Small, But Mighty: Small Business Saturday tomorrow encourages everyone to visit their locally owned stores, restaurants and other businesses. You can find great deals on Big Lake-region products for holiday gifts, often at great prices. (At Lake Superior Art Glass, ornaments, like the one pictured, are 10% off.) This year, for the first time in five years, downtown Duluth’s Small Business Saturday will not include a number of “pop-up” stores in vacant Superior Street storefronts. That is because many of those available vacant spaces are happily no longer vacant, says Kristi Stokes, president of Duluth’s Greater Downtown Council (GDC). Downtown seasonal pop-ups started in 2013 with about a dozen that first year. “We had a lot of vacant space, and we looked at it (pop-ups) as a way to activate the space and give entrepreneurs a chance to test-drive the market,” Kristi says. Pop-up entrepreneurs applied for downtown spaces, which were donated by property owners at no cost, other than cost of utilities, during the holiday sale season from Small Business Saturday to the first week of January. In several cases, businesses flourished and either remained in their space or migrated to other downtown locations. Now, though, most of the appropriate spaces are spoken for by pending operations, which meant no pop-ups this year. “When we do a pop-up,” Kristi says, “we really want to put them in prime space that would be high traffic, great visibility.” The GDC has encouraged those inquiring about pop-up spaces to contact the Holiday Center, which has an indoor “farmers market” Tuesdays until Dec. 18 with local produce and products.
There are a few mini pop-ups, though. Tomorrow HuckleBeary (in photo), a gift and creative trending store that started as pop up, will host its own Duluth Made pop-up market for about a dozen artists and artisans. The Joseph Nease Gallery will unveil a newest exhibition plus will host what its owners describe as a “Holiday Pop-Up Super Shop” with budget-friendly works by artists featured there over the last year. BusinessNorth reported about this busy shopping week, naming the businesses and the deals for Small Business Saturday in downtown Duluth – and we should note that our own Lake Superior Magazine outlet store is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. with treats and deals. Across the bridge in Superior, 40 businesses are participating in Small Business Saturday, listed on the Superior Chamber of Commerce website.
Just an FYI to add: Nearly half of all people employed in the United States are working for small businesses, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Lonely, But Not Hungry: Holidays away from family can feel a little lonely, as undoubtedly some crew working on the Great Lakes vessels know. Lonely, though, certainly does not mean hungry. Interlake Steamship Company posted this menu for yesterday’s Thanksgiving feast on the Paul R. Tregurtha with the appropriate epitaph: “Break Out the Fat Pants.” Detroit Free Press reporter Jim Schaefer and photographer Eric Seals got a taste of those great meals sailing for a week on the Tregurtha in 2015. In "Life on a Great Lakes freighter: All hands well fed," Jim described what the galley prepared for one night's dinner as "80 fried perch fillets, seven marinated pork tenderloins seasoned with fresh thyme and garlic, acorn squash candied with butter, pecans and brown sugar. Plus enough baked potatoes, rice and broccoli with cheese sauce to fill the rest of their plates. And for dessert: homemade pineapple upside-down cake." Uff da.
Soo New: The Whisky Barrel, a Scottish pub, opened earlier this month on Gore Street in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and SooToday’s Jasmyn Rowley interviewed co-owner Melissa Wendling about the new business with a variety of 20 whiskies, Scottish beers Innis and Gunn, plus a broad beverage menu and Scottish fare, including Scotch eggs and Scotch pies (in photo). The pub is open 4 p.m.-2 a.m., Tuesday-Saturday, Patrons wearing kilts on Tuesday (Kilt Night) get 50% off Scotch eggs and Scotch pies. You won’t be alone in your kilt, the servers and bartenders also wear them. (Oh, in case you’re about to Google it – “whisky” is the Scottish spelling; the Irish and Americans add an “e”.)
