A summer morning in Grand Marais by Eric Humphrey.
Greetings from the North Shore, where we have another weekend of art experiences ahead of us. The Grand Marais Arts Festival is set for Saturday and Sunday in downtown Grand Marais, and the Lutsong Music Festival will be held at Caribou Highlands over the weekend, too. It’s summer, for sure. Enjoy!
Meanwhile, art-making continues.
First up on Thursday is Art Night at Joy and Company, a mini-workshop held every week offering participants the opportunity to play with the wide selection of art suplies the shop carries. This week, water-soluble markers and pencils will be featured.
Play with pencils and markers at this week’s Art Night.
Art Night is held from 3:30-5 pm Thursdays and is free, with a suggested $5 donation.
On Thursday afternoon, the Grand Marais Farmer’s Market will be held in the parking lot of the Cook County Community Center from 4:30-6 pm.
Dill it is! Photo by Ian Andrus of Creaking Tree Farm, one of the farmers selling at the Grand Marais Farmer’s Market every Thursday.
A Full Moon Poetry Reading will be held by the bonfire outside Drury Lane Books on Thursday, July 10, starting at 6 pm.
A Full Moon Poetry Reading will be held at Drury Lane Books on Thursday.
Everyone is invited to participate in this open mic-style reading. While the focus is on poetry, the broader goal is human connection – participants shouldn’t feel pressure to participate or strictly read poetry. The facilitator is Bookseller Kestrel.
Expect to be indoors if the weather is rainy or the winds are high. Accessibility: Due to the beach rock, walking aids and wheelchairs may have difficulty.
The public is invited.
The Lutsong Music Festival will be held July 10-13 and is based at Caribou Highlands with night-time concerts at the North Shore Winery.
The Lutsong Music Festival will be held this weekend.
The Caribou Highlands great lawn will host artisans, musicians, and music lovers all weekend with two stages, a vendor village, food, drink, and fun.
Head down the hill to the North Shore Winery main stage each night for the headliner act. After those headliner shows, shuttles will be available back to Caribou Highlands for the Caribou Campfire Guitar Pull.
Wild Horses is one of the featured bands.
Participants should bring their own chairs. Food and drink will be available for purchase.
In Duluth, this is the weekend of the Festival of Sail, where tall ships from all over the world arrive in the city for a weekend of events, including tours and races.
The Festival of Sail is this weekend in Duluth. The tall ship S/V Alliance arrives in the city, one of 13 expected this year. Photo courtesy of Bjornberg Photography.
The festival runs from July 10-13 and features boat tours, sailboat races, boat parades, and more. Click here for more information.
On Friday, the movie 12 Angry Men will be screened at the Cook County Community Center starting at 6 pm. Free.
This is a black and white film from 1957. It has an all-male cast: Henry Fonda, Lee Cobb, Ed Begley, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden, Jack Klugman, Joseph Sweeney, and more. The personality of each comes out in spades, and together they make a powerful, dramatic story.
Here’s the trailer:
Also on Friday night, the Grand Marais Art Colony will host a dance performance at Studio 17.
The performance entitled, is this magic? is by Two Harbors artist, Kayla Schiltgen.
Kayla Schiltgen will hold a dance performance at Studio 17 on Friday from 7:30-8:30 pm. Free and open to the public.
Merging live performance and screendance film projections, is this magic? examines authentic self-performance as a radical act of personal acceptance. Prioritizing intuition, desire, resourcefulness, and play, each iteration of the work is a one-of-a-kind expression, offering nuance and meaning with every performance. The performance will be followed by an artist chat.
This event is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Individuals grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Free.
Saturday and Sunday are the Grand Marais Arts Festival held in downtown Grand Marais. The festival opens at 9 am on Saturday, 10 am on Sunday, and features work by 70 local and regional arts in a wide variety of media.
The Grand Marais Arts Festival is this weekend.
Big crowds are expected at the Arts Festival this weekend. Photo by Dennis Chick.
The annual Grand Marais Arts Festival is a microcosm of the dynamic Midwest art scene. Nestled between the horizon line of Lake Superior and the wilderness of boreal forests and serene lakes, the Festival draws over 10,000 visitors each year.
Besides the art exhibits, the festival also features live music on two stages — in Harbor Park and near the East Bay. (See the Live Music Schedule below for performance times.) There are also several free art activities planned throughout the festival.
To see who is in the show and find out more, click here.
Also on Saturday, the Cook County Market opens in the parking lot of The Hub at 10 am.
Glass and clay artist Terry Lord-Lewis is one of the artists at the Cook County Market. The Market is open from 10 am to 2 pm. on Saturday.
The market features a great selection of work by local artists. Look for glass work, pottery, paintings, rock art, jewelry, fiber art, handcrafted lotions and balms, candles, local Lake Superior stones, and more.
