Fireworks will light the skies in Tofte, Grand Marais, and Grand Portage on Friday. File photograph by Paul Sundberg.
Greetings from the North Shore and Happy 4th! There are all kinds of fun things to do over the holiday weekend, including the Tofte Trek and the Tofte July 4th Celebration, a music festival in Grand Portage, and the Hovland Arts Festival, to name a few.
It starts on Thursday with a wood-fired bread-baking class at North House Folk School.
North House to hold wood-fired baking workshops this summer. To find out more, click here.
The class runs from 1-3 pm. These classes are very popular, and early registration is advised. Cost is $30 per person. For more info, click here.
Art Night at Joy and Company this week will offer participants a chance to experiment with collage and painting.
Joy & Co will hold Art Night from 3:30-5 pm on Thursday.
The event is free and open to all, with a suggested $5 donation.
Also on Thursday, the Grand Marais Farmer’s Market will be held in the parking lot of the Cook County Community Center from 4:30-6 pm.
The Grand Marais Farmer’s Market will be held in the parking lot of the Cook County Community Center from 4:30-6 p.m.
This is always a great market, featuring locally grown produce, wood-fired breads, bakery items, fresh flowers, and more. The public is invited. SNAP is accepted, as well as other food access programs. To find out more about the food access programs, click here.
Also on Thursday, Sugarloaf Cove and Nature Center continues its bird-banding event at the nature center from 7 am to 11 am.
Bird banding at Sugar Loaf on Thursday.
The sessions will continue through the end of July. They are free, with a special presentation about bird banding at 10 am. Free and open to all.
Friday, the 4th of July, will be busy.
First up is the Tofte Trek, the iconic, mud-filled walk/run starting at Birch Grove Community School on Friday morning.
Tofte Trek — the muddiest race of the year.
This is the 44th year for this great event, which, from all accounts, was started by Jan Horak. The course winds its way up the hill towards the Superior Hiking Trail, then comes back down through lots of mud on the snowmobile trail. Runners are proud to wear their muddy badge of courage as they finish. Participants must be at least 11 years old to run the Tofte Trek. There are overall and age-group awards. Dogs are not allowed on the race course or in the Birch Grove Community School. To find out more about the race, click here.
Meanwhile, the Tofte Fourth of July Celebration begins in downtown Tofte, featuring vendors, food, live music, and at 2 pm, the best parade of the year.
The 4th of July parade in Tofte begins at 2 pm.
The celebrations continue throughout the day.
Look for fireworks in Tofte, Grand Marais, and Grand Portage after dark.
Also on Friday, Jeri Person will teach a workshop on making glass spinners at Joy and Company from 1-4 pm.
Jeri Person will teach a workshop on fused glass spinners at Joy and Company.
The glass art pieces can be used in windows or put in the garden. The cost for the workshop is $20.
On the Gunflint Trail, the 2nd annual Poplar Paddle Parade will begin at White Pine Lodge at 2 pm.
The Poplar Paddle Parade will be held on Poplar Lake on July 4.
Participants will paddle from the lodge to Poplar Haus and back to the lodge. Open to all.
In Grand Portage, the Rock the Lake II Music Festival begins on Friday night, featuring two nights of music at the Grand Portage Lodge and Casino.
The Rock the Lake Music Festival will be in Grand Portage on Friday and Saturday.
The event features a great selection of bands and is free. The music starts at 6:30 pm on Friday and at 2:30 pm on Saturday.
Saturday opens with the Cook County Market, which is held in the parking lot of The Hub from 10 am to 2 pm.
The Cook County Market is held from 10 am to 2 pm.
This is a traditional feature of downtown Grand Marais in the summer months. Look for a variety of work by local artists and artisans, including pottery, paintings, jewelry, baked goods, glasswork, and more.
The popular Hovland Arts Festival will be held at the Hovland Town Hall on Saturday and Sunday.
The Hovland Arts Festival is July 5-6 this year at the Hovland Town Hall.
There will be a wide variety of work displayed by local artists and artisans, including fiber art, weaving, leatherwork, painting, pottery, jewelry, baskets, fishing lures, and more.
Live music by local bands will also be featured.
Live music is on tap at the Hovland Art Festival July 5-6.
Shannon Crossbear will also be the storyteller for the weekend. Refreshments will be available. The arts festival is from 10 am to 4 pm. The public is invited.
Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center will hold an Open House on Saturday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Gunflint Trail Historical Society and the 15th anniversary of Chik-Wauk.
Chik-Wauk will hold an Open House on July 5 from 11 am to 3 pm.
The event will feature presentations and refreshments. The public is invited.
A new exhibit of work by Alberta Marana opens with a reception from 4-5 pm on Saturday at Studio 21.
Alberta Marana, an Arrowhead Artist, opens an exhibit at Studio 21 on Thursday with a reception from 4-5 pm on Saturday.
Marana is one of four Arrowhead artists who will be exhibiting in Studio 21 this summer.
She lives in Duluth and is showing her Earth-centered pastel works during July. Alberta’s pastel works are reflections on place, home, and the effects that our environments have on us.
