A Summer of Festivals
Wednesday, August 09, 2006The Twins Cities are a GREAT place to be when summer rolls around. Having to live through our frigid winters definitely teaches us to have fun when we can. When the weather turns nice, the fun begins! Almost every weekend there's a fair or festival of some sort and tons of opportunity to have a good time!
Here's a few pictures (albeit crappy cell phone ones) and a recap of some of the fun events I've hit up so far this summer and a few yet to come!
Legend:
Green Dot - Slacker HQ
Light Blue Dot - Harriet Island
Dark Blue Dot - Basilica of St. Mary
Purple Dot - Minneapolis Riverfront
Basilica Block Party
Two of the best music festivals that come around every summer are Grand ol Day (Which I previously Blogged about) and the Basilica Block Party. The BBP is put on every year by the Basilica of St. Mary as a fundraiser and general good time. There's two stages of music, one right by the Basilica steps and another a block away with one of the best view any music stage could have, the Minneapolis Skyline:
The main headliner this year was Train. It marked their third appearance at the BBP since they just love coming back. I can't think of many cities who's skyline can rival the beauty of Minneapolis'. Having that behind some good music is hard to beat!
Taste of Minnesota
The taste of MN is held every year for the days and weekend surrounding the 4th of July. They Have fireworks every night and an even bigger show on the 4th. Located on Harriet Island and a another small island nearby along the Mississippi River, they have 4 stages of music and LOTS of food. I spent about $20 gorging myself and then we hung out to watch the fireworks. I was just about the 4th and I was watching them past an American Flag, so I couldn't help but snap a picture:
Minnesota Aquatennial
I'm sure you're asking what the hell an Aquatennial is and, well, most people around here do too. Basically is a yearly week-long celebration that tends to focus on water. Minnesota is the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" you know.
They'll have concerts and sailing regattas and all sorts of stuff throughout the week. My favorite part though is the fireworks show. We all know I love things that go boom. Especially big pretty ones like fireworks.
The show is held on the Minneapolis Riverfront, just north of downtown also overlooking the historic Stone Arch Bridge and the old Mills that mad Minneapolis the City it is now. The best part of the show is when the lit what basically became a HUGE waterfall of sparks of a high bridge across the river. Very, very cool.
I couldn't get a good shot of the waterfall since it was so bring, but I got some of the other fireworks. I had to zoom way out since we were basically sitting right underneath the fireworks, but that orange dot on the bottom is the downtown skyline again.
Rib Fest
Now who can't appreciate a festival devoted to eating one food: Ribs? Oh hush up all you veggie types! For years this too was held in Downtown Minneapolis, but the lot they held it in is now our brand spankin' new Downtown Library. Last year and this one it has been held down at Harriet Island. I don't mind this since I can walk there is I so choose from Slacker HQ. The walk back does suck a little though since its All. UP. Hill. Think river bluff, not gently rolling.
There are of course many vendors of Ribs that have won awards all over the place. My favoritely named place was "Sgt. Oinks" and my favorite ribs came from Texas Thunder. Here's a shot of all the rib places lit up with the Saint Paul Skyline in the background. Not a majestic as Minneapolis, but not bad either.
Anyway, this year they had some decent bands playing on the two music stages, but there was one I wanted to see in particular. Now, when you think of a festival devoted to eating animal flesh, you might think of lots of bands. Ok, maybe not lots. But one man in particular may just be the perfect guy to have play at such a fest: Ted Nugent. For those of you who don't know, Ted's a HUGE proponent of hunting and fishing and loves the mantra "Kill it and Grill it." There was actually a pretty big crowd for it so this is the best shot I could get:
Some highlights included Ted shooting a cardboard Cut out of Osama Bin Laden with his compound bow and tossing back beads thrown onstage saying "I don't need your damn hippy beads!" Fun times! hehe
Irish Fair
This weekend I'll be heading back down to Harriet Island to enjoy some live Irish music and of course some beer. They have two music stages (one small one right on the shore of the Mississippi) and a stage with traditional Irish dancing. It's always a good time! Then next weekend I'll be in Michigan checking out the NASCAR Race, so I'll need to get some alcohol in the bloodstream to tolerate 4 days camping with my dad.
MN State Fair
It's almost that time again. Time to go wander the fairgrounds, ride the rides, see the animals and of course, eat WAY too much. I'll of course keep you updated on my daily gorging when the Fair rolls around.
Anyway, time to get back to the real world, See you at the next fun festival!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 10:37 AM,
