The Slice: Glass Artist Jes Durfee
Duluthian Jes Durfee has been transforming glass into works of art for more than 20 years, traveling internationally to learn from masters of the craft.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
The Proctor Community Fair of 1921
One hundred years ago today the Duluth Herald editorialized about the upcoming “St. Louis County Community Fair,” to be held Aug. 30 to Sept. 1, 1921. It was the inaugural edition of what is now known as the South St. Louis County Fair, which has continued on for a century.
The 100th annual fair was supposed to have occurred in 2020, but was canceled due to COVID-19, making the 2021 fair the 100th edition. (more…)
Minnesota Sessions: Lanue at Black Beach
In the Current‘s new video series, “Minnesota Sessions,” musicians perform in some of the state’s best natural offerings. In this edition, Duluth’s Sarah Krueger brings her new project, Lanue, to Black Beach in Silver Bay. (more…)
Accuracy!
This newspaper ad from 1981 promotes weathercaster Pat Kelly of KDLH-TV in Duluth. A Twin Cities native, Kelly arrived in Duluth in 1979 and worked for the AM radio station WEBC before adding television to his résumé. He eventually became a television news anchor at both KDLH and KBJR. He retired in 2008.
Selective Focus: Lupines
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQcV5thHNFE/
Numerous photos of lupines near Duluth and the North Shore have been shared recently on Instagram. The Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis) is native to the area, while others are considered invasive species. Their flowers can be pink, purple and white in color. Please enjoy the collection of photos we pulled of local lupine sightings. (more…)
PDD Quiz: Named Buildings
This week’s quiz tests your ability to match named buildings in Duluth with their current occupants. The Zenith City website has more information on these (and many other) historic buildings; all images were accessed via Google Maps.
The next PDD quiz will review the news that made headlines in July 2021; it will be published on July 25. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by July 21. (more…)
Duluth, Minnesota and the Lost Confederate Gold
In 1861, Minnesota Governor Alexander Ramsey was in Washington D.C. when the Confederates started the Civil War. He was in the Oval Office when Lincoln received the fateful telegram detailing the attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina — the most serious in a string of Southern aggressions, including the seizing of Federal armories across Dixie. Heeding Lincoln’s call for troops, Ramsey walked right up to the President and said, “Mr. President, let Minnesota be the first state to commit 1,000 volunteers to answer this latest outrage from the disloyal states.”
Ramsey’s commitment created the famous fighting force known as the Minnesota First Infantry Regiment. They were the Civil War’s earliest northern enlistees, and they saved the Union at Gettysburg as every Minnesota schoolchild knows. On the third day of that pivotal battle, after Pickett’s Charge, Pvt. Marshall Sherman of St. Paul emerged with the scarred battle flag of the 28th Virginia Infantry. Virginia whines about it to this day but we’re not giving it back neener neener neener. (more…)
Pretty Drive Around Lake Superior Near Duluth in 1921
This postcard image is dated 100 years ago today — July 9, 1921. It appears to be two families parked on the side of old Highway 61. (more…)
Grandma Esmeralda, all the way from Duluth
In “Kiss Me Cat,” a 1953 Looney Tunes short from Warner Brothers, the burly bulldog Marc Antony helps the tiny cat Pussyfoot learn the art of catching mice. At the 4:50 mark, Duluth gets a mention.
Monthly Grovel: July 2021
The PDD Calendar continues to be the faraway leader in listing Duluth-area happenings — from kayak tours and bingo nights to food markets and rodeos. Each month we reach out with one beggarly blog post to remind everyone that human beings and not machines are at work editing and publishing calendar events. So if you appreciate it, drop a few bucks in the PayPal account. (more…)
MN Moder – “She Bhad”
Duluth-based hip-hop artist Zachary Moder, who performs as MN Moder, has a new album out titled Sweet Dreams. The track “She Bhad” is “the song you play when you’re thinking about that one girl who’s got it all,” according to Moder. (more…)
Minnesota Sessions: Dave Simonett at Wolf Ridge
In the Current‘s new video series, “Minnesota Sessions,” musicians perform in some of the state’s best natural offerings. In this edition, Dave Simonett of Duluth-based bluegrass act Trampled by Turtles, brings acoustic tunes to the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center. (more…)
Postcard from the Central Part of Superior Street
This undated postcard, published by the H. C. Wick Company, shows an aerial view of Downtown Duluth from about Second Avenue West looking northeastward down Superior Street. Perhaps the photo was shot from atop the Alworth Building. (more…)
Mystery Photo: Fourth of July Gals
All that is known about this photo is the information written on the back. “4th July Celebration in Duluth” gives us a date, along with the vague understanding that it’s from sometime in the early half of the 20th century. And we get the first names of the girls: Bonita (?), Rosemary, Helen, Jerry and Kathryn.
Can anyone figure out more? (more…)
Miniatures Display at the Nordic Center
The Nordic Center, 23 N. Lake Ave., is now open to public visits on Fridays from noon to 4 p.m.
The current display features miniature Norwegian churches and dwellings by Jerry Sime who passed away in 2012. The results of Jerry’s love of Nordic structures and woodworking are on full display for the next three weeks.
Selective Focus: Kirsten Aune’s North Coast Fashion
Kirsten Aune Textiles outfit
Kirsten Aune has lived in Duluth for a number of years, working in textile and garment design. She has a fashion show upcoming in her new showroom, Kirsten Aune Textiles, at 12 N. 21st Ave. W., in the heart of our blessedly reviving Lincoln Park Craft District. It goes down July 17, with two showings, one at 4 p.m. and one at 5 p.m. Most of the fashions being shown will be for sale or can be custom ordered. Mary Mathews, a master sewer, will be modeling her own creations out of Aune’s fabric. The showroom is stocked with household items as well as clothing, and Aune notes that you can order custom printed fabric by the yard there as well. (more…)
Video: Pictured Rocks cliff face plummets into Lake Superior
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IPpEMLXAyg
Jahn Martin and Brad Gustafson, along with two other passengers, were on a pontoon boat in the area between Miner’s Beach and Mosquito Beach at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula last week when a 200-foot cliff face collapsed and slid into Lake Superior. The resulting waves put the boaters into panic mode, but everyone came out unscathed. (more…)
David Munyon – “Coffee in Duluth”
The song “Coffee in Duluth” is not available on the internet, but we nonetheless note its existence on Perfect Duluth Day … just because that’s what we do. (more…)
Chuck Haavik – “Still Raining”
Duluth’s Chuck Haavik has released his second song. “Still Raining” is “a lament from the Summer of 2020,” Haavik said. It’s available for download on Bandcamp.
The track is mixed and mastered by Dave Mehling, who also plays Hammond B3 Organ, bass and drums.
Video Archive: Duluth Bridge Tournament of 1978
Duluth’s bridge tournament in 1978 drew players from North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa. Mary Ellen Miller had the story for KBJR-TV.
June of ’71: UMD’s medical school gets initial accreditation
The University of Minnesota Duluth’s medical school took its first step toward academic accreditation 50 years ago. The June 30, 1971 Duluth Herald reported that Dr. Robert E. Carter, medical school dean, announced a letter of “reasonable assurance of academic accreditation” had been received from the Joint Liaison Committee on Accreditation of the American Medical Association Council on Education and the American Association of Medical Colleges. (more…)