Duluth Kayak Rescue
Via WCCO-TV, reported July 15.
Via WCCO-TV, reported July 15.
This is a one-man-band home-recording available for free on Bandcamp. You can find a few others there as well.
I arrive at the paddleboard shop on Barker’s Island in Superior just before noon. Because I learned to paddleboard last spring, and because winters are long, I need a refresher on how to attach the folding seat and ankle strap to the board. (I don’t need a crash course on how to tie my shoes—they have Velcro straps.) Last year after I connected the seat and strap to my board, they stayed put until I deflated it in the fall. Heather, co-owner of North Shore SUP, helps me. (She’s friendly and supportive and would show me how to tie my shoes, if needed. It took me a long time to learn to tie them when I was a kid.)
It’s July 16, and I will paddleboard for the first time this summer. I’ve lost a month because a long, cold spring latched onto the heels of a long, cold winter. Toss in stormy weather plus the three days a week I provide daycare for my grandkids, and getting out on my board slid to the bottom of my list.
The fourth single from Duluth’s Chuck Haavik, “When We Were in Love,” is sort of a boy breakup rock ballad. Duluth native Dave Mehling plays bass and mixed the song.
My name is Nick Campanella. After ten years of typing, editing and revising, I’m proud to say I am now a published author with a successful book called Path of Affliction.
In this edition of the PDD Video Lab we’ve taken a recently shot silent drone video by YouTube user IndyDroner and added music from Robert Plant’s 2017 album Carry Fire. The track is titled “Heaven Sent.”
This undated postcard from the Rotograph Company is captioned “Elevators, Superior Harbor, Duluth, Minn.” and features a view of Rice’s Point and the Duluth/Superior Harbor.
According to an article on the Canada Lakes Conservation Association website, the Rotograph Company was based in New York City and was “a major publisher and printer of postcards from 1904-1911.”
This past winter, Native American high school students from Duluth and high school students from Petrozavodsk, capital city of the Russian Republic of Karelia, worked together to create Lake Stories, a video project that takes a poetic look at the magic of Lake Superior and Lake Onega, the great lakes that lie next to their cities. The video is presented by Duluth Sister Cities International with support from Eurasia Foundation.
More info in the Duluth News Tribune story “Northland students find freshwater bond across borders.”
Charlie Parr performed on the North Shore last week as part of the Silver Bay Music in the Park Concert Series. The song “Running, Jumping, Standing Still” is the title track to a 1969 “Spider” John Koerner and Willie Murphy album.
The previous Mystery Photos post on Perfect Duluth Day featured four different fake cowboy photos shot at Owl Studio in Duluth circa 1912. Another recently popped up on ebay and quickly sold, this time with some kind of clown joining the cowboys.
Test your knowledge of the bygone Duluth Seaway Portorama in this week’s quiz! To learn more about this festival, check out the Duluth Public Library’s Vintage Duluth blog.
The next PDD quiz sails your way on July 31; it will review this month’s headlines and happenings. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by July 27.
Tom Maloney built a rolling stage for a moving concert. Here’s a very brief montage of videos and photos from the inaugural ride of the Bike-a-Band.
When I was young, my family went fishing on a lake south of Duluth. While casting our lines, we noticed a loon swimming nearby, calling in an unusual manner. As outdoorsy types, we had heard many loons before, but this one sounded more plaintive than normal, like it was in distress.
The loon kept circling near us, which was also odd for this rather standoffish species. My dad thought it needed help, so we canoed toward it.
We soon saw the problem. A homemade fishing pole crafted from a large branch trailed about fifteen feet behind the bird. My dad grabbed the pole, thinking he could just pull the loon toward us and find where the fishing hook was lodged.
Ha! He underestimated the power of the loon. Upon feeling the tug of the line, the loon took off and dove underwater. My dad kept his grip on the pole, and the loon proceeded to pull our canoe — and the three or four of us in it — through the water at a good clip.
Recent work on the Duluth Plumbing Supply building at 322 W. Michigan St. — now SPS Companies — has made more visible the words painted on the back side more than a century ago. The bottom line reads “Wholesale Flour, Feed, Grain and Hay.” The top line originally read “Wright-Clarkson Mercantile Co.” but appears to have later been painted over with some other words.
The old-timey photo is via Shorpy and is dated “circa 1905.” St. Louis County property tax records list the building as constructed in 1910, but that’s potentially not accurate.
