Community Calendar - Dec. 6-12, 2009

Sunday, Dec. 6

Get your photo with Santa taken by Dan Schlies from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 5-6, at Fitger’s. Packages range from $10 to $20; proceeds benefit Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank.

Local publishing outfits Holy Cow! Press and X-communication (and many of their respective authors) will come together for a holiday book sale from noon to 4 p.m. at Spiritual Deli, 3 W. Superior St. The authors will be signing at random times so visit www.x-communication.org or www.holycowpress.org for a schedule.

A Finnish-themed Christmas party will be held at Holiday Inn. A buffet dinner will be served. Cost is $15; call 729-9316 for complete details.

The Bentleyville Tour of Lights at Bayfront Festival Park will be open from 5 to 10 p.m. through Jan. 2, 2010. This is a free event. See www.bentleyvilleusa.org. Free shuttles run downtown and in Canal Park; visit www.downtownduluth.com for a complete schedule. Also: To celebrate its new neighbor, the Great Lakes Aquarium will stay open until 8 p.m. while Bentleyville is at Bayfront Festival Park and offer reduced rates.

“Sounds of the Season” will be performed by choral ensembles at 1:30 p.m. at UMD’s Weber Music Hall. Following that show a concert band and symphonic wind ensemble will perform at 4. Cost for the shows: $8 for adults, $7 for seniors, $5 for students and $3 for UMD students.

Jim Heffernan will sign “Cooler Near the Lake” from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Bookstore at Fitger’s.

Shirley Wuchter will sign “Sermons for the Seasons” books (written by her late husband, Michael) from 2 to 3 p.m. at Northern Lights Books & Gifts.

Monday, Dec. 7

Auditions for University Theatre’s production of the children’s play “Wiley and the Hairy Man” are at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at UWS’s Manion Theater (in the Holden Arts Center). Call (715) 394-8388.

Joseph Gallian, a UMD mathematics and statistics professor, will be presented with the 2009-2010 Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Research at 3:30 p.m. at the school’s Montague Hall 70. Following the ceremony he will present the seminar “A Mathematics Sampler.”

“Precious Waters: Minnesota’s Sulfide Mining Controversy” will be screened for free at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at Teatro Zuccone.

The Monday Adult Skaters have an open skate in the DECC arena from 11 a.m. to noon. Price is $3 per session and parking passes for the season (which runs through March) are available for $5. Call 724-2285. Bring your own skates.

Tuesday, Dec. 8

The Get Great Stuff Gift Fair will be held from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Duluth Congregational Church, 3833 E. Superior St.

A McTeacher Night, where area teachers and school staff serve the public, will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Central Entrance McDonald’s. Manning this fund-raiser will be Lowell Elementary staffers.

An open community session on the city’s in-the-works parks and recreation master plan will be held at 6:30 p.m. at City Center West, 5830 Grand Ave.

A course on e-mail marketing will be taught from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Barker’s Island Inn. Cost is $39 and includes lunch; call (715) 394-8351 or visit www.uwsuper.edu/sbdc.

Wednesday, Dec. 9

Bud McClure will read his new children’s book, “Divine Daisy: A Transpersonal Tale,” at 7 p.m. at UMD’s Tweed Museum of Art.

The UMD Women’s Resource and Action Center will have an open house party from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. WRAC is located in Kirby Student Center Room 266.

Terrence Smith, folk dance caller and musician, will perform at the Duluth Public Library’s Green Room at 10:15 a.m. for children younger than 3 and at 11:15 a.m. for those ages 3 to 5. Free. Call 730-4218.

A meet and greet with gubernatorial candidate R.T. Rybak, the current mayor of Minneapolis, will be held at 6 p.m. at UMD’s Kirby Student Center (in the Garden Room).

Thursday, Dec. 10

O’Neill’s Pub in Superior, 3333 Tower Ave., will host the Salvation Army Adopt-a-Family fund-raiser from 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $12 (or $10 if you bring a non-perishable food item to donate).

The Duluth Playhouse will present “The Three Musketeers” through Dec. 20. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday shows are at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday shows are at 2 and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m. Cost is $23 for adults, $21 for seniors, $15 for youth and $19 for members of a group with 15 or more people; call 733-7555.

Free lessons in round dancing, square dancing or line dancing for singles or couples will be presented from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Solway Town Hall, 4029 Munger Shaw Road in Cloquet. Call 348-6191.

“First Steps to Starting Your Own Business” will be taught from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at UWS’s Health and Wellness Center (Room 2420). Cost is $25; call (715) 394-8351 or visit www.uwsuper.edu/sbdc.

“Sausage!” will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8-12 and at 2 p.m. Dec. 6, an ASL-interpreted matinee, at UMD’s Marshall Performing Arts Center. Cost is $17 for adults, $13 for seniors and students, $8 for children and $6 for UMD students; call 726-8561 for tickets.

