By ABBY LAFOREST

Journal Staff Writer

MARQUETTE — Bugsy Sailor, perhaps best known for his project of capturing Marquette’s daily sunrises, save for one, since 2019, had his efforts recently garner some national attention.

In a segment aired on Jan. 5 on CBS News, Sailor brought correspondent Faith Salie and her crew to Presque Isle Park to capture Sailor’s 2,039th sunrise in a row. Filmed in the golden glow of a Marquette summer, Salie’s voiceover discusses the history of Sailor’s passion project, along with the highs and lows of taking on such a task.

“I think it’s just a mix of, like, excitement and then kind of balancing out that excitement with reality of, ‘Is this really going to make it to the air? Am I being punked right now?'” said Sailor when recalling how CBS reached out. “There was a long, long waiting game and a lot of patience before it made it to the air. So I think there was kind of this period where you got to forget about it and (think) ‘Well, maybe it’s just not going to run.’ So (that) was a lot of the whole process; there’s a lot of hurry-up-and-wait.”

Salie and her crew, who flew in from New York, had the chance to experience a whole new world with Sailor’s U.P. expertise.

“The crew was awesome and they flew in four folks, (an) audio guy, sound guy, producer and the correspondent, Faith Salie, who is in the piece with me. But I really pride myself on that part. It was a go-go day. They were with me for the better part of 12 hours, at my hips through the whole process,” Sailor said. “I lov(ed) the quiet moments with them where the cameras are off and we’re just hanging out for a bit. And I loved being that ambassador of the U.P. and just telling them about Marquette and Lake Superior and none of them had been to Marquette before. I think one guy had been to the U.P. before, but essentially for all of them, it was a brand-new place. And I really enjoyed that role of bragging about Marquette and bragging about the U.P. and Lake Superior and playing a host for a day. But it was an exhausting day. They showed up to my door at 5 a.m. with cameras rolling and it was a long, hot day.”

Captured footage also follows Sailor showing Salie the wall of sunrises in his store, the Upper Peninsula Supply Company, where folks are welcome to buy photographic prints of his sunrises along with other Yooper-related and Bugsy-designed goods. Passers-by and consumers along various Washington Street stores were also filmed recognizing Bugsy as the “sunrise guy,” as he’s long since been established as a notable figure in the Marquette community.

“This is a huge honor. It’s a labor of love. I have put so much hard work and grit and grind (into the project.) I think people identify with the hard work and commitment of getting up and out the door every morning. People identify with that, but there’s so much that happens behind the scenes,” said Sailor.

“I put a lot of love and care into the creative direction of the project, the editing of photos and videos, like the website is all built by me from scratch and managing the prints and the sunrise of the gallery. The work of it is so extensive (and) behind the scenes to create everything that I have.

“It’s just it’s really rewarding to have that work recognized. It’s not easy work, there’s the beauty of (a) sunrise and that’s the best part of the whole thing, right?…That’s what the world sees but there is so much happening to archive the entire project.”

Aside from his Watch More Sunrises project, Sailor has many different irons in the fire, including organizing the annual Fresh Coast Film Festival and Plaidurday, the worldwide celebration of plaid.

Chances are, you’ve seen his designs in the U.P. Supply Co.’s storefront if you’ve taken a stroll in downtown Marquette or participated in his sunrise campaign. Whatever your niche U.P. interest may be, Bugsy probably has something for you. He plans to continue Watch More Sunrises, and has future hopes and dreams for where he’d like it to go.

“There’s definitely big dreams with it. Right now it’s just going to continue as is and (I’m) happy with that but … there’s big ambitions which include a book I would love to do and (that) might have to be like a crowd-sourced, crowd-funded thing,” Bugsy said.

“But the real big vision is a permanent sunrise gallery. Right now, it’s kind of a side project in the U.P. Supply store. I have a big dream of a standalone location where there are more (sunrises) than (what’s on) the sunrise wall in the (U.P. Supply Co.), where there is a location (with) more (than) one of those and to make it more impactful and to show more of the work.

That’s only one-sixth of the project, it’s such a tiny portion of it. It’s a big undertaking but that is certainly the dream.”

You can check out Bugsy’s website at bugsy.me for information on his current and past projects, or take a look at the Watch More Sunrises project at watchmoresunrises.com.

If you want to stop by and browse Sailor’s merchandise or bask in the glory of the Sunrise Gallery, U.P. Supply Co. is located at 221 W. Washington St. in Marquette.

The full news story can be watched on CBS’s website at cbsnews.com/video/rise-and-shine-with-sunrise-photographer-bugsy-sailor/.

Abby LaForest can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 548. Her email address is alaforest@miningjournal.net.