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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Jim and Carlie Nynas of Esko received a $25 gift certificate to Outdoor Advantage in Cloquet for being spotted for having an "I Think Knot" bumper sticker on their vehicle. The supporters of our independent, locally owned Pine Knot News were attending the grand opening of the Carlton County Justice Center last week....
Hoping to start a friendly game of cards with friendly seniors two Thursdays a month starting in September. Time and place to be determined. Interested? Call Joan at 218-348-8480....
What are two small beings who love being outdoors and delight in having two breakfasts? If you guessed Hobbits, the lovely little Shire folk from "The Lord of the Rings," you'd be wrong, but not far off the mark. Today we are talking about our twin daughters, Quinn and Avery. Each year as summer events wind down, we give them a "Yes Day" when they get to pick out the day's itinerary and menu. The fun of Yes Day is that each year is different, and we give the girls a rare childhood opportunity...
Led by servers and children throwing rose petals, members of the Queen of Peace Catholic Church walked down Cloquet Avenue during a processional Sunday to celebrate the feast day of the church's namesake, Jesus's mother, Mary, aka Queen of Peace. Mary intercedes for us and prays for peace, said Father Nick Nelson. The Queen of Peace priest explained that a processional is a couple things. "It's kind of like a mini pilgrimage. Our life is a pilgrimage, with the end goal of heaven," Nelson said. "...
Cecelia Anderson and Ron Johnson were humbled and surprised to be honored as the latest recipients of the Calton County Outstanding Senior award. They celebrated the honor at the county fair in Barnum last Friday. "It's amazing," Anderson said. "It's a great honor," Johnson said. That the two received notice for their work volunteering was no surprise to those on the receiving end of their work. Anderson calls bingo games at Inter-Faith Care Center in Carlton. She said she takes pride in... Full story
Cloquet's Brandi Fisher and her passengers are the latest winners of an advertiser gift certificate for proudly displaying a Pine Knot News bumper sticker on their car. Fisher selected a gift certificate from CreativEdge in Carlton, which offers a range of gift items and apparel, as well as issues of the Pine Knot News each week....
Carlton social studies teacher Ryan Schmidt always dreamed of opening a hometown bookstore after retiring. Instead, he opened last week, just in time for Carlton Daze. The new N.P. Junction Books is located at 110 Third St., at the four-way stop, kittycorner from Third Base Bar. “It’s been an idea for six or seven years, then I started talking a little more seriously in about 2022,” Schmidt said. “Then I had the opportunity to do it a little sooner.” Schmidt did more than just open a bookstore... Full story
Have you ever come back from vacation feeling like you need a vacation? Have you ever felt empty at the end of what should have been a great day? Have you ever found yourself snapping at loved ones for no real reason? If you answered “no” to all of these questions, then I’d like to congratulate you on the ungodly amount of money you are going to make writing your bestseller. For the rest of us mere mortals, though, I’m guessing you’ve lived through some of these experiences. If you’re an... Full story
Sheila Regan MinnPost The town of Tamarack, just across the Carlton County border with Aitkin County, is named after a kind of pine tree that turns yellow in the fall and loses its needles in the winter. It often grows in wet areas such as bogs or swamps, and there are a lot of them in the area, which used to be a giant proglacial lake. Tamarack sits on Ojibwe land and is 1855- and 1854 treaty territory. The past two weekends, artist and activist Shanai Matteson helped organize a tour of the area as part of a new project called Talon Mine... 
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Esko's Elizabeth Naglak and her son, Edwin, make a great sales team at the Cloquet Farmers Market for their Bread in the Meadow business. Elizabeth said it's her eighth season at the farmers market, which sets up from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday in front of Premiere Theatres in Cloquet. Photo by Jana Peterson / Pine Knot News... Full story
Ellie Evenson is not your typical beauty queen. Crowned Miss Minnesota for America Strong on June 2, the Cloquet grad wrestled her senior year at Cloquet High School and portrayed a delightfully wicked witch in the "Wizard of Oz," the school fall musical in 2022. Evenson would also say the Miss Minnesota for America Strong is also not a stereotypical pageant. Part of the Mrs. America organization - which also includes Mrs. America World and Mrs. World - participants are encouraged to be... Full story
The Barnum Area Community Club announced this week that Bill and Irene McKay from Mahtowa are the grant marshals for the Spring Fever Days parade on June 8. Bill and Irene moved to Mahtowa when a hobby farm with acreage became available. The couple raised five daughters - Jenny, Amy, Heidi, Colleen, and Maurita - and now 10 grandchildren come to visit often. Bill has held jobs at Diamond Tool, USG, Inter-Faith Care Center, and ended his career when he retired from Mercy Hospital in Moose Lake. I...
"Time has a way of healing our heartaches but memories last forever." Tucked into a folder on Cloquet native William Dupont at the Carlton County Historical Society is a letter from Fred Asbell. He had been asked by a historian what he could recall about Dupont from World War II, when they were airplane navigators on the same base. It was 1990, nearly 50 years since the two had plied their skills guiding B-17s, the planes tasked with bombing deep into Germany and all around the European Theater... Full story
Carlton's Ben and Deb Croft (that's Ben in the picture) received a gift certificate to Outdoor Advantage when they were spotted in a Cloquet parking lot earlier this month with a Pine Knot News "I Think Knot" bumper sticker. Pick up your own sticker at our office at 122 Avenue C in Cloquet and maybe you'll win a gift certificate.... Full story
Thirty-five years ago, Cloquet Area Alternative Education Program principal Connie Hyde would not have dreamed she would be retiring from one of the state's leading alternative learning centers, a school that sends staff and students to train their peers at other schools and which graduated its highest number of students (57) on Thursday. The surprise is not that Hyde remained an educator. "I think I was born for it," she said. "You know how you play school with the neighbor kids? Nine out of...
