News and Current Affairs
Minnesota 2016 Caucus Results
Minnesota Republican Party
Marco Rubio – 41,397 | 36%
Ted Cruz – 33,181 | 29%
Donald J. Trump – 24,473 | 21%
Dr. Ben Carson – 8,422 | 7%
John R. Kasich – 6,565 | 6%
Write in – 207 | 0.18%
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Bernie Sanders – 125,635 | 61%
Hillary Clinton – 78,317 | 38%
Uncommitted – 1,067 | 0.52%
Write in – 213 | .1%
Martin O’Malley – 153 | 0.07%
Rocque “Rocky” de la Fuente – 53 | 0.03%
(more…)
Behind the Curtain at Duluth.com
Duluth.com got a pretty sweet write-up today by the Duluth News Tribune.
Duluth.com is dedicated to celebrating all things Duluth. Duluth.com highlights sustenance, adventure, fun, and the people of our community because each business, person and activity contributes to Duluth’s unique brand.
Whatever you do: Duluth.com
PDD Quiz: February 2016
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
February 2016 is almost over and it’s time to see if you were paying attention! Take the quiz about events in and around Duluth over the last month.
Our next quiz will be on March 13 and, since that’s near the ides of March, we’ll be looking at the history of disasters in the Duluth area.
Send your suggested quiz questions (and answers) to lawrence @ perfectduluthday.com by noon on Wednesday, Mar. 9.
2016 MN State High School Hockey Brackets
The AA and A boys hockey tournament seeds and brackets are set. #1 seed Hermantown plays its quarter final game Wed. at 6 p.m. vs #8 seed Dassel-Cokato. Grand Rapids seeded #4 and will play #5 seed Bemidji in the AA quarterfinal game at the X at 8 p.m. Thursday. Good luck to all the teams!
2016 Duluth-area Beer Festival Primer
As craft beer continues to explode in popularity in the Twin Ports and beyond, local beer tastings and beer-centered festivals proliferate. Below are some highlights of beery upcoming events in the region. The name of each event links to the PDD Calendar entry for that event; the links in the event descriptions link to the official event webpages. (more…)
Duluth couple tackling historic hotel renovation
A Duluth couple building upscale housing space into an abandoned 19th Century hotel expects buyers will be interested in Downtown Duluth living.
Zenith City Revival LLC owners Mitchell and Michelle Holmes plan to build 12 loft-style condominiums inside the former Gardner Hotel at 12 N. Lake Ave. in Duluth’s Historic Arts and Theater District. The couple is calling it Building No. 12 Lofts on Lake, and said units will list for between $225,000 to $370,000 each. A storefront, street-level sales space is scheduled to open this spring.
Over the past two years, the Holmes’ have removed trash bins full of debris, installed new floors, repaired ceilings and sandblasted brick walls. The city of Duluth authorized permits for $835,000 in heating, ventilation and air-conditioning work in February 2015.
“We’re going slow, just making sure we get everything right,” said Mitchell Holmes. “They’re going to be very nice, upscale, smaller-size condominiums so people can afford them.” (more…)
Review: Ken Bloom’s Public Domain
Should we think about these photographs or their subjects? Yes. Do we consider the art of them or the culture they depict? Yes, both. And perhaps composition or feeling? Again, yes.
Ken Bloom’s exhibition Public Domain: Street Photographs of Japan 1976-78 at the Duluth Art Institute shows three years of his work from the mid-1970s in city areas of Japan. Most are black and white; a few later ones are in color. The compositions are tight. The subject is people in their time and environment. Movement (striding, shopping, riding, jumping, talking, gazing) and waiting (for the ferries, for the trains, for the kids, for the work day to begin) are the subjects of many. (more…)
Old Eighth Street Market building’s days are numbered
The former Eighth Street Market building at 5702 W. Eighth St. is slated for demolition. (more…)
Bent Paddle launches new seasonal: Hop Forest Double IPA
Bent Paddle Brewing adds another seasonal beer to its rotation this week. Hop Forest Double India Pale Ale, weighing it at 8.9 percent alcohol-by-volume, will be on tap at Bent Paddle on Wednesday, available in 750-milliliter bottles on Friday and later find its way into liquor stores in 4-pack cans.
Hop Harvest will also be available at Beaner’s Central in time for Friday’s first-of-three CD release parties for the latest One Week Live compilation.
The text on the can reads: “Standing in a hop field brings forth a sense of solitude and wonder one can find in a forest. Hop Forest Double IPA provides full hop coverage with a tremendous load of tropical citrus and piney hop aromatics. Malt sweetness intertwines with the American hop varieties to create a balanced shade of flavor that invites one to sit down and enjoy the view.”
Updated concept plan for Lake Superior Zoo
Click the image to view a PDF of the full plan.
The latest concept plan for improvements to Fairmount Park and the Lake Superior Zoo was presented by a consultant last night at the Duluth Parks Commission meeting. The concept envisions a renewed zoo in a roughly 10-acre footprint that includes ADA accessible pathways, renewed and repurposed exhibits damaged by the 2012 flood, enhanced visitor services, and converts a portion of the existing zoo into public park space. The plan is estimated at $15 million and has $2.7 million of half-and-half funding allotted to it.
