May 31, 2011, Tuesday - Barnett Vineyards Winemaker's Dinner at Spill the Wine

Time: 6:30pm

Spill the Wine is featuring a 5 course wine dinner with wine maker from Barnett Winery.

amuse bouche
greeting of sparkling wine

course one
crudo of hamachi, micro greens, ponzu, shiso, lemon confit
barnett carneros chardonnay ($27 retail)

course two
beef tenderloin bruschetta, baby arugula, charred red onion, truffle oil
barnett spring mountain merlot ($36 retail)

course three
5-spice rubbed duck breast, roasted red grapes, caramelized baby squash, goat cheese
barnett tina maria russian river pinot noir ($21 retail)

course four
rhubarb & blueberry crostata, sage cream
barnett spring mountain cabernet sauvignon ($36 retail)

$65/person

Reservations

May 31, 2011, Tuesday - Music in The Park - Father Hennepin Bluffs

Time: 7:00pm

New Riders of the Purple Dead  "A music rodeo round up of love and peace."

Brought to us by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

May 30, 2011, Monday - Memorial Day at Mill City Museum

Time: 10:00am to 5:00pm

Location:  Mill City Museum, 704 South 2nd Street

The museum opens its doors for special Monday hours with a wide array of activities. Explore the architecturally stunning museum built into the ruins of the Washburn A Mill and now a National Historic Landmark; ride the 8-story Flour Tower elevator show; get wet in the Water Lab; take in the smells and tastes in the Baking Lab; watch the award winning film "Minneapolis in 19 Minutes Flat" by Kevin Kling; and enjoy the rooftop views of the Mississippi River, St. Anthony Falls and Stone Arch Bridge.

Fee: $10 adults, $8 seniors and college students, $5 children ages 6-17; free for children age 5 and under and MHS members.

May 30, 2011, Monday - Music in The Park - Nicollet Island Park

Time: 7:00pm

Amy and Adams  "Lush Harmonic Vocals, Marvelous Melodies"

Brought to us by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

May 28, 2011, Saturday - Mill City Farmers Market

Time: 8:00am - 1:00pm

Location: 704 South 2nd Street

Today's Theme at the Mill City Farmers Market:  Minnesota Native Foods

Celebrating Minnesota’s Native Heritage and foods: wild rice, maple syrup, and bison with Northern Lakes Wild Rice, Birchberry Native Arts & Foods, and Wild Idea Buffalo
PRODUCE PLANNER: MORELS!, asparagus, green garlic, ramps, rhubarb, radishes, arugula, spring salad mix, baby bok choy, herbs and more!

WHAT’S NEW:

- Singing Hills Goat Dairy is now making CHEESE CURDS!!! Try original, dill & garlic, or hot pepper.
- Classic Tailors have a great “reuse” foundation – re-purposed feed sacks become clothes!
- All this rain sure does threaten bug season! Try Olsen Naturals lemongrass cedar soap as a natural mosquito deterrent. 2nd line of defense: natural bug spray!
- MOREL MUSHROOMS at Prairie Hollow Farm
- Once you go loose leaf, you never go back! Stop by Mrs. Kelly’s Tea for custom-blended loose leaf tea and ask them about their winner, Celebration Blend!

Entertainment 10:00am–11:00am American Indian Magnet School students Pow Wow.

Mill City Cooks 10:00am: Tataki Style Grilled Bison Steak with a Wild Rice Salad and Grilled Ramps – Join Market chef, Heather Hartman, Paul Red Elk from Northern Lakes Wild Rice and Josh Resnick from Wild Idea Buffalo for a heritage foods-focused cooking demo.

Art Market, All Day  Featuring Stirsby, Hmong ABC, Cracked Clay and Weavers Guild

May 28, 2011, Saturday - Washburn A Mill Tour at Mill City Museum

Time: 1:00pm

Location: Mill City Museum, 704  2nd Street South

Fee: $12 adults, $10 seniors and college students, $8 children ages 6-17 and MHS members. Tour includes museum admission.

Reservations recommended - call 612-341-7555

Get an in-depth look at the historic Washburn A Mill complex and the award-winning Mill City Museum building. A museum interpreter will take visitors into the building's many nooks and crannies, highlighting the lives of the men and women who worked there, how the building functioned during its peak flour milling years and the many changes to the building over time. Also covered will be the challenges of preserving the 120-year-old, fire-damaged building; its art, architecture and interior design; and the St. Anthony Falls Historic District.

Although many parts of the mill can be explored during regular museum visits, this is the public's only opportunity for a guided tour through the entire museum building.

May 26, 2011, Thursday - Urban Archeologist, Dr. Kent Bakken Leads a Walking Tour of The Mill City Ruins and Surrounding Properties

Time: Noon - 1:00 pm (Registration begins at 11:30)

Join the East Downtown Council (EDC) to learn about the beginnings of Economic Development in Minneapolis and the ways the Mississippi River continues to spur growth and prosperity in the DEEP District.