Live music this week at the market is by Frozen Britches (Tom VanCleve and Erik Hahn). Stop by and listen to them. They’re great! They’ll play from 10 am to 2 pm.
Great Expectations School will hold a Makerspace event from 10 am to noon at the school.
Great Expectations School to host Makerspace on Saturday.
This event is open to all ages to come and make “stuff.” Free.
Drury Lane Books will host a Meet and Greet with Deborah J. Winchell, author of Rocky’s Lighthouse Adventure, and illustrator Renee Andriani.
This is an opportunity to meet the creators of this charming Isle Royale-based children’s book
Meet and Greet at Drury Lane Books on Saturday.
Expect illustration and interactive activities for all ages at this event, which will be held from 11 am to 1 pm.
On Saturday afternoon, Historic Cook County will hold live blacksmithing demos at the Bally Blacksmith Shop in downtown Grand Marais, Saturday, from 1 – 4 pm.
There will be demos at the Bally Blacksmith shop on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Historic Cook County.
The Bally Blacksmith Shop was built in 1911 and housed three generations of the Bally family blacksmiths, totaling 98 years. The metal Forest Service building behind the shop was added to the site in the 1960s. The Bally Blacksmith Shop has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1986. The Cook County Historical Society acquired the building in 2013.
To learn more, click here. The event is free.
At 6 pm on Saturday, Peter Geye will give an Author Talk at Drury Lane Books.
Peter Geye will give an Author Talk at Drury Lane Books on Saturday
Geye will talk about his newest release, A Lesser Light. Set against a brooding and beautiful landscape, A Lesser Light is a story about industry and calamity, science versus superstition, patriarchy’s corrosive power, and the consequences when these forces collide in the wilderness of rapid social change.
Geye is the award-winning author of Safe from the Sea, The Lighthouse Road, Wintering, Northernmost, and The Ski Jumpers. He lives in Minneapolis with his family.
A Q&A and booksigning will follow. The public is invited.
Several ongoing summer events continue over the weekend, including tours of Hedstrom’s Sawmill and the Chippewa City Church and Birdbanding at Sugarloaf Cove. Click here for more info.
On Sunday, Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center will host a presentation about loons with Maddi Nistler at 2 pm..
Loon Family by Paul Sundberg.
Nistler is a member of the Minnesota GreenCorps program, serving her second term as Community Outreach and Readiness personnel at the National Loon Center in Crosslake.
She will dive into the physical and behavioral characteristics that make Common Loons unique, the intricate freshwater ecosystems loons call home, and the best practices you can adopt to better protect loons from the environmental conflicts they face today. The presentation is free and family-friendly.
On Wednesday, the Gunflint Trail Canoe Races will be held at Gunflint Lodge on Gunflint Lake.
The Gunflint Trail Canoe Races are on July 16.
This is always a great afternoon of camaraderie, serious competition on the water, great food, a silent auction, and a chance to win a great canoe. The event starts at 4 pm. Open to all.
Exhibits:
This is the last weekend to see Brock Larson’s exhibit of plein air paintings at the Johnson Heritage Post.
Brock Larson is exhibiting at Heritage Post.
Larson is a Duluth-based artist who was the 2023 Grand Prize winner of the Grand Marais Plein Air Competition for best body of work. Larson’s exhibit features a collection of recent and past works that study efforts to capture the light, mood, and nature of northern life.
Larson began drawing at a young age and found his calling at the Atelier Studio Program of Fine Arts in Minneapolis, focusing on realistic paintings and drawings. It was also at the Atelier where he discovered his love of teaching, and would eventually go on to open up The Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art in Duluth with his father, who is also an artist.
The exhibit continues through Sunday.
Alberta Marana, an artist working and living in Duluth, is showing her Earth-centered pastel works at Studio 21 during the month of July.
Shadows on the trail, oil pastel, by Alberta Marana.
Marana’s works are reflections on place, home, and the effects that our environments have on us. Evoking a sense of place and mood, her artwork is a dialogue between the medium, the paper, and the self. Through that dialogue, she strives to convey her feelings about the earth and its natural beauty.
Movement, the summer exhibition of the Grand Marais Art Colony, can also be seen at Studio 21.
“Movement,” the Grand Marais Art Colony‘s summer exhibition, is on view at Studio 21.
The exhibiting artists include: Alexandra Beaumont, Chotsani Elaine Dean, Olga Lah, Michael Marks, Anne Metcalfe, Jack Pavlik, and Moira Villiard. The exhibit contues through August 30.
Studio 21 is open from 10 am to 4 pm Thursday through Saturday. Free.
The Games We Play, an exhibit at the Duluth Art Institute, continues. Created by artist Charvis Harrell, the exhibit features a selection of works that reveal the power of using art to tell the story of a cultural movement.
The Games We Play has opened at the Duluth Art Institute.
