Mark Wilcox

With this weekend, the first week of February 2026 comes to an end. February is one of those months of which pretty much everybody has an opinion. Love or hate it nobody is ambivalent when it comes to February. Among those with strong opinions about the month is comedian Lewis Black. He really doesn’t like February (actually he’s made a career by not liking anything). Black says, “February is the worst month. They made it the shortest month and it still goes on forever.”

One of the interesting things about February in the UP is you never know what you’ll get. One of the worst sunburns I’ve ever gotten was working on a metal roof when I was in college. It was in the 60s and I took my shirt off and got fried. A few years later, on the same date, I was at the Ski Jumps in Iron Mt. where it was -25°.

Maybe its the contrarian in me, but I’ve always liked the month. I grew up in a little town in the center of the UP, where they don’t get anywhere near the snow we have in the Keweenaw, but it certainly is colder. You might think that growing up in a town without cable TV, pre-internet, no shopping mall, fast food, etc. that life would be pretty boring for a kid. That wasn’t the case. When describing my hometown to people I tell them, “It’s a nice place to live, but I wouldn’t want to visit there.”

What I mean is, if you weren’t from Rock and just visiting friends or family, you’d be bored out of your mind. But we locals always found things to do — even in the “worst month.”

As a kid, February was an exciting time. Yeah it was cold, but that meant ice fishing. I grew up about 20 minutes from Little Bay de Noc, with some of the best ice fishing for jumbo perch that you’ll find anywhere. My father always had an ice shanty (or ice shack as we called it). The ice was so thick in my youth that driving out to the shack was never a problem. My dad, made this crude little oil heater, that wasn’t much to look at and hard to describe (basically heating oil would slowly drip into a smoldering rag in the bottom of the heater) but it worked. Not only did it keep up toasty, but it would warm up the pot of chili my mom would sent along with my dad and us kids. To be honest, I never remember catching a lot of fish, but we’d listen to WDBC, play cards on the fold up table he made and eat the best chili in the world.

Maybe its a bit narcissistic, but another reason February was my favorite month is because it’s my birthday month. And not just any ol day of the month, but my birthday happened to be on February 22. That’s right, George Washington’s birthday. And boy did my mom make a big deal of it. Rather than sending me to school with cookies, or mini candy bars like the other kids brought for “birthday treats,” my mom mad cherry cupcakes (with PINK frosting), in homage to the George Washington cherry tree legend. Keep in mind, I attended one of those “K-12 in the same building” schools like we have around here, which meant 13 years of passing around pink cupcakes.

Truth be told, there was a time when those cupcakes embarrassed the heck out of me. I just wanted to pass out Hershey’s or Snickers like the other kids did. But no. I was forced to walk the two blocks to school (in February) with two dozen pink cupcakes. As a matter of fact when I got married I made Maryann promise to never make cherry cupcakes for my birthday.

My thoughts of the cupcakes changed when we lost my mom in the early 2000s. What used to be an embarrassment became a precious memory. It wasn’t until I had children in my life that I understood what was in my mother’s heart. She loved me so much, that sending me to school with “store-bought” goodies wasn’t good enough for her first born. She sent me off with a labor of love.

As I grew older, February offered other activities such as snowshoeing and exploring the “ice caves” on the Escanaba River or snowmobiling in the field behind our house with the Johnson boys whose father Paul was the first Arctic Cat dealer in the area. Like most towns in the central UP, high school basketball was a big deal, especially in February when conference champions were decided and everything was pointing toward March Madness.

Now that I’ve been in the Keweenaw for more than 3 1/2 decades, February is really special — MTU’s Winter Carnival, ice fishing tournaments, ski jumping in Iron Mt (where I lived for a few years) and on and on.

And if you’re still looking for a reason to not hate February, consider this. February is:

• American Heart Month

• Black History Month

• Humpback Whale Awareness Month

• National Cancer Prevention Month

• Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month

• Adopt a rescued rabbit month

And if you really are looking for a reason to celebrate, Feb. 14, in addition to being Valentine’s Day, is World Bonobo Awareness Day. Bonobos, of course, are a species of ape found only in lowland rainforests along the south bank of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (OK I had to Google it).

My point is, any month, no matter how cold, or long, or whatever, can be special if you choose to make it that way. And especially if you have others to celebrate it with.

Happy February!