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Great Scott! ‘Doc Brown’ visits Iron Range hot spot
For most in my generation, the actor Christopher Lloyd is best known as the eccentric recluse scientist in the “Back to the Future” movies who sends Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly to the past, the future, the past again, and then finally the present. Today, that present is past, while the previous future is now…
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Film highlights rugged northern MN endurance race
Tonight at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm (formerly Ironworld), you can catch a free showing of “Among the Wild,” a documentary about the Arrowhead 135, an annual cold-weather endurance race in Northern Minnesota. Here is more information from the Minnesota Discovery Center. The Arrowhead 135 race is an annual endurance race which is held…
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Rough weekend for tough-looking fish in Walker
The annual Eelpout Festival was held this past weekend in Walker, Minnesota, something I mentioned in my last Great Northern Radio Show which we broadcast live from this little town on big Leech Lake. Eelpout are — to be blunt — ugly, bottom-feeding fish that taste good fried if you can get past their general appearance. According to this TV news report,…
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Fond du Lac Band seeks elk renaissance
The Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwa has announced plans to restore the North American Elk to Northeastern Minnesota. Stephanie Hemphill wrote a fine story on the matter for MinnPost: Advocates say bringing the native animals back will increase diversity, encourage wildlife tourism, provide hunting opportunities, and restore the ecosystem more closely to what it was…
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Al Michaels talks smack about Twins crowds
NBC commentator Al Michaels recently reiterated his past allegations that the 1987 World Champion Minnesota Twins pumped fake crowd noise into the late Metrodome to confound opposing teams. This Kevin Cusack story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press tells the tale: “Minnesota’s in the World Series against St. Louis, and it was ridiculously loud,” Michaels…
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Laskiainen Finnish Sliding Festival in Palo this weekend
This is an older post about Laskiainen. Click here for the 2016 information. This weekend, Feb. 7-8, the 78th Annual Laskiainen Finnish Sliding Festival will be held near the Loon Lake Community Center in downtown Palo, Minnesota. This annual Iron Range winter tradition originated with Finnish immigrants who settled places like Palo after they were…
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Grin and Bear it: Ely to host beard contest
This week brings Winter Fest to the unique northern environs of Ely, Minnesota. A mining town filled with hippies? Or a hippie town obsessed with mining? You never can tell, but this little burg sure has a lot going on if you know where to look. In this case, you’ll see snow sculptures in the city park in the Feb. 5-15…
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Bertha vs. Blizzard: Who will win Super Bowl … of pathos?
It’s Super Bowl Sunday … Weekend! This most American quasi-holiday arrives just as our easily distracted, irritable nation needs it most. Two football teams will enter the stadium and … well, both will walk out as well. But one of them will be Super Bowl Champions, a fact that surprisingly few people will remember in about…
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Sleeping Giant: subtle view of Range people, places, color
About three years ago I had the honor of working with Minneapolis photographer Vance Gellert as he planned a major project centered on Northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. I consulted with him on a few shoots, gave him some ideas, and he went about his business. Well, after a preview show in 2013, the final results…
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Mining career event at MN Discovery Center this Friday
Those interested in exploring a career in mining should check out the state Department of Employment and Economic Development’s Mining Industry Day at the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm this Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Often my work here at MinnesotaBrown is painted as “anti-mining” and I really don’t care for that characterization. Five…
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How to Survive Blizzards (Maybe), with Love from Minnesota
Dear East Coast USA, We see on your TV channels that you are experiencing a large blizzard of historic proportions today. Two feet of snow is a lot, you guys. We would know. Hi, this is Minnesota. Maybe you’ve heard of us? Bob Dylan is from here, and so is Prince. We know those guys have…
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56 years after Buddy Holly in Duluth, new Winter Dance Party
One of the interesting arts projects going on in Northern Minnesota is the proposed renovation of the Duluth Armory as a renewed concert and public event place in the heart of Lake Superior’s “Zenith City.” The Armory, like many armories, was once a bustling concert hall where many famous performers once played. Buddy Holly played…
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Bob Dylan speaks of Hibbing, grandma & his dream career
Robert A. Zimmerman of Hibbing, Minnesota, didn’t know he’d become Bob Dylan when he left for Dinkytown, Minneapolis in 1959. But now that he is, Northern Minnesota’s most famous son is looking back with some nostalgia and reverence for the Iron Range town where he first dabbled with poetry and guitars. Known for his guarded reclusiveness with the…
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Range museum to host murder mystery (with buffet)
This Saturday, Jan. 24, the Minnesota Discovery Center in Chisholm, formerly Ironworld, will host one of those murder mystery evenings that you sometimes hear about. They’re calling it the Clueseum. The Minnesota Discovery Center is a sprawling facility filled with mining artifacts, art and, until recently, stern and frightening papier-mâché sculptures depicting arguments over the contract…
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Rhythmic Circus fancy-dances way through Hibbing
On Thursday evening at 7, the off-Broadway performers of Rhythmic Circus “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now” will perform at the historic Hibbing High School auditorium. Part of the Hibbing Community College Music Series (disclosure: HCC is my employer) and underwritten by the Hibbing Foundation, the show promises a “dynamic tap and music performance mixing high-energy percussive…