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August 6, 2015
Swimming holes of DuluthIn this Lake Superior town, rivers are the place to cool off.
In Duluth, there's water, water everywhere — and nary a place to swim. In Lake Superior, anyway. If you try to cool off in the frigid lake, you'll probably run out immediately, shrieking. Early tourist brochures touted Duluth as "The Air-Conditioned City,'' and the vast waters of the big lake keep it cool, at least until July. Then it heats up, and the locals — few of whom have actual air conditioners — head for water. People do swim in Lake Superior, mostly children from Park Point beaches and teens showing off for each other on the concrete "cribs'' off Canal Park. The rest of us prefer the warmer waters of rivers. And because all of the rivers tumble down the hill toward Lake Superior, they all have little waterfalls you can sit under, for a Jacuzzi effect. Best bets for the weekendHop from art fair to music fest to food feast.
These are the golden days of summer, unless you live around Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, which got walloped by straight-line winds this week, or the Brainerd Lakes of Minnesota, which got them last month. The Empire area will recover as quickly as Brainerd did, and both need tourist dollars. It's a big weekend for music festivals, from the giant WE Fest in Detroit Lakes, Minn., where you'll pay $175 to hear Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert and Rascal Flatts, to Ashley for the Arts in little Arcadia, Wis., where you'll pay $5 to hear The Fray, Frankie Valli, Easton Corbin, Sean Hayes and a dozen other acts. In Appleton, it's free to hear most of the 180 acts along the Mile of Music on College Avenue downtown. The Twin Cities will be hopping, so try using the ubiquitous Nice Ride bikes to get between festivals, including art fairs in Uptown and Powderhorn and Loring parks in south Minneapolis and Polish Festival in southeast Minneapolis. In St. Paul, take a series of scenic bike trails — we call it the Twin Cities History Ride — to get to Irish Fair on Harriet Island. In the St. Paul suburbs, bicycle the Gateway State Trail to the Square Lake Film & Music Festival and get half-price tickets. In Milwaukee, use the Hank Aaron State Trail to get to the Wisconsin State Fair, just because it's a good way to work off the cream puffs. And in western Michigan, bike trails radiate from Lake Michigan beach towns. You can work off those slices of blueberry pie and pancakes by riding the Kal-Haven Bike Trail to or from South Haven's Blueberry Festival. Next weekendOn stages and in the sky, see feats of nerve and nuttiness.
Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. There's a ton of free entertainment, including 45 contests, such as mom-calling, joke-telling, rooster-crowing and outhouse-racing. Aug. 13-23. Air & Water Show in Chicago. The 57th annual free show features aerobatics, extreme flying and parachuting off North Avenue Beach. Aug. 15-16. Irish Fest in Milwaukee. The nation's largest Irish festival features more than 100 acts on 16 stages, plus red hair and freckle contests, tugs of war and Irish dog demonstrations. In Henry Maier Festival Park. Aug. 13-16. Tug Fest in LeClaire, Iowa, and Port Byron, Ill. These towns stretch a
680-pound, 2,400-foot rope across the Mississippi River for the ultimate
tug of war (score so far: llinois 17, Iowa 11). There's
also music, games, fireworks and a parade. Aug. 13-15. For more events, see our Events Calendar.
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