Standing atop a stool, the onetime jockey prepared to climb on board a horse for one of the first times in a long time. "This is when I have my problem," said the 91-year-old Jack Carter, crossing a leg over the horse's back in an unsure manner. "Never in my life did I dream I'd be using this (stool)," he added. "I used to jump on bareback." "Slow and steady," the volunteer hand reminded him at North Country Ride in Esko. The white-speckled, one-time show horse, Cisco, stood still as the helper... Full story
Dick Brenner knows how to win an election. Eight of them, amounting to 32 years on the Carlton County board alone, to go with 17 years as a Cloquet school board member. "I have a philosophy," he said. "When you run you have to have a visible name and the best way to do that is to put out lawn signs. I had over 500 lawn signs in my district. Particularly, you need to get all the corners." Brenner also knocked on doors in his district twice each campaign season, receiving sandwiches, cookies and...
Carlton teen Abrianna Schmidt just won the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's "Journey of a Song" contest. Schmidt's song, "Small Town Girl," won her an all-expenses-paid trip to Nashville, where she will be able to participate in the Hall of Fame's weeklong songwriting camp working with music producers and other artists. "I saw an ad for this specific competition," Schmidt said. "And they had a pamphlet and I came up with the idea of writing about Carlton and growing up in a small town." W... Full story
Polka celebrity, farmer and retired Minnesota state senator Florian Chmielewski died Tuesday at his home in Sturgeon Lake at the age of 97. He should be buried with his accordion, which he played for nearly 80 years and famously played on the steps of the Minnesota Capitol building in his first Minnesota Senate term in 1971. "Freshman senator stages 'polka protest' at Capitol," a newspaper headline shouted, the story detailing how Chmielewski had broken out his accordion and performed a special... Full story
Wrenshall Schools Quarter 3, 2023-24 A Honor Roll Connar Ankrum Kiara Ankrum Bryce Bartczak Drew Bartczak Gavin Beetcher Soyure Beetcher Vera Brown Marissa Carlson Willow Cash Kyler Clarke Annabelle House Angel Hughes Addison Hulgan Taylor Hulgan Brysen Jessup Julieauna Johnson Quinn Johnson Kendal Kot Elliana Lattu Carson Laveau Eden Loucks Uriah Loucks Ryan Mattson Alexis Nelson Andrew Olesen Isaias Padilla Douglas Pearson Camden Peterson Owen Resberg Isabel Riley Jack Riley Hunter Roy Matthew Shaw Molly Sheda Jaela Sjodin Jeshua Sjodin... Full story
They've been friends since they were both in kindergarten at Jefferson Elementary School on Eighth Street and Cloquet Avenue in Cloquet. Now, after roughly 70 years, they volunteer together at the Clothing Depot in Cromwell. Dardanell "Beanie" Randa and Jayne Hakamaki have been fixtures and leaders in the Cromwell area for years. Unfortunately for many of its devoted customers, plans call for the nonprofit organization to close its doors in August. Their paths have crossed and separated many... Full story
Sammi Olson is a Cloquet native who lives in Minneapolis and is a pilot for Delta Air Line's regional carrier Delta Connection. She graduated as Sammi Proulx from Cloquet High School in 2017. She'd wanted to be a pilot for a long time. "I think my dad had a really big influence on it because he was a pilot for the Guard in Duluth," Olson said. Don Proulx is her father. "I always wanted to do it since I was a kid, and I never really had any other plans or ideas." Olson got her bachelor's of...
Cloquet Postmaster Todd Manisto retired April 3, 30 years and one day from his first day as a city carrier in the city of Cloquet. It's been a rewarding career, but increasingly busy as he climbed the ranks of the United States Postal Service. Manisto may not know what to do with himself at first. He often puts in six or seven days a week. "We'll miss him," said supervisor Ben Bergerson, after threatening "words" for Manisto. "I came to this office thinking I'd take postmaster for sure when he... Full story
Bill Manahan, longtime Cloquet Country Club golf professional and manager, has accepted the general manager position with the beautiful The Wilderness at Fortune Bay golf course on Lake Vermilion near Tower, Minnesota. He starts his new job on April 1. Bill was my golf confidant and a friend. You could always count on Bill. He knew a little bit about everything and he liked to chat. He'll be missed, but it's a wonderful opportunity. "It's going to be an adjustment with me missing all the people... Full story
Recovering from any addiction can be a struggle and the journey looks different for everyone. Cloquet native and now author Doug Norgren said priority and passion fueled his successful recovery. Norgren started journaling at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings about 16 years ago. From Day 1, he said, he spent time reading, note taking and diving deep into spirituality. It all led to his decision to pull it all together and in a book. Years later, the Covid-19 pandemic gave Norgren time and motivation... Full story
