Twin Cities Buzz: Taste of MN, Sundance Dreams, & Soccer Showdown

This week’s edition covers stories 
from July 4th to July 10th, 2024.
Today’s issue is 744 words, an 6-minute read.

Hey folks, Mateo here.

I hope your second half of the year is off to a good start! It felt weird typing that out. We are halfway to 2025, a year that in my childhood seemed impossibly far away. Anyways, while the 4th of July weekend was disturbed by scattered rain, Minneapolis made the best of it at the Taste of Minnesota in downtown. Speaking of downtown, the City of Minneapolis just submitted a bid to become the host city for a MAJOR festival, more on that later. In other news, a significant amount of Minneapolis park workers have been on strike for the last week, yet to be determined whether it is coming to a resolution, as talks have stalled. Have you had an opportunity to catch any of the recent international soccer games? If not, there are two awesome games to look forward to on Sunday, one featuring Argentina and Lionel Messi, who is always fun to watch.

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A Tasty Success: Highlights from The Taste of Minnesota

The Taste of Minnesota took place in downtown Minneapolis last weekend, and the food options were a smash hit. Vendors from around the state were featured as part of a “road trip round-up” to showcase the diverse cooking from around the state. Among the options included Pimento Jamaican Kitchen, Krewe, Taste the Real Nawlins, and The Purple People Feeder, among several others. Outside of food, there were four live music stages featuring a variety of different music. There was also a zipline along Washington Avenue and a wrestling ring, making for a truly unique downtown experience. Ever since the pandemic and its resulting effects, downtown has faced criticism concerning its safety and ability to retain businesses. The Taste of Minnesota is a recent example of how the city has been trying to change the narrative about downtown, hosting fun and relevant events for the community.

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Minneapolis Aims High: Sundance and Beyond

Minneapolis has been a host for several major live events over the past years, and now they are making a play for a recurring live event, the Sundance Film Festival. This festival has been around since 1978 and has been hosted in Park City since 1985. Sundance earlier announced that they plan on looking for a new location for the festival starting in 2027, and the City of Minneapolis is interested. The Sundance Film Festival is the largest independent film festival in the US, and Minneapolis has gathered business partners including Target and Best Buy to commit $2 million a year in funding to “sustain and grow the festival” if selected. I think Minneapolis has a very compelling offer, and I believe that winning the hosting rights could be very beneficial to the city.

Minneapolis has shown willingness to host large events (particularly sporting events) in past years, as they hosted the Super Bowl Lll in 2018, Men’s Basketball Final Four in 2019, Women’s Basketball Final Four in 2022, the Big Ten’s Women’s Basketball tournament in 2023, and this year hosted both the men’s and women’s Big Ten tournaments. As they have proven themselves in the sports world, they look to expand further into the national art and film scene.

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Minneapolis Park Workers’ Strike Update

Yesterday marked the final day of a planned seven-day strike by Minneapolis park workers. About a third of the park board staff hit the picket line on the 4th of July, pushing to raise awareness about the issues many park board employees are facing. Extended hours, seven-day weeks, and a lack of investment into wages were among the issues cited by employees. Others mentioned problems with affording housing, as starter homes in Minneapolis start around $300,000. On Monday, MPRB commissioners held a meeting to discuss negotiations, but limited progress was made. Juli Wiseman, the board’s director of finance, explained the impacts of the proposals from either side. The park board’s proposal would increase property taxes by 1.25% in 2025, while the union’s would raise taxes by 2.1%. The park board is extremely reliant on property taxes, even more than the City of Minneapolis, as property taxes account for almost 80% of the general fund. Union officials mentioned that striking employees would be welcomed back to work today (Thursday), though it is unclear whether the strike will be extended at this point. The union’s business manager A.J. Lange said “If it takes longer because (the board) haven’t woken up, and they haven’t heard our message yet, we’ll continue to strike.”

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Epic Soccer Sunday: Euros and Copa America Finals

If you haven’t been paying attention to the international soccer circuit so far, you still have time. Sunday will be a big day, with the UEFA Euros and Copa America both concluding. At 2:00 PM, tune in to the European final between Spain and England. After that, at 7:00 PM, you can watch Lionel Messi and Argentina face off against Colombia. Both tournaments have been super exciting to watch so far, and you can expect that to continue on Sunday. The tournaments always have a great mix of older veterans of the game, like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (eliminated last week), and young upcoming stars, like 16 year old Spaniard Lamine Yamal, who just recently became the youngest player to score a goal in the Euros. After this weekend, players will get a short rest before many go off to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics, with the first soccer game kicking off on July 24th. Brazil has won the last two gold medals, can they “three-peat”?

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Stay informed, stay connected. 

See you next week! 

–
Mateo and the NewPrensa team

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