Here is a QR code to see the exhibit virtually.
QR code to see the virtual exhibit of The Games We Play.
The MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids is exhibiting work by Ojibwe bead artist Nancy Kingbird. The title of the show is “Spirit.”
Waabishki Makwa, White Bear – Storyteller, multiple bead sizes by Nancy Kingbird, is one of the works on exhibit.
Kingbird (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe) started beading when she was 10 years old. In the decades since, she has become well recognized in the region’s Indigenous community for her mastery of the art form. Her style, techniques, and use of materials are distinct, and her work can be found in many private collections. The show is on exhibit through August.
Opportunities:
The Grand Marais Art Colony is, once again, embarking on the journey of making bowls for this year’s Empty Bowls Fundraiser and opening its clay studio to local makers to help with the effort. From July to November, every other Monday evening, open studios for Empty Bowls will be held.
The Art Colony will hold open studios for potters to make bowls for Empty Bowls. Photo by Chuck Olsen.
These bowls are a crucial part of the larger effort to raise the money needed for a variety of food insecurity programs in Cook County. A lot of local businesses and nonprofits participate in this event by donating food, money, or bowls, and it is a great example of how “many hands make light work.” Sign up here.
Artists at Work:
Ravens and Mountain Ash, a new woodcut print by Betsy Bowen. She will be one of the artists at the Grand Marais Arts festival.
Sometimes a doodle stands out. Artwork at Joy and Company.
Mugs, black stoneware, by Adrea Davina Beres. She has her work at Studio 21
Lois Eyink, acrylic, by Jan Attridge, a portrait in her Matriarch series.
Bryan Hansel‘s cover photo for Minnesota Monthly this month.
Strawberry Moon, acrylic, by Sue Rauschenfels.
Untitled, acrylic, by Patricia Canelake.
Getting ready for a music gig by Michele Miller.
Spring Palisades, oil, by Daniel Olson.
Our goal is to fill up a bookcase with our own books. Photo by by Tor Torkildson.
A flower girl pops into Maxwell’s Woodland Nursery. The greenhouse just outside Finland is still open.
An eye for treasure. A yard sale find by Annie Possis. Lewis & Clark Journals, published in 1904.
Online Findings:
Residents of Cook County gathered at the Canadian border on Saturday to show support for Canadians.
A demonstration in support of Canadians was held at the border on Saturday. See the WTIP video here.
Wildlife gets the upper hand on photographers:
Observing the observer by Anaïs Trépanier. See more photos here.
Online Music:
Live Music:
Thursday, July 10
- Bump Blomberg, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 5-8 pm
- Lutsong Music Festival, Ski Hill Road, Lutsen, 6-8 pm
- The Scarlet Goodbye Duo
- Dusty Heart
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6:30-8:30 pm
- Silent Disco Dance Party, Caribou Highlands Courtyard, 7-10 pm
Friday, July 11:
- Pure Honey, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 3-6 pm
- Lutsong Music Festival, Ski Hill Road, Lutsen, 3:30-11 pm
- Stonebridge Singers
- Jack Klatt
- jeremy messersmith
- Molly Dean
- Wild Horses
- Caribou Campfire Guitar Pull
- Barbara Jean and Mike Lewis, North Shore Winery, 4:30-6:30 pm
- Mysterious Ways, Birch Terrace Supper Club & Lounge, 5-8 pm
- Josh Cleveland Band, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 8-11 pm
- Bump Blomberg, Bluefin Grille, 8-10 pm
Saturday, July 12:
- Frozen Britches (Tom VanCleve & Erik Hahn), Cook County Market at the Hub, 10-2 pm
- Grand Marais Arts Festival
- Harbor Park
- Jim Miller, 10 am
- Emma Tweten, 12 pm
- Fred Anderson, 2 pm
- East Bay
- AZ Legare, 11 am
- Andy Keith, 1 pm
- Briand Morrison & Roxann Berglund, 3 pm
- Harbor Park
- Lutsong Music Festival, Ski Hill Road, Lutsen, 10:30-11 pm
- Sarah Morris
- Rogue Valley
- Eli Gardiner
- Nicky Diamonds
- Lucy Michelle
- Sara Kae
- Skarlett Woods
- Twins of Franklin
- Lynden Graham
- Turn Turn Turn
- The Honeydogs
- Hot Metal Performance with Greg Mueller
- Caribou Campfire Guitar Pull
- Frequency Rising, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 3-6 pm
- Pat Eliasen, Birch Terrace Supper Club & Lounge, 5-7 pm
- Josh Cleveland Band, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 8-11 pm
- Adam Moe, Bluefin Grille overlooking Lake Superior, 6-9 pm
Sunday, July 13:
- Grand Marais Arts Festival
- Harbor Park
- Storytelling w/Rose Arrowsmith, 10 am
