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Minnesota Brown

New route, same cold for Duluth’s Christmas City parade

Posted: 21 Nov 2014 08:25 AM PST

Tonight at 6:25 Duluth, Minnesota, hosts the Christmas City of the North Parade, a longstanding tradition of one of the local TV stations, NBC affiliate KBJR-TV (aka Northland’s NewsCenter). Designed to illicit holiday cheer, and excitement for the shopping season, the Christmas City of the North Parade has always been something of a paradox. For one thing, it’s a Christmas parade that happens before Thanksgiving. For another, it’s an outdoor activity involving standing and marching in thin band uniforms at a time of year when the temperatures are almost always below zero.
Tonight, temperatures in Duluth will creep up to almost the freezing mark, but with a stiff breeze. Also this year, the Christmas City of the North Parade has a new route. The parade will begin 10th Ave. E. on Superior Street and proceed directly down the street to 4th Ave. West. This new route will be better lit and is certainly more direct than the old one, which gathered entrants in a dark industrial alley (think, Episode 2 of “Fargo” on FX, where Gus had his famous “There Be Dragons Here” encounter with Malvo) and took them over an interstate overpass.
The cameras will be set up at the Fitger’s Complex, which is also a change from the last several years.
Propagating the controversy that began last year, KBJR anchors will view and comment on the parade from the warm comfort of Northland’s NewsCenter studios in Canal Park, eschewing the longstanding former practice of setting up outside in the cold with the commoners. Will they again dress in parkas and scarves in front of a green screen like last year?
One good thing is that this fricking awesome owl float will be back. Nothing says Christmas in Northern Minnesota like a GIANT ANIMATRONIC OWL!

A grainy, mysterious phot of an owly mysterious parade float in the Christmas City of the North Parade in Duluth, Minnesota. (PHOTO: Duluth Owls Club)

Grainy, mysterious phot of a mysterious parade float in the Christmas City of the North Parade in Duluth, Minnesota. (PHOTO: Duluth Owls Club)

The weekend also brings the Saturday opening of Bentleyville USA, the spectacular display of holiday lights and music at Bayfront Park. It will be cold there, too. But if you haven’t figured it out yet, that’s the point.
Written by Aaron Brown for Minnesota Brown © 2014 |
New route, same cold for Duluth’s Christmas City parade

It might be cold out, but Minnesota job growth stays hot

Posted: 21 Nov 2014 06:10 AM PST

Minnesota continues its economic expansion. Yesterday, the MN Department of Employment and Economic Development announced another stellar month of job growth in October. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has dipped below 4 percent for the first time since the 2008 recession.
Highlights from the press release:

ST. PAUL – Minnesota employers added 9,500 jobs in October, according to seasonally adjusted figures released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
The October gains, combined with September figures that were revised upward by 2,800 jobs, brought job growth over the past year to 49,679 in Minnesota. The state has added 28,300 jobs over the past three months.
The unemployment rate fell 0.2 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted 3.9 percent, the state’s lowest unemployment rate since June 2006. The U.S. unemployment rate in October was 5.8 percent.
“The state’s pace of job growth has been impressive in the last three months,” said DEED Commissioner Katie Clark Sieben. “These new jobs combined with falling unemployment claims have contributed to Minnesota’s recent recognition as one of the best states in the country for business growth.”

It appears that job growth in the Duluth region was flat. The region’s unemployment is still slightly higher than the state average due to higher unemployment on the Iron Range and in other rural parts of the Arrowhead.

NOVEMBER 21st, 2014
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