This Week in Social Distancing: April 21

Episode five in Perfect Duluth Day’s series featuring people reaching out while keeping their distance.

VideosSocial Distancing

Duluth You & Me: Lake Superior Maze

Use the link below for a printable PDF for your maze-solving and coloring pleasure.
Duluth You & Me: Lake Superior Maze

Follow the Duluth You & Me subject tag to see additional pages. For background on the book see the original post on the topic.

ArtDuluth You & Me, Lake Superior
Glensheen Lantern Tours 2026
FDLTCC: Pumpin Run

Josh Peterson – “Uncertain Certainties”

An original viola performance by Josh Peterson, shot at the ruins of the U.S. Lighthouse Station Depot on Minnesota Point in Duluth. Directed and produced by Ryan Nordin. (more…)

Music, Videos

Keep Duluth Clean Virtual Cleanup Day

The city of Duluth is hosting a Virtual Cleanup Day on Saturday, April 25. The city’s website has an info page set up for the event, and participants can win a chair from Loll Designs. The website also has important information for keeping safe while participating. (more…)

Outdoors, VideosKeep Duluth Clean, Litter
FDLTCC: Pumpin Run
Ashwabay Alliance / Big Top Chautauqua

Duluth You & Me: Park Point Beach

Use the link below for a printable PDF for your drawing and coloring pleasure.
Duluth You & Me: Park Point Beach

Follow the Duluth You & Me subject tag to see additional pages. For background on the book see the original post on the topic.

ArtDuluth You & Me, Minnesota Point and Park Point

Ming Lee – “Thinking of You”

Video for a track by Duluth’s Eddie “Ming” Lee, shot and edited by Casey Pflipsen with additional footage by Colton Wojta.

Music, Videos
Weis Eye Center
Glensheen Lantern Tours 2026

Duluth You & Me: Wild Flowers

Use the link below for a printable PDF for your coloring pleasure.
Duluth You & Me: Wild Flowers

Follow the Duluth You & Me subject tag to see additional pages. For background on the book see the original post on the topic.

ArtDuluth You & Me, Flowers

Mystery Photo #105: October House

These two buildings still exist in Duluth, in slightly altered form. They are significant for different reasons. One of them is one of the oldest standing buildings in Duluth.

What are they currently used for? What was the October House? Hint: A baker named Bergetta Moe was involved at one point.

History, PhotosMystery Photos
Pier B Resort: Rise and Dine
Vision Pro: Year End 2026

Lake Superior Aquaman: Top 30 Photos

My favorite captures from a billion years of posting at Perfect Duluth Day. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram. (more…)

Outdoors, PhotosLake Superior, Lake Superior Aquaman, North Shore of Lake Superior

Duluth You & Me: Canal Park

Use the link below for a printable PDF for your coloring pleasure.
Duluth You & Me: Canal Park

Follow the Duluth You & Me subject tag to see additional pages. For background on the book see the original post on the topic.

ArtCanal Park, Duluth You & Me, Great Lakes Ships and Shipping Industry
FDLTCC: Pumpin Run
Vision Pro: Year End 2026

Apple Man: Duluth’s Depression-Era Action Hero

Reconstructed by the Richardson Bros. from records at the St. Louis County Historical Society

Full text below.

(more…)

History, RandomLake Superior Aquaman

Ripped at a Wet T-shirt Contest in 2000

[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Twenty years ago the 3rd Rock Bar at 1201 Tower Ave. held weekly wet T-shirt contests. The Sultan of Sot was there to document the action for an article that appeared in the April 19, 2000 issue of the Ripsaw newspaper.]

The 3rd Rock Bar is Superior’s newest nightclub. It is a hard-rock venue, similar to the old Pacific Club, where Metallica cover bands and easily deceived women gather to negotiate unwanted pregnancies. Connected to 3rd Rock is the Bourbon Street Blues Saloon, which was completely patronless when I peeked in the window.

Every Wednesday night, 3rd Rock hosts a wet T-shirt contest. This is an excellent marketing choice because the type of person who really enjoys a wet T-shirt contest is also the kind of person who really enjoys doing the same thing every Wednesday night. (more…)

RandomSaturday Essay
Glensheen Lantern Tours 2026
Ashwabay Alliance / Big Top Chautauqua

Duluth You & Me: North Shore Streams

Use the link below for a printable PDF for your drawing and coloring pleasure.
Duluth You & Me: North Shore Streams

Follow the Duluth You & Me subject tag to see additional pages. For background on the book see the original post on the topic.

ArtDuluth You & Me, North Shore of Lake Superior

New York Times: Preus’ new novel for youth “charming”

Duluth author Margi Preus gets positive ink in the New York Times Book Review for her new novel for young people, The Littlest Voyageur.

