Gary Boelhower is the 2018-’20 Duluth Poet Laureate
Poet, author and College of St. Scholastica professor emeritus Gary Boelhower has been selected as the 2018-’20 Duluth Poet Laureate. For the two-year post, Boelhower will organize five community events and participate in an inaugural reading and crowning ceremony on Dec. 2 at Peace Church. He will receive a $3,000 honorarium for his efforts.
The Duluth Poet Laureate Project was founded in 2005 and is overseen by a 10-person committee. Past Duluth Poet Laureates include Bart Sutter, Sheila Packa, Jim Johnson (twice), Deborah Cooper and Ellie Schoenfeld. The project is co-sponsored by donations from local organizations such as the Friends of the Duluth Public Library, the Arrowhead Reading Council, the English departments at UMD and St. Scholastica, Lake Superior College, Minnesota Public Radio, Lake Superior Writers and others. (more…)
Meat Puppets – “Lake of Fire”
The punk rock band Meat Puppets released “Lake of Fire” on the 1984 album Meat Puppets II. It also appears as a hidden track on the 1994 album Too High to Die.
The Duluth reference goes a little something like this:
I knew a lady who came from Duluth
She got bit by a dog with a rabid tooth (more…)
St. Louis County Board approves $136.7 million property tax levy
The St. Louis County Board has unanimously approved its proposed property tax levy at $136.7 million for 2019, an amount that should result in a minor tax decrease for most property owners, due to an increase in the county’s property tax base. (more…)
Superior Hiking Trail 100-mile Solo Trip
Fall is prime hiking season around Lake Superior. Linda O’Connell of Onalaska went on a 100-mile journey from the Canadian Border to Temperance River State Park in early September and put together this 37-minute documentary.
“Beautiful views, wrong turns and good food were experienced,” she writes in the YouTube description. “I am just an average American 50-year-old woman trying to get out of my comfort zone. Life is short. Make it count.”
WLSSD flipped its switch 40 years ago
It was 40 years ago today — Sept. 25, 1978 — when the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District began operating its sewage treatment plant in Duluth.
“The network of pipes and pumps and tanks and treatment pools and chemistry all contributed as designed to clean harmful bacteria and other pollution out of the sewage — from not just Duluth homes, but also homes from surrounding areas and industry as far away as Cloquet,” writes Duluth News Tribune reporter John Myers.
Duluth News Tribune: “WLSSD marks 40 years of cleaner St. Louis River”
Melrose Avenue in 1947
Street repairs on Melrose Avenue in Duluth. Two watch, three work.
Video Archive: The Dames on KBJR-TV
Twenty years ago today — Sept. 24, 1998 — Duluth band the Dames was featured in a segment on KBJR-TV News. The band performed at the Shrine Auditorium the next day with two other local bands, Crazy Betty and Groundskeeper Willie.
Barmuda Triangle of West Duluth
Sure, you’ve heard stories of mysterious and unusual disappearances in West Duluth. What exactly happened to old so-and-so last night? Well, there’s a good chance your friend slipped into the Barmuda Triangle. (more…)
Found: “Scandinavian-style boat”
At 8:20 a.m. police responded to the 1900 block of Minnesota Avenue to a report of a Scandinavian-style boat that washed ashore.
Update: The owner of the boat contacted police a few hours later. The boat did not wash ashore; it was purposely beached by the owner after sailing.
Minnesota North Shore Fall Colors Report 2018
Duluth and the North Shore fall colors are slowly starting to turn. The above fall colors map provided by the MN DNR will update automatically as the fall foliage colors continue to change around the state. Look for early to mid October to see the peak fall colors hitting the Duluth and North Shore regions. Colors typically change a little later right along the shores of Lake Superior. (more…)
Mystery Photo #74: Jungle Book
There are quite a few things we know about this mystery photo. According to info scribbled on the back we can discern that Hope Phillips and Andy Tureson are acting out a scene from a staging of The Jungle Book at St. Michael’s Church in Duluth. (more…)
Bent Paddle nabs Great American Beer Festival gold again
Bent Paddle Brewing won its second Great American Beer Festival gold medal this weekend in Denver, Colo. The Duluth brewery’s saison took the top honor in the Classic Saison category. (more…)
Only Three and a Half
I felt homesick. Lonesome for Ms. LaCount and the soft comforts of our home. Gloomy in my stomach and behind my eyes because of some absence or presence I couldn’t discern. I’d expected all that. I also felt like I might barf every time I looked at or just thought about food. That was unexpected.