- Dusty Heart, 12 pm
- Linden Blomberg, 2 pm
- East Bay
- Watershed Group, 11 am
- Kenneth Bressler, 1 pm
- Bump Blomberg, 3 pm
- Harbor Park
- Lutsong Music Festival, Ski Hill Road, Lutsen, 10-6 pm
- Teague Alexy
- Josh Cleveland Band
- Medicine River, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 3-6 pm
- Josh Cleveland Band, North Shore Winery, 3:30-6 pm
- Timmy Haus, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 5-7 pm
- Scott Shuler (Campfire Guitar Pull), Caribou Highlands Lodge Courtyard, 7:30 pm
Monday, July 14:
- Pete Kavanaugh, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 7-10 pm
- Barbara Jean Meyers & Mike Lewis, Bluefin Grille, 8-10 pm
Tuesday, July 15:
- Eric Frost, North Shore Winery, 5-7 pm
- Briand Morrison, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 5-8 pm
- Open Stage hosted by Pete K, Up Yonder, 6-8 pm
- Joe Paulik, Bluefin Grille overlooking Lake Superior, 6-9 pm
- Community Singing, Lighthouse on the Harbor, 7-8:30 pm
- Joe Paulik, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 5-8 pm
- Emma Tweten, Bluefin Grille, 8-10 pm
Thursday, July 17:
- Bump Blomberg, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 5-8 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6:30-8:30 pm
- Silent Disco Dance Party!, Caribou Highlands Courtyard, 7-10 pm
Friday, July 18:
- Bump Blomberg, Birch Terrace Supper Club & Lounge, 4-8 pm
- Barbara Jean and Mike Lewis, North Shore Winery, 4:30-6:30 pm
- Drew Heinonen, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 7-9 pm
- RLB, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 7-11 pm
- Gordon Thorne, Bluefin Grille, 8-10 pm
- Twine, Up Yonder, 8-11 pm
Saturday, July 19:
- Fred Anderson, Cook County Market at the Hub, 10-2 pm
- Ethan Todd, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 2-5 pm
- Mike & Babs, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- Adam Moe, Bluefin Grille overlooking Lake Superior, 6-9 pm
- Jake Pernsteiner, Voyageur Canoe Outfitters, 7-9 pm
- Jim Miller, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 7-9 pm
- RLB, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 7-11 pm
- Twine, Up Yonder, 8-11 pm
Sunday, July 20:
- Ethan Todd, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 2-5 pm
- Barefoot Bluegrass, North Shore Winery, 3:30-5:30 pm
- Timmy Haus, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 5-7 pm
- Medicine River Jam, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 5:30-8:30 pm
- Scott Schuler (Campfire Guitar Pull), Caribou Highlands Lodge Courtyard, 7:30 pm
Photographs:
Here is a selection of photos we found this week.
Flowerscapes:
Good morning, Ghost Plant by Danna MacKenzie
July Colors by Buck Benson.
July Colors 2 by Buck Benson.
July Colors 3 by Buck Benson.
July Colors 4 by Buck Benson.
July Colors 5 by Buck Benson.
July Colors 6 by Buck Benson.
July Colors 7 by Buck Benson.
July Colors 8 by Buck Benson.
July Colors 9 by Buck Benson.
Poppy Time by Karen Sunderman.
Sweetie Pies by Staci Lola.
Potpourri:
The wild strawberry harvest has started. Photo by Ilena Hansel.
Early blueberries by Tischer Gallery.
The Canadian Snowbirds brought their signature precision and grace to the Duluth Airshow by Hayes Scriven.
Up and Away by Bjornberg Photography.
A Labrador housing solution by Lonnie Dupre. He and Pascale Marceau are on their way from Grand Marais to Greenland via the St. Lawrence River. They have just reached the Atlantic and iceberg alley. To read more about their journey, click here:
Landscapes. Fireworkscapes & Cloudscapes:
At the Gunflint Trail by Annie Possis.
Pie Island by Buck Benson.
The 4th by Bryan Hansel.
A front yard view by Chuck Olsen.
Fireworks over the Grand Marais Harbor, 2025, by Dennis Chick.
Fireworks over the Grand Marais Harbor 2 by Dennis Chick.
And then this beauty:
King of the Forest by Paul Sundberg.
Enjoy your weekend, everyone!
P.S. It would be great to hear from you this week. In uncertain times, we are glad to be able to send a weekly message of hope, beauty, and creativity to you. Help us do this by making a contribution today. To donate, click on the icon below. And thank you!
Your donation is also a way to say thank you to those who help me put out this blog every week: Jeremy Lopez, Yvonne Mills, and Kari Carter. We also want to thank Visit Cook County for its great Events Calendar.
{ 2 comments… add one }
I look forward to this every week. We love Grand Marais! In uncertain times, Srt and Nature are very comforting.
ART! I meant to say art not srt.