Video Archive: Saucetown
Video by Barrett Chase from a rainy evening cruise to Twin Ports Brewing Company (now Thirsty Pagan Brewing) circa 2005.
This Week: trains, plays and automobiles
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
The Chamber Golf Classic is teeing off bright and early on Monday morning, the Duluth Huskies are in the final games of their regular season, there’s dancing on the Lakewalk, the Great Lakes Aquarium is celebrating its sweet fifteen, the Kidney Walk is taking place and puppets will talk dirty at the Underground.
Kids can play musical instruments at the Library, it’s a board-game avalanche at Studio 15, the Howling Moon festival goes pop-country (yee-hawoooo!), Movies in the Park is showing the Pixar film Cars, Thomas the Tank Engine is rolling into town, the 29th Brewhouse Triathlon is being held at Island Lake Park and the Scenic Train on the St. Louis River is chugging right along.
Postcards from the Arrowhead Bridge
The Arrowhead Bridge connected West Duluth to Superior’s Billing’s Park neighborhood across the St. Louis River for 57 years. Built by the Arrowhead Bridge Co., it opened on March 15, 1927. The company charged a toll to cross the bridge until 1963, when Minnesota and Wisconsin state officials paid $200,000 to make it a toll-free public bridge.
The Arrowhead Bridge was dismantled in 1985 after the opening of the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge.
Lost: Orange Cat in East Hillside
Lost July 21:
Orange/”champagne” Tabby
Female, adult, 10 lbs. (pudgy)
Spayed, micro-chipped
Very timid and skittish around strangers and in unfamiliar places
Sweet, friendly, vocal
She wandered away Tuesday night or Wednesday morning and we haven’t seen her since. It is unlike her to go far from home. She would have been seen near Fourth Street and Eighth Avenue East or in the alley behind.
If seen or found please call 952-807-3882. She is very loved and greatly missed.
Crafted to Last Movie Trailer
Crafted To Last: Minnesota Beer Blossums screens tonight at the Redstar Club in the Fitger’s Brewery Complex.
Selective Focus: Color
Brandon Wagner , “Hawaiian Punch”
Paul wins the horse race from the 30 or so photogs who snapped Kip’s birthday shots last week. And I’ve included a black and white photo, because as Van Gogh asserted, they’re colors too; though pedants would argue that in a subtractive color space, white is the absence of color. I bristle. (more…)
Best Underwater Footage of Duluth’s Atlantean Ruins
Underwater footage of Uncle Harvey’s Mausoleum off the Duluth Lakewalk in relatively clear conditions. First I videoed the collapsed column in 9 feet of water, Then because visibility was so good, I swam around the base of the building structure too. That is 16 feet deep according to a depth chart I saw once.
Lost cat in Lakeside
Maddie is lost! She’s a 10-year-old shorthair spayed female cat. Maddie is a dominantly white calico cat with a caramel-colored “mustache.” Maddie weighs about 10-11 lbs.
Maddie is an indoor cat who never goes outside. She’s sweet and cuddly when at home, but she’s timid and skittish in strange situations. She’s probably very frightened and hiding in bushes or under a deck/porch. Maddie was last seen on July 18 near 48th Avenue East and Cooke Street in Duluth. (more…)
Socks for Survivors
The Center Against Sexual and Domestic Abuse is holding its fourth annual golf scramble — “Socks for Survivors” — on July 31 at Nemadji Golf Course. If golf isn’t your thing, that’s okay! You can still help support CASDA’s essential services.
Many individuals come into crisis shelters with nothing but the clothing on their backs. Socks are the least donated, but one of the most needed items in shelters. As the kids say, “you can be a hero too!” (more…)
Chester Bowl Park Downhill Ski “Fun Slope”
Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Division is preparing Chester Bowl Park for a new “fun slope,” according to a news release issued today.
Crews will be out clearing out a section of the hill within the ski area in preparation for the upcoming winter season. The new “fun slope” with gentle waves of snowy berms for skiing was identified as a desired addition to the park in the Chester Park Mini-Master Plan, approved in November 2014.
Crews will be working this week into next during daytime hours, but the public should not experience any interruption in their use of the park spaces or trails. The area will be covered with wood chips to reduce erosion and smooth out the area winter operations.
Looking for an affordable plaster repair and ceiling painter
We need an affordable plaster repair and ceiling painter for the first week of August. We have done this job before, but with three small kiddos we need to seek help (although my 14-month-old is totally willing to assist!). It’s pretty straight forward and a quick moving job, other than one area over the staircase that is more tricky. I’d love to pay someone by the day. I think it’d be two days max if you’re motivated.
Perfect Outdoor Concert Venue: Bayfront Festival Park
Duluthians aren’t shy about loving Bayfront Park. Asked in PDD’s poll to name the best outdoor concert venue, 71.5 percent gave their nod to the 10-acre harbor-side multi-purpose park that has hosted Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Trampled by Turtles, Wilco, the Monkees, the Doobie Brothers, Willie Nelson, Steve Martin, nearly three decades of Bayfront Blues Festivals and a long list of others.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune also named Bayfront the state’s “Best Outdoor Music Venue” in 2014, noting: “It has the Aerial Lift Bridge, hilly city skyline and occasional passing ore boat for a backdrop, the cool breeze off Lake Superior for natural air-conditioning and a huge grassy lawn for stretching out. … Coolest of all: Families can bring kids under 12 to shows for free, as is dictated by the city.” (more…)
Heiko has a party
An artistic collaboration between Jeremiah Brown, Brian Barber and Banksy. T-shirts go on sale never.
