city bites reports and reconnaissance from the street

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100-mile garage sale
Each May, devout trinket-lovers trek to the Mississippi River Valley for their holiest of holidays: the
100-mile Garage Sale. Shops and residences between Red Wing and Winona in Minnesota, and Alma
and Bay City in Wisconsin greet these weary pilgrims with their finest Beanie Babies, license plates
and other secondhand ephemera. Not into flipping through old copies of Life? Think of this giant
treasure hunt as an excuse to explore the cool old towns—Lake City, Minn., Nelson, Wis. (famous
for its namesake cheese factory)—that line the river. May 1–2; maps with participating stores and
residences available in gas stations and visitor centers in each town; mississippi-river.org

themetro5 What we love, where to find it and sometimes why.

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Down the Block
Everywhere you look, writ-
ers are becoming bloggers
and bloggers are becoming
authors. Minneapolis scribes
are no different: Language afi-
cionado and blogger Metro-
lingua just released an anthol-
ogy about life in the city called
Down the Block. Minneapo-
lis-based writer/blogger Mary
photo: duluth homegrown music fest by richard Narum (www.duluthiscool.com)

O’Regan (who, full disclosure, Take-a-Mom Fishing Weekend

doubles as METRO’s fashion Show mom the love she deserves this month by getting her out on the
editor) and Kelly Krantz gave lake. On May 9 and 10, to coincide with Mother’s Day and the statewide
their two cents on Twin Cities fishing opener, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will not
livin’ alongside essays about require mothers to have fishing licenses—in other words, free fishing!
Chicago, L.A. and a dozen (How they plan to verify motherhood, we have no idea.) Nothing says “I
other urban locales. metrolin- love you” like a quiet day on the water with the woman who bore you.
gua.wordpress.com Be a sport and bait the hook for her. dnr.state.mn.us

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Duluth Homegrown Music Festival You know what the Twin Cities need? A real Lilydale Garden Center
music festival. The kind where 150 local bands play in venues all over town for an entire Dying to get your hands dirty planting? Venture
week. The kind that pulls an entire city together, the kind that defines a community, the
kind… wait, that already exists; it just happens to be 150 miles to the north. The Duluth
off the path­—beaten by the hordes going to
Homegrown Music Festi- the big-box nurseries—and head to Lilydale
val, now in its 11th year, is taking over the Garden Center to gather up your beautiful new
port city April 26-May 3, featuring all young’uns. Located at the intersection of I-35E
kinds of crazy talent, including Trampled
by Turtles and the Retribution Gospel
and Highway 13, this cozy spot has a fantastic
Choir. Don’t miss the Alrights—D-town’s staff and a great variety of quality plants. It’s the
newest next-big-thing—at Pizza Lucé on kind of place that makes you happy just to be
May 1. duluthhomegrown.com there. lilydalegardencenter.com

05.09 METRO 019