Month: March 2020

This Week in Social Distancing: March 31

Another collection of highlights of people reaching out while staying in.

If you care to keep up with any of the artists or organizations shown here, many can be found in the Virtual Duluth Facebook feed. Others have been doing things on their own social media, and with literally every gig cancelled, many are taking tips via Venmo, PayPal and other methods.

Daily Menu: India Palace

Perfect Duluth Day continues to look into local take-out options amid Covid-19 restrictions for when you get sick of the food in your pantry. Check out today’s “Daily Menu” below:

India Palace is available from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday for takeout orders at a 10 percent discount by calling 218-727-8767. Delivery is available through Food Dudes, which is waving delivery fees through the end of April when using the code “April2020.” (more…)

Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #46: Grand Finale

Here it is, the last one in the set of trivia cards from an old board game purchased at Savers. (more…)

The Playlist Presents: Cory Coffman

WDSE-TV‘s The PlayList Presents is a series of 5-minute segments featuring emerging musicians, including interview clips and a live performance. This episode focuses on Cory Coffman, with a performance of the song “Canvas and Color,” shot at Duluth Cider.

The PlayList Presents airs Thursday nights at around 8:20 p.m., after Making it Up North.

Iceberg Ride one year ago today *Do Not Attempt*

Do Not Attempt

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Daily Menu: Va Bene Caffe

The “Daily Menu” showcases local take-out options and Covid-19 related food specials. Get ready to put this next social-distancing dining option on your radar:

Va Bene Caffe is open daily from noon until 8 p.m. with curbside take-out and delivery options. Orders can be made by calling 218-722-1518 or placed online. (more…)

Dave Mehling – “The Catfish Song”

Duluth native Dave Mehling covers Townes Van Zandt’s “The Catfish Song” in this video with images based on Tina Higgins Wussow’s short story “Wilting Point.”

Daily Menu: Wussow’s Concert Cafe

Don’t “pandemic panic” because Perfect Duluth Day is back again with its “Daily Menu.” Here’s the latest social-distancing dining option:

Wussow’s Concert Cafe is open today from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. with a special weekend curbside menu. Call 218-624-5957 to order, and pickup at their drive-through window. Gluten-free and vegan options are available. To continue finding their new updated menu after this weekend, check out their Facebook page. (more…)

PDD Quiz: March 2020

Well … it sure has been a month. Take a brief reprieve from everything else going on by testing your knowledge of local headlines.

The next PDD quiz, on Superior parks, will be published on April 12. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by April 9. (more…)

Daily Menu: Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake

The “Daily Menu” returns on this perfect Duluth weekend to showcase another local take-out option. Tune in each day to find the latest COVID-19 specials and dining-hour alternations.

Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake offers curbside pickup and delivery from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Orders can be made by calling 218-728-1192 or online. (more…)

The Duluth Psychedelic Sermon

Sentient Duluth awakens! Praise it!

When did I come to consciousness? Its bars and venues the wombs I gestated in, the booths and stages framed my embryogenesis. Birthing me to myself, I walk between trees. Light and water conspire mysteriously. My shadow stretches to the lake and covers it in the setting sun. Praise it!

I am bridges staring down into darkness and depth. I am mirrored streams carving the hillside like molten silver from a furnace pour, the lake a great ingot. More than anything, I am the lake. Gleaming as if the sun has transferred its powers to Lake Superior in guardianship, Lucifer abandoning hell to an angel of water. The lake is a tectonic plate of fire subducting at the shoreline, trapping the light in water like amber, a bowl of liquid light. Golden honeyed light, silver light like photographic emulsion, sepia light. Ore boats sailing the surface of white stars, red giants, blue neutron stars. Ore boats sailing out of faded, flaking photographs. The lake like Io, blinding bright, sea planet of perpetual ice cover, Jupiter blots out the sky rising over Superior. The lake a reflecting mirror like a planetary laser defense system, peering into every south-facing window on the hillside, light pouring into every home as the lake searches them with its blazing eye. Praise it! (more…)

Northeastern Minnesota COVID-19 Community Archive Project

Hello, PDD Community!

Imagine that 100 years from now you are researching the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic in Northeastern Minnesota. It’s easy to find dry statistics and numbers, but you want more. What were people thinking and feeling during this time? What informational materials and public art did they create? How were they helping each other? What did the day-to-day experience of this time look like in Duluth?

