A cautionary tale for Duluth collectives?
Recently in Minneapolis, the Sisters’ Camelot collective faced restrictions in its ability to canvass for donations as the group was no longer listed as a registered nonprofit or charity in Minnesota. It has been told to cease fundraising efforts with a potential $25,000 fine per fund solicitation. The canvass workers unionized and have been calling for collective organizers to step down to restructure in the wake of the mishandling of the collective. (more…)
Boston Marathon Tribute Run
The board of directors of the North Shore Striders will dedicate our next group run to those affected by the bombings at the Boston Marathon. We encourage runners and non-runners alike to come out in support for those injured on Monday. There will be a free-will offering collected at the run that will be sent to the One Fund Boston, Inc. to help those afflicted by the attack. Everyone is encouraged to wear a race shirt or blue and yellow as a visual show of support.
The Run will meet at the Rose Garden parking lot at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 22, and be approximately 5k.
Duluth’s Lakewalk That Wasn’t
The comments on the recent post about wine rooms as breeding places of vice in Duluth a century ago delved into the history of prostitution in Canal Park. If only someone had come up with the idea for the Lakewalk back then … (more…)
This Week in LakeVoice
On Thursday, LakeVoice will release its first ever photo issue. For this issue, LakeVoice staff will go out into the community to capture snapshots of people living their lives in Duluth. The project is inspired by Humans of New York. The goal is to share stories of people’s everyday lives through photos. LakeVoice would like to invite you to join in the project.
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Looking for a house in Lakeside/Woodland
My husband and I recently sold our lovely little house in Lakeside, and now we’re looking for a new home. We didn’t expect our house to sell so quickly, and now that it has, we are not finding much on the market! We’re looking for 3-4 bedrooms, nice size yard, and possibly finished basement or space to grow. I thought I’d throw it out here to see if anyone was planning on listing their house soon, as we’re reaching our deadline before we have to decide to rent! Thank you in advance!
Publishing Conference that Was Rescheduled and Rearranged
David Wong addresses 40 people at UMD
Architect, author or urban ecologist David Wong of Vancouver BC extended his stay through Monday. (more…)
Chop suey houses recognized by new regime as detrimental
From 100 years ago — April 17, 1913 — Duluth News Tribune:
Springs Eternal.
I was running the trail in Lower Chester this morning when I glimpsed something odd out of the corner of my eye . Looking down, I beheld this bewildering loose sprig laying right in the middle of the trail. Quite real, and I can’t even begin to explain it. But at this moment, in the latter half of April, as winter is pumping yet another shell into the chamber, I offer it that it might elicit the same emotion it stirred in me: hope.
New stuff in Canal Park
The Rustic Olive, an olive oil and balsamic vinegar bar, opened in the Paulucci Building on Dec. 8. The store doesn’t have a sign or a website, but both are coming soon. There is a Facebook page, though. The owners are Tom and Tami Thoma. They have another store in Wisconsin.
Emily and Joel Vikre are planning to open a distillery next to the Rustic Olive. What kind of “spirits” will be distilled is left vague on the Vikre Distillery website, but bourbon and gin are the words on the street. Apparently the state legislature has work to do before Vikre is allowed to offer samples.
One block away, Amazing Grace Bakery & Cafe is apparently looking to add a few intoxicating beverages to its offerings. Next week’s Duluth City Council meeting agenda includes a resolution “approving the issuance of an on sale wine license and issuing a 3.2 percent malt liquor license.”
Of course, we are morally obligated to remind you that Canal Park remains a Skateboarders GTFO area.
Homegrown Band Publicity Photo Showdown: Quarterfinals
With the Homegrown Music Festival coming up, PDD launched a series of polls two months ago, tournament style, to determine which Duluth-area band has the sweetest pic. It is now down to the Final Four: Breanne Marie, Tangier 57, Southwire and Charlie Parr.
Quarterfinal #1:
Left: Breanne Marie (photo by Katlyn Kretzchmar)
Right: Tangier 57 (photo by Patrice Bradley)
[poll id=”35″]
This poll is now closed. The results were:
Tangier 57 – 78.1 percent
Breanne Marie – 21.9 percent
Quarterfinal #2:
Left: Southwire (photo by Rich Narum)
Right: Charlie Parr (photo by Peter Lee)
[poll id=”34″]
This poll is now closed. The results were:
Charlie Parr – 63.6 percent
Southwire – 36.4 percent
Note: Only people who are logged in to their Perfect Duluth Day blogging account are allowed to vote (to prevent people from voting multiple times). To create an account, click here. If you need help figuring it out, click here.
