UMD’s 125th Anniversary: The Rare and Remarkable
Duluth Normal School May Queen and Her Court.
On April 2, 1895 — 125 years ago today — Minnesota Governor David. M. Clough signed legislation approving the creation of the State Normal School at Duluth. It would be seven more years before classes were held, but nonetheless, the University of Minnesota Duluth traces its beginning to that moment in 1895. (more…)
Daily Menu: Lulu’s Pizza
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.
Lulu’s Pizza is available daily for curbside takeout orders. Get your ‘za by calling 218-481-7167. (more…)
Monthly Grovel: April 2020 COVID-19 Edition
Typically Perfect Duluth Day’s monthly pitch for donations brags about how many events we publish on the PDD Calendar and notes all the labor required to do it. In the past three weeks, however, most of that work has shifted to marking events “cancelled” or “postponed.” We are still publishing new events, but most of them are either “virtual” events happening online, or concerts and neighborhood celebrations planned several months into the future. So our mission continues, but it’s a much lamer mission, at least for the short term.
Why do we need your help now more than ever? Because when life gets cancelled the advertising revenue that keeps Perfect Duluth Day in business slowly disappears. Nearly every enterprise in town is struggling in these challenging times. (more…)
A Bit of Ren to Lift Our Spirits
A little entertainment for you. My daughter, Ren, is in a Superior-based band called One Less Guest. With the band’s upcoming gigs cancelled for the foreseeable future, she has been taking violin song requests and live streaming every few days in the hopes of lifting our collective spirits. I thought someone here might be in need of a little music on a chilly, homebound Tuesday.
Daily Menu: Phoholic
What better way to stay cooped up inside than with great food? Tune in to Perfect Duluth Day every day for local social distancing dining options. Here’s what’s on the menu today:
Phoholic is available for take-out from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. On Sundays, they are open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Take-out can be ordered by calling 218-464-0312. (more…)
Fairhaven Farm: Segment 1 of Northern Roots 2: Revitalizing Local Food in the Western Lake Superior Region
Local food is where it’s at! This video profiles Fairhaven Farm, an organic farm featuring an outdoor pizza oven located near Duluth. Information about how to sign up for community-supported agriculture shares is at fairhaven.farm. (more…)
Daily Menu: India Palace
Perfect Duluth Day continues to look into local take-out options amid Covid-19 restrictions for when you get sick of the food in your pantry. Check out today’s “Daily Menu” below:
India Palace is available from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday for takeout orders at a 10 percent discount by calling 218-727-8767. Delivery is available through Food Dudes, which is waving delivery fees through the end of April when using the code “April2020.” (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #46: Grand Finale
Here it is, the last one in the set of trivia cards from an old board game purchased at Savers. (more…)
The Playlist Presents: Cory Coffman
WDSE-TV‘s The PlayList Presents is a series of 5-minute segments featuring emerging musicians, including interview clips and a live performance. This episode focuses on Cory Coffman, with a performance of the song “Canvas and Color,” shot at Duluth Cider.
The PlayList Presents airs Thursday nights at around 8:20 p.m., after Making it Up North.
Iceberg Ride one year ago today *Do Not Attempt*
Do Not Attempt
Daily Menu: Va Bene Caffe
The “Daily Menu” showcases local take-out options and Covid-19 related food specials. Get ready to put this next social-distancing dining option on your radar:
Va Bene Caffe is open daily from noon until 8 p.m. with curbside take-out and delivery options. Orders can be made by calling 218-722-1518 or placed online. (more…)
Dave Mehling – “The Catfish Song”
Duluth native Dave Mehling covers Townes Van Zandt’s “The Catfish Song” in this video with images based on Tina Higgins Wussow’s short story “Wilting Point.”
Daily Menu: Wussow’s Concert Cafe
Don’t “pandemic panic” because Perfect Duluth Day is back again with its “Daily Menu.” Here’s the latest social-distancing dining option:
Wussow’s Concert Cafe is open today from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. with a special weekend curbside menu. Call 218-624-5957 to order, and pickup at their drive-through window. Gluten-free and vegan options are available. To continue finding their new updated menu after this weekend, check out their Facebook page. (more…)
PDD Quiz: March 2020
Well … it sure has been a month. Take a brief reprieve from everything else going on by testing your knowledge of local headlines.
