October 2020 Posts

Serpent Lake, 1920

This photo of Serpent Lake, about 80 miles west of Duluth, includes an illustrated map of the route. It appeared in the Duluth Herald 100 years ago today — Sept. 16, 1920. Let it serve as a reminder to wear a white shirt and a tie when paddling.

Creating Apart: Aaron Kloss

When the pandemic started, painter Aaron Kloss decided to create a new painting every day and post it on his Facebook page. Six months later, he’s still going strong. In this short documentary by filmmaker Mike Scholtz, Aaron talks about why he paints and shows off some of his work.

Gavin St. Clair “Goodbye” EP Release Show

Duluth-based folk singer Gavin St. Clair has a new EP titled Goodbye and performed a livestream concert last night on Facebook. The show starts around the 3:25 mark on the video above. Fundraising campaigns can be found at paypal.me/gavinstclair and venmo.com/gavin-clair.

Matinee Musicale: 120 Years of Chamber Music

Matinee Musicale has been putting on chamber music performances in Duluth since 1900. This year the entire season of performances will be online, for free, released monthly on Matinee Musicale’s YouTube channel.

Duluth points of interest penciled on an old postcard

“Are well and trust this will find you all the same. Write soon. John.”

Halloween Banners


Got some photos of awesome Halloween memories? Want to share them with the PDD ghouls and goblins? Send them our way, we will add them to the banner rotation — the long skinny photos at the top of the page when you view Perfect Duluth Day on a desktop computer. (There are no photo banners if you are on a smartphone.)

Lake Superior Brewing gets new owners, will move to Lakeside

Seth and Sarah Maxim have purchased Lake Superior Brewing Company and plan to move operations into the former Xcel Xercise fitness center at 5423 E. Superior St. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)

An iconic craft brewery, the first of its kind in Minnesota, has been sold and new owners plan to move operations from Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood to Lakeside.

The Slice: Jazmin Wong

Jazmin Wong, a pianist from Superior, shares about how her family inspires her to compose music.

In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.

The Brothers Burn Mountain – “I Just Walk Away”

The third video release from the Brothers Burn Mountain‘s new album The Dark Exchange was shot by Ryan Dermody. The brothers are joined musically on this track by Alan Sparhawk on electric guitar and vocals, and Brooke Anderson and Dawn King on vocals.

Creating Apart: Lyz Jaakola

Lyz Jaakola is a musician and teacher from Cloquet, Minnesota. In this video by documentary filmmaker Mike Scholtz, Lyz talks about how her family responded to the pandemic with music.

Postcard from the Moose Lake Fire of 1918

This postcard shows the aftermath of the infamous Moose Lake Fire. Written in white across the image is the date of the fire, Oct. 12, 1918, though the photo was almost certainly shot in the days that followed, not during the blaze.

Weekend Update: Dateline Duluth

Duluth made a brief appearance in Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update this week. The appearance is at the 2:54 mark.

PDD Quiz: Halloween High Jinks

Duluth News Tribune, Oct. 29, 1922.

There are more tricks than treats in this week’s PDD quiz, which looks back at bygone Halloween pranks reported in the Duluth News Tribune. All articles, photographs and cartoons come from database America’s Historical Newspapers, which covers the years 1855-1922. For a look at more recent Halloween shenanigans, check out Mike Creger’s 2014 Duluth News Tribune article.

The next PDD quiz will review this month’s headlines; it will be published on Oct. 25. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Oct. 21.

Duluth You & Me: Glensheen Mansion

Use the link below for a printable PDF for your drawing and coloring pleasure.
Duluth You & Me: Glensheen Mansion

Follow the Duluth You & Me subject tag to see additional pages. For background on the book see the original post on the topic.

Ripped on Sunday in 2000

[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Twenty years ago our anti-hero took a Sunday-night tour of drinking establishments in Proctor and nearby townships.]

“Oh yeah, now, Flip’s Bar, I’d stay away from that place,” this inebriated wastoid in a Motorhead T-shirt told me about three months back. “No, Flip’s is the roughest place in Proctor. It’s a real dive. You don’t wanna go there.” Naturally, after hearing this, I did want to go there. So when Sunday boredom started to get the best of me, I decided to stir things up and head to Flip’s.

There were two cars in the parking lot when I arrived, and one of them was for sale. I walked in the door to find no one there except an old guy behind the bar, who I presumed was Flip himself. I didn’t hang around to find out. Before the old dude even knew I had opened the door, I was back in my El Camino, swearing to milk this night for whatever I could get.

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