Food + Dylan Connection = News Story -or- People of Hibbing Rejoice, The Lybba's Staying!

If you were to play some sort of word association game with Hibbing "outsiders" and they had to name fabulous things that people associate with the city, I'm pretty sure it would go something like this:

Bob Dylan. 
Food.
Mining. 

Perhaps the order would change depending on the individual.  But I'm pretty darn sure those are our top three, like it or not. 

In studying the analytics for this blog, it is obvious that food-related posts generate the most traffic.  So, I'll add another to that pile (and I will honestly start tagging these things, too.  Promise.). 

Checking Twitter this morning, I came across the following update from MinnesotaBrown:

Jason Davis of On the Road profiles Hibbing's Sunrise Deli. I sense great change in Iron Range food iconography.... fb.me/1ud0dAdGr

Definitely piqued my interest.  Yet I'll admit, the phrase "great change" made me a bit nervous as the town gossip I've been hearing over the past few months was that the Deli was going to close and relocate down in the Twin Cities.

Bracing for the worst, I crossed my fingers and clicked through to the blog post where I watched the KTSP story and read Brown's short commentary.   

Color me happy to discover that not only was the Deli not closing its historic Lybba location (once again thanks to a little public outcry), it was expanding business into wholesale food distribution.  This was thanks in part to the great reaction that the Deli had to selling its food at farmer's markets in the Twin Cities with its high Iron Ranger ex-pat population. 

Hooray for Hibbing!  And a big congratulations and thank you to Tom and Mary Lou Forti! A traditional Iron Range eatery preserved and a local business expanding all in one fell swoop.

Could this be the beginning of a community-wide trend?  Lets hope so. 

Note: Hats off to KTSP's Jason Davis for capturing the story, however, I hope that next time you're on the Range you will remember that it's "po-teat-za" not "pot-ick-a".  Also, special thanks to MinnesotaBrown for the link love at the end of the post.  Slowly, but surely this little blog is finding it's way in the vast expanse of the interwebs.