For the past few years around this time, the discussion on PDD has turned to Tom & Jerrys – where to find the fixins, if there are acceptable alternatives to Connolly’s, and the ups and downs for Connolly’s.
The PDD film crew got sweet and sticky with Steve Knauss and John Kurth as they began production on this year’s batch of Connolly’s Tom & Jerry batter.
Stay warm, stay frothy.
The Duluth Sister Cities-Ohara Japan delegation for kids 12-15 is taking applications until Jan 3. The group will travel to Japan for 10 days in August 2014 and host a Japanese student in August 2015.
Snow making started a couple weeks ago at Chester Bowl. With this snowstorm and the stolen lift chair returned, the hill should be ready to go for the projected December 14 opening date.
Thom Storm, who has operated the ski program at Chester since the 70s, is planning to retire at the end of the 2015 ski season. Clearly, those are going to be some big shoes to fill, and the Chester Bowl Improvement Club is looking to hire someone to begin working with Thom this year.
Also hiring:
ski instructors and snowboard instructors.
Check the links for more info.
Snowmaking photo by Jeremy Kershaw.
Here’s a little ditty from this year’s Rubber Chicken Theater holiday comedy revue — How the Grinch Shut Down Christmas, or, I Saw Rudolph Twerking Santa Claus — featuring Greg J. Anderson, Sharon Dixon Obst and Anders Hultstrom.
Thanks to Dean Vogtman at Happy Tree Productions for the use of his studio, and the fine folks at Beaner’s Central who had to shimmy around our cameras to get across the room.
All outdoor scenes were actually shot outdoors.
Get your commerce on. Here is PDD’s annual reminder that the real purpose of Christmas is to obtain material things … as long as they are locally made.
This being the fifth year of the PDD Gift Guide, most of you know the drill by now, but for uninitiated newbies the concept is simple: The folks behind the curtain at PDD select 15 locally-based holiday gift ideas. The community at large is free to add other suggestions and links in the comment section below, with some effort to not be too redundant and repeat items from the Gift Guides of Christmases Past.
Hey, I can see my house from here.
Back in April we announced that we’d be retiring all of the old banners. Well, the day has come, happy birthday to us, and sayonara to the old banners. Welcome the new, fresh banners. The old banners have been archived on Google Plus.
Photo taken June 3, 2013. According to Thom Storm, this is the latest date snow has stayed on the Chester Bowl ski hill by about a month.
Zombies! Fast Cars! Cowboys! Cheese sauce!
We will be archiving the 2013 Homegrown Music Video Fest videos on this page as they continue to get sent to us. It was another standing room only premiere this year at the Zinema. There will be encore screenings Wednesday at Zinema, and Sunday at Sara’s Table / Chester Creek Cafe.
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
We have been warned. Frankie the DIY Weatherman is watching this storm from Nova Scotia.
Last week, Neptune was spotted by a PDD contributor making various proclomations. If you were wondering what was up, it’s this video. The Magic Smelt Puppet Troupe has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to put on free workshops for people to build puppets, masks and costumes for the Smelt Parade on April 21st.
Originally scheduled to open this Saturday, Dec. 15, the ski hill will now open Dec. 20 at 4:30 p.m.. The snow makers lost eight days due to the warm weather the last couple weeks.
For the past few years, the gang at Perfect Duluth Day has pointed out gift options produced by the locals — from durable goods made by the region’s top manufacturers to cute little bags of cookies from the corner bakery. We feature 15 lovely items and encourage the PDD community to add to the ideas in the comments.
