In case you haven’t heard, which I’m sure many of you have, there’s a promising comet on the way. By promising, I mean it may be bright and bright enough to see with the naked eye, especially in the dark skies of the countryside. It may even be easily visible to stargazers from urban and suburban light-polluted locations. It may have a relatively sizable tail of dust and gas.

Presently, the comet is roughly in a line between the Earth and the sun, lost in the glare of our home star. But starting next weekend, look for it in the very low western sky during the later part of evening twilight. It might be really tough to spot then, but as October continues, Tsuchinshan-Atlas will start evenings a little higher in the west. I’ll have much more next week on the partially melting cosmic dirty snow and ice ball paying us a visit.

Meanwhile, I have a pleasant celestial challenge for you, the long and winding Draco the Dragon. It’s not the easiest of constellations to find, but once you do, you feel like you’ve accomplished something. It always reminds me of one of the great Beatles classics, “The Long and Winding Road,” because that is what it truly is in the northwestern October sky. It’s undoubtedly one of the larger constellations in the heavens, but the difficulty locating it is that most of Draco’s stars aren’t all that bright.

The best way to find Draco is to visualize it more as a coiled snake than a dragon as if we know what dragons look like anyway! According to Greek mythology, Draco is supposed to be a stretched-out dragon, so the snake appearance works … but we’ll visit that later.

(Mike Lynch)

To begin your quest of Draco, gaze high in the west-southwest heavens for the brightest star you can see. That will be Vega, high in the western sky and the brightest star in the small constellation Lyra the Harp. Look a little to the upper right of Vega for a modestly bright trapezoid of four stars that outline the head of the dragon. This is where you find Draco’s brightest star, which honestly isn’t all that bright.

Your Draco challenge is well underway. Hold your fist out at arm’s length. At about two of your “fist-widths” above and a little to the right of Draco’s head, you’ll find two faint stars reasonably close to each other.  These less-than-brilliant stars mark the end of the snake dragon’s neck. I believe locating those two stars is the key to seeing the rest of Draco. Draco’s body makes a U-turn from those two stars, coiling down and a little to the right about two and a half fist-widths. From there, you’ll see a reasonably faint but distinct horizontal line of stars that kink off to the right to depict the faint tail of Draco. You’ll observe that Draco’s tail lies above the much brighter Big Dipper and below the dimmer Little Dipper. I hope between my description and the star map, you can find Draco. It looks like a backward letter “S.”

How poor Draco wound up unwound in the sky is quite the mythological tale. One of the versions goes like this. Hera, the queen of the gods, was given a gorgeous basket of solid gold apples as a wedding present from her new but not-so-faithful husband, Zeus, the king of the gods. She kept her precious apples in her private garden at the castle and had her pet dragon, Draco, guard the apples. Draco has been Hera’s pet since childhood and is highly loyal to her. He guarded those apples 24/7 and fended off many dastardly thieves. No one got by Draco until one fateful night.

On that moonless night, while Draco was taking a catnap at his post, Hercules, the legendary hero, blitzed and smashed the palace gate and leaped toward the golden fruit. It was a lightning raid! Draco rousted himself immediately, and a tumultuous battle went on for hours and hours. Draco just about had Hercules trapped in his coiled tail and was about to squeeze the life out of him when, with all his might, Hercules managed to pull his emergency switchblade dagger out of his shoe and pierced it right through the beast’s heart. Hercules then made off with his plundering of golden apples.

Hera discovered Draco’s body minus a whole bunch of blood and the absent apples. She was greatly upset about losing the golden apples but was more upset about losing a pet she’d known all her life. Hera decided to reward Draco for his loyalty by magically placing his body in the stars as an eternal honor to him. The trouble is that when she picked up his bloody, mangled body and hurled it into the heavens, it quickly and unceremoniously unraveled.

Draco is not one of the easiest constellations to find, but looking for it and finding it will sharpen your stargazing skills. Wind down from your busy day and look for Hera’s loyal and now unwound celestial dragon.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and retired broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is the author of “Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations,” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and adventurepublications.net. Mike is available for private star parties. You can contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.

