Tag Archives: Canal Park

Crossing a new bridge

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With the real item behind him, Aerial Lift Bridge Supervisor Ryan Beamer holds one of the miniatures made from worn steel plates removed from the bridge during repairs in this Oct. 16, 2009, file photo. (2009 file, Steve Kuchera / News Tribune)

Ryan Beamer’s job has had a lot of ups and downs in the past 15 years.

Beamer worked his last day on Friday as supervisor of Duluth’s Aerial Lift Bridge, Zenith City Online reports.

Beamer, who was hired as a bridge operator in 1998, declined an interview request, saying he wants to “fade quietly into the night.” Actually, the Navy veteran is returning to school to finish work toward a nursing degree.

Beamer had been bridge supervisor since 2005. He’ll be replaced by Dave Campbell, recently a master electrician with Sappi Paper Products, according to Zenith City Online.

Sean Penn spotted in Duluth, 83 years ago

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The Kansas City Bridge Co. crewman (left) looks an awful lot like Sean Penn (right), who was born in 1960. (Left photo courtesy of Duluth Public Library)

Did you know that Sean Penn was photographed in Duluth sometime between August 1929 and March 1930? Well, it was someone who looked like Sean Penn, not that anybody in Duluth knew who Sean Penn was in 1930.

That’s when a crew from the Kansas City Bridge Co. came to town to convert the transfer bridge over the Duluth ship canal to the Aerial Lift Bridge we still use today. And one of the guys on the crew really did look a lot like Sean Penn. He’s front and center in a photo of the crew posing on the bridge.

The history lovers at Zenith City Online found the photo at the Duluth Public Library and posted it. Check it out there and join the conversation about when and where you would go if you were as good at time-traveling as Sean Penn.

Green Mill now a grown-up

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An 18th birthday usually is a big bash for people. Why shouldn’t it be for a business?

Duluth’s Green Mill restaurant in Canal Park turns 18 this month, and owners Doug and Russ Smith figured it was time for a party.

“We’re 18 and all grown up now,” Doug Smith said in a news release.

Instead of buying lotto tickets like other newly minted 18-year-olds, Green Mill will celebrate all day Thursday, starting at 11:30 a.m., inside and outside the restaurant, 340 S. Lake Ave., by serving $1.18 pizza, $1.18 dishes of chicken wings and $1.18 draft beer, as well as half-price items from its new menu.

The family will share photos of the building from 1995 when it was a warehouse and before it was converted to a restaurant, as well as family photos showing what the owners looked like and the fashions they were wearing back in the mid-’90s.

Sustainable Twin Ports early adopters picked

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The next early adopters for the annual Sustainable Twin Ports program have been announced.

The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Lake Superior College, Canal Park Brewing Company and the University of Wisconsin-Superior make up this year’s picks. The four Twin Ports organizations begin a yearlong, comprehensive and strategic training in sustainability — meaning everything from how and what they buy for supplies to how they handle waste, heating and lighting, water use and more.

This year marks Sustainable Twin Ports’ fifth year of early adopters training, involving 30 organizations.

Spring cleaning at the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center

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Get out the rubber gloves, rags and brooms.

The Lake Superior Marine Museum Association is seeking volunteers to help give Duluth’s Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center a spring cleanup.

Volunteers are needed from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. March 13 to dust, update various displays and exhibits, polish brass, make sure electronic equipment is in working order and assist staff with any special projects. Lunch will be provided by Grandma’s Sports Garden.

People interested in volunteering are asked to contact the association at (218) 727-2497 or e-mail info@lsmma.com.

Fire and ice on the menu

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For those who like a little adventure with their food and dining experience, here are two very different sensory experiences:

The Blu Ice Bar & Lounge at Grand Superior Lodge — or rather outside of the lodge — is hosting an ice wine festival from 4-7 p.m. Saturday at 2826 E. Highway 61 northeast of Two Harbors. Guests can sample the region’s top ice wines with chef-prepared desserts and aperitifs. Ice wine is a style of dessert wine made from grapes that have been frozen on the vine. Experts will be on hand to answer questions about pairings and picking the best wine.

And if you’re too cold to think about ice wine?

Little Angie’s Cantina, 11 E. Buchanan St., is hosting a Texas-themed meal at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The menu includes an appetizer of shrimp three ways, fresh rattlesnake soup, grapefruit and raspberry salad, smoked beef brisket with green beans, bacon and jicama slaw and blackberry-filled empanada with homemade pineapple and lime ice cream.

Each course will be paired with a beer from the Texas-based Shiner family. The meal is $49.95.

He got the job

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Eric Miller of Appleton, Wis., takes in the full moonrise Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, from the lighthouse at the end of the ship canal in Canal Park.

We’re not saying we had anything to do with this guy getting hired, but it’s still pretty cool.

Eric Miller was in Duluth on Oct. 29 for a job interview. While he was in town from Appleton, Wis., Miller took in some of the Zenith City’s breathtaking scenes after the interview at the Duluth-Superior Metropolitan Interstate Council. That’s when the DNT’s Bob King took this photo of Miller in Canal Park.

King’s caption read: “Eric Miller of Appleton, Wis., takes in the full moonrise Monday night from the lighthouse in the ship canal in Canal Park. ‘It’s beautiful,’ Miller said. He said he was in Duluth for a job interview and hopes to be able to see more scenes like it if he’s fortunate enough to get the job.”

Miller and the Duluth-Superior Metropolitan Interstate Council were thrilled to tell us he got the job as a GIS specialist.

Congratulations, Eric. And welcome to Duluth.

Duluth Pack series

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Again this winter, the Duluth Pack store will offer a series of adventure presentations to inspire outdoors enthusiasts. The adventure series, called “Paddle, Pedal, Path and Portage: Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things,” begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday with a presentation called “Walking on Thin Ice: A BWCAW Ice-out Adventure with LynnAnne Vesper.” Like all the other presentations in the series, it’s free.

Other upcoming presentations in the series include “Kayaking Around Lake Superior in 97 Days, with Lucas Will” on Jan. 22 and “Forward: the First Unsupported American Expedition to the North Pole, with Tyler Fish” on Jan. 29.

For a complete list of the presentations, go to duluthpack.com or call Duluth Pack at (218) 722-1707.

Great vinegar

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If you’re an international culinary connoisseur, this might get your attention.
The Blue Heron Trading Company, a kitchen and gourmet shop in Duluth’s Canal Park, has made the January 2013 issue of Saveur, a gourmet cooking magazine.

It’s time for the magazine’s annual travel edition, featuring 100 favorite places, ingredients, recipes, restaurants and so on. No. 7 on the list — Golles Raspberry Vinegar, made by Alois Golles in Austria, is touted as one of the most delicious vinegars the magazine ever has tasted.

But the only place the magazine could find it available was at the Blue Heron Trading Company in the DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace. So the shop, owned by Jane Jenkins, is listed as THE place to go for the product.

Mother-son night for Lakeview Christian Academy

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Advance discount tickets are available through Friday for Lakeview Christian Academy’s Second Annual Mother/Son Adventure Night.

The event is designed to provide a quality, memorable and wholesome event for mothers and sons of all ages. It is scheduled for 5:30-10 p.m. Jan. 20 at Adventure Zone in Canal Park.

Advance general admission tickets cost $26; general admission plus Vertical Endeavors cost $32. After Friday, tickets will cost $30 and $35. Tickets may be purchased at lakeviewchristianacademy.com.