Our now famous "lunch aprons" (donated by Thrivent Financial) will be filled with walking friendly food for you to pick up at registration before the tour. Come early so we can begin promptly at noon!

Registration (11:30am to Noon) hosted by
Minneapolis Community Planning and Economic Development
Crown Roller Bldg
105 5th Avenue South - 2nd floor
Minneapolis, MN 55401

Cost is $15 for EDC Members and guests
RSVP by Friday May 20th to:

Diane Ingram
Administrative Consultant
East Downtown Council
810 S 7th St
Minneapolis, MN 55415
www.edcmpls.org
voicemail: 612-359-0601

May 26, 2011, Thursday - Arms Around our Shelter Tour at People Serving People

Time: 8:30am-9:30am

Location:  People Serving People, 614 South 3rd Street

Tour People Serving People with staff members, and find out what a typical day at People Serving People is like in just a half hour.  Coffee and light breakfast served, and Q&A with staff afterwards. 

RSVP to Lauren at 612-277-0219.

May 26, 2011, Thursday - Midwest Photo Safari "Minneapolis Nights in the Mill District" on the Heritage Trail

This is a seasonal tour from Photo Safari, running April 1 through October 31.

This tour runs Thursday through Sunday, and begins at the Third Avenue Bridge on Historic Main St. It begins by walking parts of the St. Anthony Heritage Trail and practicing early evening light photography. Learn the principles of low light settings on your digital SLR's or the various "scene" mode settings of your digital point and shoot.

This safari begins 45 minutes before local sunset (your tour confirmation will have an exact time).  The Safari runs between 90 minute and 2 1/2 hours.

May 26, 2011, Thursday - KEEP THE BEAT 2nd Precinct Substation Fundraiser at Vic's

Time: 5:00pm–7:00pm

Location: Vic's on the River, 201 Main Street SE

Have fun while helping our neighbors across the river keep a beat officer at the 2nd Precinct.  Join the NE Business Association in supporting the 2nd Precinct Substation with a raffle and silent auction featuring prizes from local neighborhood businesses.

Appetizers courtesy of Vic's on the River. Wine, beer, and cheese courtesy of Surdyk's Liquor and Cheese Shop.

Get your tickets now!  Raffle tickets can be purchased at Surdyk's and Keegan's Pub. Tickets are $25/each.

May 26, 2011, Thursday - Baby Storytime at Central Library

Time: 10:00am

Location: Childrens Library at Central Library, 300 Nicollet

For children from birth to 24 months. Delight and stimulate your baby's senses with books and music. Build brain power.

May 25, 2011, Wednesday - Public Meeting of Minneapolis Riverfront Development Initiative

Time:   7:00pm-9:00pm

Location:  Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, 2117 West River Road

Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board wants your “two cents” on RiverFIRST.

The Minneapolis Riverfront Development Initiative launched with an intensive four-day, seven-meeting spree, April 27-30, featuring the MR|DI design team TLS/KVA presenting their RiverFIRST proposal. These meetings were the first in a series of three multi-day information exchange sessions, running April - July, during which the public and Steering, Technical and Advisory committee members are invited to participate in the MR|DI's "iterative design process." (And what is that, exactly? See this blog post.)

The public is invited to meet with the designers – Sheila Kennedy and Frano Violich of Kennedy & Violich Architecture and Tom Leader of Tom Leader Studio.  Also presenting will be Mary deLaittre, Project Manager of the MR|DI.

“These meetings, which began in April and will wind up in July, are the second of three wonderful opportunities for the public to have an in-person dialog with the designers as they work toward preparing their recommendation for Upper Riverfront Parks development,” says deLaittre, who is working closely with TLS/KVA and multiple local constituencies to identify and define the functional parameters for the RiverFIRST proposal. “You can expect to see new and more detailed images of the RiverFIRST proposed sites and systems, maps and analysis of current or forthcoming Upper Riverfront projects being overseen by many different agencies, and preliminary timelines and resource identification.”

The third opportunity for in-person comment on RiverFIRST will be in late June or early July, with details announced as soon as they are finalized.

More opportunities to connect:

Community members unable to attend the public meetings will find minutes and video/audio from MR|DI meetings online.

May 25, 2011, Wednesday - Publication Reading: Justin Cronin at The Loft

Time: 7:00pm

Location: Target Performance Hall, The Loft, 1011 Washington Avenue South

Event: Publication Reading: Justin Cronin
 
The Loft presents New York Times best-selling author Justin Cronin in a reading from the paperback edition of his novel The Passage.

About Justin Cronin:
Justin Cronin was born and raised in New England and is the author of The Summer Guest (a Booksense national bestseller) and Mary and O’Neil, winner of both the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Stephen Crane Prize for best debut fiction. His novel The Passage was named one of the then best novels of the year by Time magazine and was a New York Times bestseller. He is Professor of English at Rice University and lives with his family in Houston. He is at work on The Twelve, the followup to The Passage to be published by Ballantine Books in 2012.

