Duluth and Superior Photo Tweet From Space
Astronaut Jeff Williams of Winter, Wis., tweeted this photo of the Twin Ports this morning from the International Space Station. Far out, man.
Astronaut Jeff Williams of Winter, Wis., tweeted this photo of the Twin Ports this morning from the International Space Station. Far out, man.
The 2016 Homegrown Kickball Classic at Chester Bowl Park was ushered in by shockingly perfect weather conditions. The sun shone, some random dude played sitar, dogs pranced, beer flowed. And musicians in their seventh day of an eight-day Homegrown bender attempted to rally and act like athletes.
WCCO-TV‘s Rachel Slavik reports from the mouth of the Amnicon River on Lake Superior during the 2016 smelt run. Apologies for whatever commercial precedes the video.
If this isn’t your 18th time attending the Homegrown Music Festival, here are some links that might be helpful:
Homegrown website
Event schedule on Homegrown website
PDD Homegrown Chicken App (schedule optimized for smartphones)
Homegrown Facebook page
Homegrown Twitter page
Seasons 1, 2 and 3 of Seth Langreck’s Duluth Band Profiles
So, it’s May Day and April is now in the history books. How much do you remember? Let’s find out
The next quiz will be on May 15 and it will be a Dylan-themed quiz. Send your suggested questions (and answers) to lawrence @ perfectduluthday.com by noon on Wednesday, April 27.
Tom Franta started Superior Packaging Company in 1994 in his hometown of Minnetonka. Eventually he moved the business to Superior, where he was able to get his foot in the door with many companies by cold calling. The company’s product, called dunnage, or damage prevention, consists of materials that are placed in domestic and international shipping containers or boxcars to prevent damage to inventory by restraining any excess space.
SPC supplies companies such as Kikkoman, Del Monte and Seneca foods. Franta recalls his humble roots in his then-partner’s parents’ garage with no heat, using the alleyway to roll paper tubes to make packaging supplies and gluing them to cardboard to make pallets by hand. Today, Superior Packaging Company uses machines to do what he once did by hand. The company moved to its present location in West Duluth 15 years ago, when a larger facility was needed. This location is convenient for SPC as most shipping is done using common carriers on the highway.
Kelsey Picek and Allyson Rolph in the Thirsty Pagan beer garden
Beginning this weekend, Twin Ports beer lovers have another option for outdoor imbibing. Thirsty Pagan Brewing’s new beer garden held its soft opening on Friday. The brewpub at 1623 Broadway in Superior is known for its tasty brews and delectable deep-dish pizzas.
The beer garden occupies a space behind the building that is fully fenced and can be accessed via the parking lot. It features several oversized picnic tables and can seat about 25 people with standing room for about 25 more.
Jeramy Pinkerton and Anna Varian of DNR fisheries hold the largest sturgeon ever sampled in the St Louis River. The sturgeon, 65 inches long and about 53 pounds, was captured April 20, implanted with an acoustic transmitter and PIT tag and released.
Following years of clean water improvements and habitat projects, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reports that lake sturgeon are returning to the St. Louis River in larger numbers. DNR fisheries staff are embarking on a new research project to study the growing numbers and learn more about how these long-lived, native species use the river and Lake Superior throughout the year.
Dianne Anderson launched Demolicious in 2000, creating a public drop-off site for everything but the kitchen sink. Well actually, Demolicious will take kitchen sinks. It will take anything but household garbage, hazardous materials or chemicals. Anything else is fair game, but mostly the business receives construction waste. Clients can drop off their trash for a fee or rent a roll-off, which is a large waste container Demolicious will drop off empty and pick up when filled.
Materials get sorted and separated. Wood, for example, gets grouped together and ground into wood chips. What can be recycled is recycled. The business has many repeat customers, especially contractors who use it often, as well as one-time users who wish to discard things like old furniture.
It all started when Willard Munger opened the Willard Munger Inn in 1954, before the Interstate Highway System and I-35 existed, when State Highway 23 was the main road into Duluth. Over time, proximity to the St. Louis River has come to mean more and more to the business as the health of the waterway has improved and outdoor tourism has grown.
Jeff Munger, grandson of the founder and current manager of the motel, recalls how his grandfather lived at the inn and woke up early every morning to tend to his guests until 1991, when his son Willard Jr. took over managing the operations. The inn has since expanded, employing eight people in the high season of summer.
In a manufacturing facility a few hundred feet from Stryker Bay in West Duluth, Greg Benson leads a company dedicated to making outdoor furniture “for the modern lollygagger.” Before launching Loll Designs, however, Benson built skateboard ramps. He started out in his neighbor’s garage and eventually worked with municipalities to design and implement custom skate parks. The excess materials turned out to make attractive and durable Adirondack-style chairs, and a new business was born.
“A lot of people assume that I must have been a skater, but really I enjoy hiking, kayaking, camping and being outdoors much more,” Benson says. He and his brother Dave, both University of Minnesota Duluth graduates, along with Tony Ciardelli , founded both Loll and Epicurean, a company that makes cutting boards and other kitchen products. They sold TrueRide in 2008 to a California company and took what they had learned and ran with it.
Walter H. Pederson, a Duluth native and member of the Plaisted Arctic expedition, died Friday in St. Cloud at the age of 88.
Pederson served as mechanic on Ralph Plaisted’s crew, which reached the North Pole by snowmobile in 1968. The subject gained new attention last month when the New York Times published an account of the expedition. In early April the Hollywood infotainment website Deadline reported Will Ferrell will star in film about the Plaisted expedition.
Pederson’s obituary in the St. Cloud Times notes he was a “sailor, cowboy, mechanic, racer, teacher, businessman, inventor, explorer, author, politician, entrepreneur, scientist, private eye, hero, friend, husband, father and grandfather.” Services will be held Friday in Milaca.
Dan Turner spelunks the NorShor Theatre and Temple Opera Block in the latest feature on his Substreet website. From the projection room to the roof to the squatter’s apartment in the basement, it’s one of the last chances to see things as they were/are. Construction will be begin soon to renovate the NorShor, which will be operated by the Duluth Playhouse.
Maurices employees will move from the current buildings to the new headquarters between Fourth and Fifth avenues west and Superior Street. The first half of the 450 downtown Maurices employees will get settled over the weekend, and a second wave of employees will make the move next weekend. All will be working in the new headquarters by May 2.
