North Country Trail in Wisconsin: Returning to the Border
During a group hike in spring 2024, I covered a new section of the North Country Trail in Wrenshall. At the time I didn’t think much about how my essay series is about the trail “in Wisconsin,” yet almost all of that hike was in Minnesota.
A few years ago, the Wisconsin section of the North Country Trail was all in Wisconsin, because it hadn’t been built yet near the Minnesota state line. The Minnesota side of the trail ended in the woods at the border, and the only way to start the trail at the Wisconsin side was to hike various highways to get to the parts of the trail that had been built.
Now that an official border route through the woods exists, however, the trail enters Wisconsin and runs for about a mile, slants over into Minnesota for about two miles, then swings back into Wisconsin.
There was a small part of that new section in Wrenshall I didn’t see on that group hike, because there was snow on the ground, groups move slower than individuals, and the rest of the group didn’t share my quest to cover every single bit of the trail. So I went back in the fall. (more…)
“Opiate War” by ©ontainer
When you live downtown, you see some things. I’m just a guy with windows. (more…)
New Hong Kong-style cafe coming to Lakeside
Chef Antony Gor is opening a new Hong Kong-style cafe in Lakeside. The restaurant will take over the former longtime home of the New London Cafe. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
A new Hong Kong-style cafe will take over a longtime restaurant space in Lakeside as its chef-owner moves from hosting special pop-up dining events to a permanent brick-and-mortar location.
Chef Antony Gor has launched plans to open Sōl Cafe at 4721 E. Superior St., the former home of New London Cafe and, most recently, Falastin Palestinian Food. The new fast-casual, breakfast-and-lunch place is expected to open later this year. (more…)
Crazy Ken Band – “Tiger & Dragon”
Duluth artist Joe Klander, aka baby-eating professional wrestler Kurokumo Clutch, breaks out his ukulele to perform a charming little ditty.
Duluth 2025 General Election Sample Ballot
General Election Day for the city of Duluth and Independent School District #709 is Tuesday, Nov. 4. The sample ballot above does not reflect what an actual ballot will look like in any part of the city. Some voters will not see any district races; others will see either District 1, 2 or 4 races on their ballot.
The 100 Block of East First Street in Duluth Circa 1928
All of the buildings in the foreground of this century-old photo are still standing, though at least one of them is likely to be demolished soon.
The image is estimated to be from the year 1928 because it features the Duluth Costume House at the center of the frame, and newspaper archives indicate the business moved to the other side of the street in March 1929. The business had been at its original location since 1923, but the vehicles in the image suggest 1928 or later. (more…)
Climate>Duluth: Kelley Skumautz
Climate>Duluth host Tone Lanzillo interviews Kelley Skumautz, executive director of Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate. The program was recorded in the Duluth Public Access Community Television studio.
PDD Quiz: Halloween Happenings 2025
Map out your spooky season festivities with this week’s quiz, which takes a look at local Halloween-y events!
A month-in-review quiz comes your way on Oct. 26. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at alisonlinnaemoffat@gmail.com by Oct. 23. (more…)
Mittens
This mitten thing started when I sent The Maker a message asking about scraps. Pretty sure it was sometime in 2022, which I’m also pretty sure was last year. He and I didn’t really know each other. I had admired his work for a while. Maybe we had already sold some bicycle parts back and forth. But maybe that came after. I know and I don’t. Time gets weird as it piles up and evaporates, and I am a partially reliable narrator at best about these and a lot of other things.
My message asked if his work, which includes cutting up wool blankets to make remarkably nice anoraks and jackets for winter expeditions, ever leaves him with leftovers. I was hoping he could give me a piece of fabric just big enough for patching a couple buttonholes and a pocket corner on a plaid wool shirt I’d worn ungently since paying $7 for it at Savers. He sent back something like, “I’ve got a couple garbage bags full. You can have it all if you want it.” I said I did without knowing why. My only use for wool scraps was fixing those small spots on that one shirt, and Ms. LaCount (my wife) and I try hard to minimize our clutter. (more…)
How Julann Griffin invented Jeopardy! on a flight out of Duluth
A trip to Duluth led to the development of the television game show Jeopardy! A recent episode of the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz recounts the music and sound effects of the show and includes the historic tidbit about the role Duluth played in its creation story.
The mention comes around the 2-minute mark of the episode titled “The Music of Jeopardy! From a Lullaby to $100,000,000,” which is embedded above. (more…)
PDD Shop Talk: We’re looking to hire an event calendar editor
The event submissions keep flowing into the PDD Calendar and our crew of four editors just isn’t enough to stay on top of it. We need to hire one more part-time helper.
But before we get into that, we lead with the standard reminder that Perfect Duluth Day is run by human beings and not machines. So if you appreciate it, drop a few bucks in the PayPal account. (more…)
Climate>Duluth: Polly and Peter Edmunds of Border Partners
Climate>Duluth host Tone Lanzillo interviews Polly and Peter Edmunds about their work with Border Partners. The program was recorded in the Duluth Public Access Community Television studio.
