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Northern Lights Music Festival in full swing
“You can’t love the opera if you never see it.” That’s what Aurora native, concert pianist, and founder of the Northern Lights Music Festival Veda Zupancic told me when I interviewed her this week for my Sunday column. Indeed, the Northern Lights Music Festival combines an educational component for beginning and advanced music students and…
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All-Star week brings ‘Miracle Field,’ Kent Hrbek to Hibbing
On Wednesday, June 9, at 6 p.m., the Minnesota Twins will help unveil a new “Miracle Field” in Hibbing, Minnesota, as part of the weeklong run-up to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game July 15 at Target Field in St. Paul. The new ball field is located at Bennett Park on the north side of Hibbing,…
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End of the Range Artists Association
An Iron Range organization that has planned the art exhibit at the annual St. Louis County Fair and run camps and art education programs for decades is no more. The Range Artists Association voted to disband its 501(C)3 nonprofit organization last spring and is now in the process of vacating its Howard Street studio in…
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Hibbing Taconite mine tours run June 19-Aug. 8
With all the talk about mining in Minnesota, maybe you’d like to see what a real northern Minnesota iron mine looks like in the year 2014. Never mind the picks and shovels, the technology and scope of today’s mining will surprise you if you haven’t seen it before. You can catch guided Hibbing Taconite mine tours in…
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Daniel Kramer Dylan photos in Hibbing all summer
During Dylan Days almost two weeks ago I was able to see the premiere of the GRAMMY Museum traveling exhibit “Daniel Kramer: Photographs of Bob Dylan” at the Paulucci Space Theater on the campus of Hibbing Community College in the singer’s Minnesota hometown. The event was a who’s who of Hibbing, and a wonderful display of…
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Dylan Days opens today in Hibbing
For much of Bob Dylan’s meteoric career arc, most people in his Iron Range hometown of Hibbing called him Bobby Die-lin and wondered what he was singing about. Some still do, but by now the practice is reserved as a sort of passive-aggressive protest by people who wish they could get paid that much to…
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Dylan Days waning in Hibbing
Bob Dylan’s birthplace of Duluth, Minnesota, kicked off its annual Dylan Fest this past weekend with a concert and live music. They’ve got more events going on throughout the week. Then, this Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24 (Bob’s birthday), Bob Dylan’s hometown of Hibbing begins its annual Dylan Days event up here on…
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Times a’ Changin’ in Bob Dylan’s hometown
When Robert Zimmerman left Hibbing in 1959, it’s unlikely he or his hometown would predict these facts: That a “space theatre” named for a prominent local grocer would be constructed a few blocks from the Zimmerman home … because, you know, men walked on the moon; That the Zimmerman home would one day be on…
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Range lawmaker, family key to medical marijuana win
This piece is cross-posted with my Up North Report blog at the Star Tribune. Yesterday, House and Senate leaders announced they had a deal to allow medical marijuana in Minnesota. Gov. Mark Dayton announced he would sign the bill, which allows for two major medical marijuana producers to be created in Minnesota, and eight locations…
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Climate change lands Hibbing on front of NY Times
Hibbing, Minnesota, usually only makes the New York Times in stories about its hometown son Bob Dylan or, once every decade or so, for being a hardscrabble mining town on the rocks. So how exciting to see the town on the front page of the New York Times for something else: increasing average temperatures since…
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Minnesota Orchestra in Hibbing all week
With the Minnesota Orchestra now back on its feet after a long labor dispute, the Iron Range community of Hibbing will welcome the Minnesota Orchestra’s four-day residence program this week and major performance Friday evening. The orchestra’s outreach program will work with community and student musicians throughout the week. Folks might remember the success of…
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Range Shrine Circus opens this Friday
UPDATE: The circus is this weekend in Hibbing! Click on the poster below to find the pre-sale ticket locations, ranging from Grand Rapids in the west and Virginia in the east. The 31st Range Shrine Circus will take place Friday, May 2 through Sunday, May 4, 2014 at the Hibbing Memorial Building arena. This beloved…
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Sammy’s Pizza turns 60
Sammy’s Pizza, the place that introduced an entire generation and region to the glorious kinda-sorta Italian food known as the pizza, turns 60 this year. WDIO put together this nice report: Founded in Nashwauk before moving to Hibbing, Sammy’s remains the most iconic pizza place on the Iron Range, if only because of its longevity…
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Grammy’s Bob Dylan photo exhibit coming to Hibbing
Here’s a stroke of great news amid a rough year for Bob Dylan fans in the music legend’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota. The Grammy Museum exhibit “Daniel Kramer: Photographs of Bob Dylan” will be making its United States debut after stops in Paris and London. Not in New York. Not even in Minneapolis. The Kramer…
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Iron Range Pizza Hut zero hour
I’ve encountered a number of reports that Pizza Hut restaurants in Hibbing, Grand Rapids and other locations in the region have closed today. I don’t yet know how many Pizza Hut restaurants have closed and I have not yet confirmed why they are closing, or if the closings are permanent. One employee suggested a franchisee…