Starwatch programs

Monday, Oct. 7, 7-8:30 p.m., near Marshall, Minn. For more information and location, call Marshall Public Library at 507-537-7003 or visit www.marshalllyonlibrary.org.

Tuesday, Oct. 10 (Weather backup date Oct. 12) in Chippewa Falls, Wis. For location, more information, and reservations, call 586-723-2050 or visit www.chippewavalleyschools.org/departments/community-ed.

Wednesday, Oct. 9, 7-9 p.m. at Isanti Middle School. For reservations call 763-689-6188 or visit www.c-ischools.org/school/community-ed.

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After 15 years on University Avenue, Mike Udo shuttered his small storefront and threw open the doors late last month to his newly expanded grocery store in the former home of Hamline Hardware Hank at Snelling and Englewood avenues.

He’s still in the process of moving items from one store to the next, but the new Udo’s Grocery now offers sit-down dining and a kitchen serving Nigerian home cooking, from jollof rice with stewed chicken to a mixed meat dish prepared with egusi seed and a side of starchy fufu.

“It feels good, very, very good,” said Udo, who used $25,000 from a St. Paul municipal STAR grant toward his new digs. “The community has been so supportive.”

Mike Udo stands in front of his Udo’s African Restaurant and Groceries on Snelling Ave. in St. Paul on Thursday, Oct., 3. 2024. The store occupies the space where the longtime neighborhood Hardware Hand hardware store stood. The Hardware Hank store closed in March of 2020, just before the Covid pandemic and the store front has remained vacant until Udo’s African Restaurant and Groceries opened. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

His isn’t the only new or expanded storefront to make a recent go of it in the commercial corridor dubbed “Little Africa.” After some notable departures, including the longstanding Fasika Ethiopian restaurant, the At Home big box furniture store and the sizable CVS anchoring the corner of University and Snelling avenues, a handful of new businesses have set up shop in the shadow of the Minnesota United sports team’s new giant metal loon statue.

Dilla’s Ethiopian Restaurant is working toward opening a St. Paul location at 1625 University Ave. W., next to the long-running Ax-Man Surplus store, according to the Midway Chamber of Commerce. The restaurant has developed a following on Riverside Avenue in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis.

Gene Gelgelu, executive director of African Economic Development Selections, said his nonprofit has selected a series of business counters and micro-shops to settle in the former Great Fans retail building on Snelling between Blair and Van Buren avenues, which is being remodeled. He hopes to identify a larger grocery operator by mid-October. AEDS will move its headquarters into the building’s second floor around Nov. 1.

Just south of Snelling and University avenues, the hot yoga studio known as HotWorx plans to open near Bremer Bank on the ground level of the Pivot apartment building at 431 Snelling Ave. N. The St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections recently signed off on a number of conditions, such as requiring an employee with training in first aid and CPR to be on site during operating hours.

About two blocks east of Allianz Field, a Spirit Halloween store opened last week in the strip mall at 1400 University Ave. W., offering costumes and other spooky holiday fare through at least Nov. 3. Employees say if sales are strong, it could continue a couple months more as a Christmas store.

Chad Kulas, executive director of the Midway Chamber of Commerce, calls each of the openings bright spots for the Snelling/University area, which has garnered negative attention for increased loitering, panhandling and daytime drug dealing, especially around the vacant CVS.

“The more positive energy and store openings that we have, the better, because positive activity is a good thing and it reduces the likelihood of loitering when people have businesses that are open,” Kulas said.

Shops weather ‘crazy’ rent increases

Near University Avenue and Pascal Street, a series of longstanding Black-owned businesses have had to weather hefty rent increases after new owners purchased the building in May, raising some question about whether they’ll remain in place. Tim Wilson, proprietor of the Urban Lights music store, said that after 31 years on the avenue, he has no plans to leave, though he misses the foot traffic associated with the heyday of the now-demolished Midway Shopping Center. The customers who dropped by Foot Locker and other stores once situated across the street were his customers, too.

“We’re sticking around,” said Wilson, ringed by regular customers at his store counter on Thursday.

