Thousands Gather in Paradise for 50th Anniversary of Edmund Fitzgerald Sinking

Editor’s Note: OMP resident Shelley Cowan recently attended the Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial in Paradise, Michigan. Read on for her field notes from the solemn and respectful event. -jb

Paradise, Michigan; November 10, 2025 — Most of the thousand-plus cars lining North Whitefish Point Road in Paradise had Michigan license plates, including a pickup with the plate, “MTYFITZ.” The Great Lakes states were well represented, Ontario, too.

But many of the 2000 – 3000 people gathered beneath the lighthouse at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum for the 50th anniversary memorial of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald had traveled far.

Fearing a potential airline strike would keep her from Paradise, Stevi, who grew up in Cadillac, drove from Highlands Ranch, Colorado with her mom. “I lived in Marquette in 1975,” she said. “The emotion has stayed with me ever since.”

Teenage brothers Avery and Emerson, from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, have been enthralled with the story for as long as they can remember. They built replicas of the ship with Legos, and assembled puzzles as kids. On this day, they carried two models of the Edmund Fitzgerald to the Superior shoreline.

Four friends drove from Manasquan, New Jersey, on the Atlantic coast. They spent November 9 at the Mariners’ Church in Detroit. Mason, Matt, Doug and AJ are all musicians. Like most people, they only know the Edmund Fitzgerald story through Gordon Lightfoot’s song. “My dad was a huge Lightfoot fan,” said AJ. “For me, coming here is a way to honor Lightfoot, my dad and all lives lost.”

Sherri came with her 20-year-old son from Frankenmuth. She said, “My uncle used to load freighters in Bay City, including the Edmund Fitzgerald.” Dan, who drove from Watervliet, was a student at Michigan Tech in Houghton in 1975. Several of his friends lost family members.

Carol Ann drove from Sarnia with her 19-year-old son, Jason. “Our local country radio station plays ‘Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ every Sunday,” said Carol Ann. “Jason couldn’t help but hear it his entire childhood.”

Jason and Carol Ann still spend days watching freighters headed south along the St. Clair River toward Detroit. “We sit along the banks and watch the river suck the freighters downstream,” she said. “They look like they’re going through a funnel.”

Governor Gretchen Whitmer and State Senator John Damoose were among those who addressed the crowd, along with Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and Historical Society Executive Director Bruce Lynn, and musician and author Mike Fornes, who shared details of the writing of the song, as told to him by Lightfoot.

Among the compelling words spoken at the ceremony were those of keynote speaker John U. Bacon, author of ‘The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald.’ According to Bacon, there were at least 6,000 shipwrecks on the Great Lakes between 1875 and 1975, an average of one shipwreck every week for a century. But, he explained, most people know of only one.

Maybe those assembled in Paradise, or at any of the memorials throughout the Great Lakes, only knew of this one shipwreck – and only because of a song. The Paradise memorial educated us in a way that was solemn and respectful.

November 10 was cold and cloudy in Paradise, the temperature in the low 30s. But the sun broke through for a minute, while family members and guests struck the Edmund Fitzgerald’s bell. Twenty-nine strikes, one for each man lost on the Edmund Fitzgerald, and one for all the others lost over the years.

As we walked back to our cars, which stretched for a mile down the road, we were quiet, perhaps sharing the sense of what it means to gather as a community of remembrance.

– Shelley Cowan

2 p.m. – Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Service, Nov. 10, 2025; Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Paradise, Michigan.

7 p.m. – Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Ceremony, Nov. 10, 2025; Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Paradise, Michigan.