Duluth Sewing and Consignment, 5505 Bristol St. (behind the Italian Village) will hold a Holiday Extravaganza from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Try on formal wear for your holiday events, enjoy wine and cheese, door prize giveaways. Get 10 percent off on any consignment item purchased.

Friday, Dec. 11

The rescheduled 18th annual AMSOIL Duluth National Snocross will be held Friday through Sunday, Dec. 11-13, at Spirit Mountain.

Minnesota Ballet will perform “The Nutcracker” at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11-13, at the DECC. See Page 1.

Joe Maiolo, a UMD professor, performer and award-winning writer, will perform Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” at 4 p.m. at Weber Music Hall. Free.

Rubber Chicken Theater’s second holiday comedy revue, “Have Yourself an H1N1 Christmas, or: Snufflin’in a Swine Flu Wonderland,” will be presented at 7 p.m. Dec. 11-12, 18-19, 26 and 31 at The Venue at Mohaupt Block, 2024 W. Superior St. Cost is $15.

Dink Tank’s holiday special will be staged at 8 p.m. Dec. 11-12 and 18-19 at Teatro Zuccone. Cost is $10. Then Friday night improv sets start at 10:30. Cost for that is $5 or free with a Dink Tank ticket.

Opening at local theaters: “The Princess and the Frog” and “The Lovely Bones.”

Food & Funny, a dinner show featuring entertainment from comedians Spark Mann and Carlos Valencia, will be held at 8 p.m. at Dubh Linn Irish Pub. Cost is $18 ($10 for the show).

Saturday, Dec. 12

The Surfactants, circa a.m., 550 Million Society and others will perform at this year’s Rock for the Tots concert, which will be held at 9 p.m. at Norm’s in Superior. Cost is $5 or free with a new toy donation.

Eat breakfast with Santa from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at Lakeside Lester Park Community Club, 106 N. 54th Ave. E. Free, but donations will be accepted.

The Tisdales and Mike Nicolai will perform at 10 p.m. at the Rex Liquor Emporium. Details TBA.

Marc Gartband and Nice Bears will perform at 9 p.m. at Sir Ben’s.

The Swedish Cultural Society will present the annual Sankta Lucia Celebration at 9 a.m. at Holiday Inn’s Great Lakes Ballroom downtown. A buffet brunch will be served. Cost is $15 for adults, $8 for children ages 5 to 12 and free for those younger than 5. Call 727-4416 for details.

A host of authors will be signing their books at Northern Lights Books & Gifts in Canal Park: Claudia Myers will sign “A Passion for Piecing” from 11 a.m. to noon; Karin Winegar will sign “Saved: Rescued Animals and the Lives They Transform” from noon to 1 p.m.; Cheryl Dannenbring will sign “Beaver, Bear, Snowshoe Hare” from 1 to 2 p.m.; and Christina Donnell will sign “Transcendent Dreaming” from 2 to 3 p.m.

Chris Monroe will sign her two “Monkey with a Tool Belt” books from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Bookstore at Fitger’s. Also there: Stephen Dahl will sign “Knife Island: Circling a Year in a Herring Skiff” from 2 to 3 p.m. while Stone Circle performs in the store.

Comedy Pro Tour, featuring Spark Mann and Carlos Valencia, will be held at 6:30 and 9 p.m. at Dubh Linn Irish Pub. Cost is $10. Reservations recommended; call 727-1559.

Lake Superior Singles Fellowship, a non-denominational singles group supported by the United Presbyterian Church, will meet at 5 p.m. at Carol’s for a potluck. Call 940-2248 to register.

Exhibits

“Natural World Observed 2009,” which documents every region of the country, will be on display through Dec. 20 at UMD’s Tweed Museum of Art. Free and open to the public.

An exhibit featuring work from UMD faculty will be on display through Jan. 10, 2010, at the university’s Tweed Museum of Art.

Nancy Stone is showing original oil paintings through Sept. 30 at Moxie Hollow, 323 E. Superior St.

Cecilia Lieder’s annual solo exhibit at Northern Prints Gallery, 318 N. 14th Ave. E., will be on display through Jan. 9, 2010. Hours are 1 to 6 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

The Tweed Museum of Art will be showcasing artwork by UMD art and design faculty through Jan. 10, 2010.

The exhibit “A View from Space” will be on display through Jan. 10, 2010, at the Duluth Children’s Museum. Also there: “Moneyville,” which will be on display through Jan. 17, 2010.

“A Silent Unity of Gazes: The Photographic Vision of Luis Gonzalez Palma” will be on display through Jan. 17, 2010, at UMD’s Tweed Museum of Art.

“Form & Surface: Selections from the Glenn C. Nelson Collection” will be on display through Nov. 7, 2010, at UMD’s Tweed Museum of Art.

The free Veterans’ Memorial Hall exhibit “Generations of Service,” which spans roughly 150 years of military service and includes locally donated artifacts, is now open at the Depot. See www.vets-hall.org.