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August 18, 2016 This newsletter is brought to you by Pedal Minnesota. Graveyard of the Great LakesFor 200 years, a bottleneck on the east end of Lake Superior has claimed ships and lives.
In 1816, the first schooner built for Lake Superior shipping also became first to sink. It was called the Invincible, but it was no match for winds whipping off the east end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Invincible wreck was the first of hundreds along what become known as the Shipwreck Coast. The last — we hope — was the Edmund Fitzgerald, which went down in 1975 with 29 lives lost. At Whitefish Point, not far from the Soo Locks, the lake narrows into a funnel where shipping lanes converge, visibility is poor and northwesters reach full
fury, building up over 200 miles of open water. Lake Superior's first lighthouse was built here in 1848, urged on by New York editor Horace Greeley: "Every month's delay is virtual manslaughter," he wrote. Best bets for the weekendSee schooners, salties, water-skiers and parachutists.
For the biggest spectacles this weekend, keep your eyes on sky and shore. A Spanish galleon and a swarm of schooners are sailing into Duluth, and so is a raft of lakers and salties. The Viking ship Draken Harald Harfagre won't be there, but a puppet troupe is honoring it with a show and Bent Paddle with a new beer, Drakenvit. In Lake Geneva, Venetian Festival includes a boat parade and performance of the Wonder Lake Water Ski Show Team, which won the national championship last week. In Wausau, watch hot-dogging whitewater kayakers at the Midwest Freestyle Championships. On Lake Michigan, see jets draw curlicues in the clouds at Chicago's free Air & Water Show, balloons glow in Manitowoc and experts fly kites in Algoma. At St. Paul's Como Park, there's a Japanese Lantern Lighting Festival. It's a good weekend to gorge, with festivals celebrating sweet corn, peppers, wild blueberries, coffee, fudge and watermelon. At the Iowa State Fair, it's your last chance to try ice-cream nachos and funnel bacon on a stick. At Yum Yum Fest in Madison, try roasted lamb belly with hop-leaf tabbouleh. We're guessing there's also great food at two India Fests, one in St. Paul and one in Milwaukee (not to be confused with Irish Fest, also in Milwaukee). If you miss the Iowa State Fair, the Minnesota State Fair starts next week. And if you miss the tall ships in Duluth, you can catch three of them next weekend in Marquette: El Galeon, the Pride of Baltimore II and Gen. George Patton's yacht When and If, which will be offering excursions. Next weekendGot an odd skill? Enter contests at fairs and fiestas.
Mexican Fiesta in Milwaukee. Enjoy the best of Mexican culture: mariachi, arts and crafts, spicy foods and contests: dance, costume, jalapeno-eating and el grito, or shouting. Aug. 26-28. Potato Days in Barnesville, Minn. This goofy festival features mashed-potato wrestling, a golden potato hunt, potato car races, peeling and eating contests and a Saturday parade. Aug. 26-27. Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul. Watch the new grilling and barrel-racing contests, eat food on a stick, listen to free concerts and watch the 2 p.m. daily parade. Aug. 25-Sept. 5. Harbor Fest in Marquette, Mich. This Lake Superior town celebrates with rock music, a classic car and motorcycle show, a luge run, inflatables for kids and tours of three tall ships. Aug. 26-28. For more events, see our Events Calendar. (A word from our sponsor) Taking in the scenery from Minnesota's bicycle trails In Minnesota, the best views of the late-summer landscape are from a bicycle. Wildflowers line the nation's longest paved trail, the Paul Bunyan in northern Minnesota, which stretches 123 miles from Lake Bemidji to Crow Wing State Park on the Mississippi near Brainerd. That connects to the 47-mile Heartland State Trail, which runs through a series of lake-resort towns. Waterfowl are plentiful in lakes and bogs along the 55-mile Central Lakes Trail. That links to the 50-mile Lake Wobegon Trail, whose small towns inspired the stories of humorist Garrison Keillor. Bicycle tourists from around the nation love Minnesota's paved trails. Many are the perfect length for a weekend of cycling, and others for a day trip or tour, such as Saturday's North Shore Bike Ride on the Gitchi-Gami State Trail along Lake Superior. Take a look at Minnesota's scenic touring trails, then pick one to try out. It's a great way to enjoy the last days of summer!
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