PDD News Sieve
Duluthian’s film starring Bob Saget in production
Duluth screenwriter making movie in Cayman Islands - Duluth News Tribune | News, weather, and sports from Duluth, Minnesota
Matthew Dressel's "Blue Iguana" is in production — with Bob Saget in a starring role.
duluthnewstribune.com
Duluth’s Matthew Dressel is in the Cayman Islands working on a feature-length film starring Bob Saget, the Duluth News Tribune reports.
Dressel was featured on Perfect Duluth Day in a 2019 Selective Focus post and his short movie Just Coffee appeared on PDD in 2018.
Frosted Flakes in Duluth
Duluth gets a quick and silly mention in the March 13 episode of Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!, a weekly radio show produced by WBEZ in Chicago and National Public Radio. At the tail end of the clip embedded above, the panel talks about the virtues of pizza for breakfast instead cereal and jokes that people never argue about which city has the best cereal, resulting in the crack, “You haven’t had Frosted Flakes until you’ve had Frosted Flakes in Duluth.”
City Pages: “Hey, We’re in Duluth!”
Twenty years ago today — Feb. 6, 2001 — City Pages published a cover story on Duluth’s “tiny counterculture.” The Twin Cities alternative weekly paper ceased operations last fall and its online archive is on hiatus, but Perfect Duluth Day is here with the flashback goods. (more…)
When Every Kid Was Free-Range
When Every Kid Was Free-Range | The Saturday Evening Post
In the backyards and sidewalks of 1960s Duluth, the answer to “Can I play?” was always yes.
saturdayeveningpost.com
Gay Haubner goes through the Spanking Machine in this essay in the Saturday Evening Post about growing up in Duluth.
National Geographic: Saving the Great Lakes
Duluth and Lake Superior were featured in the cover story of the December issue of National Geographic magazine. (No, that’s not Duluth on the cover image; it’s the Empire Bluff Trail in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan. Yes, the article has been out for two months; we’re behind on our reading.)
The article delves into a variety of environmental stressors threatening the Great Lakes, including invasive species, toxic chemicals, agricultural pollutants and coastal development. The full article is available on nationalgeographic.com, but it’s behind a paywall, so get your subscription dollars ready. (more…)
Lake Superior Magazine 2021 Photo Contest Winners
Duluth’s Timothy J. Beaulier took first place in the Maritime category of Lake Superior Magazine‘s 26th Annual Photo Contest. (more…)
Shredded aluminum cans found on Park Point beach
The city of Duluth and the U.S Army Corps of Engineers are urging caution for anyone using Park Point beach between the shipping canal on the lakeside to 13th Street South as pieces of shredded aluminum cans have been found. The cans are believed to have been inadvertently deposited when dredge materials were placed on the far north beach section this past fall. Dredge material was placed on the beach after the Park Point Community Club and Park Point residents approached the city and other partners with shoreline erosion concerns exacerbated by high water levels. (more…)
NHL teams will spend five months in Duluth bubble
Not really. It’s a wrong answer on the New York Times weekly quiz. (more…)
Artists sought to create visuals for Highway 61 Revisited project
Duluth Waterfront Collective is seeking four artists to create visualizations of its Highway 61 Revisited project. As first reported on Perfect Duluth Day in May, the project attempts to redesign the I-35 corridor where it splits Downtown Duluth and the Canal Park Business District. (more…)
R.I.P. Sue Sojourner

On a bridge in 1965 (photo by Henry Sojourner) | Holmes County Community Center, February 1965 (photo by Elaine Howmiller, Nashville Tennessean) | Portrait, 2012 (photo by Sam Alvar) | Right to Vote March in Jackson, June 15, 1965 (photo by an unknown civil rights worker)
Author and activist Susan Hasalo Sojourner died in Minneapolis on Dec. 4 at the age of 79. She lived in Duluth for more than two decades, beginning in the mid 1990s.
Sojourner fought tirelessly for justice throughout her life — for civil rights in Holmes County, Miss. and also for women’s liberation and LGBTQ+ rights during her years in Washington D.C. and Duluth. A complete obituary can be found on the Hodroff-Epstein Memorial Chapels website.
Duluth 2020 General Election Results
With all 4,110 of 4,110 Minnesota precincts reporting, below are the statewide numbers for races relevant to Duluth.
FEDERAL OFFICES
United States President and Vice President
Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Harris | 1,714,327
Donald J. Trump and Michael R. Pence | 1,483,157
Jo Jorgensen and Jeremy “Spike” Cohen | 34,967
Write in | 10,009
Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker | 10,043
Kanye West and Michelle Tidball | 7,956
Brock Pierce and Karla Ballard | 5,687
Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente and Darcy Richardson | 5,620
Gloria La Riva and Leonard Peltier | 1,258
Alyson Kennedy and Malcolm Jarrett | 700 (more…)
Hoops Brewing wins gold, Earth Rider two silvers at GABF
Duluth’s Hoops Brewing won its first Great American Beer Festival medal at the 2020 awards ceremony held Oct. 16. Hoops’ 325 Pineapple Chili was awarded the gold medal in the Chili Beer category. It’s the fourth year in a row that a Duluth or Superior brewery has won a gold medal at the festival.
