The United States' first ever OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST in Nordic skiing, Minnesota's own JESSIE DIGGINS, visited Duluth on NOVEMBER 4, 2018, at the invitation of DXC, to support of Grand Avenue Nordic Center!

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DXC and Spirit Mountain hosted a free daytime event at Grand Avenue Chalet featuring Diggins, where she spoke about her Gold Medal sprint, her U.S. Ski Team teammates, and the future of the sport including ski venues with snowmaking like Grand Avenue Nordic Center.  She led youth exercises, and there were free signed posters available, a raffle, outdoor gear vendors, free glitter facepainting, and selfies with Jessie!  Chad Salmela's famous NBC commentating call of her Gold Medal sprint was replayed, and Chad spoke about Grand Avenue Nordic.  Swix president Steve Poulin even surprised Diggins by presenting her with a custom GOLD mountain bike as a gift!

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In the evening, Duluth Mayor Emily Larson, 2-time U.S. Olympic Biathlete Kara Salmela, and Diggins spoke at a sold-out ticketed Going for Gold event at Pier B with nearly 200 people, as a fundraiser for Grand Avenue Nordic Center.  Emceed by Chad Salmela, the evening featured an incredibly inspiring behind-the-scenes presentation by Diggins on her Olympic quest and Nordic skiing advocacy, and then Kris Larson (Executive Director of the Minnesota Land Trust) led an amazing fundraising auction which helped generate $150k for Grand Avenue Nordic just that day!  See the full list of contributors at the bottom of this page, below.

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Bent Paddle brewed a specialty beer called The Snowmaker for both the day and evening events, with all proceeds benefiting DXC's campaign for Grand Avenue Nordic Center.  And Cirrus Aircraft and pilot Gary Black donated a private flight in an SR22 between Duluth and the Twin Cities on both Nov. 4 & Nov. 5 for Diggins to get to/from the Cities, along with a lucky auction winner who got to sit next to her, with auction proceeds (over $2k) going to DXC!

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It was an incredible day and night with Diggins in town; check out some photos below!

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*Read more about Jessie Diggins' history Olympic gold medal sprint HERE

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*Read about her interest in SNOW and climate change in the New York Times, HERE and HERE