When Duluth was Country
Duluth was once a Midwestern center for country-western music. I’m going to share some fragments of it, and I want readers to help me with three things: 1. Are any PDDers alive who remember these things? 2. Are they still rolling and just not on my radar? These come from a book I bought at Gabriel’s back in the day. (more…)
Rare Moments from the Northwoods
Voyageurs Wolf Project trail cameras capture snippets of the fascinating daily happenings in Voyageurs National Park, about 100 miles north of Duluth. Though the project is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in the park, the cameras record a variety of wildlife throughout the year. All of the footage in the clip above was captured in fall and winter 2024.
Alan Sparhawk – “No More Darkness”
Duluth’s Alan Sparhawk is one of 17 artists with new music on a compilation album set for release Dec. 5 on the Western Vinyl label. Passages: Artists in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers is a fundraiser for nonprofits that provide no-to-low cost legal services, food, shelter, access to health care and other essential services.
Duluth Deep Dive #9: The Third Largest City in Minnesota
The population of Duluth, Bloomington, and Rochester over time (Source: U.S. Census Data)
A recent YouTube video on Duluth restaurants described Duluth as the third-largest city in Minnesota — a statement that has been true at various points in the state’s history. Since Minnesota became the 32nd state in 1858, Minneapolis and St. Paul have consistently been its two largest cities. Third place, however, has been considerably less stable. This Duluth Deep Dive takes a closer look at the cities that have held the #3 spot, using aerial images to show how these cities have developed over time. (more…)
Ripped at the Pickwick 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-five years ago the Sultan of Sot paid a visit to Duluth’s venerable Pickwick, and composed this article for the Oct. 4, 2000 edition of the Ripsaw newspaper. The Pickwick’s bar underwent significant renovations in 2010 and now features televisions.]
Call me romantic, but when my special lady friend said she was growing tired of seedy dives, I decided to treat her to a classy night at the Pickwick, where the two of us could get ripped in style.
It shouldn’t really be that difficult to make a bar a comfortable place to imbibe, yet it’s surprising how many truly annoying bars there are in this area. The Pickwick has it just right: extremely dim lighting, dark wood paneling, good furniture, no neon beer lights, no tacky antique signs, no TVs. And even though the room is decorated with taxidermy, it’s as tasteful and interesting as taxidermy can be. The only things lacking are a good sound system and a room full of couches and armchairs. But since the bar serves mainly as an area for diners to wait for tables on busy nights, it’s extremely unlikely that the Pickwick will be booking live music or ordering La-Z-Boys anytime soon. (more…)
Selective Focus: Fall Colors 2025
The annual tradition of overloading Instagram with autumn scenery is well underway. Visit the Minnesota Department of Natural Resource’s Fall Color Finder to find areas of the state awash with fall colors.
Featured here is Perfect Duluth Day’s collection of select images from Instagram showcasing nature’s 2025 palette. (more…)
Save Our Signs: Grand Portage Monument and Voyageurs Park
My colleague is curating photos for the Save Our Signs project, and just heard Grand Portage National Monument and Voyageurs National Park have basically no signs recorded yet. (more…)
Postcard from the Duluth Children’s Museum and Art Center
This undated postcard shows the Duluth Children’s Museum at 1832 E. Second St., its home from 1936 to 1975. The house was built in 1902 for Archibald Mark Chisholm, the namesake of the city of Chisholm. He discovered the mine there at the turn of the 20th century and laid out the townsite. (more…)
The Book of the North: Part 1
The Book of the North is a collaborative book-making project using premodern techniques to experience how the information technologies of the past bind together communities and ecologies, and create a vision for a more sustainable future.
The project is being led by Dr. Krista Sue-Lo Twu, University of Minnesota Imagine Arts, Humanities, and Design chair. The process can be followed through various social medica platforms.
DuLilith Fest brings fem-forward spirit to Duluth’s Chester Bowl
Gaelynn Lea is a featured performer at DuLilith Fest, Oct. 4 at Chester Bowl Park.
Yoga in the grass, guitars echoing off the ski slopes, the smell of food trucks drifting through Duluth’s Chester Bowl Park and voices rising together in song are the vision behind DuLilith Fest, a one-day celebration of women in music happening Saturday, Oct. 4. The local event draws its name and inspiration from a traveling music festival popular in the late 1990s. (more…)
Minnesota Historia: The Laurentian Divide
The Laurentian Divide is a continental divide that crosses some of Minnesota’s most stunning landscapes. But what does one do with such a geographical gem? Mine it? Ski it? Or build a tourist attraction on top of it? (The answer is all three.)
Minnesota Historia is a PBS North web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink-Ziebol and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.
PDD Quiz: September 2025
Wrap up another month with this week’s current events quiz!
A Halloween-y quiz creeps your way on Oct. 12; please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at alisonlinnaemoffat@gmail.com by Oct. 9. (more…)