I came to Duluth in 1986, and thought it was cool they were discussing the naming of a street after Bob Dylan. What a surprise when fifteen years later they were still debating the issue. And then twenty.But alas, it has finally happened. As Hibbing’s Dylan Days festivities arrive once more, Dylan’s hometown has finally honored its departed troubadour. This week, Bob Dylan Way has appeared on the maps of Duluth… or will appear next time maps are printed.
The idea of making a Dylan Drive street legal has finally stopped blowing in the wind. Approved by the Duluth City Council in May 2006, the final two signs went up this week. They actually did not change the name of any streets, however. They simply put up signs along the route from the Depot to the National Guard Armory.
During my lunch hour yesterday I went to take photos of some of the signs, thirty in all, and was surprised at how many share signpost space with No Parking signs. Though not a Dylan song, I could not help but think of that Sixties classic, “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, blockin' up the scenery, blowin' my mind; do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign.”Once I was hitchhiking on a highway in Maryland when a police officer stopped to issue me a written warning. Hitchhiking, he said, was illegal. I said I did not know that, and then he pointed. I was standing right in front of a Hitchhiking is Illegal in the State of Maryland sign.
OK, so I digress.
Truth is, we do not have a Bob Dylan Road per se. It is a Bob Dylan Route, or officially, Bob Dylan Way, which maybe is pretty cool. We are going to do it the Bob Dylan way, which is ambiguous and confusing sometimes.
Now that we have succeeded in this achievement, I would like to propose some additional passages for future re-naming. Here are just three recommendations. Maybe you can offer a few more. Let's see if we can change:Highway 61 to Highway 61 Revisited.
Skyline Drive to Nashville Skyline Drive.
Fourth Street to Positively Fourth Street.
It’s a New Morning in Duluth.
Every cause needs a champion, and Bob Dylan Way was finally achieved with the aid of three: Don Ness (before he became mayor), Don Dass (on the Bob Dylan Way Committee) and the late St. Louis County Commissioner Steve O'Neill. All three played instrumental roles.
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