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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The County Seat Theater Company will bring "A Christmas Carol" to the stage again, but a more spirited and fanciful version, featuring a swirling, dancing chorus of ghosts who weave through this uplifting holiday story of redemption, magic and hope. "The show starts with Scrooge in bed, surrounded by the ghosts and spirits, having a fitful, nightmare-filled sleep atop the bed covers," said County Seat general manager Joel Soukkala. "Throughout the whole show, the apparitions are constantly...
When Thomlin Swan moved to a home on the Fond du Lac Reservation in early 2021, the theater artist was astounded by the lack of visible Ojibwe culture within the city of Cloquet, "despite having a reservation as part of its borders." Swan wanted to change that. In 2021, they received a West End Flourish grant to produce a piece of youth puppet theater that would help bring Ojibwe stories to downtown. After a slow start, things started coming together last summer when Swan connected with two...
There will be no place like Cloquet High School to see the production of the popular "The Wizard of Oz" this weekend. A cast and crew of nearly 80 students will bring Oz to life with the familiar and not so familiar. Inspired by the children's novel written by Frank Baum in 1900, "The Wizard of Oz" film was released in 1939 and became a classic for the ages. "Its theme of love and hope is timeless. Who doesn't love that?" said Lily Rosen, who plays a Munchkin in the Lullaby League trio. Those...
The Esko theater department turned back the clock to the turn of the century on Thursday night for their debut of the Pulitzer Prize winning drama "Our Town." Set between 1901 and 1913 in the fictional small town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, the show explores the universal struggle of the human race to understand the big picture of life and death from the perspective of a rural community living during that time. "You get to follow the same characters at different snapshots in their life,...
Carlton resident Galyna Tuttle is headed to Ukraine next week for the second time this year. Born and raised in the now war-torn country, Tuttle is bringing more medical supplies, warm clothing and sleeping bags, and will purchase food to bring to rural villages once she's there. However, this time she has plans for her return trip to Minnesota as well. She's bringing two young women and a toddler back with her. They will join another refugee, Gloriiya, who arrived three weeks ago from Ukraine....
For many of us, the opportunity to tell people how much we admire them or recognize their accomplishments slips away when that person passes from this life. Ozhaawashkogiizhigokwe Janis Fairbanks found herself in this predicament after the death of her brother, Abajiins-ba Ralph Charles Fairbanks, in 2020. "I didn't know the impact he had on people until I saw the collection of beadwork that was returned to me about 16 months after Ralph passed away," Janis said. Ralph, a member of the Fond du...
The Pine Knot Gallery is calling for September/October exhibit pieces featuring cityscapes and townscapes. All genres considered: photos, paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures and more. Please send applications to Ann Markusen at markusen.umn.edu by Tuesday, Sept. 6. Include a few images of your works. Haven’t yet visited our gallery? Stop by at 122 Avenue C, Cloquet, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays. The new cityscape exhibit opening reception is planned for late afternoon Friday, Sept. 16 at the Pine Knot....
The Minnesota State Fair is upon us, and all of that food can be daunting. So we called on Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine food writer Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl to get us prepped for what to eat — and also what to avoid. For you, what makes an ideal state fair food? For me — and I'm very passionate about this — fair food should give you a feeling that you can only get at the fair. The sweet corn roast is the perfect example. Sweet corn is only in season one time a year. It's specifically grown for us at the fair, so it’s ripe every single day. An... 
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A new musical created by two Cloquet High School alumni sets a spotlight on women's health along with the pitfalls of navigating a complex healthcare system through the lively, upbeat lens of musical theater. Soon to make its debut in Minneapolis at the Minnesota Fringe Festival, "Endometriosis: The Musical" is the hilarious and heartfelt passion project of co-authors and lifelong friends Maria Bartholdi and Kristin Stowell. The duo have been writing music together for about as long as they've...
The weather was perfect Saturday for the Fond du Lac veterans' powwow - held for the first time in three years after a pandemic hiatus. First into the circle Saturday were the Eagle flags, each one carried by a veteran, who was named by the master of ceremonies. The eagle flags were followed by the Fond du Lac Honor Guards with a row of cloth flags, including the FDL reservation flag, a Purple Heart flag, flags from each branch of the Armed Services and a POW flag, flags from other reservations...
The County Seat Theater is full of life this summer as nearly 150 young actors put on their best act. The summer youth theater camp program is nearing the end of its four-week session on musical theater. Each week of theater camp ends with a show, "Off Their Rockers," which takes place in a senior center where all is quiet and calm until the center director decides to use music and dance to bring fun and excitement into the lives of the seniors. Each week, 30 new students dance and sing to the...
Suzanne VanHoever, an administrative assistant at the Carlton County Historical Society, sent us a picture of this item found there. “We have no idea what this is,” she said. “It’s made of wood and the round part on the bottom spins the stick. There is a small metal hook at the end of the stick.” Can you help identify what this is? Send your information to news@PineKnot News.com with “History” in the subject line. If you have items and pictures that need some group think, send it along to Hist...
With assistance from Cloquet area artist Adam Swanson, Cloquet Middle School students created this colorful mural, as featured in the May 6 issue of the Pine Knot News. The finished outdoor mural is now mounted and available for the world to see on the south wall of CMS, facing Washington Avenue. Here, art teacher Andrea Cacek and Swanson’s two sons, sixth-grader Jasper and second-grader Oliver, do some touch-up painting before varnishing. Read the May story about the making of the mural h...
