Take a step back in time and view some of the friendly faces at West Duluth’s Gopher Lounge during the mid 1990s. Some of these folks are long departed; others still prowl the area of Ramsey Street and Central Avenue in search of porcupine meatballs.
The April 27 episode of WDSE-TV‘s The PlayList features this segment with host Karen Sunderman getting a guided tour of Duluth MakerSpace from Miranda Durbin, a shop manager.
One of the seven videos in the Homegrown Music Video Festival is this piece featuring archival footage of the Black Labels performing at Duluth’s Red Lion Lounge at least 10 years ago. The bar closed in 2007 and the space was repurposed for the Zeitgeist Arts Café. The video was edited by Emily Norton.
Ten years ago the Homegrown Music Festival was in its ninth year — second year as a nonprofit. Don Ness was festival director at the time, but steering committee member Paul Connolly was called on to make an appearance on WDSE-TV’s Almanac North to talk with hosts Julie Zenner and Eric Olson. Connolly went on to serve as festival director for the 2008 and 2009 festivals.
Following the conversation, the band Cars & Trucks performs “Over the Moon.”
Would Perfect Duluth Day be interested in hosting a rideshare board for trips that go beyond the bounds of Duluth (like to the Twin Cities and back, etc.)? It would sure be helpful for one-car or no-car families that have to travel regularly. The UMD Ride Share board is great and shows the concept works, but I’m not a university student and it feels kinda weird showing up for a ride as a middle-aged person when the driver expects a student. And then there’s the summer.
At the end of 2016 there were seven craft breweries in Duluth and nine more across the region. Another six are in the planning or soon-to-open stages in 2017. In the two years since Perfect Duluth Day conducted its first tally of the region’s beer production the total barrel output has grown from roughly 20,000 to nearly 35,000. That equates to more than one million gallons of craft beer locally brewed in 2016. By other measurements, it’s about 70,000 kegs, more than 8 million pints or more than 11 million 12-ounce bottles and cans.
The largest contributors to the recent growth were Bent Paddle Brewing and Castle Danger Brewing. Bent Paddle doubled its output over the past two years while Castle Danger grew six fold. Meanwhile, Moose Lake Brewing launched operations, Blacklist Artisan Ales opened a taproom and started canning, and South Shore Brewery opened an additional brewery and tasting room in Washburn.
In the year ahead, the brewing landscape is set to shift dramatically with the opening of a half-dozen new operations in the region. Newbies in the immediate Twin Ports area will be Hoops Brewing in Canal Park, Oakhold Farmhouse Brewery in Midway Township and Earth Rider in Superior. The Iron Range, home to only one brewing business in 2016 — the Boathouse in Ely — could soon welcome three more. Rapids Brewing Company and Cantankerous Brewing are in the works for Grand Rapids, while Boomtown Brewery plans to open at the former Zimmy’s Bar and Restaurant location in Hibbing.
Below is a breakdown of the 2016 stats.
Bent Paddle Brewing
30-barrel brewery and taproom, founded in 2013
1912 W. Michigan St., Duluth
Colin & Laura Mullen + Bryon & Karen Tonnis, co-founders; Charles Brodell, head brewer; Brent Rowe, regional sales manager; Pepin Young, taproom manager
2016 production: 15,700 barrels
Castle Danger Brewery
30-barrel brewery and taproom; brewery founded in 2011, taproom opened in 2014
17 Seventh St., Two Harbors
Clint and Jamie MacFarlane, owners; Lon and Mandy Larson, owners
2016 production: 9,200 barrels (est. for 2017: 14,000 bbl)
Fitger’s Brewhouse
10-barrel brewery supplying six pubs and a retail store, founded in 1995
600 E. Superior St., Duluth
Rod Raymond, owner; Ted Briggs, master brewer
2016 production: 1,862 barrels
Dancer Logan Moniot of Lake Nebagamon is featured in this new music video shot by Jasper Meddock Productions. The song is “Die Trying” by Michl. In the video, Moniot dances along the lighthouse pier in Duluth as if it’s not even cold out.
