iron range

The Highway 53 relocation project is just about finished. Minnesota's tallest bridge opened overnight, and this morning we took our first drive across. I had my wife video the drive starting from where the route change begins heading south out of Virginia, MN.

The massive bridge project is nearing an end for the Highway 53 relocation project, and the group Bridge Daze is looking for your help to name it.  People can vote from now until September 1st from 5 names.

I recently officiated a wedding at Fortune Bay Casino. That's about 2 hours from our home in Duluth, so we decided to stay at a campground nearby and chose the HooDoo Point Campground.  We had driven through it the year before and liked the sites right on the lake. After staying there for a weekend, here’s what we thought.

I was a bit shocked this morning when I found out this morning that Dick Enrico, former owner of 2nd Wind Exercise Equipment, grew up in Chisholm.  I talked to our co-worker Steve, who grew up in Chisholm and he had even more surprising information to share.

Christopher Lloyd stars in 'I Am Not A Serial Killer' that's been filmed on the Iron Range in Virginia, MN.  The story follows a teenager, played by Max Records, who has homicidal tendencies and an obsession with death.  While he tries to suppress his own feelings, things get complicated when an actual murderer starts killing people in his small town.

I grew up on the range, right on Main Street in Biwabik, MN.  There were two holidays that really got you excited as a kid.  One was obviously Christmas, and the next was Independence Day.  I thought that everywhere celebrated The 4th of July like we did.  It wasn't until I grew up and moved away that I realized it wasn't as big of a deal in other places.

I took my family up to Laskiainen Festival in Palo, MN this weekend.  Laskiainen (lus-key-eye-nen) is a Finnish celebration of the changing seasons.  Locally, there is a celebration every year in Palo, and this was actually our first time going.   We were excited to try out the sliding hill!  When we go there, it was a little more intense than we imagined.

My family and I are traveling up North to the Laskiainen Finnish Sliding Festival in Palo.  It's a Finnish tradition of celebrating the coming of spring and preparing for the upcoming season.  There's arts, crafts, music, food, and most importantly a sliding hill.  Cathy's had some problems in the past pronouncing these Northern Minnesotan festivals, (who can blame her) so I wanted to see how she

Not a lot of people I know have tried Ham Salad Spread, but it was a pretty common thing for me growing up on the range.   It actually has been referred to as Funeral Spread before as well.   Not because it kills you, but because odds are if you were at a funeral on the Iron Range, the church ladies would usually make this.

Forget the fact that locally-sourced meals have become all the rage;  truth be told - food is just simply better tasting and better for you when it comes from a local farm.  The carrot that comes from the ground in Lakewood Township trumps the one that spent two weeks on a train coming from Argentina.  Add in the fact that there are (usually) less preservatives and the question about whether or no

Yesterday in Virginia, MN miners, their families, retirees, community leaders, and other unions marched together in the Solidarity in Steel Rally and March.  Roughly 2,000 people participated in their "Fair Contract Now" fight.

The mining industry on the Iron Range has certainly been in the news lately.  Some good news, like laid off workers being asked back, some not so good news with closures that include an iconic tourist destination, Mineview in the Sky