Bemidji Community Gathers in Wake of Storm to Clean Up Parks and Help Others

It has now been several days since a major storm struck Bemidji and northern Minnesota, and cleanup efforts started as soon as the winds died down. While thousands of homes were affected, so were parks and other recreational areas.

Life has been slowly returning back to normal for those affected by the storm. But the cleanup still left is immeasurable.

“We’ve seen devastation in all the parks, all the communities—I don’t think there’s one person here that’s not affected in one way or another,” said Emma Realing, Bemidji Parks and Recreation Outreach Coordinator, while standing in the city’s Paul Bunyan Park. “I mean, if you would’ve seen this park yesterday, it looked completely different.”

“This is pretty uncomparable,” exclaimed Bemidji resident Nathan Hill. “It just looked like there was hills, but it was just trees. And they were super high up and you couldn’t basically walk anywhere. You had to walk through trees.”

“Every day it’s really difficult to come in and see everything be changed, but it’s also really helpful to see everybody put all differences aside and just come together for the greater good of their community,” said Realing.

Thousands have been involved in cleanup and restoration projects, and even for the professionals, it hasn’t been an easy job.

“So we have basically our own living situation,” explained Sweet’s Tree Service LLC’s Derick Sweet, who came in from North Carolina for storm relief. “We bring with us [a] generator, beds. Showers are usually a little bit harder to find. But I mean, when you’re out for a month, hotel bills get expensive. So naturally, we just decided to bring a mobile office, a home with us.”

The past several days saw everything in use, from major machinery to rakes, as community members worked to help clean up city parks such as Library Park in downtown Bemidji.

“A storm like this puts us all at the same playing field,” said Bemidji Covenant Church Executive Pastor Doug Giese. “We’re all susceptible to needing the help of others. And this becomes an opportunity to serve and care. As it looks all over the community, it’s lots of trees, debris, and leaves and scatter from insulation and shingles.”

But the impacts from the devastation will last long after the last fallen tree has been cleared.

“As temperatures start to rise, you have less shade coverage, you have less places for people to go,” explained Realing. “A lot of our events are going to be canceled. A lot of our programs are canceled. People won’t be able to have family reunions and those community events that we do value so much in those park spaces. But I think the biggest takeaway that I personally have is just seeing everybody come together for the community that they love.”

“I think it’s amazing when there’s crisis, the hearts of people are really revealed in terms of reaching out and caring for each other,” said Giese.

“While Bemidji lost a lot and it’s forever changed, the community that built it is still here and is still standing,” Realing added.