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Loggers, classic cars and blueberries, oh my!
We now wind into the “flurry of activity before we realize the leaves are already changing” part of our Northern Minnesota summer. It’s hot and time moves fast. On the western Mesabi, Grand Rapids holds its annual Weekend of Wheels car show and swap meet, an event I always find preferable to the county fairs. My…
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Sister Hazel headlines Merritt Days 2016
In recent years, the Iron Range city of Mountain Iron booked some hot act from the 1990s to headline its Merritt Days festival. This year is no exception, as the announced Aug. 13 act will be Sister Hazel. Now, Sister Hazel didn’t leap off the screen at me, either, until I looked them up and…
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Nothing stops viking mauraders, except red tape
By now, many of you may have heard of the woes facing the Norwegian replica longship (aka, viking ship) Draken Harald Hårfagre as it makes its way into the Great Lakes. This ship sails around the world doing exhibitions, and now sails the Great Lakes as part of a tour of historical tall masted sailing ships.…
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Iron Range backyard chickens to cluck stuff up
One-hundred years ago debating whether chickens should be allowed in Iron Range back yards would have been like debating whether or not people should breathe air. Chickens were part of the landscape, along with pigs, goats and even cows. First- and second-generation immigrants had no desire to keep livestock the way dad or grandma did.…
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What makes Minnesota alligators different?
Passers-by found a baby alligator along a bike train near Brainerd earlier this week. A reptile handler from a nearby wildlife center retrieved the creature, the aftermath of which you can see in this YouTube video: Authorities believe it was either someone’s pet that escaped or was released illegally. It’s safe to say that alligators will…
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Ruffian elk mobs held at bay, for now
When you drive around Minnesota, from the western prairies to the northern forests or southern farmland, you see scads of whitetail deer. They’re everywhere. And sure, they’re beautiful and all. We have that “Bambi” baggage from our childhoods, so we get excited to see them. But deer are plentiful. Even in the “down years” they are not hard…
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Great Northern Radio Show is July 4 soundtrack
At 2 p.m. on Monday, July 4, Northern Community Radio will rebroadcast the most recent live episode of my Great Northern Radio Show. Let us provide the soundtrack to your holiday activities. Our June show was recorded in front of almost 600 people at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The show featured…
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Happy Paul Bunyan Day!
I woke this morning to news that it was Paul Bunyan Day. So, Happy Paul Bunyan Day, I guess. I’m afraid I didn’t get you a card. I’m already dressed, so I’m not even wearing plaid. Paul Bunyan is, of course, the American folk giant who worked as a lumberjack in the heyday of the…
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Great Northern Radio Show is Saturday @ 5p
This Saturday, June 18, my Great Northern Radio Show will broadcast live at 5 p.m. from Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Grand Rapids is a city at the western gates of the Mesabi Iron Range. (It is an academic argument which side of the gate it may be found). Having grown up along the east central Iron Range, Grand…
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‘Fargo’ heading to St. Cloud with Ewan McGregor
St. Cloud sits at the center of Minnesota like a spleen. What’s a spleen for? Probably something, right? Whatever it is, you’d have to take a college class to know for sure. St. Cloud is one of the regional centers of the state. Yet, unlike Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, Mankato or Duluth, Minnesotans have a tough time…
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The deescalating ‘army worm’ threat
Last night I was texting with a colleague who described her evening thusly: “trying to sit outside but all we hear is army worm [poop emoticon] falling from the trees.” The forest tent caterpillar, also known as the “army worm,” is a June mainstay in the North Woods of Minnesota. Shortly after the forest turns bright green…
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Great Northern Radio Show homecoming June 18
They say you’ve got to pick a genre and stick with it. Don’t be newsy if you want to be funny. Don’t be regional if you want to reach people in other places. Don’t talk about the arts if you want to talk about politics. This is what bloggers are told if they want to build…
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Duluth Superior Film Festival launches June 1
The Duluth Superior Film Festival opens June 1-5, 2016 in venues across the Twin Ports and even up in the big city of Cook, Minnesota. According to festival organizers, this year’s festival will have a distinctly local vibe: Because of the outstanding rebate and tax incentive program in MN and on The Iron Range, much of…
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Remer, MN: ‘Home of Bigfoot’
I have a nagging question about Sasquatch. If this giant ape-man of the northern boreal forests is real, where is he in the oral tradition of native peoples? Wouldn’t Sasquatch be all over those stories? It stands to reason that Sasquatch creatures would have been more plentiful and less inhibited in the days before industrialization, right?…
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Dylan Fest 2016 coming to Duluth, Hibbing
Fun Fact: The IRRRB, the Blandin Foundation, M&Ms and Bob Dylan all turn 75 this year. This is the kind of information that passes through my mind on a lovely May day in Northern Minnesota. It’s been a few years since we closed up shop at Dylan Days in Hibbing. I’ve now totally expunged from…