Twin Ports Festival of History Kicks Off

DULUTH, Minn. – Wednesday kicked off the first night of the Twin Ports Festival of History.

This week long event is being brought to Duluth to celebrate its rich history and heritage. With events such as lectures at Glensheen and Carmody’s Irish Pub, historians will be talking about local, regional, national, and international history.

UMD professor, David Woodward, says the festival is all about learning and with a fun twist.

“One of the ideas behind it is, why don’t we have a homegrown festival for history and heritage. And, not the dry sort of stoic lectures that you might think history does and what we do, but really bring it to the people and make it a fun event,” UMD Director of Museum Studies Program, David Woodward says.

The first event to kick off the celebrations of local history is being hosted at Glensheen.

A presentation by Duluth local historian and author Tony Dirkens
talking about the growth of Duluth and how organizations in the city help keep its rich history alive. Glensheen director, Dustin Heckman hopes that people appreciate the importance of these organizations.

“This is a great way to start off a collaboration and partnership amongst so many organizations, and really just getting people talking about what great organizations that we have here that are keeping local history alive,” Glensheen Director, Dustin Heckman says.

The Festival of History runs through Monday. For a schedule of the events, you can go to their public Facebook page ‘Twinports Festival of History’.