The Blessings hair salon and Earth’s Beauty Supply wig and accessory shops next door also are staying put, for now, though proprietor Sawie Nebo said that could change. He’s operated shops and salons on the avenue since 1990, and on Selby Avenue before that. “My customers are not used to having locks on all the products, but just to survive, that’s the way it’s got to be,” said Nebo, during a lull Thursday between customers at the wig shop. “People on drugs walk in and walk out with product.”

Christina Robert started out as a “shampoo girl” at Blessings Salon in 2009, and later became a full-fledged hair stylist. When the longstanding proprietor of the Ultimate Look barber shop decided to exit the business this year, she saw her chance to buy the shop this summer and keep it open under a new name — the Powder Room. The male stylists associated with a commercial tenant, the Cold Cutz Lounge, now operate in the back room, and the ladies in the front.

Barber Trey Johnson cleans up Kendrick Koffi’s hair at the Cold Cutz Lounge, in the back room of the former Ultimate Look Barber, now known as the Powder Room, where he rents a chair, in St. Paul on Thursday, Oct., 3. 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“The building sold without us knowing,” said Robert, who was taken aback when her rent doubled. “The person came in and increased the rent a crazy amount, changed the terms of the lease.”

Still, she said, she agreed to a three-year lease.

“I do think the area is a good one for growth,” said Robert, whose shop sits directly across from the Allianz Field soccer stadium and a planned hotel and office building. “But the city is bringing in new businesses, and it should take care of the businesses that were here prior.”

Community town hall Oct. 17

City Council President Mitra Jalali, who represents the neighborhood, has advocated for new legal tools, such as non-criminal administrative citations, to hold errant property owners accountable for neglect. Some community advocates say the area needs an even more targeted approach, combining resources from various levels of government.

In late September, the Hamline Midway Coalition launched its “Stabilize Snelling and University” campaign, which seeks to petition City Hall — as well as Metro Transit and Ramsey County — for new resources specific to the intersection.

A list of requests will be presented to elected officials Oct. 17 at a Hamline University town hall, with the wish list likely to include a rapid response strategy from the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections to known problem vacant properties, more resources from Metro Transit involving safety and oversight at the Snelling Avenue light rail stop, and more street outreach from Ramsey County and its homeless outreach partners. Jalali has said she plans to attend.

Jenne Nelson, executive director of the Hamline Midway Coalition, said another major goal of the new campaign is to turn the vacant CVS into a community center, or something equivalent, so it can become an asset for the area and not a “magnet for trash and graffiti.”

With the influx of new businesses near the intersection, Nelson said there’s cause for optimism.

“The more those vacant spaces fill in, the more that people will come to the neighborhood and see all of the many assets that are there,” she said. “The way that the neighborhood really is thriving and really vibrant, even in the face of this challenge, I think there’s a lot of reason for hope.”

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To cap off the state’s warmest and driest September on record, Minnesota agriculture officials gathered at an apple orchard in White Bear Lake to highlight state and federal climate investments.

The media event showcased the long list of state programming for agricultural operations meant to curb climate change and the $3.5 billion in federal climate grants that Minnesota has received since 2022.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture hosted the outing at Pine Tree Apple Orchard, which is enrolled in the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program and is a 40-year member of the state’s Minnesota Grown program.

John Jacobson owns and operates the orchard, along with one in southeast Minnesota, with his siblings. Jacobson said the orchard started down the road of sustainability in the 1990s when he and his brother toured parts of the country to research integrated pest management.

John Jacobson, left, one of the owners of Pine Tree Apple Orchard, talks with Minnesota Ag Commissioner Thom Petersen and Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan at a climate week event on Sept. 27, 2024, at the orchard in White Bear Lake. (Noah Fish / Agweek)

“We started with (integrated pest management), and that basically is a lot of trapping of insects, and if they reach an economic threshold, then we do a control measure,” he said. “That immediately cut down on the amount of usage that we have of chemicals.”

Micro-irrigation was one of the next sustainable practices to be used at the orchard, which cuts back on water use. The netting that covers high-value apples at the orchard reduces the amount of inputs on the trees while also keeping insects out, Jacobson said.

