A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
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It was the Cloquet Fourth of July redemption tour, after being diminished by the pandemic, then kicked in the knees by Mother Nature last year. No more, said the people, in spite of a little afternoon rain. They came out in droves. Runners and walkers headed to Pinehurst Park for the Sawdust 5K and then a 1-mile race down the parade route. People of all ages lined Cloquet Avenue for the annual July Fourth parade, several rows deep in places, kids with bags and buckets ready to be filled with...
Gene Clarence Paulson, 92, of Cloquet, was guided into eternal life on June 29, 2023, surrounded by his family at Solvay Hospice House. A celebration of life will be held on Wednesday, July 12 at Elim Lutheran Church in Blackhoof Township. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. followed by an 11 a.m. service. Inurnment will be at the Elim Lutheran Church Cemetery. Lunch will follow in the fellowship hall. Gene was born Jan. 3, 1931, at home on his parents' dairy farm in Blackhoof Valley. A nearby...
Born in western Cloquet, Vern Simula wants to return to his home county when it's his time to go. He's already made a burial shroud and developed an advanced funeral directive on how he wants to be buried. Until recently, the 90-year-old living in Morris, Minnesota, had chosen a proposed green burial cemetery in Blackhoof Township, near Barnum, where wary residents and local and state lawmakers have cooperated to put a halt to the cemetery's progress. "I want a simple, traditional burial," said...
The Carlton County Historical Society shared this fascinating picture of the Fourth of July parade in Cloquet in 1905, which includes the old Pine Knot newspaper office. With the St. Louis River highlands in the background, we can assume this photo is looking north. Or is it west? The mystery is where exactly is this? Is it the road into Dunlap Island? Arch Street? We looked for old Pine Knot addresses but came up empty for 1905. Where do you think this is – a toughie given the fire that o...
Joe and Amanda Lambert grew up on farms less than a mile apart in rural Mahtowa. In 2010, the couple bought part of Amanda's family farm as a place to live. In 2015, they bought Joe's grandparents' farmstead near Barnum and started their own chapter in a long farming history: Happy Critters Farm, focussed on producing sustainable food for the local economy. This year, the farm and family has been honored by the University of Minnesota and Carlton County Extension office in the "Farm Family Recog...
Will Stenberg continues to dazzle with his outdoors photographs, this time with a focus on insects. In June, he found monarch eggs on leaves in his own yard. "They are very tiny," he said. In July, he got close again and captured a dragonfly in action....
Join the Carlton County Master Gardeners for the gardening event of the summer. This year will showcase six gardens in the Esko area from 4-7 p.m. Tuesday, July 18. Highlights of the tour will be water features, a community garden with pollinator displays, heirloom gardens, a garden that was featured on PBS, a soil-less garden, fairy and gnome gardens, lots of fruits, vegetables, ornamentals and more. This free event is self-guided and will continue rain or shine. Watch for signs at each location. Maps available after Friday, July 7 at the...
Nominations are open for the 2023 Outstanding Senior Citizen awards, which are given annually to both a man and a woman age 70 or older. Nomination forms are available online at www.co.carlton.mn.us and ask for details of what the person has done for others in your organization or community after reaching age of 60. Feel free to discuss the application with the nominee to collect the requested volunteer activity information. Send the information to the Barnum Area Senior Citizens, 3794 Main St., Barnum MN 55707, by July 14. If you have any...
The Wrenshall School Board approved a $4.95 million budget for the 2023-24 school year during a special meeting June 26. Coupled with expected revenues of $5 million, the budget comes with a surplus of $48,272, and follows $312,000 in cuts earlier this year in anticipation of an ongoing shortfall if cuts weren’t made. The board had sought to build a $100,000 surplus, and could still get there given a higher enrollment. “It’s looking pretty good,” board chair Nicole Krisak told the Pine Knot. The budget was based on enrollment of 325 student...
Construction work on Highway 210 east of Cromwell at Island Lake began July 5. This work will require a full closure of Highway 210. The passenger vehicle detour route will take Carlton County Road 120 to Carlton County Road 123 to Highway 73. A truck detour will take I-35 to Carlton County Road 4 to Highway 73. A detour map can be found on the project website here: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/d1/projects/hwy210-boxculvertsreplacements/index.html. Once work is complete at this location, work will move west on Highway 210 for another full...
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources lifted burning restrictions in Carlton, Cook, Lake, and St. Louis counties, effective July 3. Recent rain has reduced, although not eliminated, wildfire risk in northeast Minnesota. This action lifts restrictions on fireworks ignited on any public or private land outside city limits, campfires and burning permits for brush or yard waste....
The CHS Pep Squad team is bringing back JR Cheer Camp. Run through Community Ed, the camp is open to students who have completed kindergarten to Grade 4 in May 2023 and costs $40. The CHS Pep Squad team and coaches will teach the Cloquet School Song and a few Lumberjack cheers to participants, who will show off their skills to the community in the Labor Day Parade on Sept. 4. Practice dates are August 23, 24, 30 & 31 from 3:30-5 p.m....
