Quote Me, Howie: Mike Locker, Justin Wieck

Bulldogs men's basketball held an alumni event Thursday night at Club One Under at Fitger's. Beforehand, club founder and co-owner Mike Locker provided Howie Blog readers with an update on his popular indoor golf club, which opened in October 2024 – "We had a great winter, actually better than we planned. It validated the business. The community support has been amazing, and we're already looking forward to next fall. I know everyone's excited to get outside for grass golf now, which is great. Me included. We are adding another outdoor deck, so we'll have about 3,000 square feet of deck on Lake Superior. It will be a great asset to the club and for those outside – the tourists and others who want to be out on the lakefront and watch the sailboat races. And then we've got Grandma's Marathon, the 4th of July, the Bayfront Festival – all the annual events. So yeah, we're excited.

"All the golf events have been fantastic, and they've been super fun. We had our first annual Ryder Cup in March – a sellout. We had 40 guys register within 15 minutes, for a sell-out, and next year is already pretty much sold out as well. So, we're adding more majors to our tournament schedule. Leagues have also been great. Our two-man scramble tournaments are popular. The Women's League, which started in December, was fantastic as well."

How 'Bout Those Bulldogs

Bulldogs men's basketball coach Justin Wieck spoke at the event and later displayed his zero-handicap golf game on one of the five simulators – "We lost a lot of seniors (to graduation at the end of this season), guys that have been here for a long time. This will really change the trajectory of our program moving forward. But I also tell people we've been preparing for this, recruiting and developing young talented student-athletes for the last couple of years. The goal was never to have to bring in five or six transfers when these guys leave. We've got guys who red-shirted this year, and other returning guys who will step new roles this year such as Caleb Siwek, Mattie Thompson and Nick Katona. Now it's going to be their turn now to be the 'old guys'. So, my hope is we can reload. We expect to compete for a championship every year, and I think we've got the guys to do that.

"I've have a lot of thoughts on the transfer portal, but we've been able to recruit high school guys and develop them. We haven't had a lot of guys leave us as upper classmen, so we haven't had to bring in a lot of transfers as well. We do have one incoming transfer for next season, Peyton Rogers. He's originally from Chippewa Falls, but played at Emporia State and at Houston Christian in Texas, Division I. He will be a one-year guy who will help add depth and experience. But for the most part we're relying on returning guys I talked about taking that next step. We red-shirted three guys this year who are all really good players that will play for us next year. Jackson Fowlkes, Jaden Morgan and Dan Molhoek were all big-time recruits coming out of high school. So as a coach, you hope you've been building your program behind the scenes, so as you lose older guys, you've got guys that are in year two or year three that are ready to make that jump.

"I think everybody likes to watch the three-point shots and getting up and down the floor, and I do think our team next year will be a little bit different because we can space the floor a little bit better with guys that can really shoot it. But we still need to have that paint presence from guys like Noah Paulson and Dan Molhoek who can score on the block. We have a bunch of guys that have been playing behind Austin Andrews, Charlie Katona and Josh Brown, who I know are ready to take that next step. I think we'll be up and down the floor a little bit more and hopefully we'll score more points. But on the same time, we've got to be able to guard on the defensive end, too, so physicality and toughness defensively is something that we'll continue to strive for. The old guys definitely had that these last couple of years.

We want to take care of the basketball, shoot good shots, and really try to guard people. It really doesn't matter if we win 60-50 or 90-80, right? The goal is to play a good basketball."

On the Road to Grandma's (Marathon)

Widely known for its one-of-a-kind post-race party on Saturday, Grandma’s Marathon this year will bring a headline act to its Friday entertainment lineup, which likely will be an emotional boost to race participants before they reach the start line.

Cloud Cult will headline the new-look Friday entertainment, which now starts in the early afternoon and wraps up in the early evening. Made possible because of a start time change to the William A. Irvin 5K, organizers hope moving the music earlier on Friday allows more marathoners and half marathoners to attend.

“Cloud Cult has roots in Duluth and has been a top choice in the local music scene for a long time,” said Grandma's Marathon Executive Director Shane Bauer. “We can’t think of a better band for Friday night to help energize and inspire our participants for their races the next morning.”

Lauded by Pitchfork as “insane genius” and by the Los Angeles Times as “deserving of loud, boisterous cheers,” Cloud Cult’s music generally has an uplifting message and is viewed as a celebration of life.

“If Cloud Cult isn’t in your playlist, I can guarantee you’ll be adding them to the rotation after Friday night,” Bauer said.

Boxcar will open the music offerings both Friday and Saturday, with Rafe Carlson and Big Wave Dave and the Ripples set to wrap up the weekend with headline spots on Saturday. In all, nine different groups will take the stage at Bayfront Festival Park on Grandma’s Marathon weekend.

A full schedule of the entertainment lineup is below:

Friday, June 20

1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. – Boxcar
5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. – Cloud Cult

Saturday, June 21

9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – Boxcar
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Shane Martin Band
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Father Hennepin
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. – Breanne Marie & The Front Porch Sinners
4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. – Sydney Hansen
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. – Woodblind
8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. – Rafe Carlson

10:00 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. – Big Wave Dave and the Ripples

Admission to Bayfront Festival Park is free throughout the entire weekend, and the park and shows are open to all ages.