No middle ground

Pine Tree Apple Orchard has tracked its bloom and harvest dates back to the 1950s. Jacobson said those dates haven’t changed much over the years, with bloom coming between May 5-10 and harvest wrapping up by Halloween.

“That really hasn’t changed dramatically, but it’s the inside of that window that has — like we just had this very, very wet spring, and now we’re in the driest September in recorded history,” he said at the event last week. “I’ve always said that Mother Nature will equalize itself very rapidly, so you start out over here, and then it goes way over here. It just seems like we don’t have that middle anymore, like when I was growing up.”

Minnesota Ag Commissioner Thom Petersen said the department recognizes that climate change is impacting agriculture in Minnesota and around the world, with “increased temperatures as well as more extreme and frequent weather events like floods and drought leading to increased challenges for our producers.”

State programming

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture offers a number of funding opportunities to support farmers interested in adopting climate-smart practices including the Water Quality Certification Program, which has more than 1,500 producers enrolled. Through the Preparing for Extreme Weather Grant, the department has awarded over $450,000 in grant funding to 71 farmers to fund projects like hail protection, fans and misters for livestock, and well upgrades.

Joan Heim-Welch points to one of the many sections of her Houston County farmland where she’s implemented a new conservation structure. Heim-Welch is one of more than 1,500 farmers who’ve been certified through the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program. (Noah Fish / Agweek)

The Soil Health Financial Assistance Grant awarded over $2.8 million to 97 individuals and organizations in the first two rounds of funding, with the most requested equipment being no-till drills, air seeders and strip-tillage machinery.

The Biofuels Infrastructure Grant, which got financial support from the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, awarded $9 million for 60 Minnesota fuel stations since its launch in 2022.

The Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Grant, published in MDA’s Greenbook, is currently accepting applications for $350,000 in grant funding through December 2024.

“I just got back from our National Association of State Departments of Agriculture conference, and other commissioners are a lot of times very jealous of the programs that we have in the state, and the things that we’re taking steps on,” Petersen said.

Federal climate investments: TBD

Minnesota is now poised to bring in at least $200 million in federal funding through the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program.

The money will fund what the Department of Agriculture and the Pollution Control Agency call the Minnesota Climate-Smart Food Systems project, which allots $20 million to expand current state initiatives including the MAWQCP and Soil Health Financial Assistance program.

About $6.7 million will also be invested in the “replacement and upgrading of vehicles and equipment that are used to grow and transport food, such as tractors and freight trucks, to switch to using cleaner-burning fuels,” according to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

Two years ago, to combat climate change’s impact on agriculture, the Biden-Harris administration dispersed $22 billion for climate-smart agriculture, as part of the administration’s investments in clean energy and climate solutions through the Inflation Reduction Act.

Many Republican leaders disagree with the sweeping policies and investments in climate change, and the distance between the two sides has played a role in delaying the passage of a new farm bill. The bill, passed in 2018, expired Sept. 30, 2023, and later was extended another year. It expired again on Sept. 30, 2024.

Minnesota’s Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan acknowledged on Sept. 27 that a Donald Trump presidency would likely lead to a rollback in climate-smart investments in agriculture.

“I’m going to do everything I can to ensure that there isn’t a second Trump presidency, but barring that, I know that climate investments, such as in sustainable aviation fuel, is good for Minnesota’s economy,” she said. “It’s good for the region and the entire country. I think we have a case to be made, regardless of who is in the White House.”

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After facing financial challenges that only got worse after the pandemic, Park Square Theatre is ready for a reboot. The downtown St. Paul theater company will open the world premiere of the mystery “Holmes/Poirot” Friday after two nights of previews.

“Park Square is back on track,” said artistic director Stephen DiMenna.

Troubles had been brewing at Park Square for years, with the theater running deficits in 2016 and 2017. Longtime artistic director Richard Cook retired in 2018 and his replacement Flordelino Lagundino was let go in January 2020 when the board cut the artistic director position to balance funding shortfalls. Later that year, Park Square and SteppingStone Theatre for Youth became partners due to debt issues.

Last year, the theater canceled five of its six productions and cut its staff from 21 people down to just two. It lost numerous grants due to its darkened stage.