Sounds of Summer
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at the source.]
“Cabin Doors”
Video by Brian Dehler
Shot in Ely
Smashing ice at the Duluth Curling Club
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at the source.]
If the spring weather has you frustrated, perhaps you’ll find this video cathartic.
PDD Banners
On June 29 PDD will be awarding $100 to the person who submits the best new banner. Everyone who has submitted one since Jan. 1 will be eligible. Pre-2013 banners will be pulled from rotation on June 29, but will be kept in archival storage and maintained by nice librarians with white cotton gloves at Google Plus. Banners from 2005-2009 can be found here.
We’re also looking for new Homegrown banners. Those submissions will be eligible for the same $100 prize. For full details on banner submissions, click here. The basic info is the image must be 960 pixels wide by 167 pixels high. The Perfect Duluth Day logo will be added by PDD’s art department. Send them to banners @ perfectduluthday.com
“The Main” Trailer
In 1982 Bob Jansen was fired from his job as a college professor for being gay. After suing the institution that fired him, he took his settlement money to open the first openly gay bar in the Duluth/Superior region: The Main Club. The Main follows Jansen’s history and the history of the bar while exploring social trends that may threaten the continued existence of historically significant queer spaces like the Main Club.
Directed by Julie Casper Roth.
Low – “Just Make it Stop”
Video by Phil Harder.
Spring and plants and snails will come. Just wait.
Recent comments feature maybe sort of fixed, we hope; PDD mobile version turned off temporarily
The little spot over in the left column that highlights which posts have new comments should be working properly now. Let us know if it’s doing anything funky for you.
We broke it three weeks ago while fixing something else. Now that it’s fixed, the new problem is that it leaves an ugly gap in the left column if you’ve read all the recent comments. We’ll fix that soon and then watch what breaks the minute we do.
Also, as those of you who read PDD on your phones or tablets may have noticed, we turned off PDD’s mobile version. This is a temporary measure. The mobile version was whacking out our regular site … yadda yadda … we’ll get the geeks on it eventually, and we apologize for the inconvenience.
Yakima Hack
Through some horse trading and good luck, I’ve acquired two Yakima Rocket Boxes. I would like to mount them both on the current touring rig for our upcoming summer travels, but they both hinge the same direction. I really don’t want to mount one backward, and therefore am trying to figure out if the hinges can be switched with any success.
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This week: smelt, bowls and vinyl
Here’s a sampling of what you have to look forward to this week on the PDD Calendar.
This week is Eat Downtown Week with $10 and $20 prix fixe menus in participating downtown restaurants.
The annual Empty Bowl fundraiser for Second Harvest Food Bank is Tuesday with a silent auction today at the Depot.
The Duluth Public Library is unloading all of its vinyl on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Godspell, a modern musical based on the stories and teachings of Jesus, goes up at the Duluth Playhouse on Thursday and runs for three weekends. It will be performed in the round.
Wise Fool Shakespeare presents James DeVita performing In Acting Shakespeare at the Fitger’s Spirit of the North Theater on Thursday and Saturday.
You have a choice of Vagina Monologues on Friday at AICHO and UMD.
You can sing along with the Sound of Music at CSS on Saturday.
Saturday is Bat Appreciation Day at Gooseberry Falls.
The second annual Run Smelt Run Parade is Sunday starting at the Lift Bridge in Canal Park.
So what are you doing this week? Can we tag along? Any upcoming events that you want to promote? Let us know.
More on the Publishing Conference that Wasn’t
Mitch Ogden had arranged for an army of undergrads from UW-Stout’s Journalism and Digital Humanities programs to attend the UMD Conference on Publishing. At 6 a.m. we called the bus dispatcher to tell them to turn around. But the dispatcher crossed wires with the bus, and so three hours later, the students were here.
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Cooking on the Car: Beer Cheese Soup Finale
Cooking on the Car serves up Beer Cheese Soup in Washburn, Wis.
Minnesota withdraws from mercury pollution project
The Duluth News Tribune reports the state of Minnesota is withdrawing from a research project regarding mercury pollution in the St. Louis River, even though much of the river’s fish are inedible to women and children, and despite the fact that 1 out of 10 North Shore infants have unsafe levels of mercury in their blood.
The article states that sources of mercury in the environment are well known. They include power plants, taconite plants and sulfate pollution (like the pollution from sulfide mining).
Officials from the MPCA said the state first needs more research on how mercury behaves in nature, but later in the article the proposed study is said to have included new research on how mercury behaves in the environment. Huh? It seems this research would be especially timely due to proposed copper-sulfide mining in Northern Minnesota.