Star Tribune
How Anoka became the ‘Halloween Capital of the World’
Other anecdotes about the era include dismantled wagons, a carriage appearing on the roof of a school and a “cow pie” left on the porch of a Champlin banker who had a certain specialty for foreclosing properties.
The cow invasion of 1919 sent community members scrambling for solutions. A civic leader named George Green is credited with the idea of throwing a celebration to distract troublemakers.
By that time, according to Morton, only a couple other communities in the U.S. had done something similar – Newark, N.J., in 1907 and Fort Worth, Texas, in 1916 among them. But it was far from a common practice.
Anoka went big for its first celebration – a parade, a bonfire, contests and then candy handed out afterward. The Anoka County Union described it as a “very novel party” with “nowhere near the usual amount of Hallowe’en depredations.”
“The city was resplendent in myriad lights, store windows were beautifully decorated and the merchants vied with another in putting on contests of various kinds,” the newspaper reported.
George Green, who owned a theater on Anoka’s Main Street, is credited with pitching the idea of throwing a civic Halloween celebration to distract kids from pulling pranks. (Anoka County Historical Society)
Although some pranks and vandalism continued after 1920, Anoka’s Halloween party quickly grew and overshadowed the occasional mishap.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation is getting $138 million from the federal government to help pay for putting in EZ Pass lanes on I-494 through Edina, Richfield and Bloomington.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced the funding on Monday as part of the latest round of National Infrastructure Project Assistance and Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant programs to improve safety, mobility and economic competitiveness.
A total of $4.2 billion was doled out to 43 other projects across the United States funded with money from the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America agenda.
“With this latest round of awards, dozens of major and much-needed projects, projects that are often difficult to fund through other means, are getting the long-awaited investments they need to move forward,” Buttigieg said.
In Minnesota, the money will be used to offset the $377 million MnDOT is spending to put in high occupancy toll lanes in both directions between Hwy. 100 and I-35W, rebuilding the I-35W/I-494 interchange, and replacing bridges at 12th, Portland and Nicollet avenues.
“The project will significantly reduce fatalities along the I-494 corridor by lowering congestion and conflict points,” the award summary said. “It will improve freight movement to and from the airport by diverting heavy commercial traffic off the main lanes.”
MnDOT began working on the project last year and is expected to finish it in 2026. The EZ Pass project is one of four the agency is working on or planning to carry out between Hwy. 169 and near Cedar Avenue/Hwy. 77.
Officials on Monday released the identity of a man who was shot to death after a fight at a party in north Minneapolis over the weekend.
William Demone Walker, 46, of Denver, was shot in the head about 6:15 a.m. Saturday and died in the 1700 block of 25th Avenue N., according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
One man was arrested at the scene for disorderly conduct, but investigators were looking into whether he played a role in the shooting. No other arrests have been announced.
Police said they believe the shooting happened after a fight at a nearby party spilled into the street.
“Today, tragically, another family has been ripped apart by gun violence,” Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a statement.
There have been 61 homicides in Minneapolis so far this year, according to a Star Tribune database. That compares to 50 at this time last year.
A driver crashed his car in north Minneapolis and left one passenger to die and another who survived his injuries, officials said Monday.
The crash involving the car and an unoccupied parked vehicle occurred about 3:50 a.m. Friday near Lowry and Girard avenues N., police said.
“The driver fled the scene before officers arrived” and has yet to be found, read a police statement.
Police have not identified either passenger.
The car was heading west on Lowry when it struck the parked vehicle.
Officers arrived and saw a white Ford Taurus flipped over and a man on the ground with critical injuries who died at the scene.
A second man in the car was taken by emergency medical personnel to a nearby hospital and was expected to survive his injuries.
