The husband-and-wife photography team of Dawn M. LaPointe and Gary L. Fiedler have a pretty sweet online photo gallery. The canoeing snow-people in particular caught my eye. LaPointe and Fiedler have work on display at two Duluth stores — Duluth Pack in Canal Park, and the Frame Corner & Gallery downtown.

Here is a photo I took of the Granada Stage Bar during a snow storm in the early 1980s, a few years after moving to town. I don’t know or remember anything about it, including its actual location. In my mind I think it was on Superior St, but that organ has been wrong on a regular basis. Anybody have any knowledge of it?

Smelter: John Finkle
Photographer: Chelsea Froemke

Smelting posts from years past:
Where is the best place to eat smelt? (2012)
Duluth Smelting (2011)
Remember the glory days of smelting? (2010)

This week, LakeVoice released its first all-photo issue. The LakeVoice reporting team teamed up with community members to go out into Duluth and chronicle the faces of our diverse community. Check out our photo stories of a day in the life of a florist, a West Duluth mechanic, Lakeside business owners and the faces of Canal Park and the Lakewalk along with many other photos, including many submitted by community members.

Humans of Duluth: This week’s special issue
Humans of Duluth: Faces of West Duluth
Humans of Duluth: A day in the life of a florist
Humans of Duluth: Dave’s Auto in West Duluth
Humans of Duluth: Faces of Lakeside business owners
Humans of Duluth: Faces of Canal Park
Humans of Duluth: Faces of the Lakewalk

At this point, we may need someone named “Martini” to open their own chain of bars in order to make this trend legit.

With the Homegrown Music Festival coming up, PDD launched a series of polls two months ago, tournament style, to determine which Duluth-area band has the sweetest pic. It is now down to the Final Four: Breanne Marie, Tangier 57, Southwire and Charlie Parr.

Quarterfinal #1:

Left: Breanne Marie (photo by Katlyn Kretzchmar)
Right: Tangier 57 (photo by Patrice Bradley)

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Tangier 57 — 78.1 percent
Breanne Marie — 21.9 percent

Quarterfinal #2:

Left: Southwire (photo by Rich Narum)
Right: Charlie Parr (photo by Peter Lee)

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This poll is now closed. The results were:

Charlie Parr — 63.6 percent
Southwire — 36.4 percent

Note: Only people who are logged in to their Perfect Duluth Day blogging account are allowed to vote (to prevent people from voting multiple times). To create an account, click here. If you need help figuring it out, click here.

On June 29 PDD will be awarding $100 to the person who submits the best new banner. Everyone who has submitted one since Jan. 1 will be eligible. Pre-2013 banners will be pulled from rotation on June 29, but will be kept in archival storage and maintained by nice librarians with white cotton gloves at Google Plus. Banners from 2005-2009 can be found here.

We’re also looking for new Homegrown banners. Those submissions will be eligible for the same $100 prize. For full details on banner submissions, click here. The basic info is the image must be 960 pixels wide by 167 pixels high. The Perfect Duluth Day logo will be added by PDD’s art department. Send them to banners @ perfectduluthday.com

With the Homegrown Music Festival coming up PDD launched a series of polls nine weeks ago, tournament style, to determine which Duluth-area band has the sweetest pic. Last week Breanne Marie and Tangier 57 advanced to the quarterfinals. This week we present the third and fourth semifinal matchups. (Click on any image to see it larger.)

Semifinal #3:

Left: The Tisdales (photo by Ray Reigstad)
Right: Southwire (photo by Rich Narum)

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This poll is now closed. The results were:

Southwire — 75.0 percent
The Tisdales — 25.0 percent

Semifinal #4:

Left: Charlie Parr (photo by Peter Lee)
Right: Snöbarn (photo by Shawn Stigstill)

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This poll is now closed. The results were:

Charlie Parr — 71.0 percent
Snöbarn — 29.0 percent

Next week’s Quarterfinals:
Breanne Marie vs. Tangier 57
Southwire vs. Charlie Parr

Note: Only people who are logged in to their Perfect Duluth Day blogging account are allowed to vote (to prevent people from voting multiple times). To create an account, click here. If you need help figuring it out, click here.

I was reading through this list of things Minnesotans are [allegedly] too nice to brag about and I saw this picture, figured it was from Duluth, and it is.

Minnesotans do brag about all of this stuff all the time, but it’s fun to see it on Buzzfeed. Click the pic to see the entire post, several items have a Duluth connection.

Some images in the slideshow are by Shannon Kinley; others are from Geek Prom’s Facebook page.

PDD intern Shannon Kinley takes us behind the scenes of Duluth events in this series of stories.