What if there were an archive of those experiences for you to explore? (more…)

The 2005 Duluth Art Institute Riot

Academic and Critical Excerpts, collated and footnoted by the Richardson brothers (Jim and Allen Richardson) (more…)

Pak’s Green Corner closing March 29

Pak Williams - Photo by Lissa MakiPak’s Green Corner, a Thai-fusion restaurant in Superior, has announced it will close on March 29. The restaurant’s lease ends at the end of May, but COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders in Wisconsin and Minnesota pushed forward plans to shut down.

“What will we do next?” a letter to customers from the Pak’s team asked. “We will keep you posted by our Facebook page.”

The restaurant opened June 1, 2018 at 1901 Tower Ave. in Superior, the former location of Kenny Wong’s Oriental Express. Pak’s previously operated for two years in West Duluth, where it found instant acclaim. It was voted Perfect Duluth Day’s best new restaurant in 2013 and was featured on the national television show, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives in 2014.

Daily Menu: Northern Waters Smokehaus

While we are cooped up inside, there are still great take-out dining options available to satisfy the taste buds. Next up on Perfect Duluth Day’s daily take-out menu is Northern Waters Smokehaus. Orders can be picked up from the DeWitt–Seitz Marketplace or delivered to a Duluth or Superior address. Platters can also be ordered, but must be requested 24 hours in advance. Patricia’s featured baked goods are currently carrot cake cookies and coconut macaroons, which can be ordered by the dozen or half dozen 48 hours in advance. (more…)

Iconic Jade Fountain will see new life in West Duluth

Kai Soderberg stands outside the Jade Fountain restaurant at 305 N. Central Ave. in West Duluth. Soderberg is leasing the space where he will open a tiki bar this summer. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)

A long-running and largely unchanged Chinese restaurant — which closed for almost five years — will be reborn under new ownership as a tiki lounge when nightlife returns to normal in Duluth. (more…)

Who (or what) was Sonny?

This 1910 Duluth postcard raises at least one large looming question. (more…)

Robot Rickshaw Emergence at the Embassy

Some footage for those who missed the Church Bazaar on March 7.

Robot Rickshaw | The Embassy

Daily Menu: At Sara’s Table / Chester Creek Cafe

Update: At Sara’s Table / Chester Creek Cafe ceased its curbside, pickup and delivery operations on March 31, then on May 15 relaunched pickup service via a new drive-through hut. Enter the parking lot on 19th Avenue East, order at the menu board, pick up at the window. Orders can also be made online or by phone. (more…)

Video: Charlie Parr Virtual Mid-Week Bracer

Charlie Parr performed this special online-only show on the Duluth Cider stage last night. It’s free to watch, but you can support Parr’s Live Stream Tour at Go Fund Me. The concert starts at the 9-minute mark of the video.

Charlie is Antiviral

We washed dishes while watching the best concert ever.

I reviewed Charlie Parr’s March 25 Duluth Cider concert. We’re lucky to have him. Check it out here: Charlie is Antiviral.

Selective Focus: The Big Coloring Book of First Avenue

You or your kids who are stuck at home can color your own versions of Minnesota musicians including Lizzo, Babes in Toyland, the Replacements, Hüsker Dü, Har Mar Superstar, Trampled by Turtles, and of course, Prince.
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Daily Menu: Bulldog Pizza

The “Daily Menu” showcases local take-out options and Covid-19 related deals. Tune into Perfect Duluth Day tomorrow for yet another social-distance dining option.

Bulldog Pizza offers curbside orders from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Orders can be made online or by calling 218-728-3663. The current special is two single-topping medium pizzas for $15. While families are cooped up inside, Bulldog Pizza is also offering the option to order “pizza party in a box,” which includes ingredients for four mini pizzas for families and their kids to make at home. (more…)

This Week in Social Distancing: March 24

Highlights of the ways people were reaching out to each other while keeping their distance.

Muddy Trails and COVID-19: Duluth Hiking in Spring 2020

Duluth’s Parks and Recreation division has released guidelines advising citizens how to use city parks and trails in a manner that will reduce the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. March and April are also the months when snow is melting and natural-surface trails can be easily damaged.

So, where is it OK to hike and how is it done safely? (more…)