Next month marks the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest shipwreck ever to occur on the Great Lakes. To mark the milestone of that famous tragedy, the Friendship Community Center in Suttons Bay is teaming up with the Suttons Bay Bingham District Library, the Leelanau Historical Society, and the Leland Township Public Library for a music-themed event scheduled for this Sunday, November 2.

The program, titled “Gales of November,” will feature “maritime music” performed by Michigan folk singer Ben Traverse, including maritime ballads, sea shanties, and Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” According to a press release, the program will take listeners “on a participatory journey across both the High Seas and the Great Lakes, singing together, learning the roles shanties played on the ship, and the cultural seeds which sprouted into this maritime tradition.” Gales of November is free and open to the public, and is scheduled to start at 3pm.

The S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was a 729-foot freighter that carried iron ore across the Great Lakes from mines in Duluth, Minnesota to ports like Detroit and Toledo. When the ship launched in 1958, it was the largest ship ever seen on the Great Lakes. It famously sank amidst a catastrophic storm while crossing Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, with the wreck claiming the lives of all 29 crewmembers.

The disaster was subsequently immortalized by Lightfoot on his 1976 album Summertime Dream. Lightfoot’s song was a big hit, making it all the way to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.