Steve Solkela Steals the Show at Arrowhead Transit
Holly Bachschneider, Volunteer Recruiter-Travel Trainer for Arrowhead Transit, was researching how different transportation companies promote ridership when she stumbled across an eight-minute rap music video that she found absolutely hysterical and instantly thought, “Why can’t we do something like that?”
Bachschneider brought the video to Dominick Olivanti, who was then Marketing Director. He loved the concept, not as a rap video, but as a uniquely Northeast Minnesota musical comedy. He had one artist in mind.
Olivanti called Iron Range native comedian and musician Steve Solkela, who coincidentally was the subject of a story in Full Range Media published on August 1st. Olivanti said about writing and performing a song for Arrowhead Transit: “Steve would be perfect and was on board as soon as he heard the idea. He came up with the song. He actually came up with a couple of options, and this one felt right.”
The production value of the 2.5-3 minute long video is top-notch, with Story North coming on board to bring the idea to life. “Story North put out a call to people in general looking for actors that might want to be a part of it and found a ready cast. Steve brought in a couple of friends as well as some volunteers from a community center where part of the video was filmed, who found the idea so much fun they wanted to take part, but it’s totally Steve’s video all the way.”
The video, which, after a weeks-long build-up, was released to the world at noon today, September 4, 2026, on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, tells the story of Solkela heading out to a show when he finds that his car won’t start, so he takes Arrowhead Transit to get to the show on time. All his fans and friends who want to see Solkela perform somehow end up at the wrong place, and Arrowhead Transit once again saves the day by getting all his super fans to the right venue on time.
The video is all Range, with filming locations in Mountain Iron, Hibbing, and the Ore House in Gilbert.
Olivanti wanted more than a simple video release, so he came up with a weeks-long series of teasers and hints about something new coming to Arrowhead Transit.
Bachschneider has been having fun with the buildup as well and is ready for the release. “I’m ready for the phone calls and Facebook messages; this is it!”
“Dominick’s idea for the teasers was to have fun with building up the excitement. “Kind of. Oh my goodness, what are these crazy people doing?”
Baschschneider said that “Everywhere I go, Business after Hours, anywhere, people are asking, ‘ What is it, what is it, what is it?” It’s been tough keeping quiet about it, but it’s fun to tell them, “I’m not at liberty to reveal it at this time.” The only thing I do tell them is that it’s a marketing thing; we are not changing the system.”
Arrowhead Transit is a unique public transit system that covers 10 counties in Northeast Minnesota and recently released a new, user-friendly app that lets customers find schedules and book rides directly. We provide rides for anybody, and everybody can use us. We are always trying to get better. There are no requirements to ride Arrowhead Transit. You can even bring your unicycle on board. We hope everyone enjoys it, gets a laugh, and gives us a try sometime!”
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