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‘The Bird’ is back in business
An image of the Whistling Bird’s redesigned interior from the restaurant’s Facebook page. Amid the excitement of an Iron Range Fourth of July: the long-awaited re-opening of the Whistling Bird Caribbean restaurant in Gilbert, Minnesota. I spoke of the phoenix-like resurrection of “The Bird” a while back. We look forward to returning to the restaurant…
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The colors of the Iron Range in summer
I took the above photo taking a walk on the Mesabi Trail between Grand Rapids and Coleraine. The reds, greens and blues of this kind of scene are my favorite colors, and you only see them on the Iron Range in summer. Someone sent me this lovely time lapse video of the Hull Rust Mine…
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Northern Lights Music Festival starts today
A scene from ‘Gianni Schicchi,’ the Northern Lights Opera Production in July 2011 Tonight you can catch a gala opening night concert for the Northern Lights Music Festival, a midsummer celebration of opera and classical music in the heart of northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. Tonight’s concert is at 7 p.m. in the Mesabi East auditorium…
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In which I pontificate in the rain on MPR’s Daily Circuit
You can hear me on Minnesota Public Radio’s Daily Circuit this morning at 9:50. (Archived below) Co-host Tom Weber was up on the Range recently and met with me (in the rain) outside Hill Annex Mine State Park to talk about how mining continues to change the footprint of the Iron Range. The chat was…
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A Midsummer’s Range Dream
This is my Sunday column for the June 30, 2013 Hibbing Daily Tribune. Thanks to everyone who attended or listened to last night’s Great Northern Radio Show at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids. Stay tuned for the rebroadcast at 10 a.m. on July 6. A Midsummer’s Range Dream By Aaron J. Brown * With apologies…
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The myth of the universal iPad utopia
My wife and I, both tech-savvy, blog-writing, Apple product fans, have nevertheless had a spirited debate about this Hibbing Daily Tribune story. The Hibbing School Board recently voted on a set of policies related to 700 new iPads purchased for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders in this central Iron Range district. Now, iPads in…
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Everclear to headline Merritt Days in Mt. Iron
This week I learned that Everclear, the multi-platinum alt-rock sensation of about 15 years ago, will headline Merritt Days in the Mesabi Iron Range’s “first city” of Mountain Iron. The music event will be Saturday, Aug. 10, with the Shack Shakers at *about* 6:30 p.m. and Everclear at *about* 9:30 p.m. Times are contingent on…
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Psychology of failed Iron Range project’s ‘sunk cost’
The agreement by the IRRRB to extend the loan, reduce the payments and otherwise throw a life line to Excelsior Energy last week escaped with relatively little outrage. Even my own response to this topic I’ve written hundreds of posts about was rather muted. It got a local story in the Grand Rapids and Hibbing…
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Dispatch from the army worm front
This is my Sunday column for the June 23, 2013 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Dispatch from the army worm frontBy Aaron J. Brown The forest tent caterpillar is actually quite an attractive little critter if you happen to observe just one of them. Blue-green, speckled white and black, the caterpillar seems a friendly…
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Hibbing native’s homegrown indy film premieres at LA Film Fest
Publicity still from “Pollywogs“ Hibbing native Karl Jacob (he goes by that, though is Wiiliainen by birth) filmed his independent movie “Pollywogs” here on the Iron Range in 2011. Last week it premiered at the L.A. Film Festival to good reviews. Chris Hewitt of the St. Paul Pioneer Press recently wrote about the movie, which…
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Celebrating midsummer night’s eve in the people’s park
I’ve written before about Mesaba Co-op Park near Cherry, the cooperative recreational facility built by Iron Range workers in the 1920s. Mesaba Park holds its annual midsummer festival this weekend. Cindy Kujala of the Hometown Focus in Virginia, Minnesota, compiled a historical column on Mesaba Park in a recent edition. You should read the whole…
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Teen’s Range historical group meets today
Tucker Nelson is a pretty interesting guy. At 16, he’s a talented actor and musician at Virginia High School. He appeared in our Eveleth Great Northern Radio Show last fall. He also has an eye for history, frequently posting to popular Iron Range history pages on Facebook. Today Nelson is hosting the first meeting of…
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Peeking into the boat house
My dad’s old boat is still in my garage. Reading what I wrote about it, I realize it’s now been there five years. The motor requires the kind of attention that I just can’t provide. But we reckon with it daily, what it is, what it was and what it could be — all very…
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IRRRB OKs extension for failed Range project
On Monday the IRRRB voted to approve the reorganized loan agreement for Excelsior Energy, the failed Iron Range economic development project that spent $40 million in taxpayer dollars with no results. The agreement extends the loan until 2019, since the company is unable to make payments. The Duluth News Tribune reported on the proceedings. Board…
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Running of the bulls in Zim
I was raised on a family-owned junkyard out in Zim, Minnesota, a tamarack marsh that provided refuge to Finnish immigrants blacklisted from early 20th Century iron mines for their labor organizing. Sleepy old Zim doesn’t get much press, lessen you count the birds, but it did Sunday. Bull. No, bulls. Two buills have been running…