Earth Rider Brewery in Superior took home two silver medals this year — Royal Bohemian Pilsner in the Kellerbier or Zwickelbier category and North Tower Stout in the Oatmeal Stout category. (more…)
R.I.P. Mike’s Western Cafe
In an Oct. 7 Facebook post, Mike and Deb Pracher announced the closing of their family restaurant at 2803 W. Superior St. in Duluth’s Lincoln Park Craft District.
“With heavy hearts, we will be closing the doors of Mike’s Western Cafe after 38 years of business,” they wrote. “Thank you so much for your support over the years. We have met so many people, made lots of great friendships and made MANY lasting memories. We appreciate all of you more than you know. Thank you for everything.”
Mike Pracher told Fox-21 he was 23 years old when he bought the restaurant. He said the COVID-19 pandemic led to its demise. “I thought it was going to be a week, two, or three,” Pracher said. “It’s already been six months and I just can’t wait it out.”
Pracher also told Fox 21 he might someday open a restaurant in Carlton County.
Julie Gard’s Invocation for Learning and Safety
A professor's poem invokes learning and safety in a time of COVID (opinion)
insidehighered.com
University of Wisconsin-Superior Professor of Writing Julie Gard recently had a poem featured in the Career Advice section of Inside Higher Ed, an online publication focused on college and university topics. More information on the poem is available in the academics news section of the UWS website.
Duluth General Election Sample Ballot 2020
As usual, the ballot in this year’s General Election is not the same for everyone in Duluth. People who live on the western side of town will see the District 3 County Commissioner race shown above. Those on the east side of Duluth will instead see Patrick Boyle running unopposed in District 2. People in the center of the city will not see a County Commissioner race because District 1 Commissioner Frank Jewell is not up for reelection.
Voters in central and western Duluth neighborhoods will see the District 7B Minnesota State Representative race shown on the ballot above. Those in the northern portions of the Duluth Heights and Kenwood neighborhoods will see the District 3B Minnesota State Representative race between Republican Andrew J. Hjelle the Democratic-Farmer-Labor incumbent Mary Murphy. Voters on the eastern side of Duluth will see the District 7A Minnesota State Representative race between Republican Tom Sullivan and Democratic-Farmer-Labor incumbent Jennifer Schultz.
And don’t forget the judicial races are on the back side. (more…)
Global art dealer Arne Glimcher grew up in Duluth
Pace Gallery founder Arne Glimcher was recently profiled in WSJ Magazine, the news and lifestyle monthly published by the Wall Street Journal. The article notes: “Glimcher grew up on a ranch in Duluth, Minnesota, until his artistic talent led his mother to move the family to Boston.”
Pace Gallery has locations in New York, Palo Alto, London, Geneva, Hong Kong and Seoul.
Glimcher has also produced and directed films such as The Mambo Kings and Just Cause.
Sean Hill: “A Photograph Taken in Duluth”
Ten years ago this month, poet Sean Hill was featured in Missouri Review‘s “Poem of the Week” series with a piece about the Duluth lynchings. Click the graphic above to read to the poem.
Duluth’s North Star Festival and Golden Jubilee of 1920
The Duluth Public Library’s Vintage Duluth blog has published a feature on Duluth’s North Star Festival and Golden Jubilee, which took place 100 years ago. The events marked Duluth’s 50th year as a city. (more…)
R.I.P. Mark Sertich, world’s oldest hockey player
Duluth’s Mark Sertich, the world’s oldest hockey player, was still skating on his 99th birthday in July. He died on Monday from complications of a stroke. (more…)
Duluth 2020 Primary Election Results
Absentee ballots will continue to be accepted after election day, but below are the statewide numbers for races relevant to Duluth with all precincts reporting. (more…)
Duluth 2020 Primary Election Sample Ballot
Depending on where you live, your ballot might look slightly different than the sample shown here. All Minnesota ballots, however, have a slate of partisan races that are divided on the front and back, and it’s potentially confusing. (more…)
An exotic village on the Lester River
Barbara Kiser, a former Duluthian who has lived in London since the 1980s, has published an essay that prominently references the Lester River Fish Hatchery. The article appears on Arizona State University’s Zócalo Public Square, which syndicates “ideas journalism.”
Article link: Where I Go: From Northeast London Back to Duluth (more…)












