Making it Up North: Scott Murphy
Local painter Scott Murphy shares the raw, honest truth about his creative journey. From the high-pressure world of painting 17 years of billboards to the surreal hallucinations of a coma following a major accident, his work is a reflection of a life lived in “low gear” but high intensity.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Writers Speak Out: Power to the People
Writers Speak Out: People Have the Power was held at Wussow’s Concert Cafe on April 21. (more…)
Palomino: Trampled by Turtles Live at First Avenue
Trampled by Turtles has released to YouTube a 2020 documentary featuring the band performing all the tracks from the 2010 album Palomino, with commentary on the process of writing the songs.
The documentary is directed and edited by Charlie Berg.
Selective Focus: Homegrown 2026 (The Weekend)
Select images via Instagram from the final three days of the Homegrown Music Festival. (more…)
Superior Street, Sept. 11, 1907, Part 2: The Windsor Hotel and Surrounding Businesses
This ten part series takes a detailed look at life on Superior Street on the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 11, 1907 based on a single photograph. The first part of the series provided background details on a photograph shot that day where the street intersects Fifth Avenue West. Part two focuses on the bottom right corner of the photograph, relating to the contentious history between the city and the owner of the Windsor Hotel and telling the stories of the surrounding businesses. (more…)
Rollers earn kickball win in dramatic 10th inning
Coach Kaylee Matuszak celebrates with her team at Wheeler Athletic Complex after the Rollers defeated the Rawkers in extra innings to win the 2026 Homegrown Kickball Classic. (Photo by Seth Roeser)
Despite two controversial decisions by Umpire Jason Beckman pushing the game into extra innings, Matuszak’s Rollers eventually bested Rohrbaugh’s Rawkers in the 2026 Homegrown Kickball Classic at Wheeler Athletic Complex. The final score was 6-2. (more…)
Postcard from Somebody’s House
This undated postcard shows Somebody’s House, a restaurant at Duluth’s Mt. Royal Shopping Center operated by noted cookbook author Beatrice Ojakangas. It opened in February 1966. (more…)
Making it Up North: Lenore Lampi
Ceramicist Lenore Lampi discusses the transition from being an art teacher to a full-time artist, the inspiration behind her “Scrolls Interrupted” series, and the unique techniques she uses to bring her sculptures to life — including the use of furniture gilding wax and birch-inspired motifs.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Selective Focus: Homegrown 2026 (The First Five Days)
Select images via Instagram from the first five days of the Homegrown Music Festival. (more…)
First footage ever of a cougar with kittens in Minnesota
For the first time in more than 100 years, evidence of cougars reproducing in Minnesota was documented in video captured by the University of Minnesota’s Voyageurs Wolf Project. The clips show a female cougar with three large kittens. (more…)
So Many Pelicans
Adam “The Frozen Photog” Jagunich took a trip to Chambers Grove Park, along the St. Louis River in Duluth’s Fond du Lac neighborhood, to capture scenes of migrating pelicans.
Making it Up North: Julie Arthur
Since taking up fiber art in 1973, Julie Arthur has evolved from a student to a master instructor, finding her home and her “people” within the vibrant North Shore arts community.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
West Duluth luxury laundro-loft hits the market again
The Spirit Valley Laundromat building in West Duluth includes living space with a racquetball court, pool and sauna. (Photos via EasyLiving)
An industrial-sized, coin-operated laundry facility hiding upper-floor luxury living quarters and a stunning basement swimming pool is looking for a new owner.
Spirit Valley Laundromat was sold for $650,000 by original owner Valaree Hammond to EasyLiving Services LLC in 2024. Now the peculiar property at 232 N. Central Ave. has returned to the market. (more…)
The Decline and Rebirth of the St. Louis River
This WDIO-TV news feature shares the story of the St. Louis River. Once too polluted to fish, the waterway is nearing removal from the Environmental Protection Agency’s contaminated Areas of Concern list after years of cleanup and habitat restoration.
