Star Tribune
Popular downtown Grand Marais custard and pizza shop burns down
DULUTH — On Monday morning, Bruce Block negotiated a deal to sell a longtime popular seasonal custard shop in Grand Marais that he named for the daughter who was his youngest at the time it was built.
Block second-guessed himself after it was done — did he really want to sell what had become a downtown favorite of locals and tourists? As he drove out of town, he got a phone call: Sydney’s Frozen Custard and Wood-Fired Pizza was on fire.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office said the fire started at 11:09 a.m., and firefighters from Grand Marais and nearby departments worked to put it out into the afternoon.
It’s a total loss, according to Block, a contractor. The cause is still uncertain, but he suspects squirrels in the wiring based on a chewed up bottle of chocolate he saw before the fire.
“It’s a bizarre day,” Block said. “I can’t believe the universe is constituted in such a way that these things happen.”
The Cook County Historical Society wrote in a Facebook post that the custard shop was built on land that was originally part of the Voyageur Trading Post property.
“There wasn’t anything there when we built it,” Block said. “It was just beach gravel.”
First it was a custard shop named for the baby of the family — the mascot, he said. In the early years, the shop’s namesake claimed the business as her own. Later, Block said, the novelty wore off for young Sydney — she refused to let anyone call her by her first name when they were in the vicinity of the shop.
Sydney’s grew to include pita wraps, then gyros, Chicago-style hotdogs, and eventually wood-fired pizzas on its menu. It’s been a Grand Marais fixture for 21 years and is the last stop before the town’s Artist Point — a spot known for its scenic views and jagged rocks near the Grand Marais Coast Guard Station.
Linda Jurek, executive director of Visit Cook County, reported a busy scene at the fire which was contained mostly to the restaurant. The memory of the April 2020 fire that destroyed the Crooked Spoon restaurant and nearby retail spaces was fresh on her mind.
Block’s, too. He had done roof work on that restaurant and was delivering the bill for the work when he saw that fire — which also happened the day after Easter. This time, when Block pulled up to Sydney’s, Nathan Hingos of the Crooked Spoon was there for him.
“He found me and gave me a big hug,” he said. “I’d been standing there next to him watching his restaurant burn three years ago.”
The fire offered a bit of clarity to Block and by Monday evening he had a tentative plan.
“Now I’m thinking I might as well rebuild it,” he said.
The Lynx are in the hot seat.
The team lost Game 3 of the WNBA Finals series against the New York Liberty on Wednesday night 77-80, setting the stage for a decisive match at Target Center on Friday night. Fans in the arena reacted with resounding disappointment after Sabrina Ionescu sunk a three-pointer to break away from the tie game and dashed the Lynx’s chance at forcing overtime.
Before we get to the reactions, first things first: The Lynx set an attendance record, filling Target Center with 19,521 spectators for the first time in franchise history. That’s nearly 500 more than when Caitlin Clark was in town with the Indiana Fever earlier this year.
Despite leading by double digits for much of the game, the Lynx began the fourth quarter with a one-point lead over the Liberty and struggled to stay more than two or three points ahead throughout.
The Liberty took the lead with minutes to go in the fourth quarter and folks were practically despondent.
Of course, there were people who were in it solely for the spectacle. Nothing more.
The Lynx took a commanding lead early in the first quarter and ended the first half in winning position, setting a particularly jovial mood among the fanbase to start the game.
Inside Target Center, arena announcers spent a few minutes before the game harassing Lynx fans — and Liberty fans — who had not yet donned the complementary T-shirts draped over every seat.
DULUTH – The Minnesota and Wisconsin transportation departments will make upgrades to the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge in the summer of 2025, in preparation for the structure to become the premiere route between this city and Superior during reconstruction of the Blatnik Bridge.
Built in 1961, the Blatnik Bridge carries 33,000 vehicles per day along Interstate 535 and Hwy. 53. It will be entirely rebuilt, starting in 2027, with the help of $1 billion in federal funding announced earlier this year. MnDOT and WisDOT are splitting the remaining costs of the project, about $4 million each.
According to MnDOT, projects on the Bong Bridge will include spot painting, concrete surface repairs to the bridge abutments, concrete sealer on the deck, replacing rubber strip seal membranes on the main span’s joints and replacing light poles on the bridge and its points of entry. It’s expected to take two months, transportation officials said during a recent meeting at the Superior Public Library.
During this time there will be occasional lane closures, detours at the off-ramps, and for about three weeks the sidewalk path alongside the bridge will be closed.
The Bong Bridge, which crosses the St. Louis River, opened to traffic in 1985 and is the lesser-used of the two bridges. Officials said they want to keep maintenance to a minimum on the span during the Blatnik project, which is expected to take four years.
Red Wing will celebrate the grand opening of its first permanent set of pickleball courts next week with an “inaugural play” on the six courts at Colvill Park on the banks of the Mississippi, between a couple of marinas and next to the aquatic center.
Among the first to get to play on the new courts will be David Anderson, who brought pickleball to the local YMCA in 2008, before the nationwide pickleball craze took hold, and Denny Yecke, at 92 the oldest pickleball player in Red Wing.
The inaugural play begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday, with a rain date of the next day. Afterward will be food and celebration at the Colvill Park Courtyard building.
Tim Sletten, the city’s former police chief, discovered America’s fastest-growing sport a decade ago after he retired. With fellow members of the Red Wing Pickleball Group, he’d play indoors at the local YMCA or outdoors at a local school, on courts made for other sports. But they didn’t have a permanent place, so they approached the city about building one.
When a city feasibility study came up with a high cost, about $350,000, Sletten’s group got together to raise money.
The courts are even opening ahead of schedule, originally set for 2025.
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