Michigan Travel · Marquette
Marquette World Polio Day Oct. 24: a free walk from Lake Superior Theatre, Pints for Polio at local breweries and a costume party
MARQUETTE, Mich. — Marquette’s Rotary clubs are marking World Polio Day on Saturday, Oct. 24, with a free morning walk along the lakeshore, a free day at the Marquette Regional History Center, a day of brewery fundraisers and an evening costume party.
The events are organized by the Rotary Club of Marquette, the Marquette Harbor Rotary Club and the Ishpeming Rotary Club, according to the Marquette Harbor club. Money raised goes to polio eradication, and the clubs say the Gates Foundation matches it 2-to-1.
The walk. Marquette’s leg of what Rotary calls the World’s Largest Polio Walk starts promptly at 11 a.m. at Lake Superior Theatre, 270 N. Lakeshore Blvd., and ends at the Marquette Regional History Center, 145 W. Spring St. It is free and open to families, and organizers ask walkers to arrive about 15 minutes early. TV6 reported there will be interpreters along the route. Rotary is sponsoring free admission to the history center for the day.
A Marquette piece of polio history. The route ties to a local story. Jim Cantrill of the Marquette Harbor Rotary Club told WJMN that when iron lungs were in short supply, the Frazier family built a wooden one in their workshop at the boathouse that is now Lake Superior Theatre, and others around the country used the design. One of those wooden iron lungs is on display at the history center, he said.
Pints for Polio. Participating breweries will donate a portion of sales all day Saturday. TV6 listed Kognisjon and Ore Dock among them; the Marquette Harbor club says a full list of venues is coming.
Pumpkins Against Polio. The day ends with an adults-only Halloween costume party at 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn of Marquette, 1951 U.S. 41. The club lists a DJ, hors d’oeuvres, a drink ticket, door prizes and a 50/50 drawing. Tickets are $35 in advance or $40 at the door, and the party runs until 9 p.m., WJMN reported.
Why now. The clubs say polio cases have fallen 99.9% worldwide since Rotary’s campaign began in the 1980s. “Now we’re down to just two countries where polio still exists, Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Dewey Jones of the Rotary Club of Marquette told WJMN. “So we’re hopefully in the final mile of this race.”
Sources:
Marquette Harbor Rotary Club, “2026 World Polio Day” (walk route and time, free history center day, Pints for Polio, Pumpkins Against Polio details and prices, organizing clubs, Gates match), https://www.marquetteharborrotary.org/2026/09/28/2026-world-polio-day/
WLUC-TV6, “Marquette Rotary Club to hold multiple events for World Polio Day Saturday” (interpreters, Kognisjon and Ore Dock, 99.9% decline), https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2026/10/21/marquette-rotary-club-hold-multiple-events-world-polio-day-saturday/
WJMN/My UP Now, “Marquette area Rotary clubs rally together for World Polio Day events” (wooden iron lung history, Jones quote, 6 to 9 p.m.), https://www.myupnow.com/news/my-up-mornings/marquette-area-rotary-clubs-rally-together-for-world-polio-day-events/article_bc5e2329-444e-4551-89d0-f40e8ee5aa09.html
Photo: CDC / Mary Hilpertshauser, “Iron lung CDC.jpg,” public domain, Wikimedia Commons, cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iron_lung_CDC.jpg
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