Best Bets: Happy Hour Markets come to Duluth

Image of wind vane festooned with depiction of the Aerial Lift Bridge — You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows when you're at Canal Park Brewing Co., which is festooned with an Aerial Lift Bridge wind vane.

By Jay Gabler

June 01, 2022 08:01 AM

DULUTH — This summer, the Greater Downtown Council is convening a series of Happy Hour Markets: opportunities to support local makers while hoisting a glass of locally crafted after-work refreshment. The events will take place each Tuesday in June, July and August at venues that rotate monthly.

June's venue is Canal Park Brewing Co., where the first Happy Hour Market will take place June 7 from 4-7 p.m. Vendors will include Cabernet Woodcrafts & Designs, Cold Water Ring Co., Eagleview Metal Works, Lupine Meadows Flower Truck, NorShor Wood Shop, Shelly B's BeadUCentless and Superior Cannabis Co. For more information, see downtownduluth.com.

St. Olaf Orchestra play music of Northland

Overhead photo of St. Olaf Orchestra members posing together with their instruments. — The St. Olaf Orchestra will perform at Duluth's First Lutheran Church on Wednesday, June 1.

The St. Olaf Orchestra are bringing lots of instrumental color to First Lutheran Church on Wednesday, June 1, at 7 p.m. Their program will include Igor Stravinsky's "Firebird," one of the most thrilling pieces in the standard classical repertoire; and the first symphony penned by composer Matthew Peterson, a St. Olaf alumnus. Peterson's symphony is titled "The Singing Wilderness," taking its inspiration from naturalist Sigurd Olson's classic 1956 book about what is now the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and Canada's Quetico National Park. This is the last concert tour the orchestra will take with conductor Steven Amundson, who's retiring after 40 years of leadership. For more information, see facebook.com/stolaforchestra.

Art at the aquarium

A painting of a verdant creekside is seen on an easel, positioned in front of the subject matter. — The work of Duluth painter Kelly Schamberger.

As Duluthians may know better than most, it's easy to take incredible resources for granted when they're just sitting there in front of you. If you haven't been to the Great Lakes Aquarium in a while, you might consider taking the excuse to visit when exhibitions rotate at the Merrill Lynch Fine Arts Gallery. This Thursday, the work of Duluth painter Kelly Schamberger — an alumna of the Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art — goes on display in a show called "Immersed in the Pause." Schamberger and the aquarium will celebrate the opening with a Wednesday, June 8, reception from 6-8 p.m. For details, see glaquarium.org.

Xanadu at the NorShor

Poster showing two women in the bottom left of the picture looking up towards a man in a white suit in the top right of the picture. "Everybody's talking about it. It's terrific!" appears in the top right of the picture. "Orson Welles" appears in block letters between the women and the man in the white suit. "Citizen Kane" appears in red and yellow block letters tipped 60° to the right. The remaining credits are listed in fine print in the bottom right. — Sometimes movies actually live up to the hype, as seen in this poster for the original theatrical release of "Citizen Kane."

No, not the 1980 Olivia Newton-John fantasy: Xanadu as in the sprawling mansion of Charles Foster Kane, the ambitious but lonely character at the center of "Citizen Kane." The 1941 Orson Welles movie has long been hailed as one of the towering masterpieces of cinema, and its genesis was the subject of David Fincher's Oscar-winning Netflix film "Mank" (2020). It's playing as part of the NorShor Theatre's Classic Film Series at 6 p.m. Sunday. Just don't let anyone spoil it for you if you don't already know what "Rosebud" means! For information, see norshortheatre.com.

Olga Walker Awards

Angeline Boulley, author of "Firekeeper's Daughter," will appear at a Duluth Library Foundation awards banquet Sunday.

The nice thing about having an awards banquet at brunch is that it leaves the evening free for reading. That's particularly important to patrons of the Duluth Public Library, which will be presenting its annual Olga Walker Awards at noon Sunday. The awards honor Duluthians who have supported the library, but the real guest of honor at The Garden will be author Angeline Boulley, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Her 2021 young adult novel "Firekeeper's Daughter" is set to become a Netflix series under the auspices of Higher Ground, the production company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama. For details, see duluthlibraryfoundation.org.

Virginia music series launches

The Olcott Park fountain and pool in Virginia.

Everyone wants to play Virginia! That's according to the city's Parks and Rec director Brian Silber, who said in a news release: "Our summer concert series committee was overwhelmed with the number of bands that submitted applications this year to play." The committee heroically narrowed the applicants down to 13 artists who will set up in front of Olcott Park's historic fountain each Tuesday from 6-8 p.m. starting June 7 and continuing through Aug. 30. Brothers Burn Mountain are the kickoff act in the series, which also includes Iron Range Funk Machine (July 5); Rich Mattson and the Northstars (July 19); and a National Night Out celebration with DJ Derrick Kinney (Aug. 2). For the complete lineup of the free series, see virginiamn.us.

By Jay Gabler

Arts and entertainment reporter Jay Gabler joined the Duluth News Tribune in February 2022. His previous experience includes eight years as a digital producer at The Current (Minnesota Public Radio), four years as theater critic at Minneapolis alt-weekly City Pages, and six years as arts editor at the Twin Cities Daily Planet. He's a co-founder of pop culture and creative writing blog The Tangential; and a member of the National Book Critics Circle. You can reach him at jgabler@duluthnews.com or 218-279-5536.