VisitDuluth.com :: Membership News Brief

March 20, 2009

MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Gail Walkowiak, Director of Market Services, Visit Duluth

Visit Duluth welcomes the following new members:

Tim Nelson
Red Star Night Club
600 East Superior Street
Duluth, MN 55802
(218) 723-STAR (7827)
www.redstarclub.us
Enjoy dancing and live entertainment! Open Tuesday-Saturday 7 pm-2 am.

Shannon Szymkowiak
Whole Foods Co-op Fog City Deli
610 East 4th Street
Duluth, MN 55805
(218) 728-0884
(218) 728-0490 fax
info@wholefoods.coop
www.wholefoods.coop
Organic produce, vegetarian deli & bulk foods. Open weekdays 7 am-9 pm and weekends 8 am-8 pm.

Mary Ross
Madeline Island Ferry Line, Inc.
825 Main Street
La Pointe, WI 54850
(715) 747-2051
(715) 747-2355 fax
vacation@madelineisland.com
www.madferry.com
Welcome aboard! Just a 90-minute drive from Duluth, come experience beautiful Lake Superior scenery and visit Madeline Island. Enjoy the 2.5 mile ride between Bayfield and the Island on one of four ferries offering spectacular views of the Apostle Islands. Relax and let the magic of Lake Superior weave its spell. Walk, bike, or drive on deck.

BROCHURE EXCHANGES
The first of five brochure exchanges will be held Friday, March 27 from 2 pm-4 pm in the Visit Duluth conference room. If you have brochures, we would love to display them. Bring in your brochure and pick up other members’ brochures, as well as the new 2009 Visitor Guide. We will distribute your brochures to the waterfront information center as well.

Snacks and beverages will be served. Hope to see you all there!

Future dates:
Thursday, May 14
Thursday, June 11
Thursday, July 16
Thursday, August 6

SPOTLIGHT ON A MEMBER
Lori Steinbach, Travel Information Manager, Visit Duluth

Our spotlight on a member for March is Cottage on the Point. Visit Duluth extends our appreciation to Patricia Burns, owner, for her response.

“We started Cottage on the Point in 2005. We didn’t really choose the location, it chose us. The cottage was my husband’s home until our marriage – after which we built a new home on the property that he owned and that contained the cottage. It is this wonderful 1880 home that is rumored to be the second oldest house on Park Point. It is full of wonderful charm and quirky features – including crooked floors because it is on a post foundation and some have settled more than others. In the debate over what to do with the home, the idea of a weekly vacation rental arose. That seemed to be a perfect solution. It seemed only natural to share the great amenities that come from living on the point with a select group of vacationers. My son and I spent six months working on the cottage – taking a hundred years of tarnish off of chandeliers and door knobs, resurfacing, sanding and painting every square inch and supervising those things we could not do ourselves. Our guests have been delighted to escape to the charm of old Duluth with the comforts of home.

We offer a unique experience and the charm of old world Duluth with beauty and leisure of Park Point living. It is perfect for families and groups of friends. Our cottage has hosted small family wedding, reunions, and ceremonies of final passage and remembrance. It is a perfect, quiet escape. We have worked to make it family friendly with everything from a high chair, pack n’ play, bathroom step stools, baby monitors to baby medical kits. It seems to really help families if they can cut back of the stuff that they need to haul when they come to visit. We offer our guests use of four kayaks and a canoe to heighten their experience on the great lake.

We have had some amazing visitors – visual artists, writers, poets, politicians all the way to a South African dog cardiologist. But most memorable is the author Brian Freeman and his wife Marsha. Brian is the author of a series of books featuring Jonathon Stride – a Duluth detective who lives in a cottage on Park Point. That cottage just happens to be fashioned after and influenced by Cottage on the Point. Brian comes once a year to gather new material for his books and ever since his early trips – has stayed at the cottage. Eventually the cottage has become a part of the story. Brian’s books “Stalked” “Stripped” and “Immoral” are being complimented by a new book out this March “In the Dark” which features a new St. Louis County Attorney named none other than Pat Burns. Yes, yours truly is named in the new book and I am tough, hard nosed and no nonsense.

Visit Duluth has done an amazing job of promoting and highlighting the beauty and joy that is this wonderful city. I can’t imagine a better place to tell people about the unique opportunity that is the Cottage on the Point, than through Visit Duluth.

We simply love the lake. Nothing beats a quiet morning kayak paddle on the still lake. The peacefulness and beauty is infused into your soul and over takes the spirit. These are incredible moments – spirit filled moments - or a swim at sunset. Or, for that matter, a swim anytime when the water has warmed to a reasonable temperature. There is power, and peace and comfort in the lake. Nothing can compare.”

Thank you, Cottage on the Point for being our spotlight on a member.

Cottage on the Point
Duluth, MN 55802
Phone: (218) 727-3738
bpburns@chartermi.net
www.cottageonthepoint.com

GROUP TOUR NEWS
Mary Nelson, Director of Packaged Travel, Visit Duluth

CRUISE NEWS
The port of Duluth/Superior will host the 100 passenger cruise ship, Clelia II, an all-suite ship that will be sailing seven-day itineraries between Toronto and Duluth. Duluth will be a starting and ending point for these cruises July 4, July 12, August 1, August 15, August 29 and September 12.

We look forward to welcoming these visitors to our city and anticipate they will plan on adding a few days to the front or back of their cruises and experience all this area has to offer.

Please check out www.canadiansailings.ca for an excellent article on Great Lakes cruise destinations and updates on the future of cruises on the Great Lakes. (To access article; on the left side of site’s main page, click on “Special Issues”; next click on “Cruise North America” issue)

If you would like additional members of your staff to receive the Membership News Brief, please contact Gail Walkowiak at gailw@visitduluth.com or call
(218) 625-8104.

Visit Duluth, the city's convention and visitor's bureau, is Duluth’s only officially recognized destination marketing organization. Chartered in 1935, as a non-profit corporation, we represent more than 450 businesses that make up Duluth’s tourism industry. We are dedicated to promoting the area as one of America’s great vacation and meeting destinations while providing comprehensive, unbiased information to all travelers.