Fairs

This year’s Twin Cities Book Festival will take place at the state fairgrounds in St. Paul this Saturday, October 13, from 10 am to  5 pm.

The  Children’s Pavilion will feature MHS Press authors and illustrators Kevin Kling, Chris Monroe, and David LaRochelle, among others.

“The Twin Cities Book Festival—presented each year by Rain Taxi—is the annual get-together for the Twin Cities’ devoted literary community. The always-free Festival includes readings by world-class authors and local literary heroes; a day-long book fair featuring publishers, authors, booksellers, and more; a children’s pavilion with storytelling, crafts, and activities; and much more!” (From the TC Bookfest website.)

Stop by our booth and say hello!

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Celebrate Read & Ride Day with your public library in Carousel Park tomorrow, Wednesday August 29th,  at the Minnesota State Fair. You’ll find stage shows all day long and fun activities for the family under the tent.

Public library card holders receive a discounted admission ticket price when they purchase a ticket at the gate and present a valid library card. (One discount per card.)

Meet up with fellow library lovers at noon in Carousel Park for the Library Card Mob!

More info from the Metro Public Libraries:

Activities Under the Tent:

Make & Send State Fair Postcards: Share your 2012 State Fair experience with someone special on a postcard you design yourself. If you have the address we’ll mail it for you from the Fair, or take it with you to mail later.

Game On!: Test your knowledge at the Spin & Win Trivia Wheel.  Test your luck at Library Plinko! Everyone’s a winner on Read & Ride Day!

Get Carded!: Stop by the Read & Ride Day tent to show us your library card and get your “I Got Carded” button to wear with pride during your day at the Fair.

Get Your Words Here: Need help with your Fabulous Fair Alphabet game card? Your public library has the words to help you complete it. If you have not stopped by the Alphabet Forest (in Baldwin Park), you can pick up your game card here and get started. We’ll also provide directions to the Alphabet Forest where you receive your blue ribbon.

Adventures In the Park:

Read & Walk—Minnesota’s Hidden Alphabet: Read a book while you walk across Carousel Park! Enjoy Minnesota’s Hidden Alphabet, with photos by Joe Rossi and words by David LaRochelle as you make your way between the Grandstand to Carnes Ave.

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The 14th Annual Twin Cities Jazz Festival is taking place this weekend in St. Paul. This free jazz celebration starts on Thursday, June 28, and continues through Saturday, June 30. Three stages in Mears Park will host some of the best jazz musicians in the region. Headliners include Francisco Mela, the Delfeayo Marsalis Octet, and the Bad Plus. Come out and enjoy the biggest jazz event in the Twin Cities.

Check out Joined at the Hip: A History of Jazz in the Twin Cities by Jay Goetting for more information about jazz music here in Minnesota.

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This Saturday, June 23, will mark the 8th Annual Chum Rhubarb Festival in Duluth, Minnesota. From 9 am to 4 pm enjoy games, crafts, musical performances, silent auctions, and of course delicious rhubarb delicacies.

Food booths around the festival will showcase all the different–and tasty!–ways to utilize rhubarb, including rhubarb lemonade, rhubarb brats and burritos, and various pastries and pies. Gardeners will be available to answer questions about growing rhubarb and to judge contests. Families will enjoy food and activities as well as learn new ways of preparing rhubarb.

Kim Ode, author of Rhubarb Renaissance, will be featured in an onstage cooking demonstration starting at noon, teaching guests how to make Confetti Salad. Before and after the demonstration, Ode will be selling and signing her book.

Admission is free for the festival, so make the trip to Duluth this weekend for the 8th Annual Chum Rhubarb Festival!

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This coming weekend will mark the 46th Annual Edina Art Fair. Friday, June 1, to Sunday, June 3, enjoy a fun family outing at the corner of 50th & France. The Edina Art Fair, the second largest in Minnesota, is the first official art fair of the summer.

This fair showcases a large variety of art from around the Twin Cities and the country. Over three hundred artists will be displaying their unique works, including painting, photography, ceramics, engravings, wood carvings, glasswork, and jewelry. The fair also includes a special collection of GREEN artwork made by artists using only recycled materials. Artists were chosen from over six hundred applicants from around the country.

The Edina Art Fair also offers different events, activities, and performances each day. Throughout the weekend there will be fashion shows and musical performances, and a Kids Art Zone provides activities for the whole family, including face painting and puppet shows. A full list of activities and performance times is available at the Edina Art Fair website.

A fair would not be complete without delicious food: plenty of booths from local restaurants are gathered in two food courts. Enjoy smoothies, kettle corn, tacos, lemonade, and more.

The Edina Art Fair runs from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, Friday through Sunday, and admission is free. See the website for parking tips.

Whether you’re an art buff or just want to enjoy good music and great food, be sure to stop by the 46th Annual Edina Art Fair this weekend!

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Minnesota Museums Month is a statewide celebration of museums, their stories, and their communities. This May, visit a new museum in your community, take a road trip, or return to one of your favorites that you haven’t seen in a while. Museums of every type—art, historical, science, arboretums, zoos, and more—are participating.

The Minnesota History Center is one of approximately six hundred museums in the state! Check out www.museumsmonth.org as well as their Facebook and Twitter feeds for more information and events.

Minnesota Museums Month launches in conjunction with the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Museums. Being held in Minneapolis/St. Paul, the meeting will welcome more than five thousand museum professionals from institutions in every state and more than thirty countries. Minnesota’s vibrant museum and cultural community provides an ideal setting for this year’s theme, “Creative Community.”

Our new book Building Museums: A Handbook for Small and Midsize Organizations by Robert Herskovitz, David Grabitske, and Timothy Glines was released earlier this year. If you are attending the AAM meeting, please stop by the Minnesota Historical Society Press booth to check it out!

