Best bets: Ford's trek, lots of music, and oddities at Glensheen

Emily Ford, the Glensheen gardener who made a historic through-hike on the Ice Age National Scenic Trail with her sidekick Diggins, will be featured on an episode of “Prairie Sportsman” that airs at 4 p.m. June 5 on WDSE PBS North.

Ford, the second person and first woman to complete this trek, worked her way from Door County to the Interstate Park less than two months later — all the while offering something to root for to the home-viewing audience cuddled up snuggly in front of Instagram. The more-than-1,100-mile hike attracted national attention — including News Tribune coverage, Backpacker magazine and documentary filmmakers. It’s a story worth reading about-watching-listening to in all its incarnations.

RELATED: They did it! Emily Ford, Diggins finish 1,136-mile trek across Wisconsin's Ice Age Trail After 69 days on the trail, Ford becomes only the second person on record to complete a winter thru-hike of the trail.

Singer-songwriter Keller Williams, a heavy-touring guitar star whose most recent record, “Cell,” dips into moments of robotic zings and the sweet sound of oozing neon, is scheduled to play a show at 7 p.m. June 6 at Earth Rider Festival Field. Williams, who first emerged in the mid-1990s, is known for his live shows and the way he single-handedly creates a DIY performance. Tickets: $35 at eventbrite.com .

Last week, Al Church released on his YouTube page a video for his single “Divorce Your Ego” — vintage footage of dancing ladies set to a catchy, layered and insightful song. “Never found a question to reveal you to me / Divorce your ego floating in the creek.” Church is a Minneapolis artist with roots in Duluth.

The quarantine was a productive period, he says on Patreon. He is in the middle of a project called “The Song Rainbow,” which gives potential collaborators the opportunity to reimagine the music.

Pete Fest, which this year features
musicians Charlie Parr, Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, Jen West & The Cold Shoulders and more, is a four-day festival held annually at Wussow’s Concert Café. The theme: It’s billed as a “celebration of good friends, music, art and community,” and it tends to fall around the birthday of Pete Cich — the sound engineer-social media-booker for the West Duluth café-art haven. Pete Fest runs June 6-12, with tickets available at wussows.com .

Schedule

June 8: Charlie Parr, Cory Coffman, 7 p.m.

June 10: Low, Mississippi Mike Wolf, New Salty Dog, 6 p.m.

June 11: Rick McLean, Jeffrey James O’Loughlin, 7 p.m.

June 12: Jen West & The Cold Shoulders, Sonofmel, 7 p.m.

Glensheen Obscura is a new exhibit showing off some of what’s behind the closet doors at the Congdon mansion (there are 23, we’re told) — oftentimes pieces that were purchased during the family’s travels abroad.

Expect to see dolls that have aged creepily, maps, an instrument called an angklung. A wooden skull with an ivory snake entwined is an inkwell.

The exhibition opens on June 4 and runs through the summer. Glensheen is open daily from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.