On August 1, 1870, the St. Paul and Lake Superior Stagecoaches ceremoniously quit service with the opening of the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad. On this day, the first train arrived in Duluth from St. Paul, a roughly 150-mile trip that took 16 hours.
–Susan Marks, Historic Photos of Minnesota
Turner Publishing Company, 2009
Thank you, Head of the Lakes Fair.
I think the announcer said a guy named Matt from Superior was the winner. Really, in a smash-up derby, everyone wins.
Tickets to Daniel Johnston at First Avenue are $14 each. So, two tickets would be $28, right? That seems reasonable to me.
What? Oh, there’s a service charge. Well, I suppose that’s not a big deal. How much more could it be, really?
What? Over 60 percent more? All right, in that case I guess I’ll just throw my keyboard through my monitor and change my plans for Aug. 13.
Anticipating the demolition of the Duluth Motel and Star Enterprises in West Duluth, I took a few photos two weeks ago. Both buildings are rubble now.
Spirit Valley Land Co., developer of BayHill on the River townhomes, is planning another development in West Duluth. Read John Ramos’ report on the Cheerleader Blog.
Have you made up your mind yet? Are you running for a City Council or School Board seat? Well, it’s too late now, unless you want to be a write-in candidate.
Pickup Baseball Game
Sunday, July 19 | 3:30 p.m.
Chester Bowl Park
That’s baseball, not softball. This is a pickup game for grownups who can’t remember the last time they felt the ol’ wood smack the cowhide. Pitches will be lobbed, not that anyone who can throw hard will show up anyway.
There’s nothing official about this game, I just got the invite and was told to spread the word. If there’s an organized youth soccer game or something else going on at Chester, the game might get moved to Woodland or something, so it might help to show up on time if you want to be in the know about a possible relocation.
An annual tradition that goes along with the Miss West Duluth Pageant is my attempts to stir up controversy about it.
My initial objection came in 1987, when the first Miss West Duluth was a young lady from Morgan Park. It seemed to me that if the title was going to be “Miss West Duluth,” the contestants should all be from West Duluth.
I was told back then the criteria was that girls must live within the attendance boundary for Denfeld High School to be eligible. Although I thought “Miss Western Duluth” might be a more appropriate name, I was satisfied with this Denfeld rule, so I shut up about it for a few years.
Then, in 1996, a graduate of Hermantown High School was a contestant. I assumed she lived in the Denfeld area but chose to attend Hermantown, which would get around the rules enough to allow her to compete. In subsequent years I’ve noticed Proctor High School students in the list of contestants.
Give a contest an inch and it takes a mile. One of this year’s contestants is a senior at East High School, according to the Spirit Valleys Days insert in the Budgeteer News. (UPDATE: She lives in Morgan Park, according to comments to this post.)
Now, I don’t mean to fan the east/west flames here, so I’m just going to suggest we call this thing the Miss North America Pageant already and get it over with.
Remember that dazzling group of tumblers? They just randomly somersaulted into the nostalgia part of my brain this morning. I can’t remember anymore why the group disbanded. Did the coach move away or something?
MPR story from 2001: “Flying High In Duluth”
Conversation between two pre-teen boys jumping on a trampoline in West Duluth today:
Boy #1: Says something about some girl.
Boy #2: Dude, that chick is UGLY.
Boy #3: At least she’s got some ass.
Aw, they grow up so fast.
I saw this one on Monday — a rubus of some sort (raspberry? cloudberry?). A few weeks from now should be a tasty time for a hike.