“We now have seven full-time staff members and we’re approaching a $1.8 million budget,” DiMenna said. “We’re solvent.”

Park Square’s turnaround happened thanks to the board’s focus on fundraising in 2023 and the work of interim executive director Rachel Murch-D’Olimpio. They also restructured loans, reached a new rental agreement with the company’s landlord that DiMenna called “extremely doable for us” and earned some income from stage rentals and small concerts.

DiMenna began working with Park Square in the summer of 2023 as a volunteer consultant and conducting what he called a brand audit.

“We took a look at what Park Square is, who we are and what we do,” he said. “We also did a brand audit of all the other major theaters to look at what they do. We looked at what’s missing from Twin Cities theater. We don’t need to do Shakespeare, the Guthrie and Ten Thousand Things are doing it beautifully.”

DiMenna and the board settled on a new focus on contemporary American plays, with one reimagined classic and one contemporary musical each season.

“We can do new American plays coming right off the pipeline from New York Off-Broadway theaters,” said DiMenna, who took over as artistic director at the end of 2023. “We’re picking plays for some of the best actors in the Twin Cities.”

Coming back with a mystery

Park Square is reopening with “Holmes/Poirot” in large part because mysteries have traditionally been audience favorites.

Written by local theater veterans Jeffrey Hatcher and Steve Hendrickson, the show is directed by David Ira Goldstein, whose history with Park Square goes back to the very beginning.

Goldstein grew up in St. Louis Park and acted all over town, including shows for Actors Theater of St. Paul in the space that Park Square took over in 1995. He eventually served as associated artistic director for Actors Theater before moving to Seattle and later Phoenix.

“When Stephen called me to do the show, I told him he had no idea how deep my roots are with that space,” Goldstein said. “I helped turn it into a legitimate theater. It’s been kind of thrilling to be back there.”

Goldstein, 71, said he “pretty much retired” five years ago and now splits his time between Phoenix and a cottage on the Oregon coast. But he jumped at the chance to direct his first Twin Cities production in more than three decades.

“My whole family is here and I always welcome the chance to come back, especially when it’s 113 degrees in Phoenix,” he said. “I have to applaud Stephen, as it was a stroke of genius to open with a Jeffrey Hatcher and Steve Hendrickson mystery. It’s the right play at the right time.”

The cast of “Holmes/Poirot” — Anna Beth Baker, David Andrew Macdonald, Norah Long, Steve Hendrickson, Bob Davis, Warren Bowles, Stacia Rice, Olivia Osol and Daniel Petzold. (Courtesy of Dan Norman)

As its title suggests, “Holmes/Poirot” pairs up two of fiction’s most famous detectives, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, and takes place during two different time frames, in 1901 and the early 1920s. Goldstein compared it to PBS’ recent Masterpiece series “Magpie Murders.”

“It mixes together two different time periods to solve the same mystery. It’s a great puzzler and the way they put it together is very ingenious, like a crossword puzzle or sudoku.”

DiMenna is in it ‘for the long haul’

DiMenna, 66, also has a long history in theater, both in Minnesota and New York City. He was associate artistic director of St. Paul’s History Theatre from 1989 to 1995 and also spent time as co-artistic director of Manhattan Theatre Club’s Stargate Theatre Company. He has directed productions for numerous Twin Cities theaters, including the Guthrie, Pillsbury House Theatre, Theatre in the Round, Minnesota Opera and Children’s Theatre Company.

“I’m in it for the long haul,” he said. “I’ve got at least five or 10 more years in me. I was a freelancer for 40 years and I like the idea of having an artistic home. I want to help tell stories the community should hear. Park Square is 49 years old, that’s too much of a legacy and history to lose.”

‘Holmes/Poirot’

What: This world premiere co-written by Twin Cities playwright Jeffrey Hatcher and actor Steve Hendrickson tells a “tale of intrigue, international politics, wine and murder” involving Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.

When: Wednesday through Nov. 3

Where: Park Square Theatre, 20 W. Seventh Place, St. Paul

Tickets: $60-$25; 651-291-7005 or parksquaretheatre.org

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