Postcard from Third Avenue in Hibbing, 1921

This postcard was mailed 100 years ago today — Aug. 6, 1921. The image shows Third Avenue in Hibbing looking north, including the Oliver Hotel at 422 Third Avenue. The card was published by T. C. Congdon.

Artificially Perfect Duluth Day: The Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft’s Flight Simulator came out on the Xbox last week and allows players to fly anywhere in the world, including Duluth. It combines information from Bing maps with an algorithm that builds 3D representations of the landscape, creating shapes and textures when data is missing or incomplete.

The video below shows a simulated flight over Park Point.

Rafe Carlson – “Lost and Found”

[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]

Hermantown’s Rafe Carlson has a debut single out titled “Lost and Found.” He was profiled on WDIO-TV yesterday.

Straight Outta Congdon

A caller identifying as “Jebadiah from Duluth, Minn.” made it onto the Aug. 4 episode of the podcast Yo, is this Racist? The show, hosted by Andrew Ti and Tawny Newsome, answers questions from listeners about whether given subjects are an example of racism or not.

Monthly Grovel: August 2021

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August is a busy month at the Perfect Duluth Day Global Headquarters in West Duluth. Our team of cruise directors are hard at work updating the PDD Calendar with Duluth-area happenings — from concerts and community festivals to beer gardens and sauna experiences. 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.

Live music returns to Sacred Heart, fall concerts announced

The Cactus Blossoms performing on the Sacred Heart Music Center altar stage in 2019. (Photo by Michael K. Anderson)

After an 18-month pandemic closure, Sacred Heart Music Center will welcome live audiences back to a full concert schedule beginning in September.

Life Parade – “Something”

Cameron Mathews of the Duluth band Life Parade performs a cover of the Beatles song “Something” from the 1969 album Abbey Road.

Selective Focus: Andrew Remer’s Marbles, Glass Art & 3D Printing

Andrew Remer has been working with glass since 2016. After taking a class in Minneapolis, he began experimenting with the medium along with some friends. The group rented hourly studio time at Potekglass and later built a garage studio in Shakopee. Remer moved to Duluth in 2019 and began working at Lake Superior Art Glass. He branched out on his own into a full-time artistic career during the COVID-19 pandemic, completing commissions and attending several festivals to share his art.

League of Women Voters 2021 Duluth Candidate Forum

The League of Women Voters held this candidate forum for At-large Duluth City Council candidates on July 28. Mary Faulkner is the moderator.

Duluth 2021 Primary Election Sample Ballot

Most Duluthians will see a ballot that looks like the sample above when they vote in the Primary Election on Aug. 10. There are two other city council races that will appear on ballots in specific parts of the city.

Duluth-area food truck scene expands

The U.S. food truck industry is now a $1.2 billion market. Duluth-area food truck options have grown steadily since the city’s first mobile restaurants hit the streets in 2012. That summer there were four mobile eateries. Now there are at least 15.

Lake Superior Aquaman: Tried helping this fish but it wanted to die

Tischer Creek: I saw this dying 7-inch fish under a foot of water or so, seemingly pinned to a rock by a stick. I moved the stick so it could swim away if it wanted, but it did not want to; I only interrupted the dignity of its final breaths. So I left it to die in peace.

Video Archive: KBJR-TV spots circa 1990

A few commercial clips from KBJR-TV circa three decades ago.

Ripped at the Rendezvous in 2001

[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 years ago he filed a report from the Rendezvous Bar in Scanlon, roughly 10 miles west of Duluth. This article appeared in the July 25, 2001 issue of the Ripsaw newspaper.]

So, it starts with Sean the Locksmith and me barreling down the southbound lane of I-35, sober as a couple of appellate court judges. Sean is worried, and with good cause: The brakes on his newly purchased Delta 88 are suddenly … how shall I put this? … nonexistent.

The plan, and I’m not saying it’s a good one, is to sort of just not go any faster. Sean plans to take the momentum we have and ride it out, giving little nudges on the gas pedal to keep us going in an attempt to run out of speed precisely as we reach an off-ramp. Eventually, with a little practice, he actually does it, landing us in the heart of beautiful Scanlon. We immediately head to the Rendezvous Bar with its promise of wonderful, sweet booze to wet down our sizzling nerve ends.

Postcard from Marshall Wells Slip and Building

This postcard was mailed July 31, 1911 — 110 years ago today — to Miss Emma Perkins of Cleveland, Ohio. It shows what is today known as Minnesota Slip, where the William A. Irvin is docked. At right is the headquarters of Marshall-Wells Hardware Company, one of the world’s largest hardware wholesalers a century ago.