Photo courtesy of Mill City Museum
Lived here all your life and never been to Fort Snelling? Shame on you! It’s Minnesota’s sesquicentennial (that’s the big 1-5-0) and it is time to soak up a little state history with your sun. Here is just a sampling of the iconic places and events that should make your don’t-miss summer list!
June 2008
Fort Snelling Costumed guides greet visitors daily during the summer at this 1820s military outpost, and don’t forget to have tea with Mrs. Snelling.
200 Tower Ave., St. Paul, 612-726-1171 Mill City Museum
There is no better way to learn about Minneapolis’s beginnings, and summer means plenty of riverside walking tours and the return of the outdoor music series. 704 S. 2nd St., Mpls., 612-341-7555
Water Towers
Two stone structures loom over Prospect Park in Minneapolis and Highland Park in St. Paul, icons of bygone days when each city’s water needs could be contained in one tower. Each year, the towers open for the public, allowing you to climb the steps for a spectacular view of their respective cities. Prospect Park is in May. 55 Malcolm Ave. SE; Highland Park, July 19–20. 1403 Montreal Ave., St. Paul, 651-632-5111
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
Now is the perfect time to stroll through the world-famous sculpture garden and take in a game of minigolf on this summer’s artist-designed course. Vineland Pl. at Hennepin Ave., Mpls.
Wabasha Street Caves
Most people don’t think “gangster” when they think St. Paul, but the city has quite a shady history, thanks to the rascals of the 1930s—John Dillinger, Ma Barker, Babyface Nelson. Learn all about it on the two-hour gangster tour. 651-292-1220
St. Anthony Main
Where Minneapolis began! Take a Human on a Stick Segway tour and learn the history of the falls from 10,000 BC to today. 952-888-9200
Excelsior Trolley and Minnehaha Steamboat
Lake Minnetonka offers two ways to take a ride into nostalgia. On land, there is the Excelsior Trolley, a restored streetcar that used to operate between Minneapolis and Excelsior in the 1920s. It now takes passengers from the Bayside Grille to Excelsior’s farmers’ market. Or travel from Excelsior to Wayzata on the Minnehaha, a seventy-foot-long yellow wooden steamboat that was once filled with rocks and sunk to the bottom of the lake before being rescued and restored in the 1980s. Trolley: 952-922-1096; Steamboat: 952-474-2115
Aquatennial Fireworks
The Aquatennial is ten days (July 18–27) filled with concerts, milk boat races, carnivals, and more. But the icing on this midsummer cake has to be the Target–sponsored fireworks, billed as the biggest show west of the Mississippi. Nothing beats spreading a picnic blanket near St. Anthony Main (a recommended viewing site) and watching a rain of sparks cascading over the 3rd Avenue Bridge. July 26, 10 p.m.
Architectural Walking Tour
Follow local architecture expert Larry Millett as he introduces you to the history of St. Paul one neighborhood at a time. Each walking tour explores a different neighborhood, so hit as many as you like this summer. Irvine Park, June 26.
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