This past Saturday (April 6, 2013) adults were given the chance to blast into their pasts and attend prom. This was no regular prom though. Instead of people being dressed up in expensive gowns and tuxes they got to wear costumes such as Han Solo, Princess Leia or Dr. Zoidberg.
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With the Homegrown Music Festival coming up PDD launched a series of polls eight weeks ago, tournament style, to determine which Duluth-area band has the sweetest pic. This week we begin the semifinal round. (Click on any image to see it larger.)

Semifinal #1:

Breanne Marie (photo left by Katlyn Kretzchmar) vs. Tim Kaiser (photo below by Matt Blum)

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This poll is now closed. The results were:

Breanne Marie — 51.4 percent
Tim Kaiser — 48.6 percent

Semifinal #2:

Dead Guys (photo left by Nate Rendulich) vs. Tangier 57 (photo below by Patrice Bradley)

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This poll is now closed. The results were:

Tangier 57 — 78.9 percent
Dead Guys — 21.1 percent

Next week:
The Tisdales vs. Southwire
Charlie Parr vs. Snöbarn

Note: Only people who are logged in to their Perfect Duluth Day blogging account are allowed to vote (to prevent people from voting multiple times). To create an account, click here. If you need help figuring it out, click here.

Tim Kaiser (photo by Matt Blum)

The People Say Fox (photo by Nate Rendulich)

With the Homegrown Music Festival coming up PDD launched a series of polls seven weeks ago, tournament style, to determine which Duluth-area band has the sweetest pic. Last week Snöbarn defeated Peter Pain. This week we ask …

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This poll is now closed. The results were:

Tim Kaiser — 87.1 percent
The People Say Fox — 12.9 percent

Note: Only people who are logged in to their Perfect Duluth Day blogging account are allowed to vote (to prevent people from voting multiple times). To create an account, click here. If you need help figuring it out, click here.

Snöbarn (photo by Shawn Stigstill)

Peter Pain (photo by Rich Narum)

With the Homegrown Music Festival coming up PDD launched a series of polls six weeks ago, tournament style, to determine which Duluth-area band has the sweetest pic. Last week Tangier 57 defeated Duck Duck Punch. This week we ask …

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This poll is now closed. The results were:

Snöbarn — 52.2 percent
Peter Pain — 47.8 percent

Note: Only people who are logged in to their Perfect Duluth Day blogging account are allowed to vote (to prevent people from voting multiple times). To create an account, click here. If you need help figuring it out, click here.

The LakeVoice News Photo a Day Project started with the launch of the first spring issue. We’re calling on everyone to share their photos! It’s a fun way for the community to share their stories and engage with us through photography. See a collection of our photos here.
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Dead Guys (photo by Nate Rendulich)

Mary Bue (photo by Ryan Dahlberg)

With the Homegrown Music Festival coming up PDD launched a series of polls four weeks ago, tournament style, to determine which Duluth-area band has the sweetest pic. Last week the Tisdales defeated Ryan Van Slooten. This week we ask …

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This poll is now closed. The results were:

Dead Guys — 61.5 percent
Mary Bue — 38.5 percent

Note: Only people who are logged in to their Perfect Duluth Day blogging account are allowed to vote (to prevent people from voting multiple times). To create an account, click here. If you need help figuring it out, click here.

While watching Lost Duluth 2 on WDSE-TV (great show!), I wanted to pass along some awesome old photos that have been scanned in very high resolution and submitted to the wonderful archive site shorpy.com. Anyone who likes looking at good historic photos of Duluth will love these large images. Most of these were taken in 1905 and were published by the Detroit Publishing Co. using glass negatives.
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The 4x (meaning “4 by” as in 4×6 print, or 4×26 print) exhibit at the Duluth Photography Institute has extended the deadline for its call for submissions until Monday, March 4. This exhibit is open to everyone. Just attach your 4xsomething print to a stiff backing, put your name and contact info on the back, and drop it off or mail it to the DPI. We are accepting drop-offs on Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m., and Monday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. For more important details, please see the “Events” page of the DPI website or call Brian at 218.393.2468.

University of Wisconsin-Superior professor John Munsell died on Tuesday. He taught at UWS from 1967 to 2001 and was one heck of a character.

Speaking of his characters, one of them in April 1997 was Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, shown above.
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Southwire (photo by Rich Narum)

Sexhawk (photo by Caleb Renno)

With the Homegrown Music Festival coming up in three months, now seems like a good time to launch a series of PDD polls, tournament style, to determine which Duluth-area band has the sweetest pic. First up, we ask …

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This poll is now closed. The results were:

Southwire — 60.4 percent
Sexhawk — 39.6 percent

Note: Only people who are logged in to their Perfect Duluth Day blogging account are allowed to vote (to prevent people from voting multiple times). To create an account, click here. If you need help figuring it out, click here.