Beginner’s Guide to Backpacking on the Superior Hiking Trail
Greg Poulton and Logan Faulkingham, experiential education students at Minnesota State University, Mankato, provide advice for people new to backpacking who would like to take a trip on the Superior Hiking Trail. It features tips and tricks for menu planning, equipment selection, packing and cooking, plus footage of the fall colors, waterfalls, Lake Superior and a little wildlife.
This Week: books, Bridges, buses and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
The Friends of the Library Used Book Sale is underway June 8 to 11, the Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank perform in Chester Bowl, the Three Bridges International Chamber Music Festival gets underway, there’s a bus tour that aims to depict Duluth as a work of art and the Renegade play Title of Show opens.
Master watercolorist Cheng Khee-Chee does a live painting demonstration at the Tweed, the Albert Maysles documentary Iris opens at the Zinema, the big Park Point Rummage Sale is happening, there’s a rap festival in Sturgeon Lake (yeah, you read that right), the North Coast Creative Alliance Community Fair is at Greysolon Plaza and there’s a live-read of the movie Clue at the Underground.
Tischer Creek Whirlpool Revisited
Went back the next day when the sun was higher in the sky and got this additional footage, which I set to music.
Perfect Duluth Day Outdoor Summer Concert Primer 2015
Summer will soon be upon us, and with summer comes live music galore. Venues like Bayfront Festival Park and Big Top Chautauqua host major touring acts throughout summer, along with a number of smaller summer concert series put on by Lucius Woods Performing Arts Center, Bayside Sounds, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College and Chester Creek Concert Series. There are also a handful of weekend festivals around the region, from Sturgeon Lake on over to Rhinelander and Cadotte. Here’s a look at some of the summer 2015 highlights.
June 9
The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank
Chester Bowl Park
The Chester Creek Concert Series continues with brothers Ian and Teague Alexy playing songs from their new album American Shuffle.
June 12
Hip Hop Fest SJ1
Embassy Bar
A weekend long hip-hop festival will take place in Sturgeon Lake, with artists such as Prof, Rittz, Twista and Mystikal performing throughout the weekend. On-site camping is available.
June 13
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Big Top Chautauqua
Michael Franti & Spearhead hits the stage under the Big Top with hits such as “The Sound of Sunshine” and “Say Hey (I Love You).”
June 19
Grandma’s Marathon Big Top Opening Night
Canal Park
County band Gloriana comes to Duluth to kick-off opening night of Grandma’s Marathon weekend. Fellow country act Hitchville is also on the bill.
Selective Focus: Bloom
Aaron Reichow, “Trees in Bloom, East Hillside”
Though this past Winter wasn’t meteorologically devastating, it was personally; so I needed a keen reminder that “there is a time to every purpose,” as the homily goes. This Spring in my new home has been that sermon, as greige gives way to hues of lilac, cherry, and peach, and all becomes fructive, damp, and pliant again. We grow, we ready, we labor in hope of Summer rest, and a coming harvest. (more…)
Our very own “odd couple” produces food and art organically
Annie Dugan and Janaki Fisher-Merritt are two of the most fascinating individuals I’ve ever met. When considering that they are forged together in the partnership of marriage, farming, and as catalysts of unique art, the combined effect is like lightning captured in a bottle. Duluth is beyond fortunate to have them influencing our lives in unique and whimsical ways. Learn about the masterminds behind the Food Farm, Free Range Film Festival, the Duluth Art Institute, and more, here.
Select Images from the 1930 Denfeld Oracle
With graduation ceremonies taking place this week, we look back 85 years ago to see what the Denfeld class of 1930 looked like. That year the school’s Oracle strove to inspire students “with a steadfast purpose to build well upon the foundations of the past,” and was dedicated to “the spirit of industry and progress which has existed in the hearts and minds of the citizens of Western Duluth.” The inside folds of the book feature a “Decorative Map of Western Duluth, with which we begin this post.
The senior class held two successful paper sales, a Christmas card sale and a class play to fund the yearbook in 1930. The organizations that typically funded the Oracle instead gave money to the pipe organ fund; Denfeld’s pipe organ had been purchased in 1926 for $25,000.
Rich Mattson and the Northstars album out
Youa Vang has the story for City Pages: Rich Mattson & the Northstars channel Iron Range on new LP
Here is the iTunes link and the CD Baby link for the album.
Duluth release party is Friday, June 5, at the Red Herring.
Here is the link to PDD’s list of local albums released in 2015.
Duluth Food Truck, Cart and Trailer Guide for 2015
As Duluth residents and tourists head outdoors, it’s time for the food trucks, carts and trailers to hit the streets, offering up fast and easy food on the run. To keep up with these restaurants on wheels, we present PDD’s 2015 rundown of who’s cooking what and where.
Listed below are the mobile food services licensed to operate on the streets of Duluth. Not listed are the various vendors who serve exclusively at events or specific locations, such as the Green Mill pizza trailer or various purveyors of mini donuts. Also, we should note Duluth has at least one pop-up restaurant — Izakaya 218 — which recently resumed its weekly Taco Tuesdays at the Red Herring Lounge. (more…)
Great Lakes Trail
If all the existing trails, trails under construction and trails in the planning phases in Duluth aren’t quite enough, here’s a rather ambitious plan that would upset a few local backyards. The Detroit Free Press reports of a plan for the “Great Lakes Trail” — a 10,900-mile trail spanning at least eight states and two Canadian provinces, following the shores of the five Great Lakes.
