The Singing Sheriff (a.k.a. Ron Lahti) will be retiring at the end of this year. He was honored at the Central Jazz Fest earlier this month and given a retirement gift of a special guitar made out of birds-eye maple wood. Mike Dudenas was on hand to capture the moment for us.

In a Keweenaw Report article, Sheriff Lahti spoke about his career as Keweenaw County Sheriff: "I’ve had 37 years in law enforcement, 24 years as sheriff. As a young boy, my dream was to be the county sheriff one day and thanks to the people of Keweenaw County, that dream came true and I was able to serve 24 years—six terms as sheriff, which is the longest serving sheriff in the history of the county.”

Not everyone gets to live out their boyhood dream like that. We wish Sheriff Lahti a long and happy retirement!

Footnote: To read the complete Keweenaw Report article, click here: Keweenaw County Sheriff Ron Lahti talks about his upcoming retirement.

Happy retirement to him.

Congratulations Ron ~ may your retirement be a long and happy one!

From all accounts the people of the Keweenaw have benefited greatly from Ron's service too.

That's a fine looking guitar. Was it made locally? Congrats on your retirement.

Congrats, Ron!!

How awesome!

Congrats and well deserved!