Duluth Storm Damage Recap
Crumbled chimney bricks on the roof of the Board of Trade Building.
A severe storm ripped through the Duluth area around 3:30 a.m., knocking down trees and leaving many without power and running water. (more…)
Itasca Conversations: Tall Timber Days Festival
Dr. Lee Jess cuts a promo for Tall Timber Days, the 35-year-old festival he helped start in Grand Rapids. Video produced by A Plus B Productions.
Bumper crop
The wild blueberries are crazy this year. I picked six quarts today and didn’t even make a dent in the patch.
Duluth Alligator Stew
200 c. flour
100 c. bacon drippings
200 lg. onions
500 lbs. alligator
Season to taste
400 pods garlic
600 beef bouillon cubes
500 qts. Lake Superior water
Fresh parsley
Wild mushrooms
Combine flour and bacon drippings; brown until dark. Add water, onions, garlic, bouillon, and seasoning. Cook for 1 hour. Clean fat from alligator. Cut in bite size pieces. Put in gravy and cook in another hour. Add mushrooms and cook, uncovered, in another 30 minutes. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve over rice. Feeds approx. 85,000.
[Adapted from cooks.com.]
Perfect North Shore Restaurant: Gunflint Tavern
One conclusion can be easily drawn from the results of Perfect Duluth Day’s poll to name the best restaurant on Lake Superior’s North Shore: Grand Marais is the place to be. The top three restaurants are located there, including the perfect one, Gunflint Tavern.
Owner Jeff Gecas says it hasn’t always been easy. He and his wife Susan are “Deadheads” who decided to create the business “almost selfishly” in 1998 because there wasn’t anywhere to watch live music and drink microbrews on draft in Grand Marais. “We never had Bud or Miller Lite. We didn’t allow smoking. People said ‘They’ll never make it,'” Gecas remembers. “We’re now in our 19th year.”
Upending convention, the Tavern now offers music 260 nights a year and brews its own beer. With its eclectic menu, craft beer and live music several nights of the week, it has become a North Shore institution and a favorite among locals and tourists alike.
In an outpost like Grand Marais, one might be surprised to find bangers and mash, chicken mole and an Asian noodle bowl under the same roof. Casual fare like burgers and pizzas are available at the Gunflint Tavern too, as are finer dining options such as walleye, steak and mushroom ravioli. (more…)
Not So Cool
On Saturday, July 16, our custom-made Cool Stuff Sale signs were stolen from Woodland Avenue and Oxford Street as our nearby garage sale was ending. We would like them back. They are cool signs and do not belong in the possession of un-cool people.
If you see them, please post the location. Beware of doing business with anyone else who is using them … they are dishonest! Thanks.
Duluthian paints France
Duluth artist Kenneth Marunowski is in France, painting, and sends his regards to friends left behind, like me. (more…)
Kristy Marie – “Bernie Forever”
The new video by Duluth’s Kristy Marie is in support of Bernie Sanders for President. It features instrumentation by Marc Gartman and Rich Mattson.
Union Made in the District of Duluth
Some time around the year 1980, my parents acquired two giant four-drawer cabinets. Several decades went by before it was time to clean out the house and get rid of them. When one of them sold last month I pulled out a drawer and for the first time noticed the cabinets appear to have been built in Duluth. “United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, organized 1881, registered June 30, 1903,” reads the text on the ink stamp. “Union Made” in the “District of Duluth.”
I’m curious if anyone has seen anything like this or has any back story on who might have built them and when.
A Ride Through a Field of Daisies
On the North Shore of Lake Superior near Knife River, Frank Sander rides through a field of daisies with his new bike. Slightly promotional, mostly delightful.
Official Map of the City of Duluth, 1889
From the days when Enger Park was Zenith Park, and Chester Park was Glenwood Park (or is it Lenwood?). (more…)
Western Duluth by Air
Duluth aerial footage by Charlie Dinges, featuring Wade Stadium, the ore docks, grungy industrial stuff and pretty trees.
This Week: Bonar, BBQ, baseball and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find in this week’s PDD Calendar:
There’s a seminar about voter engagement taking place at the Ordean Building, folks can get a hand in uncovering the roots of their family trees at the Duluth Public Library, veterans can receive assistance with looking for employment at the Minnesota Work Force Center, Haley Bonar comes to town to play the pier at Glensheen, rapper P.O.S. plays a micro show, PAVSA is selling BBQ and cupcakes to support their services and Anthony Bush talks baseball at the Depot.
A contemporary take on the original spoiled rich girl plays at Teatro Zuccone, famed comic Jerry Seinfeld stops at the DECC, The All Pints Eve Hootenanny is transpiring at Bent Paddle Brewing, Dem Atlas and Reflectivore play Pizza Luce, the Lake Superior Classic & Custom Boat Show lands at Barker’s Island, the 2016 All Pints North Summer Brew Fest is at Bayfront Park and the Rolling Thunder Reunion brings together musicians with Bob Dylan ties at Weber Music Hall.
Where in Superior?