Studio 21 is open from 10 am to 4 pm Thursday through Saturday. Free and open to the public.
Up Yonder will hold a BBQ Dance Party on Saturday starting at 5 pm.
Up Yonder will hold a dance party on Saturday starting at 5 pm.
The event will feature games, food, and music, including a performance by the Watershed Group. The public is invited.
Also on Saturday night, the North Shore Music Association will present a free outdoor concert by the 34th Infantry Division “Red Bull” Band at 7 pm at North House Folk School.
The 34th Infantry Division Red Bull Band will perform at North House on Saturday in an outdoor concert at 7 pm.
Stationed in Rosemount, the Red Bull Band is part of the Minnesota National Guard and has been making music since 1900. The band has served in World War I, World War II, and the Global War on Terrorism. Today, these talented Soldier-Musicians travel across the state (and beyond) playing for public audiences, military ceremonies, and fellow service members.
Their shows are known for great energy and variety—something for everyone to enjoy.
This concert is free and open to all. Bring a lawn chair or blanket and settle in for a great evening of music by the Big Lake.
Exhibits;
An exhibit of works by Duluth painter Brock Larson continues at the Johnson Heritage Post.
Brock Larson has opened an exhibit at the Heritage Post.
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 July 13.
The Heritage Post is open from 10 am to 4 pm Thursday through Saturday, and from 1-4 pm Sunday. Free and open to the public.
Movement, the summer exhibition of the Grand Marais Art Colony at Studio 21 features a great selection of work by regional artists.
The exhibiting artists include: Alexandra Beaumont, Chotsani Elaine Dean, Olga Lah, Michael Marks, Anne Metcalfe, Jack Pavlik, and Moira Villiard.
The Near And Bright Expanse, multi-media, Olga Lah, is one of the pieces in Movement, currently on view at Studio 21.
The exhibit includes multimedia work, paintings, and an installation. Free.
North Shore Health is exhibiting several works by local artists as well as works from its Permanent Collection. Here is one:
Waves Crashing Cliffs, oil, by J.Sanders (?) at North Shore Health, part of its Permanent Collection.
The Duluth Art Institute is exhibiting work by Minnesota-based artist Heidi Wanzek entitled Within the Threshold.
An exhibit of sculptures by Heidi Wanzek is on view at the Duluth Art Institute.
Her work begins not in the studio, but in the deliberate act of noticing, gathering, and waiting for each material — tree limbs, lake-worn debris, seed pods, and industrial remnants. She sits with these elements, allowing them to reveal their stories, and then intentionally transforms them. The resulting sculptural works explore the fragile and powerful connections between life and death.
At some point, the assembly of fragments becomes a whole—as Wanzek describes it, passing “the threshold into existence and vitality.” The work becomes an entity capable of inspiring empathy through the physical evidence of its history. “They take on a presence of emotional vitality, seeing a reflection of our human experience in their state of being,” Wanzek says.
Click on the QR code below to see the virtual exhibit.
A QR code to see the virtual exhibit.
At the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, a new exhibit entitled Big Back Yard (at Night) has opened. It is a selection of works from the Thunder Bay Art Gallery Collection that recall the stirring of nature as night falls in Northern Ontario.
Big Back Yard (At Night) detail, by sculptor Roly Martin.
Borrowing its title from a sculpture of a deer standing on the roof of a small wood house by Thunder Bay artist Roly Martin, this exhibition presents a wide range of artists who depict crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) and nocturnal beings commonly found in our backyards. From the shadowy landscape “People of the Forest (1981) by Daphne Odjig, to the watchful eye of a bird or owl in Missay-Oog (circa 1983) by Ronald Peters, these works remind us that we are part of hidden ecosystems.
The exhibit continues through Sept. 14.
Upcoming:
The Grand Marais Arts Festival is July 12-13 this year in downtown Grand Marais.
The Grand Marais Arts Festival is July 12-13.
This festival is one of the high points of art festivals in the region. This year, it features 60 artists, 12 musical acts, and art activities for every age. The festival is open from 9 am to 5 pm on Saturday, July 12, and from 10 am to 4 pm on Sunday, July 13. For more info, click here and stay tuned.
The Lutsong Music Festival will also be held next weekend at Caribou Highlands.
The Lutsong Music Festival is July 10-13.
Look for lots of live music, vendors, and food. To find out more, click here.
Kudos:
Hayes Scriven has had one of his photographs installed as a mural in the Skywalk in Duluth, leading to the DECC.
Hays Scriven’s photo was installed as a mural in the Skywalk to the DECC in Duluth. Congrats!
The Splints played for a fundraiser for Care Partners at Up Yonder last weekend.
The Splints play for a fundraiser for Care Partners. From all accounts, everybody had a great time. Thank you, Splints!
Artists At Work:
Spring in the Boundary Waters, oil, by Dan Olson. He will be one of the artists at the Grand Marais Arts Festival.
Whispers of Gold. Acrylic, by James Ellis.
