Experience The Memorial Lighting For The Edmund Fitzgerald

TWO HARBORS (WJON News) -- This year is the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior.

The Split Rock Lighthouse is hosting its 40th annual "Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Beacon Lighting and commemoration ceremony on November 10th.

The main piece of the program is we do what's called the muster of the last watch, where we read the names of the crew members, and then we ring a ship's bell, and the program concludes with the lighting of the Split Rock beacon, which will stay on for about two hours.

Event organizer Hayes Scriven says the event the past two years, has drawn 1,500 and 1,700 people respectively. This year's event will have a record-breaking sold-out crowd of 2,000. He says they didn't want to change the program too much, even though this is the 50th anniversary.

We don't want to make this a big carnival-type event.  We wanted to stay true to when the program was started.  We are bringing back the former site manager, Lee Radzack, who started the program 40 years ago.

For those who still want to see the ceremony, it will be streamed online.

Scriven says 50 years later, there is still a fascination with the disaster.

The nature of it being the last massive ship wreck that happened on the lake, with the loss of life.  I think that has a draw for people.  There's a mystery behind why or how it sank.  There are still some unanswered questions with that.

Scriven says the popular Gordon Lightfoot song has also helped to keep the legacy alive.

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The Minnesota History Center will also be hosting a special panel discussion titled "The Enduring Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald" on November 20th.