DULUTH — If you're at all interested in Finnish culture, you're already aware that this week sees FinnFest return to Duluth. For more on that and other big summer events, check out our weekend fun guide. Here are six more ideas for things to experience this week.
All Pints Eve Hootenanny With apologies to Minnesota's largest brewery down in St. Paul, Saturday, July 27, in Duluth marks the summit of the summer for Upper Midwest craft beverage fans. All Pints North is set to fill Bayfront Festival Park with over 90 breweries and many times that number of people eager to sample their wares.
Of course, beer lovers won't want to wait to get the tasting started — particularly those coming from out of town and want to make the most of their limited time in the self-declared Beer Capital of Minnesota. That's where Bent Paddle Brewing comes in, hosting an All Pints Eve Hootenanny on Friday, July 26, with live music from Funk N Spuds, Sugar on the Roof and Theory of Light. Sunhee's Little Table food truck will roll in with sustenance, there will be lawn games aplenty and the brewery will tap some small-batch pilot beers for those beer lovers who have tried everything (bentpaddlebrewing.
com). ADVERTISEMENT Nur-D at Glensheen Nur-D is a Twin Cities hip-hop artist with a fresh perspective and an irrepressible sense of fun. His live show is a Minnesota must-see, and Wednesday, July 24, he'll be bringing it to the Glensheen pier.
The show promises to be one of the summer's best parties, with opener Boku Frequency to warm up the crowd. Get ready for the show by listening to Nur-D's most recent album, "Crush" (2023), which features jams including "Big Boi" and a number that plenty of Duluthians can doubtless relate to: "All My Friends Are So Hot" (glensheen.org).
Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra On Thursday, July 25, the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra will close out its concert season with a special event honoring founder Warren Friesen, who has retired. Friesen will join current conductor Ho-Yin Kwok for a program at Weber Music Hall featuring James Zabawa-Martinez playing solo violin in Alyssa Wang's violin concerto "Swept Away." Friesen will conduct two pieces performed by the orchestra side-by-side with students from the orchestra's Quartet Project summer program.
On top of all that, there will be a 4:30 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate the orchestra's membership in the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce (lakesuperiorchamberorchestra.
com). Wussow's turns 25 Wussow's Concert Cafe is celebrating a quarter-century as a live music landmark in Spirit Valley, and how else to celebrate but with a concert? Over two nights Friday, July 26, and Saturday, July 27, several acts will take the stage. ADVERTISEMENT Friday's show features Woodblind (with cafe owner Jason Wussow himself), A Band Called Truman, Brasszilla and DJ Norby; while Saturday's show stars Super D & the Double Chucks along with Emma Lee Hart and Ian Alexy (wussows.
com). Craig Blacklock Craig Blacklock is to Lake Superior photographers as Aaron Copland is to American composers: popular, polished and sometimes experimental. A new exhibit opening Friday, July 26, at the Joseph Nease Gallery comprises four "movements" of photographs that capture "the essence of Lake Superior's reflective surfaces.
" If you're surprised to learn the photographer responsible for some of the region's most popular landscape posters has recently been influenced by glitch art, you may want to pop in and take a look. The artist himself will be at the gallery for a reception and artist talk Aug. 8 (josephneasegallery.
com). Zoo La Palooza If you really want to show your hardcore cred as a patron of the Lake Superior Zoo, you'll arrive at this year's Zoo La Palooza with a fresh tattoo of Tundra the bear. On Friday, July 26, Gitchee Gumee Tattoo is holding a flash sale with select designs available at special prices, with a portion of proceeds going to the zoo (facebook.
com/gitcheegumeetattoo). Whether or not you get animal ink, you're invited to attend Zoo La Palooza on the evening of Tuesday, July 30, with activities and entertainment for all ages (lszoo.org).
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