Here’s to Happier Adventures in Duluth

Residents of Duluth are receiving countless positive thoughts, prayers and good wishes this week as they continue to recover from a record-setting flash flood that has likely caused millions of dollars in damage.

I’m not going to review the details of the disaster in my blog (you can get that background by reading today’s Minnesota Public Radio story here). But I did want to bring up the topic of the Lake Superior Zoo; if you have followed the flooding news at all, you have no doubt heard that some animals died and others were temporarily displaced by the flooding (as this June 22 MPR story explains). I have to confess, although I’ve visited Duluth at least a dozen times in my life – most recently about four years ago with Steve and the kids – I didn’t realize the city had a zoo.

If I’d read my G. Oliver Riggs files more closely, however, I’d have known. Turns out, G. Oliver and his 90-member St. Cloud Municipal Senior Boys’ Band toured the zoo in August 1934 when they were in Duluth for the American Legion state convention.

The two-day Duluth trip must have been quite an adventure because I’ve seen it mentioned a couple of times in G. Oliver’s files. The St. Cloud boys placed first among 26 bands in the Legion’s torchlight parade competition, which included five official American Legion bands. The St. Cloud band also received awards for largest delegation and boxcar traveling the longest distance.

An excerpt from an article in the Aug. 7, 1934, St. Cloud Daily Times

The band members had some free time after the parade to go sightseeing; they took a boat trip on Lake Superior, visited Morgan Park (a planned community built by the U.S. Steel Corporation), and toured the zoo (which was relatively new at that point; it opened in 1923, and its first animal was a pet deer named Billy). According to a story in the Aug. 8, 1934, St. Cloud Daily Times, the older boys who had been on other band trips said this one was the best yet.

The St. Cloud Municipal Boys’ Band in 1934

Also during the trip, the band performed a free concert for Duluth residents at the courthouse square. The article didn’t mention how many people attended the concert, but it did say “many citizens flocked around G. Oliver Riggs, director, and the boys, after the concert, to express their appreciation of the courtesy, and to give their praise.”

Our family is planning to spend a few days in Duluth in August (this was part of a family vacation we had planned before the flooding). We haven’t finalized our itinerary yet – it likely won’t include a visit to the zoo – but we are looking forward to the adventure, and we’re happy to do what we can to support the city with our tourism dollars as it continues to recuperate from the flood.