It was Wednesday, August 14 of this year. On Sunday the 11th I’d paddled away from Crane Lake, MN, headed east toward Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness entry point #12 on Little Vermilion Lake. I planned to reach Lake Superior by way of the Grand Portage on Saturday the 17th or maybe the day after that.
The anticipated homesickness had come on full-force during the second day. I didn’t enjoy the sensation, but I knew I could deal with it, and I did, by reminding myself of how lucky I was to be in that place doing what I was doing and just continuing to move forward. The unanticipated pukiness had imposed itself midway through the first day. It got worse any time I tried to choke down a mouthful or two of sustenance and it was, partially because of the mental state a relative lack of food helped create, a tougher problem to solve. (more…)
Selective Focus: #perfectduluthday
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnSH9TOFuT5/
Summer is over, but don’t fret. Everybody knows fall is actually the best season. Here are some recent #perfectduluthdays. Get out and enjoy.
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T-Icy rolls across Duluth
This hibachi-style Thai rolled ice cream treat is called “Monkey Family.” It is flavored with Nutella-brand hazelnut spread and banana. The choice of toppings featured here are strawberry slices, cinnamon sticks and mango-flavored boba pearls. (Photo by Suenary Philavanh)
T-Icy Roll Ice Cream is preparing to open a second Duluth location this winter. An awning with the store name is already up at 202 E. Superior St., the former location of Lake Superior Art Glass. (more…)
Dovetail Cafe to open in October
Duluth Folk School Director & Co-Founder Bryan French outside Dovetail Cafe – Photo by Lissa Maki
If all goes as planned, Dovetail Cafe and Marketplace will open in the second week of October. The unique eatery, housed within the Duluth Folk School at 1917 W. Superior St., will serve up meals made from scratch, products from local vendors and a side of education for those inclined to learn. (more…)
Where in Superior?
For the 181st edition of Perfect Duluth Day’s ultra-thrilling photo-trivia sensation “Where in Duluth?” we exit the city limits and cross the bridge to Superior. Can you name the location where this sign hangs? (more…)
Split Rock Review, Fall 2018
From Split Rock Review
A new issue of local literary magazine Split Rock Review has been released. Visit splitrockreview.org to check it out.
Ingeborg von Agassiz – “Rebel Robin” featuring Betty Boop
New video by Duluth artist Ingeborg von Agassiz for a song from her debut album O Giver of Dreams.
Video Archive: The Tisdales – “Find it in Me”
Uploaded to YouTube 10 years ago today — Sept. 18, 2008 — is this track from Duluth band the Tisdales. The song “Find it in Me” appears on the group’s 2008 album “Bakers Dozen.”
Swimming with Nancy – “Fourth Street”
This Duluth song doesn’t actually have the word “Duluth” in its lyrics, but is loaded with Duluth references. It’s from the self-titled 2005 album by Duluth band Swimming with Nancy.
Hannah Johnson Fabrics working toward expansion
Janet Anelli, owner of Hannah Johnson Fabrics, preparing cut fabric.
A fabric store in Duluth’s Lakeside neighborhood is expanding into space where baked goods were the longtime order of the day. (more…)
PDD Quiz: Bygone Festivities
While any given perfect Duluth day is chockablock with events, there are a number of festivals, carnivals, and other shenanigans that are no longer celebrated. This quiz looks back at these festivities of yesteryear, perhaps begging the question: should we bring some of them back?
The next quiz, on this month’s headlines, will be published on Sept. 30. Please email question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Sept. 27. (more…)
Words and Phrases That I Hate
What follows is an incomplete list of words and phrases I dislike. There is no real rhyme or reason to them; some are things I’ve encountered in my school or work circles, while others are just things I’ve stumbled across here or there. I list them in rough order of hatred, beginning with the most repulsive and concluding with the merely annoying.
Resiliency. This is an awful word devised by someone who deserves to be expelled from the urban planning field. The perfectly good “resilience” says the exact same thing in one less syllable. Even that is overused to the point of emptiness, but at least it doesn’t sound like an invented piece of jargon designed to make one sound intelligent. Which is exactly what it is.
Any scandal ending in “-gate.” This construction stopped being amusing circa 1974. Now it just shows a lack of creativity.
Outstate. This is a Minnesota word invented by Twin Cities people to refer to people who are not like them. It implies that people not in the Twin Cities are somehow out of the state, and plays into the conceit that Duluth, Worthington, Moorhead, Grand Marais, and Little Falls all share something other than the misfortune of not being the cool big city. Attempting to use it innocently with a resident of Greater Minnesota (an acceptable alternative) is a good way to lose any credibility you might have aspired to. (more…)