The Marquette Maritime Museum is celebrating Lake Superior Day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday with educational booths and fun activities to educate families about conservation and the lake. (Journal file photo)

MARQUETTE — The Marquette Maritime Museum will celebrate Lake Superior Day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday with educational booths and fun activities to educate families about conservation and the lake.

Lake Superior Day — the third Sunday in July — was started in Thunder Bay, Ontario in the early 1990s to celebrate the huge body of water that defines the region.

“It’s such a great way to celebrate why Marquette is here,” said Hilary Billman, museum director.

Billman said she invited conservation and environment groups to participate in the event so attendees can learn about how to take care of Lake Superior.

Construction at the new Lighthouse Park should not impede people attending Lake Superior Day, she said.

Billman said plans call for asphalt to begin being placed on a parking lot on Monday, but the current parking lot with gravel will be fine for attendees.

Participants on Sunday include the museum, the Superior Watershed Partnership and its Great Lakes Conservation Corps, The Nature Conservancy, Northern Michigan University’s Northern Climate Network, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Marquette Biological Station.

There will be activities for kids, including wooden boat racing; information on the invasive sea lamprey and climate change; conservation ideas; handouts; and a Lake Superior watershed model.

Call the museum at 906-226-2006 for more details.

This will be the first year Lake Superior Day is held in Marquette, although Billman hopes to hold it every year.

“I’m hoping it grows and it will be something for people to think about,” she said.

The event is sponsored in part by a grant from the Community Foundation of Marquette County.

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.