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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Kirsten Papas was in vocal heaven earlier this month, surrounded by more than 100 "musical nerds" at all-state choir. Her words. "You find out everyone is as much a nerd as you are," Papas said. "It's very welcoming. I think a lot of us had written ourselves off, but we found a rebirth there ... it's fun and not as difficult to be a good musician as people think." Considered the top program of its kind across the nation, the Minnesota Music Educators Association's all-state music program is...
Author Tim Jollymore continues to evolve. He grew up in Cloquet in the 1950s and '60s and held many different jobs from tree planter to traveling salesman to corporate manager to teacher. He moved from Minnesota to California and today splits his year between the two states. He began his writing career at age 62 and has published four novels, and recently spent time in Italy and Tunisia to research his fifth novel. In this interview with Tim, he talks about his writing, his life, and what it...
Nicholas Niemi from Cloquet earned dean’s list honors from Bemidji State University at the end of the spring 2019 semester. To be eligible for the dean’s list, BSU students must be enrolled for at least 12 credits and earn a 3.5 GPA during the semester. A total of 681 students earned the spring honor....
The following students from Cloquet were named to the 2019 spring semester dean’s list from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis: Mikayla Baker, a senior in science and engineering; Courtney Beaupre, a senior in liberal arts; and Sophia Julio, a senior in liberal arts. To qualify for the dean’s list, a student must complete 12 or more letter-graded credits while attaining a 3.66 grade point average....
Charles Louis Robnik was born at 2:47 a.m. Saturday, June 15, 2019 at St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth, weighing in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces. Proud parents are Adam and Joanna Robnik of Barnum. Charlie joins brothers Christopher, 22, Jonathan, 21, and Steven, 2. His maternal grandparents are Steven and Donna Burns, and paternal grandparents are Dennis and Mary Ann Robnik, all of Esko.... Full story
The Gustafson family of Mahtowa has been named Carlton County's 2019 Farm Family of the Year by the University of Minnesota Extension office. The Gustafson farm began 115 years ago as a registered Guernsey dairy. In the early 1990s, the farm transitioned to Holstein dairy cows. Today, the fifth generation of the family is growing up on the farm. The Gustafsons raise corn silage, alfalfa, oats and barley. Five years ago they sold their dairy cows and converted the farm to a beef cow/calf and...
Cloquet’s Dan Lundberg and his grandson, Luke, 4, wrap up a walk that looped through Cloquet’s West End and down Cloquet and Industrial avenues. Lundberg walks roughly five miles a day through town and likes to count cars, the number of people on cell phones in those cars and number of near misses (where he is almost hit by an inattentive driver) each day. Earlier this year, he shared with the Pine Knot that out of 111 cars seen on his two walks, 57 were on their phones, and 23 of those wer...
I've long admired the way some area families are so locally present. Hosting a reunion requires little more than picking a date, sending out the word and preparing food. Since the last Stillwater reunion in 2006, my generation of an extraordinarily dispersed family has taken the initiative, organizing a reunion in Cambria, California (2014) and this July back in Minnesota. Our Markusen/Lee/Wilson family settled in Stillwater in the late 1880s, our forefathers and foremothers generating lots of p...
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Brickyard Days is here! The official festivities are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 3, but there will be reunions and revelry throughout the whole weekend. In fact, the get-togethers have already begun. The Wrenshall Class of 1965 enjoyed their yearly reunion at VIP Pizza in Superior with their former teacher, Irene Gigliotti, lovingly referred to as "Mrs. G." Gigliotti taught in Wrenshall, along with her husband, Orlando Gigliotti, from 1956 to...
I have been hearing from a number of discouraged people lately. They don’t want to watch the news, or check in on Facebook and other social media, or read the paper sometimes because of the anger they encounter in all those places. I understand. Sometimes it seems impossible to have a conversation about what is better for our communities, locally or worldwide, without hard lines being drawn and opposing sides being unwaveringly chosen. It seems as if rational, honest, clear-headed debate is i...
Kassidy Steen of Cloquet was named to the 2019 spring semester dean’s list at St. Cloud University. To be eligible for the honor, students must have a grade point average of 3.75 or higher on a 4.0 scale. Steen is enrolled in the College of Science and Engineering, pursuing an undergraduate degree in biomedical sciences. Hannah Mitchell of Cloquet was named to the St. Olaf College dean’s list for the 2019 spring semester. The dean’s list recognizes students with a semester grade point avera...
Indiana resident Pete Peterson drove his 1939 Dodge Phaeton from Indiana to Cloquet last Wednesday to visit family, but decided to enter his one-of-a-kind convertible in the Rendezvous car show Saturday. He took first place. (Full disclosure: Peterson is the father of this Pine Knot News writer.) More importantly, Peterson said, he got to mingle with other car lovers. Those included Cloquet's Norman Eastman, who parked his 1930 Model A next to Peterson's car and took second place at the show.... Full story
The Risdon family got together earlier this month to celebrate five generations with patriarch Gene Risdon, of the Rock Place in Cloquet. Clockwise from top left are granddaughter Kary Ley, great-granddaughter Alora Wurzbach, and Risdon's daughter Irene Angell holding great-great-granddaughter Adelaide Irene Wurzbach. Jana Peterson / Pine Knot News...