See you out and about at Minnesota museums next month!

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Looking for something stunning to fill that empty wall space, a unique piece of jewelry for a friend, a one-of-a-kind piece of furniture? Then head on over to the 14th Annual MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art & Design) Art Sale this weekend. Thousands of original pieces by MCAD students and recent graduates will be on sale, including everything from paintings, prints, and photographs to sculpture, furniture, toys, clothing, jewelry, accessories, and more. Some of the filmmaking, animation, and multimedia students sell DVDs of their work, too. Artists receive most of the proceeds from the sale of their art.

The opening reception is 6 to 9 Thursday night ($150), and Friday evening the sale is on from 6 to 9 for $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Admission is free on Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm.

To view some of the artwork in this year’s show, visit the sale’s Facebook page.

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The second-annual Minneapolis Indie Xpo takes place this weekend at The Soap Factory in Minneapolis. Festival founders Sarah Morean and Andy Krueger created the event to celebrate independent comics and midwestern cartoonists. They explain: “Minneapolis is a great place for comics. As one of the most literate cities in the nation, Minneapolis supports several large book and comics festivals each year. The Minneapolis Indie Xpo is proud to call it home.  The Twin Cities metro area is home to at least 11 different comic shops, including a few Will Eisner Spirit of Retail Award winners.  The Minneapolis Indie Xpo welcomes independent cartoonists and publishers, the people whose sweat and cash directly support their creative habits. Admission is free. ”

Check out their lineup of exhibitors, including Danno Klonowski, Zander and Kevin Cannon, Reynold Kissling, Bob Lipski, Brittney Sabo, Barbara Schulz, Tim Sievert, Andy Singer, and Steven Stwalley, a few of the many talented artists featured in Superheroes, Strip Artists, & Talking Animals by Britt Aamodt.  Chris Monroe, illustrator of the new children’s book by Kevin Kling, Big Little Brother, will also be there, displaying her Violet Days comic. Check out an interview with Chris over on the Minnesota Reads blog to find out what fictional character she had a crush on and her favorite book as a kid.

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Are you one of those who just can’t get your fill of books? Do you like to meet the people behind the scenes? This Saturday, the Eleventh Annual Twin Cities Book Festival celebrates the books, magazines, authors, readers, and even publishers that make up our cities’ vibrant community of the word.

Organized by Rain Taxi Review of Books, this event is free and open to the public.

Press authors Patricia Hampl (St. Paul Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tell Me True), Pete Hautman and John Coy (Libraries of Minnesota), Wing Young Huie (Frogtown, The University Avenue Project), N. M. Kelby (A Travel Guide for Reckless Hearts), and Brett Laidlaw (Trout Caviar: Recipes from a Northern Forager) join scores of others to talk about their works and give tips on writing. A full day of programming at the Children’s Pavilion (get them started right!), includes a yo-yo master and Bruce the Bug Guy. The complete schedule is here.

Stop by the Minnesota Historical Society Press table, where Press staffer Leslie Rask will be showing off our newest books and two Press authors will sign: Wing Young Huie at 1:30 and Brett Laidlaw at 2:00. See you there!

Saturday, October 15, 10:00-5:00

Minneapolis Community & Technical College

1501 Hennepin Avenue S., off Loring Park

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Have fun exploring the tastes, sights, and smells at the Minnesota State Fair with the Fabulous Fair Alphabet game inspired by the book by Debra Frasier.

From the website: “Pick up a Fabulous Fair Alphabet game card from any State Fair Information Booth or download one here.  Look for words in what you SEE, HEAR, READ, FEEL–and certainly in what you EAT–at the fair! Write these words on the card, recording two words for each letter of the alphabet. (For example: Write a word that begins with “A” beside the printed A. Remember that X’s are rare–simply look for words that contain an X.) Bring your completed card to the Alphabet Forest in Baldwin Park and win a blue ribbon!”

On Thursday, September 1, meet David LaRochelle, the Minnesota home-grown author for the day featured in Baldwin Park as part of the Fabulous Fair Alphabet festivities, sponsored by the Children’s Literature Network. David is the author of several children’s books, including Minnesota’s Hidden Alphabet with photos by Joe Rossi. Books will be available for purchase in Baldwin Park (across from the 4-H building) as well.

While you are strolling the fair looking for letters, check out the Minnesota State Fair History Walking Tour. You can also stop by the MHS booth on the main floor of the Grandstand for information on MHS programs and sites. (And fun goodies related to our forthcoming 1968 Exhibit: mood pens, anyone?)

Klecko, CEO of the Saint Agnes Baking Company in St. Paul, hosts the bakery’s daily cooking demonstrations in the Creative Activities Building. This year’s theme at the Saint Agnes demo kitchen is “At the Euro Table,” where  Klecko will be joined by some of Minnesota’s best chefs, bakers, and journalists. Guests include fellow MHS Press authors Lee Svitak Dean (Star Tribune Taste editor), Kim Ode (Star Tribune Taste), and novelist Nicole Mary Kelby. (For dates and times, enter “agnes” in the search box here.)

The breads of master baker Klecko have been served in some of the finest restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul. With decades of international culinary experience, Klecko has baked for presidents, rock stars, and professional athletes. But perhaps his most appreciative clients are dogs: he shares his favorite recipes in our book K-9 Nation: Baking for Your Best Friend.

And finally, on Sunday, September 4, celebrate Minnesota History Day in Carousel Park, sponsored by the Minnesota State Fair Foundation and the Minnesota Historical Society. We will feature entertainment, contests, crafts, and more.

See you at the fair!

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