The retailer’s mission is to help more Americans enjoy the country’s 640 million acres of public land.
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Public Lands, a spinoff outdoors retailer from Dick’s Sporting Goods, is set to opens Woodbury Lakes.
The store, which will held its grand opening Saturday, June 8th, will be the brand’s first in Minnesota and one of less than a dozen Public Lands stores to open nationwide since the retailer debuted in 2021.
Public Lands stores sell a wide array of outdoor recreation apparel, accessories, gear and equipment from brands such as Birkenstock, Stanley, Fjallraven, Columbia and Carhartt.
The business posted on its Facebook page that it will begin lunch service twice a week in the city, and will be parked by The Commons at 2nd Street, 2925 Chicago Ave. this coming Friday.
It marks a positive step for owner Mai Vang after a tumultuous year in which she has seen her food truck burglarized multiple times.
Community members along with fellow food truck owners have provided support to Vang’s business, raising thousands of dollars in times where she needed it.
Eggroll Queen’s origins date back to late April 2015 and Eastsider Vang’s prolific fundraising efforts, making 3,700 egg rolls for a charity event on behalf of the Peter Vang family, who lost their daughter in a house fire.
Her cooking exploits continued, later that year selling egg rolls at $1 each to raise the money to pay for cochlear implants two years after she suffered sudden and permanent hearing loss.
This eventually turned into the food truck that has been a common sight across the east metro in recent years, and will now become one in Minneapolis too.
The city moved up 31 spots in comparison to 2022’s rankings.
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BringMeTheNews: Minneapolis is the most bikeable large city in the United States, according to a new ranking by PeopleForBikes.
Moving up 31 spots from last year’s ranking, the city topped other cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia and Portland. St. Paul also made the top 10 at seventh overall in the large cities list.
The nonprofit PeopleForBikes compiles its annual lists through a “data-driven program that evaluates, identifies, and compares the best global cities and towns for bicycling.” It ranks different levels of nearly 1,500 cities — large, medium and small — taking into account the quality of life for cyclists in accessing places such as homes, jobs, trails and parks, retail stores, grocery stores, hospitals, and public transportation.
The average score for a U.S. city is 27, according to the rankings.
The third-largest city in the state, Rochester, ranked 153rd overall in the medium category with a score of 37. Also in the medium category is Minnesota’s fourth-most populated city, Bloomington, which ranked 466th overall with a network score of 15.
Here’s a look at each category of cities, followed by the ranking received. Small cities have a population less than 50,000; medium cities between 50,000 to 300,000; and larger cities have more than 300,000.
“EcoCounter data show that ridership growth in the state outpaced the rest of the Midwest region,” PeopleForBikes said in the rankings.
According to the data, smaller cities show a trend of having greater scores than larger cities, as do medium-sized cities in comparison to larger ones. The best ranking for a city goes to Provincetown, Mass., with an 88 overall score. PeopleForBikes says cities that score 80-100 “indicate that most common destinations are accessible by safe, comfortable bike routes that serve people of all ages and abilities.”
BringMeTheNews: A Duluth woman has become only the second person — and the first woman — on record to finish a winter thru-hike of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail in Wisconsin.
Emily Ford, 28, and her borrowed canine companion Diggins spent 69 days hiking the roughly 1,200-mile trail from the Eastern Terminus in Sturgeon Bay in Michigan to the Western Terminus in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, completing the journey on Saturday, March 6.
Emily Ford and her canine hiking pal, Diggins, arrived at the Western Terminus of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail on Saturday, March 6 around noon. Her completion marks the second-ever recorded winter thru-hike of the Ice Age Trail and the first winter thru-hike by a woman!
She and Diggins braved cold temperatures and snow-laden trails for 69 days, hiking approximately 1,200 miles from the Eastern Terminus in Sturgeon Bay to the Western Terminus in St. Croix Falls. They were greeted at the Western Terminus by a crowd of supporters who’ve avidly followed her journey.
“Nobody should feel that the outdoors isn’t for them,” shared Emily Ford upon finishing her hike. “There is a place for you outside; there is a place for you on the trail.”
Thank you for bringing us along on your Ice Age Trail adventure, @emilyontrail!
Ford, carrying a 60-pound pack, and Diggins spent the majority of their time outdoors — sometimes in temperatures colder than 30 below zero — hiking and camping along the trail. The Duluth News Tribune said they averaged 16.5 miles walking per day (including a few rest days).
The Duluth-based gardener (she’s the gardener at Duluth’s Glensheen Mansion) is an avid hiker whose goal was to show others, especially Black women, that the outdoors is for everyone. And when she got to the Western Terminus, Ford told a crowd gathered to congratulate her that “anyone can play outdoors.”
Ford told the publication that after George Floyd was killed, she decided to use her upcoming trek along the Ice Age Trail as a way to contribute to the equality movement, dedicating it to “all of us who don’t quite feel safe on the trails,” from people of color to those who feel like outsiders in outdoor sports.
Ford amassed thousands of fans online during her journey and met dozens of people who sought her out on the trail to chat. Others referred to as “trail angels” left “trail magic” for her and Diggins, such as snacks, notes of encouragement and offers of places to warm up and sleep.
When she finished her trek, she posted on Instagram saying she’s happy to be home and thankful for everyone.
She did have to give Diggins back to her owner, saying “It was one of the toughest things I had to do the whole trip. But I know that she is destined to pull sleds, not be a house dog (maybe she will be after she retires).”
But Ford’s story isn’t over yet. She’s the subject of a film by Credo Nonfiction called Breaking Trail — filmmakers filmed her on much of her adventure.
Final update for the night! (Gotta nap before I hike ya know!)
Super stoked to have the remainder of this trip be captured by @credononfiction !
There is so much to capture with this trail and I am excited to have it be brought to you via short film 🎥
Stay tuned for more info!
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“She set a handful of significant firsts, was reunited with the people most important to her, and met countless strangers she had become important to — as they were drawn to her uncommon perseverance, which took on symbolic significance through the dark winter of COVID-19,” Credo Nonfiction said in a Facebook post. “The story of what happened out there, the people she touched, the challenges she overcame — will be the building blocks of our new film now in post-production … We cannot wait for everyone to experience this story.”
The Ice Age National Scenic Trail traces the edge of the glacier that covered Wisconsin during the Ice Age 15,000 years ago, when mammoths, sabertooth cats and cave lions roamed the earth, the National Park Service says.
The nearly 1,200-mile trail stretches from Potawatomi State Park in Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin to the west, ending at Interstate State Park in St. Croix Falls, Polk County, Wisconsin, on the Minnesota border, according to the Ice Age Trail Alliance. The trail was established in 1980, and highlights what that giant glacier left behind (lakes, river valleys, rolling hills and ridges). It’s one of 11 national scenic trails and its entirety is in the state of Wisconsin.
While dozens of people have thru-hiked the Ice Age Trail (hiked the whole thing in one go), only one person — until Ford — is on record as having completed a thru-hike of the trail in the winter.
Mike Summers of Oregon was the first person to complete a winter thru-hike of the Ice Age Trail. He did it back in 2017, when it took him 58 hiking days and five zero days (rest days), the Journal Sentinel said.
