High spots from West Duluth Day at the 1926 Winter Frolic
Oh, those frolicsome West Duluthians. The Feb. 11, 1926 Duluth Herald offers a slew of photos from West Duluth Day of the annual Duluth Winter Frolic. The neighborhood programming ran from 1 to 10 p.m. on Feb. 10, but Winter Frolic events were not exclusive to West Duluth that day. Other happenings included “stunts” in the downtown streets, hockey games at the Amphitheater and Curling Club, an ice carnival at the Curling club, and the Frolic Ball of the College Women’s Club at the Duluth Armory. (more…)
Duluth Book Releases in 2026
Presenting Perfect Duluth Day’s annual rundown of books by Duluth-area writers and/or about Duluth-area topics that are new to bookstores and e-commerce sites. It’s early in the year, so this list will grow as 2026 continues. (more…)
Great Lakes Shipping 2025 Highlight Reel
The drama. The action. The suspense. Yes, it’s a Great Lakes shipping highlight reel, featuring 2025 scenes from Duluth, Superior, Two Harbors, Silver Bay and Marquette.
Ektachrome Postcard from the Aerial Lift Bridge
This undated postcard, perhaps circa the 1960s, offers a view of the Aerial Lift Bridge from across the Duluth Harbor. The card was published by the H.C. Wick Company and features an Ektachrome photo by Rod Peterson. (more…)
Ian Alexy – “Don’t Hesitate”
Duluth’s Ian Alexy nabs footage from the century-old film Don Juan for his latest music video. The track “Don’t Hesitate” is on Alexy’s new album The Tao of Ian.
Mining and Smelting Iron of Minnesota’s Mesabi Range in 1926
If this footage looks familiar, it might be because Perfect Duluth Day previously featured a condensed version of this film. The 16mm Time Machine YouTube channel offers the version above, which has an additional four minutes of content. (more…)
Making it Up North: Misisipi Mike Wolf
Musician and poster artist Misisipi Mike Wolf shares the story of the journey that took him from the music-filled porches of the Gulf Coast to the creative community of Duluth.
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.
Rich Mattson and the Northstars – “Rendezvous With a Star”
The latest from Rich Mattson and the Northstars, “Rendezvous With a Star,” is from the band’s album Wake Up Songs, due out later this month.
Austin Castle – “Something Real” (The Lagom Session)
Austin Castle and friends perform “Something Real” at Lagom Builders Supply in Duluth. Castle released a new album, Timeless, in January.
Harbor City named an ESEA Distinguished School
I’ve seen two (kind-of) stepchildren attend Harbor City. The school makes good things happen on a tiny budget. It is celebrating recognition as an ESEA Distinguished School. (more…)
Duluth Deep Dive #13: Henry C. Richardson, Civil Rights Pioneer
A Black man, left, crosses Superior Street circa 1908. (Source: Library of Congress)
In 1904, more than 50 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, Henry Richardson fought against the common practice in Duluth restaurants to refuse service to people of color. When a waitress at a Superior Street restaurant would not take his order, he took the restaurant owner to court. This Duluth Deep Dive recounts the events and their aftermath. (more…)
Dopey tune on a junky guitar
I’ve become an old man who putters around in the garage. Or the basement — the garage is really cold right now. I built a guitar out of garage stuff.
Making it Up North: Northern Waters Smokehaus
Northern Waters Smokehaus founder Eric Goerdt shares the journey of turning a lifelong passion for food preservation into a cornerstone of the Duluth community. From the early days of an “honor system” cooler and a coffee can for cash to employing more than 75 people today, Goerdt discusses his obsession with detail, his “northern spin” on the traditional deli, and why sustaining people is just as important as sustaining the land.
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.
Souvenir Folder of Duluth circa 1923
The Duluth Photo Engraving Company published a “souvenir folder” in the early 1920s featuring images previously published by the company as postcards. (more…)
Hermantown wellness center plans expansion into Lincoln Park
The Well Co. owner Melanie Dubbin purchased the former Kaski Inc. headquarters at 2321 W. First St. in Lincoln Park. She will be relocating her business into the historic former Duluth Public Market building this spring. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
A Hermantown hub for healing massage and holistic health is adding a natural food cafe to its services and will relocate into a remodeled, historic building in Lincoln Park this spring.
The Well Co. owner Melanie Dubbin purchased the former Kaski Inc. construction headquarters at 2321 W. First St. in November. St. Louis County property records show Dubbin paid $742,000 for the 6,800-square-foot building which was constructed in 1925. (more…)
Chad Elliott – “Minnesota”
“Iowa’s Renaissance Man” Chad Elliott has released an updated version of his song “Minnesota” with a video referencing the unrest in Minneapolis. The original version of the song appeared on his 2007 album Humbled at My Door. Kathryn Severing Fox, Elliot’s bandmate in Weary Ramblers, adds viola and harmony.
PDD Shop Talk: Some things are broken; Bob Dylan exaggerates
This ol’ website is getting clunky after all these years and a few things aren’t working. We’re trying to fix it. We really are. It’s complicated.
Here’s a summary, so you know we know what you know and you know what we know but maybe you didn’t know. (more…)
The Last Duckbilled Dinosaur in Duluth
Final entry in the field journal of UMD paleontologist Franklin Hall Moore, Sept. 1, 1984
The last duckbilled dinosaur in Duluth, down and out on the sand beach in the tropical climate of the late Cretaceous, feels drunk from the fermented newly-evolved berries of a now-extinct genus. Minnesota is closer to the equator, the constellations strange. He chases the scent of increasingly rare juicy ferns along the beach toward prehistoric Wisconsin.
The duckbill whips his tail against the harassing blue-feathered velociraptors trying to run him down like a pack of dogs. He’s ten feet tall at the hip but they see he’s got a small limp from a wound that won’t heal on his right foreleg. They also see the sore tumor on his tiger-striped orange back. So they’d separated him from his herd — over the hill in what will evolve into the mallscape of Hermantown — and chased him to this strip of sand, the border between a retreating lagoon and the forested rift valley that will become Lake Superior. (more…)
St. Louis County Historical Society Strategic Planning Survey
The St. Louis County Historical Society is in the discovery phase of a major strategic planning initiative. The goal is to transform how the organization preserves more than 13,000 artifacts, stabilizes operations and ensures its storytelling is inclusive. A new community survey is designed to offer feedback to shape the society’s new mission and strategic goals for the next three to five years. (more…)
Minnesota State Arts Board announces application deadlines
The Minnesota State Arts Board has posted application deadlines for all of the grant programs it will offer in the fiscal year 2027 grant cycle. Deadlines, decision dates, and grant periods can be found on the Arts Board calendar. (more…)
Making it Up North: North Shore Sauna
PBS North journies to Park Point on the shores of Lake Superior to spend time with Chad Lipka and Dustin Efrainson of North Shore Sauna, a Duluth based company reimagining what sauna can be. They create portable sauna tents with accessibility at the heart of everything they do.
Making it Up North is a series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Postcard from Superior Street at Fourth Avenue West
This undated postcard shows buildings on the 300 block of West Superior Street in Downtown Duluth. The building in the foreground is the St. Louis Hotel, which was demolished in the early 1930s and replaced by the Medical Arts Building. The trio of buildings to its left — the Torrey, Alworth and Lonsdale buildings — are all still standing.
The postcard was published by the Duluth Photo Engraving Company with an image from McKenzie Photo Company.
Best Lynx Footage from Voyageurs National Park
The latest video from the Voyageurs Wolf Project is a montage of some of the best footage of lynx shot in the past year or so. The clips were captured in Voyageurs National Park, about 100 miles north of Duluth.