Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Marilyn Hagerty, Writer of That Olive Garden Review and So Much More, Dies at 99
Her deeply earnest Olive Garden review rocked the Midwestern media landscape and, then, the world: RIP to Grand Forks Herald reporter and columnist Marilyn Hagerty, who died Tuesday morning at the age of 99.
For the Herald, Hannah Shirley writes that Hagerty's byline first appeared in the paper nearly 67 years ago, on October 20, 1957, under the headline “Five Sisters’ Team Tops Bowling League.” ("When the five Miller sisters of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks get together each Thursday night, the pins really fly,” that story begins.)
She became a regular contributor in 1959, and her food column, “Eatbeat,” got its start in 1986. It was there that Hagerty published her viral 2012 Olive Garden review, written in the folksy and unassuming style that was her trademark. While the first folks who shared it online set out to mock the Herald columnist (including an unfortunate post from City Pages that no Racket staffer was responsible for), the broader internet swiftly jumped to her defense. Allies included Anthony Bourdain, who would eventually write the forward of her book, Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews, and the moment landed her appearances on the Anderson Cooper Show, Piers Morgan Tonight, Good Morning America, the Today Show, and Top Chef, where she appeared as a guest judge.
What a life; what a legend. Read the heartwarming remembrance of Hagerty here, and go out and eat something ya like tonight—doesn't have to be fancy, could certainly be a soup, salad, or breadstick—in her honor. We'd like to think god is up there somewhere, telling Marilyn: "When you're here, you're family."
More Mass Shootings, and the Aftermath
On Tuesday, two separate mass shootings took place in south Minneapolis: one at the Greenway entrance on Lake Street near I-35W and another on the vacant lot landlord Hamoudi Sabri has opened to the unhoused. Five were wounded at the former, according to the Star Tribune's Liz Sawyer, and seven at the latter.
In the wake of so much tragedy and violence, the city of Minneapolis has reacted in seemingly the only ways it knows how. The walkway between the Greenway and Lake Street will be temporarily closed. The lot encampment is being cleared. Trauma compounding trauma. The cycle continues.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey issued a terse statement Tuesday on the encampment shooting which offers no plan beyond closing encampments—no moonshot plan to find safe and affordable housing for everyone, no aggressive move to increase safe drug use sites, no ambitious initiative to stop trafficking. Where are people supposed to go when shelter beds are full?
In his statement, Ward 9 City Council Member Jason Chavez writes that this is "not sustainable," and calls for a commitment to establish a Navigation Center, shelter funding, and the expansion of gun violence survivor services, among other next steps.
"We have seen a pattern under this administration when it comes to helping our unhoused neighbors," he writes. "An encampment is formed, violence occurs, the encampment is removed, and the unhoused residents move to another location due to the fact there are insufficient shelter beds available."
Related: Sanctuary Supply Depot "desperately" needs new underwear, snacks, painkillers, and other goods. Find info about how to help on Instagram or Bluesky.
Citing "Racist Incidents," "Retaliation," DJ Ariesfirebomb Calls for Saloon Boycott
For the last two years, Ariesfirebomb has been one of the resident DJs at The Saloon, where their Thursday night sets are rooted in Black queer culture. They've become a fixture at the downtown Minneapolis gay bar, appearing on weekends and headlining the main stage at a Pride event back in June.
But in a TikTok posted Monday, Ariesfirebomb announced that "for the foreseeable future," they would no longer be appearing at the Saloon.
"I love doing what I do, but I also hate the racism and the prejudice that I have to put up with when I do my job," Ariesfirebomb explains—that includes people holding up flashing monkey emojis during their sets and referring to the songs as N-word music. They say it's been especially bad this summer: "It's gotten to the point where I have clapped back, and in doing so, I have been getting retaliation from one of the CFOs—well, the CFO, Chris Bock."
The DJ is calling on people to boycott the bar until things are "rectified," including fair pay for DJs, an apology from Bock, and steps to make The Saloon a more equitable place.
We reached out to The Saloon for comment but haven't heard back. You can view Ariesfirebomb's TikTok in full below or find the same statement on Instagram.
@ariesfirebomb Calling for a Boycott of saloon MPLS
♬ original sound - Ariesfirebomb
Now That's How You Do a Local Angle
Marilyn Hagerty isn't the only legend we lost today. RIP as well to Robert Redford, the respected and extremely hot actor, director, and activist.
Yes, yes, but is there a local angle? Oh, you betcha—local poster Chris Steller dug up an old story he and Gary Hornseth wrote about the Minneapolis phone book that appears in a scene from All the President's Men. An excerpt:
That newsroom setting, like most of All the President's Men, is remembered for fastidious accuracy. Unable to film within the real Post newsroom, the filmmakers recreated it in a Burbank, California studio—even, accounts say, producing replicas of obsolete phone books.
And sure enough, when Redford pulls the Minneapolis directory from the shelf (to rapturous applause and cheers of recognition from a Minneapolis Skyway Theater audience, as one of us recalls), he briefly holds the cover facing the camera as if to reward the props department for securing a 1972 Minneapolis directory in 1975 Southern California.
...But did they actually manage to get that detail right? You'll have to click that link (and then zoom waaaay in on the image) to learn for yourself.
