Twins Opener
photo by Stephen Geffre
The Top 10
Twins Opener 4/5
Last year, a wild-card appearance teased Twins fans with a shot at a playoff run. Although they didn’t advance, it was their first postseason since 2010. With a revamped bullpen and most key position players returning, there’s much to anticipate this year. Get out to Target Field, savor a hot dog, and whatever you do, don’t think about football.
National Beer Day 4/7
The day FDR repealed Prohibition and declared, “I think this would be a good time for a beer” has become National Beer Day. In Granite Falls, hometown of congressman and National Prohibition Act champion Andrew J. Volstead, the holiday takes over. Not only is Granite Falls’ Andrew J. Volstead House Museum open during its off-season for a history lesson, but restaurants, bars, and breweries in the area are in on it for a beer tasting, too.
Cloud Cult with the Minnesota Orchestra 4/7–8
In 2016, local alt-rock band Cloud Cult debuted The Seeker, the title of both an album and a feature film starring How I Met Your Mother’s Josh Radnor. They spent last year on the road performing at screenings of the film, playing the score in real time. This innovative approach is nothing new for the prolific, eight-member collective, led by charismatic frontman Craig Minowa. For more than 20 years, they have put on elaborate live shows, joined onstage by string ensembles and painters, and for their next act they’ll collaborate with the Minnesota Orchestra. At Minneapolis’ Orchestra Hall, their painters will accompany the band’s rich yet pop-sensible music, auctioning off their canvases for charity by night’s end.
MSP International Film Festival
photo by Andrew Lussenhop
MSP International Film Festival 4/12–28
The state’s biggest film festival is international: More than 350 films from more than 70 countries screen at venues across the Twin Cities over 17 days. That has included documentaries at Uptown Theatre, children’s movies at St. Anthony Main Theatre, and music videos at the Soap Factory. Also, Rochester participates with its own showings at a theater just outside of downtown. The nearly 40-year-old fest lines up filmmakers from across the globe for Q+As and highlights local talent with a “Minnesota Made” series.
Trout Season “Opener House” 4/14
Yes, there is a National Trout Center, and it’s in Preston. Trout season gets its own “opener house” at the center, where experts teach visitors how to tie flies and, depending on the weather, demonstrate casting techniques on the Root River a block away. Try their rainbow-colored trout sugar cookies. No, they’re not made with trout, just shaped like them.
Unnatural Terrains Stalagmite by Elisa Berry Fonseca
photo by Elisa Berry Fonseca
Unnatural Terrains 4/20–6/1
At Artistry, Based At The Bloomington Center for the Arts, two Minnesota artists think locally. Their work examines unsustainable farming practices and the ways manmade and natural environments intersect. Sculptor Elisa Berry Fonseca crafts three-dimensional objects that, at a glance, appear organic. Up close, the spidery, chemical, fungal forms quickly cross into fantasy, enlivened by searing, unnatural colors. Painter Anne Rynearson, who grew up on a Minnesota farm, dissects rural maps and photographs and reconstructs them as warped, psychedelic topographies.
Fashion Week MN
photo by Emily Rose Photography
Fashion Week MN 4/23–29
The Twin Cities fashion scene is proportionate to the population, but undeniably fierce. Every spring and fall, the style-conscious turn crosswalks into catwalks and pitch pop-up shops across the metro. During this year’s events, Minneapolis designer Allison Quinnell debuts a collection—three dresses in the same silhouette showing a seasonal evolution. Then, Cake Plus-Size Resale puts on an inclusive, fashion-forward show called “Fat Festival Fashion.” Other events highlight LGBTQ designers and designers of color, and behind-the-scenes networking opportunities abound.
Circus Juventas
photo by Exposed to Light Photography
The World Circus Fair 4/25–5/5
Recently honored by the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Circopedia, St. Paul’s Circus Juventas is bringing up our next generation of circus performers. For the circus school’s spring recital, hundreds of beginner and intermediate students combine the daredevil athleticism of 18th-century-era London’s first circuses with the trademark Circus Juventas theatrics. Expect Cirque du Soleil-level costumes and a dramatic through line at the Circus Juventas Big Top in Highland Park, with nine performances to choose from.
Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 4/27
The Beatles’ infamous, boundary-pushing album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was part of the soundtrack to 1967’s “Summer of Love,” and signified either a breakthrough in pop or the death of rock and roll—or both. Fifty years later, it’s material that has aged well enough to still put on an irresistible show, from beginning (“You’re such a lovely audience”) to end (“A Day in the Life”). Catch touring tribute band RAIN in garish, era-appropriate costume, at Mystic Lake Casino In Prior Lake.
Homegrown Music Festival 4/29–5/6
A music fanatic in Duluth named Scott Lunt got five local bands to play his 30th birthday party in 1998. The next year, he launched Homegrown as a 10-act lineup out of NorShor Theatre, drawing 700 people. Fast-forward 20 years, and that party has become one of the state’s biggest annual music festivals. The eight-day bash features 200-some rockers across Duluth And Superior, Wisconsin, from the biggest homegrown acts to the greenest. Today, the volunteer-run passion project attracts several thousand. This year, the newly reopened NorShor hosts spoken-word poetry April 30. Pro tip: Check out smaller venues for surprising up-and-comers.
Digital Extra: Northern Exposure
Get hyped for this year’s Homegrown Music Festival in Duluth by watching a montage of last year’s best moments from the fest’s 200-some performances.