It's Official: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced its Fiscal 2019 work plan appropriations and has earmarked $32 million for the design and construction of the new replacement lock for navigation in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, according to a report by Devon Mahieu of UpNorthLive.com. The new, larger lock, which will replace two small locks, is one of five new construction starts for the Corps, the others being for flood risk management in Manhattan, Kansas, for navigation in Cedar Bayou and Sabine-Neches Waterway, both in Texas, and for aquatic ecosystem restoration on the Skokomish River in Washington.
At the Top: Starting Monday (Nov. 26), the upper floor of the 1904 Peter White Public Library building in Marquette will be closed for a few weeks for significant updates, repairs, new carpeting and painting. During that time, the Friends Bookstore will be on the main floor under the main stairs across from the circulation desk, and the functions of the Shiras and Heritage meeting rooms are relocated to other parts of the building.
Doggone Odd: The Ontario Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals issued a release this week warning residents of the Sault Ste. Marie area about a scam involving imposters presenting themselves as representatives of the Ontario SPCA and demanding to take pet owners’ dogs. Lynn Michaud, senior inspector for the Ontario SPCA, said there were reports of two, possibly three, such incidents in the area. Impersonating an Ontario SPCA officer is an offence, Lynn notes. She encourages people approached by anyone suspicious to ask them for an Ontario SPCA identification card and feel free to call the provincewide Ontario SPCA cruelty hotline at 310-SPCA (7722) to inquire about their connection to the society. If you have any information that could assist with the investigation into the impersonators, call the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service at 705-949-6300 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Lynn tells us that no Ontario SPCA representative should be able to take your dog on a first visit unless the dog is in immediate danger (for example, from cold, heat or injury) and no one is home. Generally, pet owners will be given a written orders identifying issues. Even if a dog is in distress, she says, “The owner has to be given the opportunity to alleviate distress.” The motivation for these imposters is unknown, Lynn says. There have been cases elsewhere in the province where good-intentioned people, who reported pet abuse or noted pet abuse, tried to take pets they felt were endangered by posing as Ontario SPCA officers. But because this latest involves more than one such incident, it seems unlikely it’s specific to any alleged abuse case.
A New Brand: The Marquette Downtown Development Authority is bouncing the idea for a new branding concept from Arnett, Muldrow and Associates . The firm came up with the branding logo and package to take into account “the history of the area, the spirit of the community, and the variety of unique places within Marquette's Downtown District.” Check out the firm’s presentation, then give your two-cents worth on the proposal before Nov. 30. The authority hopes to launch the new brand for next year.
Honoring a Mentor: The Multicultural Center at the University of Wisconsin-Superior will officially be renamed the William “Pope” Wright Jr. Student Center to honor a professor who served UWS for 44 years and is remembered as an artist and mentor who “was known for always finding time for students of all backgrounds and cultures.” Pope Wright, born in Chicago, died in Superior in 2015 at the age of 72. He was the first African-American professor at UWS, starting as an art professor in 1971, and also served as the first Black Student Union faculty adviser and Indian student adviser. In 1983, he was named the director of the Minority Affairs Office. His wife, Sandra, also is an educator. The university’s Department of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and the Office of Multicultural Affairs will host a dedication ceremony and open house 4 p.m. Wednesday.
And They’re Off (or Up): The start of the winter snowmobile racing season launches with a lot of high-flying snowmobiles racing around Spirit Mountain in Duluth this weekend. The 27th Annual AMSOIL Duluth National Snocross draws pro snowmobile racers who deliver intense action with wild jumps and high-speed runs. For snocross, it’s the first of eight stops in the 2018-19 AMSOIL Snocross Championship national tour, which ends in mid-March. At Spirit Mountain, fans can enjoy the high-flying thrills outdoors or stay warm inside the chalet. Tickets are general admission, and Sunday is Family Day at the races. Parking is at the nearby Proctor Fairgrounds, where a shuttle delivers spectators to Spirit Mountain. If you’re less of a spectator and more of a skier or snowboarder, Spirit Mountain itself officially opens its 45th season today.
Photo & graphic credits: HuckleBeary; Lake Superior Art Glass; Interlake Steamship Company; The Whisky Barrel; Peter White Library; Marquette Downtown Development Authority; UWS; Bob Berg.