Your Go To Guide On What To Do In Cook County This Winter

If you’re looking for an escape from the hustle and bustle of winter and the chaotic scenes of the city, Cook County is the place for you. You will be greeted by the natural beauty of the land and the warm faces of the community members waiting to assist you on how you can have the best possible time there.

Cook County is home to only about 5,800 people, but the numbers fluctuate throughout the year due to tourists. This could be you! I bet you’re wondering what there is to do in a place like this. Let me tell you, you’re in the right place by clicking on this article.

Linda Jurek, the executive director for Visit Cook County, has held her role for just over ten years. She was born and raised in Grand Marais and is a fourth generation community member.

Visit Cook County offers information on everything you need to know while spending time there from which restaurants and breweries you should go to first to the cool local businesses to check out (especially the Grand Portage Lodge & Casino).

According to Jurek, Cook County has about 1.3 million visitors a year and 81% of Cook County’s economy is based on tourism. That’s why Jurek and her Visit Cook County team are focused on drawing people in with events like the ones listed below. While not all of the events are hosted by Visit Cook County, they are all put on by the community members that reside there.

Here is a list of events you could attend in Cook County this Winter:

• Gunflint Mail Run Sled Dog Race, Trail Center Lodge, Gunflint Trail | 1/6/2024
• Norpine Fat Bike Classic, Lutsen | Dates TBD but will be in January
• 40th anniversary of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, Cook County | 1/28/2024 – 1/30/2024
• Hygge Festival, Cook County | Dates TBD but will be in February
• Sugarbush Candlelight Ski & Snowshoe, Lutsen | Dates TBD but will be in February

Matthew Baxley has lived in Cook County for the past nine years and has lived in several different areas of the county. They thought they would only live there for a year, but “it was pretty life changing,” so they never left.

Cook County is typically for those who have fallen in love with the outdoors, Jurek said, as most of the activities and events are centered around being outside.

“When you come here, it doesn’t take you but a quick drive inland to really be in a natural environment,” Jurek said.

For Baxley, some of the activities they look forward to during winter is backcountry skiing and said there are lots of other activities for people to do, like wild ice skating on the frozen lakes.

“What I love about it is that there’s kind of different things to do as the winter moves through its phases and progresses,” Baxley said.

While Cook County sees its biggest boom in tourists in the summer, Jurek encouraged people to check out the area in the winter because of how quiet and peaceful it is during that time period.

“We have a very expansive experience and it’s seasonal, so you’re going to get everything here,” Jurek said.

Baxley added to this and said Cook County is special because the area is “accessible beauty in the form of land and water.”

If attending events isn’t your thing, here are some other points of interest to consider in the Winter in Cook Country:

• It has been a record-breaking year for northern lights viewing, and people should head north to Cook County, a designated dark sky sanctuary, to take in the night sky.
• The county averages 120 inches of snow annually and over 400 km of groomed cross country ski trails, 450 miles of snowmobile trails, 1,000 skiable acres of alpine skiing and snowboarding and the Superior National Forest. It is a perfect getaway and winter wonderland for anyone!
• There are lots of accommodations offering midweek lodging deals, so you can travel to Cook County whenever is convenient for you!

Personally, Baxley said the northern lights experience you get when visiting Cook County is “both maddening and incredibly awe inspiring” because you never know what nights you will be able to see the lights. It’s an experience that one must see with their own eyes to believe in the power of the artistic, worldly beauty before them, according to Baxley.

“It just goes on and on and on, and it’s an experience where you don’t want to go to bed but it’s freezing cold, you’re huddled out in the night, you can’t close your eyes and you can’t go to sleep, but you’re exhausted but it’s just too incredible to let it end,” Baxley said.

Another part that draws tourists in is the kindness from the residents. Baxley described Cook County as a “small big town” since there aren’t too many people that live there, but there is a friendly face around every corner ready to help you out and show you why they love where they live as much as they do.

Jurek left Cook County for thirty years before coming back and has no plans of leaving anytime soon. To her, Cook County will always be the place she calls home.

Baxley just purchased a piece of land in Cook County because even though they love to travel and see different parts of the world, they always want Cook County to be the place they return to and call their home.

When asked to describe Cook County in a couple of words, Jurek and Baxley, respectively, said:

• “It’s so beautiful. It really is just stunningly, naturally beautiful.”
• “It is a place where you get to experience yourself in a more raw, natural form. It tells you a lot about yourself and what’s really real.”

For more information on what to do in Cook County, visit their website: www.visitcookcounty.com

Who knows, once you spend some time there, you may find that Cook County could be the next place you call home, just like Jurek and Baxley did.