Split Rock Lighthouse to honor late Gordon Lightfoot with beacon lighting

DULUTH — Split Rock Lighthouse, which annually honors the lost crewmembers of the doomed Edmund Fitzgerald, will this time shine its light for Gordon Lightfoot — who captured the tale of the tragic shipwreck in his song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

The lighthouse beacon will be lit from 9-11 p.m. May 3 at the tourist destination on the North Shore and available for close viewing to visitors with a state park sticker. The visitor center will be closed.

Lightfoot, 84, died Monday of unknown causes — but had canceled recent shows because of health issues, according to the Associated Press.

Lightfoot's epic folk ballad about the Nov. 10, 1975 wreck was considered a hit on the charts — and remains one for a lot of visitors to the lighthouse on the North Shore, where guests frequently play it on their phones.

"Gordon Lightfoot was a storyteller," Split Rock Lighthouse site manager Hayes Scriven said in a news release from the Minnesota Historical Society. "His song resonated with so many people and made them feel as if they were there for the tragedy. We felt compelled to honor his legacy with tonight's lighting."

The Edmund Fitzgerald went down 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan. The freighter was loaded with taconite from Superior, Wis., and headed to Detroit when "the gales of November came early," according to Lightfoot's song. There is no direct connection between Split Rock Lighthouse and the Edmund Fitzgerald beyond the event held at the site every year.