Duluth Monitor

12/10/2025

Park #9--Lester Park Golf Course.

12/10/2025

During today's walk on the Lester Park Golf Course, we encountered half a dozen off-leash dogs. The dogs were happy, but we were less so.

12/10/2025

As Duluth enters ski season, someone decided to tear up the freshly groomed Nordic trails in Piedmont with a motorized vehicle of some kind. According to Rachelle Walker (who took this photo) this is an ongoing problem.

“It’s been happening every Friday night when there is snow on the trails since last year,” Walker told the Monitor. “Really a shame since it’s very difficult to ski on the trails after this happens … I’ve heard the city is trying to find funding to install a gate at the trailhead, but I’m not sure on the timeline. All other ski trailheads have gates except Piedmont.”

In the meantime, perhaps the skiers should consider investing in a trail camera.

12/10/2025

12/09/2025

At today's Rice Lake City Hall employee luncheon, staff and city councilors did a good job of recreating "The Last Supper," featuring Councilor Mike Hendrickson in the role of Christ.

12/09/2025

Today, the Monitor attended the holiday employee luncheon at Rice Lake City Hall, where we received a charming message of good cheer from City Councilor Bob Quade.

12/09/2025

Packed house at the City Council tonight. The Council is considering transferring land from the closed Lester Park Golf Course to the Duluth Economic Development Authority to be prepared for development.

The transfer of parkland requires at least 8 affirmative Council votes to proceed--meaning 2 No votes would stop the transfer.

12/08/2025

Today, the Monitor received an email from Swim Creative CEO Patrice Bradley, in which she defended her agency’s use of stock photographs to illustrate online promotions of Superior—even if those photographs do not depict anything in Superior. Bradley says “the goal is to convey an experience, mood, or sense of place that aligns with what visitors can genuinely expect here.” She does not say the goal is to present accurate photographs.

One example the Monitor found especially egregious occurred last February, when Swim Creative made a blog post encouraging people to visit Wisconsin Point to see the blue ice—but the images of blue ice they used to illustrate the post were stock images from Lake Baikal, in Russia. Swim edited out the mountains in the background to make the pictures seem more like Wisconsin Point.

Bradley thinks that’s just fine. She writes:

“You mentioned blue ice. I actually went out last spring to capture it myself, but the conditions—and my iPhone—couldn’t fully capture the phenomenon in a way that met our standards. In moments like these, experience-first imagery helps us illustrate what visitors might encounter, even if we don’t yet have the perfect local shot on file.”

That’s right—Swim Creative used a stock photo from halfway around the world to represent Wisconsin Point because they were adhering to high standards.

Why didn’t they say the photo was from Lake Baikal? Why don't they accurately label all their photos?

The underlying goal is deceit: They want people to believe the photos are taken in Superior.

https://duluthmonitor.com/2025/12/07/gotta-be-superior-website-misleads-visitors-with-stock-images/

12/08/2025

The Monitor had fun reviewing stock images on the Gotta Be Superior website for our latest story. We learned about a lot of new places in Superior which we never knew existed. One of our favorites is the rushing mountain stream on the Pokegama Trail. We've been on the trail many times, but somehow we always missed the stream. And the mountain. It's exciting.

https://duluthmonitor.com/2025/12/07/gotta-be-superior-website-misleads-visitors-with-stock-images/

12/08/2025

It's bad.

With reporting by Amorin Mello Since 2022, Swim Creative, a Duluth marketing firm, has been contract... A subscription is required to access this article. Subscribe or click login below: Login

12/07/2025

Festive holiday lights.