Time for another installment of Perfect Duluth Day’s ultra-thrilling photo-trivia sensation. This time the photo was shot somewhere in Superior. Where specifically?
PDD Quiz: Pokémon Duluth Day
Pokémon Go has invaded everywhere, including Duluth, as anyone who is somewhat conscious can tell you. Our social media feeds have been flooded with familiar people in familiar places with weird creatures. Your job in this quiz: identify the person, place, and Pokémon pictured. Gotta catch ’em all.
Thanks to members of the Pokemon Go: Duluth MN Facebook group for their photo contributions.
The next quiz will be a review of the events of July 2016 and will be published on July 31. Send submissions to lawrence @ perfectduluthday.com by Wednesday, July 27 to get your question in the quiz!
Two Harbors Chalk.a.Lot
Amongst these magnificent works of sidewalk art from the Two Harbors Chalk.a.Lot this weekend is a tribute to Cloud Cult. Visit Sunday if you can. The art will still be awesome. (more…)
Word Jerk
I used to think I could be a writer. It was adorable.
I’m 45. From 20 until almost 40, I harbored delusional aspirations of someday publishing in prominent venues such as Spin, Sports Illustrated, Outside, and the New Yorker. In my 20s I neither enjoyed nor did well in a few full-time print and online journalism jobs. Throughout my 30s I taught writing (which I still do); I also spent a lot of time pitching Minnesota magazine and website pieces and a little time actually getting to write them; I took a short break from teaching in Duluth to see if I could hang with music journalists in Minneapolis (spoiler: nope); I made some stupid decisions I still cringe-blush about (I think I’ve now sent Alan Sparhawk five or six apology emails about a 2005 Minnesota Monthly piece about him I wrote and the magazine’s editors kind of ruined); I got fired from a few freelance jobs and submitted some work that sucked; I did some OK stuff and some pretty good stuff; I realized being able to arrange words well does not make me a writer and even if I ever become what I believe a writer is I’ll never refer to myself as one. (more…)
Pizzaghost – “Someone Died”
Noise rockers Pizzaghost performed in KUMD’s Studio A on June 9, just before the band went on hiatus.
Found pink Next bike in Cloquet
Found a Next Pretty in Pink girls bike by Aspen Arms Assisted Living. It has to be missed by the kid who lost it or had it stolen. If anyone knows of a child in Cloquet who this bike belongs to please spread the word. I moved the bike onto my property and it will be here safe to be claimed.
New 7 West Taphouse on Tower Avenue could open in September
A delay in financing stalled interior design work several months, but owners of the 7 West Taphouse in Superior say they plan to open their burger and beer business in mid-September. (more…)
Selective Focus: Moheb Soliman
This week we stretch the boundaries of Selective Focus — both geographically and conceptually. Moheb Soliman is a poet who will be installing his writing in the form of very official looking signs throughout Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and the four other major Great Lakes national parks at trails, vistas, and beaches as part of the National Park Service centennial celebration. Some of the installations are already done and this month he will be finishing up at Isle Royale National Park. (more…)
Duluth Gate and Wayfinding Master Plan
Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Division is in the planning stages of a Gate, Wayfinding and Trail head/Orientation Plan. A public meeting took place in June where the city’s consultants provided five concept designs to be used for park entries, trail heads, information kiosks and historical markers. The city is seeking additional input from the public until July 20 using an online survey, after which a summary of the survey will be provided to the Duluth Parks Commission.
The five concept designs and additional background are online at duluthmn.gov.
Direct link to design options PDF | Direct link to survey tool
Mystery Photo #35: Frank Lundgren and Joe Marceau
This mystery photo was sent by Ryan Sanders, a distant relative of the man at left in the photo above, Frank Lundgren. (Yours truly, Paul Lundgren, is no relation.) Standing next to Frank Lundgren is his brother-in-law Joe Marceau. The photo was shot somewhere in Duluth around 1918. The mystery we are looking to solve is where specifically the photo was shot. (more…)
Pokemon Go Duluth Update
Does anyone have any crazy Pokemon Go Duluth stories? I see tons of evidence that the Rose Garden is overrun with Pokemon. And I saw eight kids staring into their phones at Pizza Lucé, which is a Gym across the street from a PokeStop or whatever it is.
Mix 108 has a list of sites. So does Reddit. And so does Duluth.com.
Remember, injured and orphaned wildlife should be brought to Wildwoods. Even Pokemon.
Sidewalk Days: Parklets, Pies, Pops; Meatless Meatballs and Mermaids
View of Sidewalk Days after dinner time, looking toward Lake Avenue from Superior Street.
We stopped at the parklet in front of Lake Superior Bakehouse. Parklets take a few parking spots on the main drag and turn them into plywood green spaces. We (a group of nerds including Duluth’s own Nifty Nerd) were hunting for refreshment, and the Bakehouse had beverages and a blueberry cinnamon roll that was amazing. The woman staffing the table was kind enough to mention reading and liking an earlier essay I wrote. I blush to think that people read my work, but it was the tastiness of the treats that won our hearts. (more…)