Naomi Guilbert (pictured here in Cloquet) and Hiroshi Koshiyama, professional Japanese taiko drummers, perform an original song called "Covid drive-thru," which Koshiyama said was inspired by a two-hour wait for a Covid vaccination. The husband and wife drummers are part of Fubuki Daiko (Blizzard Drums) from Winnipeg, Canada, and visited the Cloquet and Carlton public libraries last week to both perform and educate. According to their Facebook page, Fubuki Daiko reinvents traditional Japanese...
If the movies weren’t enough, next week’s Free Range Film Festival in Wrenshall will have a twist: live music. The Denfeld Honors Quartet will provide music at intermission Friday, June 24 and guitarist Darin Bergsven will provide entertainment Saturday, June 25. Annie Dugan, one of the festival founders who lives down the road from the former milk barn-turned-theater, announced the festival lineup of independent films last week. There will be a food truck onsite and a “giant century-old barn...
Things are moving quickly at the County Seat Theater these days. Opening today in person and with view-on-demand is the comedy "Jerry Finnegan's Sister." It's been a busy few weeks for the community theater, said general manager Joel Soukkala. "Due to Covid-19 cases in the previous production pushing back its opening date, the actors and crew in 'Jerry Finnegan's Sister' have had a shortened time span to get ready for their opening night," Soukkala said. Less than two weeks after County Seat's...
Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea not only performed for the entire student body at Washington Elementary last Thursday, she had a conversation with them: 250 students at a time in two sessions. "How many of you have ever been in a really bad mood and cranked up the radio and danced around the house, maybe punched the air a few times?" she asked. "How many of you have been in a really good mood and danced around the house for that reason? And how many have ever felt anxious or scared and put on some...
The Northland Foundation recently awarded seven Maada’ookiing grants. The Maada’ookiing board met in March to review and approve awards. Maada’ookiing (“the distribution” in Ojibwe) is a Northland Foundation program to strengthen relationships with Indigenous community, build partnerships with Native nations, and offer support for community members to expand capacity in northeastern Minnesota. A grant opportunity is offered three times per year for Tribal citizens, descendants, or those who have kinship ties or affiliation to Indigenous communi...
Jake Tremble moved to Wrenshall a year ago in June with his girlfriend, Claire, and dog, Gracey. The couple had been living in Duluth, and he had been training as a classical painter at the Great Lakes Academy of Art. The two were looking to be part of a CSA (community supported agriculture) and found Wrenshall's own Northern Harvest Farm. What started as just a place to get vegetables turned into a job at the farm for Claire, and a home for the couple down the road in a farmhouse they share...
With the publication of his new book, "We spoke of many things," Carlton County historian, playwright, journalist, businessman and political activist Dan Reed completed what was really a lifelong project last year. The book tells the story of generations of Reed's ancestors as they made their way to and from Finland to northern Minnesota, with many settling in the Automba area where Reed still lives and serves as a township supervisor. It is culled from recollections of visits over 60 years,...
With Ann Carlander's help and Annie Dugan's encouragement, Knot Gallery curator Ann Markusen put out a call for portrait art for the April/May exhibit, and a variety of area artists responded. One, Ivy Vainio, uses photography as her art form, as Markusen reviews below. While this is the first time Vainio's photographs will grace the 100-year-old brick wall that is the Knot Gallery at the Pine Knot News office, the four other artists are returning exhibitors, and show a different side of their...
Ivy Vainio's large-scale photo prints of Anishinaabe elders grace our multicolored brick wall at the Pine Knot News office, a striking introduction to a portrait exhibit which opens today, April 8, with an artists reception 5-7 p.m. at the Pine Knot Gallery at 122 Ave. C in Cloquet's West End. One set of Vainio's photos depicts elders participating in cultural events. Virgil Sohm shares an Anishinaabe hand drum song, photographed at the Kiwenz Ojibwe language camp. Another captures the late Ron...
The County Seat Theater Company will present what general manager Joel Soukkala calls a "diva-licious farce" beginning Thursday, April 14, after a Covid-19 case pushed the debut back from the planned opening today. "Suite Surrender" is set in 1942 with two of Hollywood's biggest actresses (portrayed by Mimi Effinger and Etta Souter) descending upon the luxurious Palm Beach Royale Hotel with assistants, luggage, and a legendary feud with one another in tow. Everything seems to be in order for...
File this one under "It's a tough job, but someone has to do it." The tough task? Judging beer. Last weekend, the Northern Ale Stars Homebrewers Guild hosted a competition in Duluth where 149 entries of beer, cider and mead were inspected with the purpose of selecting the best of the batch. I was one of the judges. It sounds like it might be all fun and games, but it's serious business once the judges are seated and the bottle caps are pried off. And it's safe to say that judging beer is more...
Minnesota poet, teacher and men's movement founder Robert Bly was a major figure in American literature for decades who drew adulation and controversy. Bly died Nov. 21. He was 94. Born in 1926, he grew up on a farm in southwest Minnesota near Madison. He had a cabin in Carlton County, on Moosehead Lake in Moose Lake. Bly studied writing at Harvard University with poet and playwright Archibald MacLeish. His classmates included Adrienne Rich, John Ashbery, George Plimpton and his lifelong friend...
