By Micah Friez
Published 4:08 pm on June 25, 2025
The serenades of chainsaws. The heightened aroma of pine. Everywhere you look, the sight of folks helping their neighbors.
Certainly, this is the spirit of northern Minnesota.
In the wake of severe storms that hit the Bemidji community on June 21, the people of the North have responded by rolling up their sleeves. It’s no different at Bemidji State University, where general maintenance workers, public safety officers and other essential employees are diligently and quickly working to restore campus to its former glory.
“It’s a big undertaking,” said Wilem King, a senior at BSU and a student worker on the grounds crew. “A lot of the staff and facilities workers got on the ground as soon as possible. We’re just cleaning up now and getting everything tidy.”
Among other damage, hundreds of trees were downed in and around campus due to winds equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane. Crews have mobilized all over Bemidji State to pick up, and early this week, groundskeeper Stanley Brower even reported for duty on his day off “just to get going on things.”
“It’s a lot of work, a lot of sore backs and everything. But it’s rewarding,” said Brower, who’s also a 2016 BSU alumnus. “I have a pretty close connection with Bemidji State. It definitely makes me feel good that I’m able to do my part and get campus back together and back on track here.”
That hearty attitude is not only embedded within clean-up efforts at BSU. It’s embraced as the status quo all around the local community.
“The morning after the storm, my entire neighborhood got out and started clearing trees from the road,” King said. “They were helping neighbors out of their driveways and giving people without power the chance to charge their phones or take a shower. Just helping those in need.”
Work will continue in earnest at Bemidji State. The campus will remain closed through Saturday, June 28, to continue preparations for a safe and secure return. It will reopen to the public on Sunday, June 29.
In the interim, you can hear from President John L. Hoffman via a livestream on the Bemidji State University Alumni & Foundation’s Facebook page at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 26. You can also donate to the Lakeside Fund, which will allocate funds to campus recovery efforts and relief for students and faculty/staff members. To donate, visit bsualumni.org/lakeside or click the button below.
Whether folks are picking up a chainsaw from in town or a checkbook from afar, all forms of assistance have illustrated the Paul Bunyan-esque strength that the BSU and Bemidji communities are built upon.
“This week has just shown how good of a community we have,” Brower said. “People are looking out for each other and trying to help one another out. We’ve got each other’s backs.”
It would take a lot more than one bad storm to tear all that down. Because, as this week’s response has shown, it’s much more likely that the North will just rise back up instead.
“As campus clears out, you can see that there’s still room for it to look better,” King said. “Give it some time, and it’ll be back to normal.”
