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Bemidji mayor honors Muppet in front of Paul Bunyan
Video presented without commentary. Bemidji Mayor Rita Albright awards the key to the city to Sesame Street’s Grover in front of giant statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. The video heats up just after two minutes. Related posts: No related posts.
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The Empire Builder: James J. Hill be not forgotten
Amy Goetzman begins her recent story “James J. Hill and the day the railroads roiled Wall Street” in Minnpost this way: James J. Hill was responsible, perhaps more than any other one person, for the rise of Minnesota industry and agriculture, and its lasting international impact. His robust railroad empire drew the state’s arterial maps,…
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Great Northern Radio Show live in Crosby Oct. 19
CROSBY, Minnesota – The Great Northern Radio Show will broadcast its live traveling radio program from the stage of the Mayberry Auditorium at Crosby-Ironton High School in Crosby, Minnesota from 5-7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19. The show, a production of Northern Community Radio (kaxe.org), combines music, comedy and storytelling to showcase the unique culture…
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Funniest school mascot names in northern MN?
Something about fall brings out memories of football games and school days. This column by Duluth News Tribune reporter Louie St. George III about funniest school mascot names got me thinking, what is the most unusual or distinct mascot in northern Minnesota? Like a lot of places we’ve got various birds and animals. I was…
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Talkin’ Dylan, Hibbing on Australian radio
As more evidence of the world’s constant drive to become smaller, I enjoyed hearing this Australian radio interview of my friend David Leaver, a marketing professor in Manchester, England. Leaver is a scholar of tourism, specifically music tourism as it relates to the hometowns of famous musicians. He visited Hibbing, Minnesota, a few years ago…
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Today brings Iron Range Housekeeping Olympics
In these modern times hard labor often goes unseen. Network maintenance. The approval of your credit card when you pay at the gas pump. Such is these with hotel housekeeping, a phantom profession where only errors are noticed. But in this service economy, hallmark of the 21st century; these more and more people are doing…
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Inauguration poet Richard Blanco in Brainerd today
Richard Blanco, the unlikely modern poet who was selected to compose and read a poem at President Obama’s inauguration last January, will perform a reading today at Central Lakes College in Brainerd, Minnesota. Blanco broke a lot of barriers in being selected to read a commemorative poem, something not every president includes in the ceremony.…
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Minnesota music in the spotlight up north
The Minnesota music scene is drawing a lot of attention, both in Minneapolis and up in Duluth. Even further north the Iron Range Original Music Association encourages songwriters and a wide variety of musicians here in Bob Dylan’s original North Country. I host and produce the Great Northern Radio Show for Northern Community Radio, a…
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Bigfoot says ‘Good for you’ to area fitness walkers
As a resident of Itasca County in northern Minnesota, the western edge of the Mesabi Iron Range, I am growing to appreciate the whimsy this northern county shows in comparison to its larger St. Louis County neighbor. Case in point: Spud, the Bigfoot (pictured here). Get Fit Itasca commandeered this Bigfoot cut out from a…
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Just a Cold War, drug running, snowmobile mystery
The marketing wizard behind “Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan” has shared with me another northern Minnesota-themed film project, the documentary “Wild Bill’s Run” by independent Minnesota filmmaker Mike Scholtz. This is the strange but true story of Wild Bill Cooper. Part Arctic adventure and part crime caper, WILD BILL’S RUN is an unforgettable…
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How to Talk Minnesotan again, you know, if you want
Much of contemporary Minnesota humor owes something to Howard Mohr’s seminal 1987 work “How to Talk Minnesotan: A Visitor’s Guide.” While there remain regional and ethnic differences within Minnesota, particularly in the more eastern European, louder Iron Range dialect, Mohr’s observations about Minnesota language are not only funny, they’re often dead accurate. I was pleasantly…
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Hot debate over cold Farmers Almanac forecast
OK, so like I said it’s really hot in northern Minnesota today, something that might amuse people from many of the states where the governors wear tank tops to their inaugurations (or will … in the future). We had intermittent air conditioning at the college today, cool in my office but sauna-like in the classrooms…
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Nisswa turtle racing tradition goes back half a century
Last week my family and I took a little mini-vacation to the Brainerd Lakes area. We did all the typical things, the water park, mini golf, etc., but we also tried to take in some of the local culture. Everyone said we needed to check out the turtle races in Nisswa, and we weren’t disappointed.…
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Dead guy wants me to stop talking about writing novel
I subscribe to the Wordserve Water Cooler, a community blog that shares posts by writers, editors and publishing types as a resource for aspiring and practicing writers. I’ll admit, I mainly subscribe as a daily reminder that I should be writing more important things than navel-gazing columns and comedy sketches about talking fruit. I feel…
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Close-up video of mosquito bite: cool, gross, informative
Minnesota residents are well aware of mosquitoes, often referred to as the unofficial state bird. In northern Minnesota they are a particular factor in the enjoyment of the outdoors, and here in the deep woods of northern Minnesota where I live mosquitoes are a constant consideration between May and September. I think we all get…