News and Current AffairsBooks, New York Times
Pier B Resort: Rise and Dine
Glensheen Lantern Tours 2026

Selective Focus: Lend a Paw Virtual Exhibit

UMD’s Senior Design Studio II class has created a virtual gallery to show their work, and is using the opportunity to raise money for the Douglas County Humane Society. The exhibit, online store and Go Fund Me page will be active until May 5. Each piece in the exhibition is inspired by the story of a rescue pet. Visitors can move around the inside and outside of the gallery space to look at the art, read the stories and interact with the objects in the display. The class is led by UMD Department of Art & Design Assistant Professor David Short, and one of the organizers, Jack Schneewind, fills us in on how the exhibit came together, and what the class hoped to achieve with the project. (more…)

ArtHumane Society, Selective Focus, UMD, University of Minnesota-Duluth

Duluth You & Me: A Souvenir Activity/Coloring Book

Right in the middle of a shelter-in-place order, when a Duluth coloring and activity book is most needed, Perfect Duluth Day pulls this 1993 relic out of the basement library. (more…)

ArtBooks, Duluth You & Me
Weis Eye Center

The Menu: Foster’s Sports Bar & Grill

As we continue staying safe with our social distancing practices, Perfect Duluth Day is back with another episode of the “Daily Menu.” Each day, we showcase another local take-out option.

Foster’s Sports Bar & Grill is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. for pickup and delivery. Orders can be made by calling 218-727-7002. Daily specials and limited menu items can be found on their Facebook page. (more…)

RestaurantsThe Menu

Someone’s got it

I was reminiscing of the olden days of Duluth, way back in 2001, where on First Street you could get a roast beef sandwich on a European Bakery roll for a dollar at Fichtner’s butcher shop.

I feel certain that the recipe for that roast beef a) is simpler than I expect and b) won’t translate to the home oven — that the secret was a 30-pound chunk of beef, sliced, sitting in hotel pan in the window for hours.

Anyway, if anyone has the recipe, please share.

HistoryButcher Shops
FDLTCC: Pumpin Run
Pier B Resort: Rise and Dine

Old Central Idea

I’ve always thought the old Central School downtown would be an awesome indoor market. Similar to the World Market in Minneapolis, people could have small stands showcasing food/crafts/services. It’d be a great spot for diverse emerging entrepreneurs. Think of it like a year-round farmers market in a city that experiences eight months of winter. I don’t know, maybe I’m crazy. Let me know what you think. Viva la Duluth

RandomDuluth Central High School, idea

PDD Video Lab: Old Iron Range Footage

In this edition of the PDD Video Lab we take a cruise through Virginia, Chisholm and Hibbing circa the 1960s with footage from Richter Home Movies set to the tune of Iron & Wine’s “Weary Memory” from the 2002 album The Creek Drank the Cradle.

History, VideosIron Range, Video Archive, Video Lab
FDLTCC: Pumpin Run
Ashwabay Alliance / Big Top Chautauqua

Postcard from Duluth’s Lighthouse Lot in Canal Park

This undated postcard from the Gallagher Studio of Photography shows the parking lot near the Duluth Shipping Canal, which is known as the Lighthouse Lot.

The caption on the back of the card reads:

Canal Park in Duluth, Minnesota
Westerly Terminus of the St. Lawrence Seaway

History, PhotosCanal Park, Gallagher's Studio of Photography, Postcards

This Week in Social Distancing: April 14

Episode four in Perfect Duluth Day’s series featuring people reaching out while keeping their distance.

Art, Music, VideosSocial Distancing
Vision Pro: Year End 2026
Pier B Resort: Rise and Dine

The Slice: Draw Along with Brian Barber

During the pandemic, Perfect Duluth Day’s own Brian Barber has been posting draw-along videos on Facebook. In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.

VideosBrian Barber, The Slice, WDSE-TV - PBS North

Daily Menu: Gannucci’s Italian Market

As we continue staying safe with our social distancing practices, Perfect Duluth Day is back with another episode of the “Daily Menu.” Each day, we showcase another local take-out option.

Gannucci’s Italian Market is open every day from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. for take-out and curbside pick-up. Orders can be made by calling 218-624-2286 and can be paid over the phone. To have orders delivered to their car, customers can give a description of their vehicle. (more…)

RestaurantsThe Menu
Vision Pro: Year End 2026
Pier B Resort: Rise and Dine

Fire in Grand Marais: Crooked Spoon Cafe engulfed


A fire broke out in downtown Grand Marais during the noon hour at the Crooked Spoon Cafe, 17 W. Wisconsin St. The blaze spread to two adjoining gift shops, Picnic and Pine and White Pine North. All three buildings were destroyed. (more…)

News and Current Affairs, RestaurantsFire, Grand Marais