NORWAY — The Norway City Council on Monday approved a special event application for the Leif Erickson festival this weekend.

Though the festival is an annual event, city policy requires organizers to submit plans for events that use city-owned property or facilities.

The fall festival takes place Friday through Sunday and include a parade on Main Street as well as food booths, Viking reenactors, blacksmithing demonstrations and more.

“This is an excellent thing for our community,” council member Scott Popp said. “Every year, it draws in a lot of people.”

Mayor Candy Brew and City Manager Ray Anderson thanked the organizers for their dedication and planning.

The council also granted a permit for the Leif Erickson event and the Jake Menghini Museum Fall Art Show to place signs at the intersections of Seventh Avenue and Main Street and Ninth Avenue and Main Street.

In other business, the council:

— Contracted with GEI Consultants Inc. of Iron Mountain for site planning on the city’s new salt shed at a cost not to exceed $7,800.

— Authorized a $529 change order request for additional repairs to components in the exciter and motor of the Sturgeon Falls Hydroelectric Facility’s Unit 1 generator. The council had previously contracted with L&S Electric of Sturtevant, Wis., to repair the exciter and motor at a cost of $9,113. The new cost of repairs is $9,642.

The council also was updated on the ongoing turbine runner replacement project at the hydroelectric facility by Steven Denicourt, a technical supervisor with Slovenia-based Litostroj Hydro Inc., and Business Development Manager Scott Klubunde of Hydro Consulting and Maintenance Services, Inc.

Denicourt and Klubunde estimated the Unit 1 generator was about three weeks from completion.

The two also spoke to the council on Thursday’s breakdown in Unit 4. The malfunction appeared to have been caused by the failure of the turbine’s wicket gates that control water flow.

Additional testing and inspection will be done to determine the full extent of unit’s malfunction.

Brian Christensen can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 229, or bchristensen@ironmountaindailynews.com.