lbowers@miningjournal.net
ISHPEMING — Coretta Scott King once said “the greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.”
By those standards, some might say the western Marquette County communities of Negaunee and Ishpeming have proven themselves to be great by serving each other during Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Scott Soeltner, owner of Smarty’s Saloon in Negaunee, has held a community Thanksgiving dinner at his bar on Iron Street since he opened the business.
“Well, it first started, that a lot of our regulars don’t have any family. They don’t have anywhere to go, you know, for dinner,” Soeltner said. “So, what happened is, we were eat-in at the bar for the regulars.”