Caution to the Wind, acrylic by Carla Stetson.
Untitled by Marty Harris.
Dawn, oil, by George Morrison, is on view at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, NY.
Agate Sweetgrass baskets by Paula Sundet Wolf. She will be at the Hovland Arts Festival.
Blue Heron Research vessel and Lake Superior, acrylic, by Adam Swanson.
Misha Martin will be showing her work, including hand-dyed scarves, at the Hovland Arts Festival, the Grand Marais Arts Festival, and the Cook County Market this summer.
Online Findings:
Online Music:
Music suggestions courtesy of Virgil Rust:
Live Music:
Thursday, July 3:
- Bump Blomberg, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 5-8 pm
- Jim Miller, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- Cryote (Joshua Schmidt), Up Yonder, 6-9 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6:30-8:30 pm
- Silent Disco Dance Party!, Caribou Highlands Courtyard, 7-10 pm
- Open Old Time Appalachian Music Jam, Log Cabin / Community Center, 7-9 pm
Friday, July 4:
- The Southpaws, Tofte Town Hall/Park, 11-1 pm
- Cryote (Joshua Schmidt), Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 2-5 pm
- Joe Paulik & Friends, Birch Terrace Supper Club & Lounge, 4-8 pm
- Barbara Jean and Mike Lewis, North Shore Winery, 4:30-6:30 pm
- Rock the Lake Outdoor Music Festival, Grand Portage Lodge & Casino, 6:30-10 pm
- Dust & Bones, 6:30-8 pm
- Xpedition 8:30-10 pm
- John Gruber, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 7-9 pm
- Emma Tweten, Bluefin Grille, 8-10 pm
- The Black Flys, Up Yonder, 9-11:59 pm
Saturday, July 5:
- Briand Morrison, Cook County Market at the Hub, 10-2 pm
- Hovland Arts Festival at the Hovland Town Hall
- Emma Tweten, 10 am
- Jim Miller, 12 pm
- Tina and Drew, 2 pm
- Cryote (Joshua Schmidt), Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 2-5 pm
- Rock the Lake Music Festival, Grand Portage Lodge & Casino, 2:30-10 pm
- Moonshot, 2:30-4 pm
- The Hoolies, 4:30-6 pm
- ZZ-3, 6:30-8 pm
- Free Fallin, 8:30-10 pm
- Southpaws, Birch Terrace Supper Club & Lounge, 4-8 pm
- The Watershed Group / DJ Yard Party, Up Yonder (outside), 5-11:59 pm
- Yuya Mix, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- Adam Moe, Bluefin Grille overlooking Lake Superior, 6-9 pm
- 34th Infantry Division “Red Bull” Band, North House Folk School, 7 pm
- Jim Miller, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 7-9 pm
- Andre, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 7:30-9 pm
- The Black Flys, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 9-11:59 pm
Sunday, July 6:
- Hovland Arts Festival at the Hovland Town Hall
- Joe Paulik, 10 am
- Brotherless Arms, 12 pm
- Michele Miller, 2 pm
- Medicine River Jam, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 3-6 pm
- Sugar on the Roof, North Shore Winery, 3:30-5:30 pm
- Bump Blomberg, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 5-7 pm
- Scott Schuler (Campfire Guitar Pull), Caribou Highlands Lodge Courtyard, 7:30 pm
Monday, July 7:
- Pete Kavanaugh, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 7-10 pm
- John Gruber, Bluefin Grille, 8-10 pm
Tuesday, July 8:
- 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
- Briand Morrison, Bluefin Grille, 8-10 pm
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
- xJoe Paulik, Cascade Lodge & Restaurant, 6-8 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6:30-8:30 pm
Friday, July 11:
- Unity, 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 Cleavland 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
- 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 Cleavland Band, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 8-11 pm
- Adam Moe, Bluefin Grille overlooking Lake Superior, 6-9 pm
Sunday, July 13:
- 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
Photographs:
Here is a selection of photographs we found this week:
Insectscapes
An effective web by Dennis Chick.
The spider at work by Dennis Chick.
Mayfly by Dennis Chick.
Snacking by Dennis Chick.
The swimmers by Kileen Cleberg Limvere.
Pileated and youngsters by Betty Hamstead.
Ready to take the plunge by Ilena Hansel.
When your rabbit-proof fence isn’t, by Maryl Skinner.
Potpourri
Crisp Point Lighthouse. Photographer unknown.
Foggy Morning blossoms by David Johnson.
July 1st by Cathy Quinn.
Columbines by Beth Drost.
First peony by Karen Sunderman.
Pink Lady Slippers can bloom for 100 years by Flannery Delaney.
Landscapes, Skyscapes & Waterscapes:
Keeper of the Stars by Ryan Tischer.
Sunset at Tofte Park by Chuck Olsen.
Superior Lights by Hayes Scriven.
A Night for the Moon by Mike Wiggins, Jr.
Hovland Dock and Lake Superior by Lin Salisbury.
Water Sentinels by Ilena Hansel.
Happy 4th of July, everyone!
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