News and Current Affairs
El Jefe Bar & Grill brings back flavors of Bucktales
Dee Morales is back in the restaurant business. He opened El Jefe Bar & Grill in early October.
There’s a familiar face in the kitchen of a new eatery in the Town of Superior. Dee Morales quietly opened El Jefe Bar & Grill in early October after closing Bucktales Cantina & Grill in the city of Superior, 12 miles north. El Jefe operates out of the same building that served as the original Bucktales. (more…)
Duluth Grill expands into West Duluth with new chicken eatery
Mural artists Kevin Ballecer, left, and Mela Nguyen are painting the exterior of Chicken n’ Whaaat?! on Central Avenue in West Duluth. The pair also painted murals for Burger Paradox on Superior Street. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske).
A family-owned restaurant group that helped revitalize Lincoln Park will expand outside the neighborhood for the first time with a new fast-casual chicken eatery attached to a West Duluth gas station. (more…)
Northeastern Minnesota Book Award Winners for 2024
Nine books have been recognized for this year’s Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards, which celebrate books that substantially represent the history, culture, heritage or lifestyle of northeastern Minnesota. (more…)
Ursa Minor earns bronze at Great American Beer Festival
Duluth’s Ursa Minor Brewing won a bronze medal for its Equanimity Irish Style Red Ale at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver on Oct. 12. It’s the brewery’s second bronze medal at the festival; the first came in 2019 for Thistle Dew in the Scottish-Style Ale category.
Equanimity also won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2022 and another gold at the World Beer Cup in 2023. (more…)
PDD Quiz: September 2024
Another month is in the books: how much of it do you remember? Check your memories of September 2024 headlines with this week’s quiz!
A Halloween-y PDD quiz comes your way on Oct. 13. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Oct. 10. (more…)
Iconic Curious Goods building for sale in Superior
Taimi Ranta has owned the Curious Goods building for about 35 years. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)
A widely photographed building on one of the funkiest street corners in Superior is up for sale after a long run as an antique store, warehouse and spare apartment.
The Curious Goods building, 1717 Winter St., just off Tower Avenue, has been put up for sale by owner Taimi Ranta after about 35 years of using the property for her antique and vintage sales business. While Curious Goods featured an enticing and colorful storefront the space has been used only as a warehouse for the past two decades. (more…)
Ichiro Sushi & Ramen wows guests on Miller Hill
Bella, the robot server at Ichiro Sushi & Ramen, glides through the Duluth restaurant. (Photos by Melinda Lavine)
A cat-eared robot buzzed around Ichiro Sushi & Ramen. “Bella” sported white digital whiskers up top, and in its fur-less belly sat plates of fried rice and sushi.
After a series of silent maneuvers, Bella stopped at a table of two, where Cody Tesser served fellow humans their orders from the robot’s racks. (more…)
Morgan Park church wins place on national registry
United Protestant Church member Bob Berg, left, Moderator Marna Fasteland and Pastor Mitch Nelson stand in a back balcony inside the church sanctuary. The Morgan Park church was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
A monumental concrete block church constructed by idle steelworkers in early 19th-century Morgan Park earned national recognition last month and will be a stop on a historic building tour this weekend in Duluth. (more…)
Jugger, a sword-fighting and rugby combo, has arrived in Duluth
Jack Brown, Mitchell Glatzel and Noah Pongratz duel at Leif Erikson Park. When playing jugger they go by the names Dragon, Tumbles and Grub.
There’s a weekly sword fight at Leif Erikson Park in Duluth. Rolling, sliding and dodging blow after blow of foam attacks, three duelists who call themselves Dragon, Tumbles and Grub always draw a crowd of onlookers.
To the uninformed, the spectacle might seem like a form of live-action roleplay. But it would be more accurate to say Dragon and his crew have introduced a new sport to Duluth: jugger. (more…)
New Tweed director thinks of museum as classroom
Tweed Museum of Art Director Julie Delliquanti.
The fall semester hasn’t quite begun at the University of Minnesota Duluth, but the new director of the Tweed Museum of Art has been meeting with faculty in disciplines across campus to examine how the museum can further contribute to intellectual pursuits. (more…)
PDD Quiz: August 2024
Dive into this week’s current affairs quiz and see how many of this month’s headlines you remember.
A back-to-school PDD quiz comes your way on Sept. 15. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Sept. 11. (more…)
Foxes & Fireflies bookstore coming soon to Superior Entrepreneurship Center
Foxes & Fireflies begins to take shape as tables and bookshelves are set up in the space on Tower Avenue in Superior. (Photo via Foxes & Fireflies Facebook page)
A new independent bookstore will soon be part of a business incubation facility in Superior.