Lucie Amundsen – Drifts
Awesome creative writing from local creative type Lucie Amundsen.
Check it out!
Excerpt:
Drifts (from Portland Review)
It’s just past midnight and my 13-year-old is not back from her babysitting gig. Abbie’s a couple of hours late now and the parents’ cell rolls directly to voice mail. Likely it’s just drained of charge from the weather. It’s that cold. Days of Arctic fronts have animated our newscasters, who brandish their arms over the Minnesota map as they issue dire warnings. The air is more than raw, it’s dangerous. …
R.I.P. Edgewood Joshua Smith
Photo by Paul Van Antwerp
We are crushed at Perfect Duluth Day to learn our great friend Edgewood Smith died on July 15. (more…)
This Week: lions and Temperance and brews, oh my
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
The Gentlemen’s Anti-Temperance League brings its Prohibition swing to Chester Bowl, kids can make a racket at the West Duluth Branch Library, Tippi Hedren shows us why having lions for roommates is a bad idea in Roar, Take it With You does their 12th show (complete with tailgate party) and a heat-beating opportunity presents itself in the form of a free open-skate.
The Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra joins forces with Magic Smelt Puppet Troupe and Lake Superior Youth Chorus to present a Persian fable, farmers peddle their wares in West Duluth, the Minneapolis radio station The Current comes to Duluth to show Duluth some Duluth bands at a couple of events, the Free Range Film Festival fills a Wrenshall barn with indie films, the Duluth Huskies play the St. Cloud Rox and the All Points North Summer Brew Fest hits Bayfront Park.
Web Woods Trail
New hiking paths pop up in Duluth faster than I can keep track of them. Web Woods Trail was in the news when it opened in 2012, but I didn’t check it out back then, and soon I’d forgotten about it. So when my wife asked if I’d ever been on the trail off Oak Bend Drive in Duluth Heights all I could respond with is: “What trail?” (more…)
Poll: What is the best outdoor concert venue in the Duluth area?
What is the best outdoor concert venue in the Duluth area? It’s is an all-things-considered poll — acoustics, aesthetics, parking, lavatories, etc.
Note: This is PDD’s first runoff poll, which means instead of having an elimination round and a final round of voting, the options with the fewest votes will simply start dropping off of this poll. So check back, because if you vote for something and it drops off the list, you can vote again for one of the remaining options until we have a winner.
This poll is now closed. The results were:
Bayfront Festival Park — 71.5 percent
Big Top Chautauqua — 19 percent
Leif Erikson Park — 9.5 percent
Eliminated during run-off vote: Barker’s Island Pavilion, Billings Park, Chester Bowl, DeWitt-Seitz parking lot, First Street, Glensheen Mansion Pier, Lake Place Park, Lake Superior Plaza, Lincoln Park Pavilion, Lucius Woods Performing Arts Center, Northwest Iron parking lot and Wade Municipal Stadium.
Plein Air: Painting and Chalk Drawing under Open Sky
I saw my friends Dana and Michelle yesterday, and they reminded me that this is one heckova week for art outdoors. (more…)
Internet Service Providers in Duluth
It seems like it’s been a while, so I’m going to hit it again. The Boy has moved to Duluth for college, and we’re looking to set him up with internet.
What is good and cheap in these days of streaming?
Selective Focus: Silence
Bente Soderlind, untitled
As a Catholic in exile, I am grateful to have found a far less-dogmatic refuge in Quaker meetings, where silence is a central tenet. These suited the syncretic nature of my beliefs, and afforded somewhere to weekly “center;” to hear that inner voice, or to just mutely chant the Meow Mix jingle (“I want tuna, I want chicken, Meow Mix flavors keep me lickin…”). But as is evident this week, there are many ways to calm the din, and places to find quiet. (more…)
Gauging interest in a community clay studio in the Duluth area
Duluth needs a community ceramics studio, and we need your input to start making this happen. You can help by filling out this seven-question survey. It will take less than three minutes and will provide invaluable information to get our pelotes rolling. We know nobody gets that reference but it stays. You can totally look it up.
We encourage you to complete the survey regardless of your interest in ceramics. Thanks much!
Agassiz Oscillation Ensemble – Workplace Democracy
Workplace Democracy, the debut album by Duluth’s own Agassiz Oscillation Ensemble, is now available for pre-order from Chicago label 1980 Records.
Future of the old Northwestern Bell building
Does anyone know who owns or what the plans are for the old Northwestern Bell building at 1804 E. First St.? I saw some scrappers loading out the junk that’s ended up in there over the years. They were the only ones on property but seemed pretty leisurely, like they belonged. Just curious if something is finally happening with it. I’ve dreamt of owning that building for years.
I believe it’s zoned residential and is going to stay that way, so hopefully the owner develops it into some beautiful high-ceilinged studios and doesn’t tear it down.