In Marquette, there are things that make the landscape special. There’s something that you can see that lights you up inside, and makes you think, I’m in Marquette. For many people, it is the Superior Dome.

The Superior Dome boasts that it is the largest wooden dome in the world, and the fifth largest dome in the world according to a 2010 world record book. (The other four domes that hold record are made of steel.) Coming into Marquette from US 28, on a clear day it is the first thing you see that distinguishes Marquette from its surroundings. It’s small and far away across the waters of the bay before trees and wood swallow it again. It’s large, shining white, circular and unique, and nestled right on the edge of Lake Superior.

Built in 1991, it is 14-stories tall and has an expanse of 5.1 acres. It has seating space for 8,000 people, but can hold 16,000, if necessary. It was built from 781 Douglas fir trees and has 108.5 miles of fir decking. The football, soccer, and track teams all use the dome regularly. A retractable artificial turf carpet gets laid on the field for football, field hockey, and soccer, and underneath it is home to three basketball/volleyball courts, two tennis courts, and a 200-meter track. It’s also home to an Olympic training site and offices, as well as offices for different athletic faculty on the campus. The ROTC members on campus even rappel from the center of the dome.

It is also a center for the annual craft show in December that attracts hundreds of vendors, an event called Pump up the Dome in which all kinds of inflatables are brought in for a play area, and other events, like outdoor recreation and boating shows. Then, of course, commencement ceremonies for Northern Michigan University happen every semester as well.

There’s something about being present at graduation that gets your heart pumping at Northern. It’s not just that it’s a fantastically huge ceremony where millions of dollars and years of effort all convalesce into one room, though it certainly helps. It’s just that it takes place where it is more than a room. The hundreds of students graduating fill the seats on the track in the middle, while parents and friends and siblings and aunts, uncles and grandparents fill the stands. A huge platform with towering ferns and flowers and silken drapes in gold and green adorn the stage. Robes of academia billow on the professors and trustees and administrators. The band, wearing all black, give a performance of victory with the age-old songs of “Pomp and Circumstance” and “America the Beautiful” and “Hail Northern.” They also lend their melodies to a chosen singer when the time comes for the National Anthem.

And what a sound! The unique properties of the dome, being that it is made of wood, lets the music echo and vibrate and thrum through the listeners. The sound is so large, bouncing around the circular ceiling.

When you’re in Marquette, whether you’re just visiting or live there or going to school at NMU, there’s something about the dome that speaks to you. Every hometown has their landmark, their beacon calling them back. The Superior Dome does that for us. It is superior in every way, in our hearts and minds.