Jen Pelofske and Jay Marvel built a boat plied with Pine Knot News newspapers for the annual "Build Your Own Boat Race" at the Pequaywan Inn north of Duluth. Jen reported it was seaworthy as couples raced on Pequaywan Lake on July 1. "You were front and center on the River Queen," Jen told us. It was apropos that some of the newspapers had the "Rolling on the river" headline. Indeed....
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development is awarding grants totaling $66.9 million to 30 projects in the eighth year of the Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant program and pilot round of the Low-Density Broadband Grant Program. It includes improving connectivity in Carlton County, a news release said. A last-mile project serving 503 households and businesses in the townships of Barnum, Eagle Lake, Lakeview and Moose Lake will provide fiber-to-the-home. A grant of $1.27 million will be matched with local funds....
Jim and Colleen Myhre purchased what was then 29 Pines golf course just before Labor Day 2020, renamed it Rugged Spruce and - though Jim had just retired - life got very busy. The purchase wouldn't have happened without timing and a certain inspirational phrase, said Jim, who had just retired. The saying came from a story a friend told Jim about hiring someone to cut down a tree right next to his house. "The professional eyed up the tree and agreed that it was going to be a tricky fall," Myhre...
A state grant is bringing free movies in the park to the city of Cloquet, starting Friday, with "Inside Out," a Pixar film about Riley, a happy, hockey-loving 11-year-old Midwestern girl whose world is turned upside-down when she and her parents move to San Francisco. It's the kind of movie lots of kids around here could probably relate to. "I think the messaging about expressing your feelings is really important, and something maybe we all need to do: learn to express ourselves," said Amy Louhe...
Movies in the Park: Friday, July 7 9:05 p.m. “Inside Out” After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions — characters Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness — conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school. PG Friday, July 28, 8:45 p.m. “The Labyrinth” Sixteen-year-old Sarah is given 13 hours to solve a labyrinth and rescue her baby brother Toby when her wish for him to be taken away is granted by the Goblin King Jareth, played by David Bowie (1986). PG Friday, Aug. 11, 8:25 p.m. ...
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College announced its lineup for the 2023 Hot Summer Nights Concert Series. The series includes four weeks of free performances in the college amphitheater starting Thursday, July 13, with Minnesota-based folk-rock and progressive rock band Lehto & Wright, a news release said. Concerts will take place at 7 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 3. The Cloquet Community Band will also return for a performance starting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, July 31. All concerts will be...
It was just before 10 p.m. and the seeping dark was thickly enveloping the road. Even the density of the surrounding forest had been swallowed by the dark shadows of the night. The high beams from the car provided little comfort, for beyond their reach, the world was dark and empty, pitch black, eerie and lonesome — with a tint of fear. I started having that familiar sinking and panicked feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was lost. This night would be my last chance to see the northern l...
I’m disappointed in the recent Supreme Court rulings, but not for the reasons you probably think I am. Sure, I would like to have seen President Biden carry out his plan to reduce student loan debt, for example. While the government spends way, way too much money and is involved in way, way too much of our everyday lives, the facts are that the government does, already, spend all that money and is, already, very involved in our everyday lives. If the government is already so omnipotent, r...
I want to congratulate the person at the Pine Knot News for the literate, creative headline on the story about the ice plant at the Cloquet arena: “Arena ice suffers mortal coil problem.” The term “mortal coil” rang a bell, but I had to Google it to find out where it came from. Shakespeare’s Hamlet says it in his soliloquy on suicide: “What dreames may come, When we have shufflel’d off this mortall coile, Must give us pause.” Despite the connection with those unhappy thoughts, I’m impressed with the originality, inventiveness, an...
I am saddened to read that former state representative Mike Sundin has resorted to use the lowball tactic of the blame game to misrepresent the issues regarding the funding for the Carlton County Justice Center. As with many issues there is more to this story than was presented in his recent letter. Rep. Jeff Dotseth worked diligently behind the scenes and across the aisle to secure the $10 million that Carlton County received. Let’s give credit where credit is due, and not divide Carlton County residents further with partisan and political i...
A year ago lightning, thunderstorms and horrific weather wreaked havoc on the Sawdust 5K in Cloquet, causing first-year race directors Julie and Sam Jacobson all kinds of problems. This time around, the July Fourth race couldn't have gone any smoother. It featured gentle weather and plenty of anxious runners gathering to run Cloquet's favorite summertime race. "Everything went super and there was a great turnout," Julie Jacobson said. "We had 272 runners signed up prior to the race and another...
Up through the semifinals of the Fourth of July 3-on-3 basketball tournament, things had gone about as smoothly as possible. "Everything from the registering of teams, getting sponsors, setting up brackets, pretty much everything went off the way we planned," said tournament organizer Paul Cameron. "Then the heavy rain and storm came and we had to make a decision to cancel the remaining six games. Even though we had to cancel, all the teams couldn't have been better about it." The tournament at...
The Northern Revival 17s volleyball team, with many members from Carlton County, accomplished something that no club or volleyball team north of the Twin Cities area has done. They took third place at the AAU Junior National Volleyball Tournament in Orlando last month. The team came in ranked 94th and ended up third out of 188 teams. They had an impressive 12–1 record, bringing the season record to 67-7. Ella Walker of Proctor High School and Braya LaPlant of Grand Rapids High School were n...
