They're Heading Our Way: Tall ships will once again be sailing to Lake Superior next August, and tickets for the newly named Festival of Sail Duluth 2019 went on sale today. Draw Events, which organized the most recent tall ships festivals, including the last one in 2016, is again pulling together next year's festival, promising "the largest event in our region’s history featuring ship tours, day sails, educational programming, food and beverage, entertainment and fun for the entire family!" The festival runs Sunday-Tuesday, Aug. 11-13, overlapping with the popular waterfront Blues Fest, which runs Aug. 9-11. Seven vessels are already scheduled, including the retired Sundew, a former Coast Guard cutter now privately owned in Duluth. Some of the tall ships already on board are familiar: the U.S. Brig Niagara (shooting its cannon under the Aerial Lift Bridge in this photo) and the SV Denis Sullivan. The schooners scheduled include Appledore V, Utopia, Bloodhound and the Lake Superior-based Abbey Road, which now sails in Bayfield, Wisconsin, under Lake Superior Tall Ships. Draw Events says the giant duck will return and you can purchase sail aways on some ships (also online).
Dark Skies at Night, Skywatcher’s Delight: Forecasts of mostly clear skies could make for good meteor-shower watching this weekend and just in time for tonight’s peak of the Geminids, one of the best annual meteor showers. According to Space.com, the best time for viewing will be about 2 a.m., but the webpage also gives advice for specific locations. The good skies are welcome to the first Dark Sky Festival in Grand Marais, Minnesota. It has a full schedule of events and speakers, including a visit of the University of Minnesota Duluth’s mobile planetarium, the GeoDome. You’re guaranteed spectacular views on the screen at least when local photographers (two of our favorites) Travis Novitsky and Bryan Hansel showcase their night images during a friendly photographic duel on Saturday evening. (That's one of Travis' shown here.) Areas of the extended Big Lake neighborhood have been recognized for lack of artificial light, making it a haven for night-skywatchers. Visit Cook County posts a Northern Lights page that includes tips for viewing, a photographic guide and a map. In Michigan, Copper Harbor Improvement Association features a page on Amazing Skies with images of northern lights and other phenomenon plus suggestions on best locations for seeing sunrises and sunsets. If you want to track the dates of the meteor showers throughout the year, link to American Meteor Society calendar.
Us on Big & Little Screens: Two news stories this week point to the rising opportunities for attracting filmmakers and TV productions our Big Lake region.
The Independent Television Festival (ITVFest) has decided to move its five-day fall festival to Duluth. In the past, hosts have been Los Angeles and, most recently, Vermont. The Oct. 9-13, 2019, dates are already on the website of ITVFest, which touts the event as “an exclusive industry marketplace for independently produced episodic programming.” In this photo, from left, Anna Tanski, president and CEO of Visit Duluth, and Mayor Emily Larson join Riki McManus, director of the Upper Minnesota Film Office, at a press conference. Riki believes drawing television and streaming executives to the city may translate to seeing the region on TV. “We will have executives of HBO and Netflix, Bravo and the Writers Guild of America walking down the streets. What excites me the most is what they are seeing while walking down the streets of Duluth. Imagine a first timer … looking at that big body of water out there,” she is quoted in BusinessNorth. “I just have a feeling that we’re going to be seeing Duluth on the screen.” Speculation is that the independent productions festival may become the “Sundance” of television. A film and TV production incentive program, seeded with $250,000 provided by the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation, was announced this week by IRRRB Commissioner Mark Phillips. Minnesota Film & TV will administer the program, which begins in January.
Meanwhile on the other side of the Big Lake, SooToday reports that Rolling Pictures, a post-production studio for movies, television and avertising, will open shop in downtown Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, in part thanks to FutureSSM. The move is considered a boost to the local film industry and for the Sault College Digital Film Production program. The city has agreed to invest $100,000 from its Economic Development Fund to assist the company in setting up a permanent site. The Toronto-based studio already has used the Sault for temporary projects. “Within the next five years, Rolling Pictures expects to employ a team of 20 permanent, locally hired staff to work at the facility,” notes SooToday. “The staff hired by Rolling Pictures, will join nearly 100 Saultites that are employed as active, highly skilled and experienced film and television crew members in the industry.”
That Takes the Cake: Bakers from two different Marquette-area bakeries will team up on the Food Network’s new series “Winner Cake All,” reports Jana Mathieu for Word on the Street. Joe Heck of the Huron Mountain Bakery and Marybeth Kurtz of Midtown Bakery join the program. The show, hosted by Giada De Laurentiis (in photo), debuts Jan. 7, and the local bakers are on the Jan. 21 episode.
Season's Best: Bayfield, Wisconsin, made the list of 10 Best Beach Towns to Visit in Winter compiled by Coastal Living, which cited: “The Apostle Islands are spectacularly wild and scenic year-round, but especially so when Lake Superior freezes over, giving visitors the unique opportunity to do a lighthouse tour via snowmobile or cheer on the huskies as teams compete in the annual Apostle Islands Sled Dog Race (in photo). Both Bayfield and nearby Madeline Island are thriving arts communities, and the town’s Hometown Holiday season kicks off with a tree lighting the day after Thanksgiving.”
Another Big Lake city also made it on a new list. The New York Post chose Duluth as one of the country’s 10 Best Christmas Towns, noting it thusly: “This industrial town on the shores of Lake Superior has plenty of that legendary ‘Minnesota nice,’ as exemplified during the holidays by volunteers who brave the frosty temps to hand out hot chocolate and other treats at the country’s largest holiday light show experienced on foot. The headliner is a 12-story Christmas tree illuminated with more than 150,000 bulbs. The city’s Christmas City Express — a vintage train wrapped in holiday lights and decor — is another popular family-friendly offering.”
A Booming Lullaby: Photographer Dennis O’Hara, keeper of the Duluth harbor cams, has paired music with the varied blasting "salutes” of vessels entering through the shipping canal into a video he calls “Laker Lullabies.” We must admit, the blaring horns seem more like a wakeup call, but it’s fun to hear the different styles of captain’s salutes.
A Sis Wish: This year will be the last for the warm walk-through lighting display at Marcia Hales' Park Point home at 3739 S. Lake Ave. in Duluth. The Holiday Spirit in the Lights opens today and continues through Jan. 5. In honor of Marcia's two-decade accomplishment and the many wonderful stories that have surrounded the display, we are linking each week until Jan. 5 to excerpts from our book Spirit of the Lights by Chuck Frederick about Marcia and the 300,000 magical lights. This week we feature Chuck's own story about how his middle child wished for a sister upon one of Marcia's magic penguins (his family is pictured here from a few years ago). How did it turn out? Well, let's just say at tonight's opening one very special Reggie will be helping to launch the festive display.
Photo & graphic credits: Bob Berg; Travis Novitsky; Ron Brochu; Rolling Pictures; Food Network; Apostle Islands Dog Sled Race; David Schauer/VisitDuluth; Dennis O'Hara; Lake Superior Magazine