Star Tribune
2024 Taste of Minnesota will be back in downtown Minneapolis
Taste of Minnesota has made it official: It will return to downtown Minneapolis in 2024 after moving around and even disappearing for a few years.
The big food and music festival, which traditionally revolved around Independence Day, is set for July 6 and 7 on Nicollet Mall.
Some 100,000 attended last year’s free two-day event, which took place on a three-block stretch of Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis and was judged a hit by attendees and supporters alike.
Taste of Minnesota had been dormant for seven years. First staged in 1983 on the grounds of the State Capitol in St. Paul, the event ultimately became the state’s second-largest festival, behind only the State Fair. It moved to St. Paul’s Harriet Island in 2003. Taste eventually declared bankruptcy. It emerged briefly in Waconia, in Carver County, in 2014 and 2015.
The Legislature allocated $1.8 million state tourism grant to help stage the event and could apply to this year’s event too.
No major crimes were reported during last year’s Taste — an important marker for Minneapolis boosters hoping to curb the perception that downtown remains troubled since the pandemic and wanting to reinvent the city’s core as a destination for fun.
Last year’s festival offered concerts, goods ranging from art to marijuana pipes, and eats from caterers, restaurants and food trucks.
Staff writers Dave Orrick and Susan Du contributed to this article.
Transforming the heart of both downtowns, which have much larger buildings than old warehouses, is going to take a lot more money, creativity and time. Josh Talberg, managing director at downtown Minneapolis brokerage JLL, said with no major apartment buildings on the drawing board in either downtown, the fleet of empty office buildings present a golden opportunity to create more housing and lead both cities in a new direction.
“You can can certainly see the fundamentals improving, and you can feel that vibrancy, and that’s ultimately the foundation that’s needed to get investors to reinvest in the city,” he said. “But it’s not as if these 18-wheelers can turn on a dime.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