Carlton's Ed Kavanaugh remembers coming in from the field and finding his son, Sam, in front of the TV, intently watching "Jeopardy!" and playing along with the contestants, clicking a pen each time he wanted to "buzz in." Practice makes perfect. The 2009 Carlton High School graduate made a bold and brilliant "Jeopardy!" run, winning five straight games before his winning streak came to an end in Game Six. Kavanaugh won a total of $156,202, coming out of the final day's action with zero... Full story
Well, it’s here. Wright will celebrate its 54th annual Wrong Days in Wright this weekend. For those of you who have come many times, you know the routine. For those of you who may be coming for the first time, you will find lots to do and enjoy. Here are just some of the events you can enjoy on Friday: the steak fry, royalty coronation, pie sale and O-G-N-I-B at Bethlehem, fireworks, music in the park, vendors, softball tourney, cook shack and beer garden, and St. John’s rummage sale. On Sat... Full story
Five years ago, family and friends of Cole Drechsler came together at the Cloquet Rotary’s Color Run to walk for Cole, a bright and vibrant young man who had passed away three days before. The 2013 Cloquet High School grad died as the result of injuries from a crash with an extremely drunk driver, Philip Bergerson, on July 11, 2015, on the Highway 61 Expressway between Two Harbors and Duluth. Cole died four days later while being treated for his critical injuries. The drunk driver was killed o...
“Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:13-14 NIV Let’s be honest. There’s a part of each of us that empathizes with Esther’s plight. She had a difficult start to life, worked hard, listened to good consul, and became Queen. Esther had attendant...
Two-year-old Gavin Ott photobombed this picture of a group of Carlton County U-12 softball players - including his two big sisters - by jumping in front of the camera and softly whispering "cheese" as the shutter snapped. His sisters' team, Carlton Meat and Groceries, went on to win the U-12 Tier 1 championship game Sunday afternoon at Cloquet's Braun Park. Find out more about the annual Ashley Abrahamson Tournament on Page 11....
Nick Wright places an American flag above a giant basket of petunias on Avenue C Monday in preparation for the July Fourth holiday, as he and other city workers made their way through the West End and downtown getting the city dressed up in red, white and blue. The back of the city truck had a barrel of flags. The Pine Knot News went to press before the grand birthday celebration. Don't worry - check out next week's Pine Knot News for photos and words about Cloquet's grandest annual...
Hello, readers, my name is Caleb Swanson and I am an intern at the Pine Knot News this summer. My parents are Chris and Natalie Swanson. My job is to work with my friend Jordan, the other intern here, but focussing on the marketing and social media for our local newspaper. Typically, I will be going around taking pictures and video of different activities and opportunities to get outside in Carlton County this summer. I am also going to help develop a marketing campaign for the Pine Knot and...
When Lil LaVoy and Carl Schenk were asked to be the grand marshals in this year's veterans' celebration parade on July Fourth, LaVoy said her first reaction was "why?" "What did we do?" she said. The real question is, "What don't they do?" The pair - who met online and then in a Duluth restaurant several years back - are constantly on the go. If they're not organizing the music and dances at the Hebert-Kennedy VFW Post 3979 in Cloquet - the first and third Wednesdays and most weekends - they're...
You might have read about the results of the Blandin Foundation's Rural Pulse survey - it's sweet news about us and our neighbors. More than eight in 10 folks (84 percent) living in our part of rural Minnesota say they are able to make a positive impact in their community, and that the community works together effectively. The transition of Doug and Diane's Finke's Berry Farm to Steve Schulstrom and Rita Vavrosky's Spectrum Farm Strawberries is evidence that these positive statistics reflect...
A crowd of several hundred people — many of them teenagers and young adults — gathered in the Cloquet High School auditorium Friday afternoon to pay tribute to Landon Hall, a 23-year-old CHS alumnus who died unexpectedly while gardening at his home on June 8. The cause of death is still unknown. The initial autopsy came back with negative results, so Hall’s loved ones are awaiting further details, which will take another 6 weeks to 8 weeks, Hall’s close friend, mentor and father figure Kevin H... Full story
Hello, Pine Knot News readers. My name is Jordan Allen and I will be an intern for the newspaper this summer, writing stories and taking pictures around the community. Although born in Lafayette, Ind., I have lived in Minnesota for nearly 14 years. This coming school year, I will be a senior at Cloquet High School and I hope to use my internship to interact with people of Cloquet and Carlton County before the school year takes over my time. This summer, you may see me running the roads and...
If you walk in to the Cloquet Library on a weekday between 4-5 p.m., you’ll notice the library is full of teens. Last fall, Cloquet Public Library hired Justin Dinger to be its youth services librarian, working especially with people age 10-18. He immediately made an impact by instituting regular programming such as Teen Reads on Mondays, where he reads aloud while listeners enjoy a snack, and Teen Tech Wednesdays. He has made some interesting discoveries, such as the teens really enjoy p...