Comments can be submitted to Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Division until Feb. 15 to allow the consultants to analyze them for the upcoming Feb. 22 presentation and public hearing at 5:15 p.m. in the Duluth City Council Chambers, to be followed by a Parks Commission public hearing in room 303.
Northern Waters restaurant open on Woodland Avenue
Fans of all things cured and smoked will rejoice in knowing Northern Waters Smokehaus has opened its much-anticipated Woodland Avenue location in the Chester Park – UMD neighborhood. While the new restaurant offers some familiar lunch items from the Smokehaus, the menu is more expansive and includes alcoholic beverages. (more…)
Epicurean and Loll represent Duluth in The Atlantic
In the March issue of The Atlantic, James Fallows once more talks up Duluth while town-hopping across the country, this time as an example of “hopeless” places reinventing themselves (full article). Scroll down to the subheading “Despite the ‘Big Short,’ Talent Dispersal is Under Way,” where he uses Epicurean/Loll to illustrate the same kind of deliberate migration that Lucie Amundsen so elegantly described in her Saturday essay.
Blacklist brewery expanding to downtown Duluth
Jon Loss, Brian Schanzenbach and TJ Estabrook, the partners behind Blacklist Artisan Ales
One of the smaller Twin Ports breweries, Blacklist Artisan Ales, is earning big media attention this week after its announced expansion into the building that previously housed the infamous Last Place on Earth head shop. (more…)
PDD Quiz: January 2016
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
Since next week is the Super Bowl, our theme will be football in Duluth, so expect some Duluth Eskimo trivia.
Spirit Mountain Winter Downhill Fatbiking
Last weekend Spirit Mountain became (as far as we know) the first ski resort in North America to offer lift access fat-tire biking. Break out the fatbikes this Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and come ride with us!
Video by Max Fierek.
Bent Paddle Double Black 750s will hit liquor stores soon
Bent Paddle Brewing announced Wednesday its Barrel-Aged Double Shot Double Black Ale will be released in 750-milliliter bottles “in a couple weeks.” The beer is a stronger version of the brewery’s Cold Press Black Ale, “aged in bourbon oak for nearly 15 months … with a ‘double shot’ of cold-press coffee and whole-bean Madagascar vanilla.”
Bringing it All Back to Duluth Does Dylan
A new Duluth Does Dylan album is in the works — the fourth in a series of compilations featuring Duluth bands covering Bob Dylan songs. Bringing it All Back to Duluth Does Dylan will feature 14 tracks recorded at Sacred Heart Studio by engineer Tom Fabjance. Fabjance is co-producing the album with executive producer Tim Nelson. (more…)
Sunshine Café reopening after owner’s recovery from injury
Sunshine Café, a 30-year-old West Duluth restaurant known for its affordable, tasty breakfasts and cheery atmosphere, will reopen Thursday after a five-month hiatus.
Owners Young-a and Steven Clement closed their café at 5719 Grand Avenue in August when Steven fell two stories from a ladder while cleaning the gutters on his home. He was in intensive care for a month and has been recovering ever since. He fractured ribs and vertebrae, damaged the orbital bone in his eye and sustained a nasty head wound. (more…)
A.G. Thomson House named Best in the Nation, again
Duluth’s A.G. Thomson House has been named the Best Bed and Breakfast in the United States by Trip Advisor for 2016. The inn was also named one of the 10 best in the world.
The Thomson House placed #1 of over 17,000 B&Bs across America. It also received the first-place award in 2012.
Lake Superior Zoo Proposed Concepts
Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Division has invited the public to view and comment on three proposed concept plans for improvements to the Lake Superior Zoo and Fairmount Park. The plans were presented by a consultant at the Jan. 19 Duluth Parks Commission Open House. (more…)
OMC Smokehouse anticipates November opening
Duluth Grill owner Tom Hanson stands in the gutted 1886 structure that will house his next restaurant venture.
If all goes as planned, the nascent commercial stretch of the Lincoln Park neighborhood — home to Bent Paddle Brewing, Damage Boardshop and Frost River Trading — will gain a distinctive new restaurant before the end of 2016.
OMC Smokehouse is Duluth Grill owner Tom Hanson’s latest project. OMC stands for oink, moo, cluck. The aptly named eatery will cater to carnivores with its smoked meats and cured sausages, but Hanson promises there will be menu items aimed at vegetarians, too. (more…)
PDD Quiz: 2015 Year in Review
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
Photo by Judy Weber
Ness will launch economic development business
Outgoing Duluth Mayor Don Ness announced at a news conference today he will launch a new business called Hillside Ventures. The Duluth News Tribune reports Ness will offer his services to assist clients with economic development and “public-sector strategy work, working with other communities in the region, especially on the problem-solving and visioning piece.” (more…)
Glensheen set to hit 100,000 attendance mark for 2015
From the Glensheen Facebook page:
This Saturday we will reach over 100,000 visitors for the first time since the 1980s.
To put this in perspective, we had only 56,000 visitors in recent history. Many thought this resurgence would not be possible. We are very thankful to all who have helped us turn the curve, especially you our guests.