OUT WITH WINTER – Lake Superior State University President Peter Mitchell lights a 12-foot effigy on March 20 during LSSU’s 48th annual burning of a paper snowman to welcome spring to Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. The tradition, an LSSU staple since 1971, takes its inspiration from the Rose Sunday Festival in Weinheim-en-der-Bergstrasse, Germany, and features the reading of spring poetry written by area school kids. Several hundred spectators received free daffodils and feasted on barbecued hot dogs. Run a web search on “LSSU snowman history” to read more about the tradition. (LSSU/John Shibley)