The next PDD quiz, on Superior parks, will be published on April 12. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by April 9. (more…)
Daily Menu: Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake
The “Daily Menu” returns on this perfect Duluth weekend to showcase another local take-out option. Tune in each day to find the latest COVID-19 specials and dining-hour alternations.
Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake offers curbside pickup and delivery from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Orders can be made by calling 218-728-1192 or online. (more…)
The Duluth Psychedelic Sermon – UPDATE with Video
Sentient Duluth awakens! Praise it!
When did I come to consciousness? Its bars and venues the wombs I gestated in, the booths and stages framed my embryogenesis. Birthing me to myself, I walk between trees. Light and water conspire mysteriously. My shadow stretches to the lake and covers it in the setting sun. Praise it!
I am bridges staring down into darkness and depth. I am mirrored streams carving the hillside like molten silver from a furnace pour, the lake a great ingot. More than anything, I am the lake. Gleaming as if the sun has transferred its powers to Lake Superior in guardianship, Lucifer abandoning hell to an angel of water. The lake is a tectonic plate of fire subducting at the shoreline, trapping the light in water like amber, a bowl of liquid light. Golden honeyed light, silver light like photographic emulsion, sepia light. Ore boats sailing the surface of white stars, red giants, blue neutron stars. Ore boats sailing out of faded, flaking photographs. The lake like Io, blinding bright, sea planet of perpetual ice cover, Jupiter blots out the sky rising over Superior. The lake a reflecting mirror like a planetary laser defense system, peering into every south-facing window on the hillside, light pouring into every home as the lake searches them with its blazing eye. Praise it! (more…)
Northeastern Minnesota COVID-19 Community Archive Project
Hello, PDD Community!
Imagine that 100 years from now you are researching the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic in Northeastern Minnesota. It’s easy to find dry statistics and numbers, but you want more. What were people thinking and feeling during this time? What informational materials and public art did they create? How were they helping each other? What did the day-to-day experience of this time look like in Duluth?
What if there were an archive of those experiences for you to explore? (more…)
The 2005 Duluth Art Institute Riot
Academic and Critical Excerpts, collated and footnoted by the Richardson brothers (Jim and Allen Richardson) (more…)
Pak’s Green Corner closing March 29
Pak’s Green Corner, a Thai-fusion restaurant in Superior, has announced it will close on March 29. The restaurant’s lease ends at the end of May, but COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders in Wisconsin and Minnesota pushed forward plans to shut down.
“What will we do next?” a letter to customers from the Pak’s team asked. “We will keep you posted by our Facebook page.”
The restaurant opened June 1, 2018 at 1901 Tower Ave. in Superior, the former location of Kenny Wong’s Oriental Express. Pak’s previously operated for two years in West Duluth, where it found instant acclaim. It was voted Perfect Duluth Day’s best new restaurant in 2013 and was featured on the national television show, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives in 2014.
Daily Menu: Northern Waters Smokehaus
While we are cooped up inside, there are still great take-out dining options available to satisfy the taste buds. Next up on Perfect Duluth Day’s daily take-out menu is Northern Waters Smokehaus. Orders can be picked up from the DeWitt–Seitz Marketplace or delivered to a Duluth or Superior address. Platters can also be ordered, but must be requested 24 hours in advance. Patricia’s featured baked goods are currently carrot cake cookies and coconut macaroons, which can be ordered by the dozen or half dozen 48 hours in advance. (more…)
Iconic Jade Fountain will see new life in West Duluth
Kai Soderberg stands outside the Jade Fountain restaurant at 305 N. Central Ave. in West Duluth. Soderberg is leasing the space where he will open a tiki bar this summer. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
A long-running and largely unchanged Chinese restaurant — which closed for almost five years — will be reborn under new ownership as a tiki lounge when nightlife returns to normal in Duluth. (more…)
Who (or what) was Sonny?
This 1910 Duluth postcard raises at least one large looming question. (more…)
Robot Rickshaw Emergence at the Embassy
Some footage for those who missed the Church Bazaar on March 7.
Daily Menu: At Sara’s Table / Chester Creek Cafe
Update: At Sara’s Table / Chester Creek Cafe ceased its curbside, pickup and delivery operations on March 31, then on May 15 relaunched pickup service via a new drive-through hut. Enter the parking lot on 19th Avenue East, order at the menu board, pick up at the window. Orders can also be made online or by phone. (more…)