Paul Lundgren
Duluth up for bike park grant in latest online voting gimmick
Bell Helmets is awarding $100,000 to fund a trail-building project in one of nine U.S. cities in the latest online voting contest involving Duluth. Two cities have already been eliminated in the West Coast voting. Duluth is in the lead in the Central Region, which closes voting on Sunday, May 10. East Coast voting runs May 11-24. Voting in the finals will begin on May 25.
Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores is the nonprofit organization leading the effort to improve trails at Spirit Mountain.
Who won Homegrown 2015?
Photo by Melissa La Tour
Which band altered the most souls, inspired the most hedonism and deserves to wear the championship belt this year?
The poll is now closed. Here are the results:
Bratwurst – 12.7 percent
The Blasphemists – 10.2 percent
The Electric Witch – 6.8 percent
Sweat Equity – 5.1 percent
Various other bands – 65.3 percent
Is it the music, the artistry or the stinky meat? Duluth music fans continue to love Bratwurst … despite, or perhaps more so because of, this year’s controversy. (The band denies any involvement in the Pig Head on Statue Incident. Duluth police and the humane society are apparently investigating.)
Photo by Cory Fechner
Photo by Judy Weber
This is the third time in four years that Bratwurst has won Homegrown. It is also the third time in a row that the Blasphemists have finished second in the voting.
Missing Person: Helge Rohm
Update: The Duluth Police Department reports that Helge Rohm has been located and is safe.
The Duluth Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating 72-year-old Helge Rohm. He is a Duluth resident and was last seen in the area of Second Avenue East and Sixth Street on Saturday, April 19.
Rohm is a 6-ft.-tall, 190-lb. white male with blue eyes and white/grey hair. Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or the Violent Crimes Unit at 218-730-5050.
R.I.P. Verne Gagne
Wrestling icon Verne Gagne died late Monday night. In recent years he struggled with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Gagne was best known for operating the American Wrestling Association out of the Twin Cities. He was an accomplished amateur wrestler, 10-time AWA World Heavyweight Champion and trained the vast majority of the superstars of the 1980s and ’90s. (more…)
Homegrown Music Festival 2015 Primer
The eight greasiest days of the year are underway. Here are the various links, hashtags and other tidbits to keep everyone moderately enlightened.
Homegrown website
Event schedule on Homegrown website
PDD Homegrown Chicken App (schedule optimized for smartphones)
Homegrown Facebook page
Homegrown Twitter page
Seasons 1 and 2 of Seth Langreck’s Duluth Band Profiles
(more…)
Duluth’s Preus, Allen win 2015 Minnesota Book Awards
Duluth-based writer Margi Preus and illustrator Rick Allen were among the winners of the 27th annual Minnesota Book Awards, announced at a ceremony in St. Paul on Saturday.
Selling 2.5-inch squares for fun and profit
For the first time in three years, Perfect Duluth Day has an opening on its advertising sales force. Click here for the full job description. In addition to healthy financial remuneration the position comes with tremendous prestige and the occasional pastry item.
Homegrown Field Guide 2015
Cover art by Heidi Blunt.
Popular Minneapolis chef will open resort restaurant in Pengilly
Sarah Master has announced she will leave her position as executive chef at Minneapolis’ Café Barbette to open a restaurant and resort 75 miles outside of Duluth in the Iron Range city of Penguilly. Her partner in the venture is Dan Beckwith, who had been working as the financial controller of Bryant-Lake Company.
Mr. Roberts Resort is expected to open on June 1 at 28179 East Shore Drive. A news release announcing the plans refers to it as “a unique combination of a full-service restaurant, bar, cabins and RV sites, all situated in a bucolic setting on Swan Lake in Northern Minnesota.”
(more…)Easter Sunday Fire at Applewood Knoll Apartments
Photo by David Heinecke
A Facebook page has been established for “Donations for the victims of the Easter fire Duluth MN.” (more…)
R.I.P. DNT
Don’t worry, the Duluth News Tribune is still a thriving enterprise and the sign on the back of the building is holding strong. The visibility of the sign, however, is slowing diminishing as the future Maurices headquarters climbs skyward.
Thirsty Pagan’s Allyson Rolph profiled in The Growler
Allyson Rolph, head brewer at Thirsty Pagan Brewing in Superior, discusses spruce tips, Lake Superior, her pathway into a male-dominated field and just about everything else in the latest issue of Minnesota’s craft-beer lifestyle magazine, The Growler.
Article: Allyson Rolph brews Wisconsin, lives Minnesota, wins all day
Leaning Tower of Enger
Thanks to Eric Plumb for tipping us off on this breaking news. Fox 21 is confirming the story right now by sending someone to shoot footage of Enger Tower standing perfectly upright.
R.I.P. Frankie’s Tavern
The Tower Avenue bar known for karaoke and bloody Mary’s is winding down operations. Owner Frank Rozowski Jr. is retiring and selling the building. (more…)
What happened to that poster from R.T. Quinlan’s men’s room?
Having spent several hours at R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon on Sunday, I was reminded of the framed poster that used to hang outside the toilet stall in the men’s room, next to the urinal. I thought there was a good chance an image of it might be available on the Internet somewhere, but my searches for “classic bathtubs, breasts” yielded only distractions. (more…)
“I thought I got this at a wrestling convention in Duluth”
The Duluth reference here is likely intended to be Duluth, Ga., since the Chris Stevens character on Northern Exposure is a native of Wheeling, W.Va., and any wrestling convention he attended would probably have been during his years at Wheeling Central Catholic High School. (Assuming “convention” means “tournament” — it could also mean a gathering of popular wrestlers signing autographs or some other thing.) The distance from Wheeling is great in either direction, however — 650 miles to Duluth, Ga., and 950 miles to Duluth, Minn.
Homegrown 2015 schedule announced
The Homegrown Music Festival returns April 26 to May 3 with its usual eight days of 200 bands and related mayhem. The schedule has been released, so it’s time to begin charting your adventure. The Chicken App, a smart-phone optimized version of the schedule, is also available.
The Homegrown Iron Range Invasion will be March 27 and the Twin Cities Invasion will be April 17. The Homegrown Field Guide is still a few weeks away from landing in piles at local merchants.
Joe Lundeen’s Shoes & Shoe Repairing
The re-siding job going on at the apartment building at 6301 Grand Ave. exposed this sign for Joseph A. Lundeen’s shoe shop. A quick search of city directories indicates Lundeen got his start with the Hartman Shoe Co. and by the mid-1920s went into business for himself in the Cormier Dry Goods building at 6227 Grand Ave. By 1950 he had moved across the avenue to the building shown above. (more…)
The Mystery Machine in Duluth
There must be a ghost at the Inn on Lake Superior.
Mustache March Run 2015 Photos
Photos from last weekend’s Mustache March Run are now posted on Photobucket.
Icehouse Pillar’s Final Resting Spot
In a follow-up to the “Has a little of Uncle Harvey gone missing?” caper, the Duluth News Tribune reported on Sunday that a three-person team of St. Louis County Rescue Squad members, working with a remotely operated underwater vehicle, located the concrete column from Uncle Harvey’s Mausoleum largely intact on Saturday afternoon in about 9 feet of water. City Pages put together this edit of the underwater video.