Foxes & Fireflies will be Superior’s only bookstore carrying an inventory of new books. The city does not have a chain bookstore and hasn’t had a notable outlet for new books since the locally owned JW Beecroft store closed in 2007. (more…)
Duluth 2024 Primary Election Results
With 4,102 of 4,102 precincts reporting, here are statewide primary election results for races relevant to Duluth. (more…)
Hidden Hunters Park mansion up for sale
Duluth grain magnate W.J. McCabe and his wife Jane Chidlaw McCabe built this Georgian-style colonial mansion in 1914. It is located in Hunters Park, about two miles uphill from Glensheen Mansion. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)
Duluth is famous for its turn-of-the-century mansions proudly showcased in busy, well-touristed east-side neighborhoods, but a few historic homes are tucked away in unexpected places far from the grand Lake Superior shoreline.
One of those hidden gems is up for sale. (more…)
Duluth 2024 Primary Election Sample Ballot
Perhaps the most important thing to note about the Aug. 13 primary ballot is what isn’t on it. There are no city of Duluth or Duluth School Board races in this election cycle. There are several state, county and judicial offices that have no primary, so those candidates go straight to the general election on Nov. 5. And there is nothing on the primary ballot related to the U.S. Presidency because that is up to party delegates to determine. (more…)
Historic record store building gets new life downtown
Peter Pascente stands outside the former Young at Heart record store building at 22 W. First St. Pascente is rehabilitating the 1893 structure. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske).
The Young at Heart record store was a Downtown Duluth musical mainstay for some 40 years when it closed in 1999. After its colorful store fixtures were claimed by the Minnesota Historical Society and massive inventory moved to Superior, the building sat unused for two decades and fell into disrepair.
Now the property at 22 W. First St. has a new life and big plans that include more music in the historic space. (more…)
PDD Quiz: July 2024
Test your memory of July 2024 headlines with this edition of the PDD Quiz.
A quiz on sports mascots comes your way on Aug. 11. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Aug. 8. (more…)
Duluth lands new food truck with Bowlz n’ Thangz
Rachel Nielsen of Duluth gets served a mac bowl and Southwest eggrolls from Bowlz n’ Thangz food truck owner Sarah Hovis. (Photos by Melinda Lavine)
Bowlz n’ Thangz’s black food truck sat outside Wild State Cider in the Lincoln Park Craft District. Every seat in the cidery’s patio and tap room were filled with trivia players and spectators, sipping and snacking. (more…)
MiigWitches Brew drive-thru coffee kiosk open
MPR News reports MiigWitches Brew, a new Native-owned drive-thru coffee kiosk, opened in June at 1810 Big Lake Road on the Fond du Lac reservation, about 15 miles east of Duluth.
Duluth and the Climate Haven Bandwagon
The British Broadcasting Corporation mentions Duluth among the cities that have “jumped on the climate haven bandwagon.”
“But is any place really going to be spared from climate change?” the story asks. “And does moving to one of these cities represent a sustainable solution to the crisis?”
PDD Quiz: June 2024
Test your knowledge of June 2024 headlines with this week’s quiz!
A beach-themed PDD quiz floats your way on July 14. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by July 10. (more…)
Duluth is No. 10 on CNN’s Best Towns to Visit in 2024
“Duluth is proving to be a Superior travel spot,” according to CNN, “thanks to its lakeside setting, outdoor activities and creative spirit.” The Zenith City landed at No. 10 on the cable news channel’s list of “American’s Best Towns to Visit.”
Wisconsin dairy set to open specialty cheese shop at RiverWest
New Duluth store manager Jessy Peterson, left, and Vice President of Retail Operations Jamie Swan stand in front of the cheese cases at the Burnett Dairy Cooperative store in Alpha, Wisconsin. The new Duluth store will feature a similar layout. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)
Duluth cheese lovers will have an extraordinary place to shop for their provolone, cheddar and curds next month when an award-winning Wisconsin dairy opens a large specialty store in a newly developed section of the Riverside neighborhood below Spirit Mountain. (more…)
Bart Sutter’s new poetry collection revels in the natural world
Bart Sutter in the apple trees.
“Lake Superior is God.” Bart Sutter wrote that declaration in his 1998 book Cold Comfort, a collection of essays about “life at the top of the map.” The work was well received by readers, culminating in a Minnesota Book Award for creative nonfiction, and Sutter’s permanent status as a northern force. (more…)