World’s longest marked trail proposed around Great Lakes
As the Great Lakes states were admitted into the Union, the federal government granted them the lake beds and waters of the Great Lakes up to the ordinary high-water mark — from the point on the bank or shore where continuous wave action has made a distinct mark, to the water.
This was affirmed by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1894, in the Shively v. Bowlby case. The justices found that lands below the high-water mark were “for the benefit of the whole people.” (This may come as news to owners of $750,000 lakefront homes whose deed tells them the shoreline is theirs.)
This Week: flicks, beer, the zoo and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
The Tweed Museum’s offering up another of its Tweevenings, the Chester Creek Concert Series is back in action with the North Shore Big Band, the Duluth Superior Film Festival gets underway with its five days of free programming and the watercentric Reel Paddling Film Festival also joins the film fray.
The Duluth Playhouse opens the play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Fitger’s Brewhouse serves up its 4000th (!) batch of beer, Duluth’s Parks and Rec department holds a public meeting on what the future might hold for the zoo, a shop is popping up at the Depot, Pete from Beaner’s is throwing his big ole music festival again and Rich Mattson is releasing a new album with his band the Northstars.
The Dark Web Movie
This post is from a Texas friend:
Back in 2013 I posted [somewhere else, not on Perfect Duluth Day] about the arrest of my nephew Ross Ulbricht for allegedly running Silk Road. I remember many on this forum [another forum, not PDD] jumped to condemn him and still might hold the same view. FYI: He admitted to creating it as a free-market experiment, but that is all, as he left it to do other things (and I have reason to believe him). The murder-for-hire claim was a story to drive public opinion and he was never charged with it. (more…)
Video Archive: Making Beer with Barrett and Paul
Episode 1: Preparation
Ten years ago video blogs, or “vlogs” became the latest Internet trend, boosted by the launching of YouTube. Back then, the founders of Perfect Duluth Day each had their own separate websites where they showcased videos, which they often cross-posted on PDD. The “Making Beer with Barrett and Paul” series, featuring Barrett Chase and Paul Lundgren, is one example of those early, low-fi productions.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press wrote about the subject in a May 16, 2005 article. The excerpt below is the part that relates to Duluth: (more…)
The Farsights – “Heaven” (Live at Homegrown)
Duluth band The Farsights perform at Tycoons Alehouse during the 2015 Homegrown Music Festival in this clip from the May 21 episode of WDSE-TV’s The PlayList.
Rhubarbarism
Once upon a time I would not have guessed that I’d ever witness somebody stealing rhubarb, but yeah, that’s what this guy did behind our neighbors’ garage this afternoon. (more…)
Selective Focus: Memorial
Brian Barber, “Cat Portrait”
Some vivid reminders this week that memorials can take many forms- anything from the solemn to the absurd. It’s good to recall our histories, our milestones, and our experiences with due reverence at times, and at others with some humor and an ironic distance. (more…)
The Duluth Superior Film Festival needs wheels!
The Duluth Superior Film Festival needs a 12/15/18-passenger vehicle for use during the festival. Every year the fabulous Riki McManus of the Upper Minnesota Film Office takes filmmakers and guests around the area and shows them all the great locations the area has to offer in an effort to get them to come back and shoot their next film here. In the past, we rented the vehicles, or got great help from the Duluth Experience. TDE is booked this year, and some weird liability change has taken all the rentals out of the market. Do you have (I’m looking at you, local bands) or know of anyone who could let us use one of these types of vehicles? We have money! Dates of use would just be a few hours on Friday, June 5 and Saturday, June 6. Please contact richard @ ds-ff.com if you know of anyone who could help. Thank you! Come see some free films!
Spirit Mountain a finalist for $100K in online contest
Duluth’s Spirit Mountain is one of three locations in the running for the $100,000 prize offered by Bell Helmets to fund a trail-building project. Voting in the nationwide contest is being conducted on bellhelmets.com and will continue through June 4.
Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores is the nonprofit organization leading Duluth’s effort. Spirit Mountain is competing for the 2015 Bell Built grand prize against projects in La Grange, Calif. and Knoxville, Tenn.
Participants needed for Duluth linguistics survey
I’m a linguist at UMD working on a project on Duluth English. I need to find four people from the Lakeside-Lester area to use in the study. I’m looking for participants between the ages of 18-35 who have lived the majority of their lives in the Lakeside-Lester area.
If you have an extra hour and would be willing to make a couple of short audio recordings for me, please give me a shout at:
wnsalmon[at]d[dot]umn[dot]edu.
The recordings will take less than an hour, and I will pay $15 for your time. Thank you!
Google updates satellite view, old things found in Duluth
In general I’m not too pleased with the new Google Maps, but the satellite view was very recently updated — with images from possibly just a few weeks ago — which is pleasing because there was no greenery, so you can more easily spot hidden gems that would normally be obscured from view in a more summer-like setting. Here are some of the things I’ve found and rediscovered:
Half an old railroad trestle in Jay Cooke State Park.
Ruins of old homes in Duluth.
An old abandoned road near Arrowhead Road.
A long abandoned logging railroad bed near the Duluth International Airport.
Note: on Internet Explorer, it activated some 3-D feature with the older satellite view and crude 3-D layout, not sure how to turn it off.