Homegrown Music Festival 2026 Primer
The 28th annual Homegrown Music Festival is underway. As usual, the weather is lousy, and as usual it doesn’t matter — it’s an indoor festival and the weather is always fine indoors.
The 100-page Homegrown Field Guide, available at numerous locations around town, offers complete details about the festival, but every year Perfect Duluth Day presents this rundown of updates, advice, sidebar details and notes of peripheral or unsanctioned interest. (more…)
Pelicans at Chambers Grove Park
We went out to see if the pelicans were still hanging out Friday afternoon on the St. Louis River. It was worth the trip. (more…)
Postcard from the National Guard Armory in Duluth
This undated postcard shows the Duluth Armory at 1305 London Road. It was built in 1915 and served as a center for military training and an entertainment venue until 1978. During the 1980s and ’90s, the city of Duluth used the building to store fleet vehicles. The Armory Arts and Music Center, in partnership with Sherman Associates, is in the process of redeveloping the building, with plans for a public marketplace and community kitchen, office and business space, and arts and music programming.
The Lost Forty: A Story of Minnesota’s Scientific and Natural Areas
Hidden in northern Minnesota, about 110 miles northwest of Duluth, the Lost Forty is a rare old-growth pine forest that survived the logging era by accident more than a century ago. Today, it offers a window into the state’s Scientific and Natural Areas program and the effort to protect Minnesota’s most remarkable and irreplaceable ecosystems. In this documentary, Lakeland PBS explores the Lost Forty and the broader work to preserve Minnesota’s natural heritage.
Canal Park Brewing takes silver medal at 2026 World Beer Cup
Duluth’s Canal Park Brewing Company won a silver medal in the wood- and barrel-aged beer category at the World Beer Cup, held April 22 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Night Trekker Baltic Porter, aged in a Vikre Distillery Aquavit barrel, with its hints of coffee, dark fruits and caramel, earned the award. The beer also won a gold medal in 2025 at the Minnesota Brewers Cup. (more…)
Making it Up North: Shoreview Natives
Shoreview Natives owner Dan Schutte shares how a hobby growing native plants in a Two Harbors basement grew into a full-scale landscaping nursery and a mission to support pollinators across the region.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Video Archive: Geek Prom 2006
Twenty years ago today — April 22, 2006 — caravans of Duluthians traveled to the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul for the fifth edition of the Geek Prom. It was the first of two Geek Proms held in St. Paul; the other eight were held in Duluth.
Chuck Olson produced the segment above, which appeared on the pioneering daily video blog Rocketboom prior to the launch of its YouTube channel and shorty before original host Amanda Congdon left the show. (more…)
Minnesota Bound: BWCA Special
This week’s episode of Minnesota Bound, covers the clash over the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Twin Metals wants to mine right up against the BWCAW. As lifelong fans and users of the Boundary Waters, hosts Bill Sherck and Laura Schara take a closer look at the projects’ risks and potential affects.
PDD Shop Talk: Artificial Intelligence Policy
Image depicting artificial intelligence, created using Canva AI Image Generator.
With the use of artificial intelligence becoming more pervasive on the internet, it’s time for Perfect Duluth Day to issue it’s short and simple policy regarding the branch of computer science that will surely have many marvelous and horrible affects on humanity. (more…)
Gaelynn Lea in People magazine
Duluth musician, author and disability activist Gaelynn Lea is featured in the April 27 edition of People magazine. The article was published online April 16.
Lea’s book, It Was Never Meant to Be Perfect, was released April 14 and an excerpt from it was featured on People’s website in October.
Making it Up North: Teague Alexy
Singer-songwriter Teague Alexy talks about his unlikely path from the hip-hop crews of the Jersey Shore to the heart of the Minnesota music scene. Moving to Holyoke, about 10 miles southwest of Duluth, transformed his creative process, leading him to trade violin lessons and rap for American roots music and the harmonica.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.