hall and whose name was attached to the building, prefer "pe-TRELL."
The Petrell name also was attached to other local landmarks in the early days, including a post office and a creek. The creek name, however, was officially recorded as Petrel and appears that way on maps. There will be a petition at this weekend's celebrations to have the missing second "l" restored to the creek name.