About The Passage:
The Passage is the story of Amy Bellafonte—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. Special Agent Wolgast, assigned to track Amy down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl—and risks everything to save her. The Passage is a breathtaking tale of catastrophe and survival and a mesmerizing work of sacrifice and hope. In telling this epic story of a girl given the chance to save humanity, author Justin Cronin’s ambitious vision and powerful prose combine to make The Passage this summer’s most anticipated read.

Free

May 25, 2011, Wednesday - Live Music Wednesday at Aloft

Time: 6:00pm-9:00pm
 
Location: w xyz bar, Aloft, 900 Washington Avenue South

Join us for a fantastic acoustic set featuring Jeremy Smith (of See The World).

Enjoy an extended happy hour until 9:00 pm...

$3 Tap & Domestic Beers
$4 House Wines
$5 Specialty Elixirs & Select Appetizers

May 24, 2011, Tuesday - Meet Artist Leon Zobel at Sanctuary

Time: 6:00pm-8:00pm

Location: Sanctuary the restaurant, 903 Washington Avenue South

Sanctuary’s artist of the quarter, Leon Zobel, will be in the house having dinner with friends. If you’d like to meet him, come on down!

Sanctuary gives one local artist per quarter an opportunity to use its dining room walls to display and, we hope, sell his or her original art!

May 22, 2011, Sunday - Art-a-Whirl in Northeast

Time:  Noon to 5:00pm

Art-A-Whirl, presented by the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association, is the largest open studio and gallery tour in the United States.

More than 500 artists participate in AAW, including potters, tile makers, painters, sculptors, musicians, photographers, glass blowers, printmakers, and textile designers.  They showcase their art in warehouses, galleries, homes, storefronts and cafes.

Here are links to articles from The Journal that might help prepare you:

Art overdose: A beginner's guide

Dine-A-Whirl

Northrup King getting new sculpture garden

Land of 10,000 artists

May 22, 2011, Sunday - Chamber Music at MacPhail

Time: 7:00pm

Location:  Antonello Hall, MacPhail Center for Music, 501 South 2nd Street

Adults: $40 | Youth (age 6-17): $12

Explore rich and diverse chamber music repertoire performed in the intimate setting of Antonello Hall at the MacPhail Center for Music. Experience the extraordinary talent of Minnesota Orchestra musicians in familiar and rarely performed works that will touch your heart and ignite your imagination. This is as close, intense and breathtaking as music gets.

TAKEMITSU And then I knew 'twas Wind
Greg Milliren, flute
Sam Bergman, viola
Kathy Kienzle, harp 

BLOCH Sonata for Violin and Piano
Stephanie Arado, violin
Claudia Chen, piano 

ANDRÈS Chants d'arrière-saison (Songs of Late Fall)
J. Christopher Marshall, bassoon
Kathy Kienzle, harp 

DOHNÁNYI Serenade in C major for String Trio
Jonathan Magness, violin
Aaron Janse, viola
Beth Rapier, cello 

Please note: Seating in Antonello Hall is general admission. House opens approximately 45 minutes prior to concert time. Concert is approximately 90 minutes long with one intermission.

May 21, 2011, Saturday - Mill City Farmers Market

Time: 8:00am - 1:00pm

Location: 704 South 2nd Street

Today's Theme at the Mill City Farmers Market: 

Spring Ephemerals

“Spring Ephemerals” refer to any early quick growing stalk or shoot or leaf that emerges from the cool earth early in the season.  It is said that these greens have an especially cleansing effect on the body after a winter of consuming heavier, richer foods, which tend to leave the body more congested. Wild greens, for example, yield extremely high percentages of vitamins and minerals compared to any domesticated plant we can grow.

PRODUCE PLANNER: spring ephemerals, baby lettuces, baby bok choy, radishes, arugula, spinach, herbs, salad turnips, rhubarb and more!

WHAT’S NEW:

• have you met our new vendor, Wild Idea Buffalo?
  

Cooking Demo, 10AM: Wild Greens at MCFM- from salads to fresh pasta, sample the Goodness in the Green

Live Music, 11AM – 1PM: Yodel A-Go-Go plays honky-tonk country, rhythm and blues and rockabilly – from Hank Williams to Chuck Berry to Brian Setzer – for a roots-rockin’ good time!

Art Market, all day: Featuring Plantworn,  Matt Krousey, Tribal Delightful Concoctions, and Woodsport

May 21, 2011, Saturday - Central Library Celebrates 5 Years!

Location: Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall

On Saturday, May 21, the Minneapolis Central Library will celebrate its fifth birthday.

Come celebrate the Minneapolis Central Library's fifth birthday. Activities include a special Childish Films program, a visit from T.C. Bear, a revival of the popular Celebrity Poetry program, a scavenger hunt, refreshments, and more. Mark your calendar:

10:30am
Childish Films Season Finale: “Flying through the Air”

•Folk humorist/clarinetist Mary Mack, writer/performer Stephanie Ash, and accordion player Karen Townsend have formed a polka band that will demonstrate the amazing power of polka to both children and adults. A tribute to Nye's Ruth Adams, who had been originally scheduled to perform.
•Watch a selection of wildly creative Polish animation for children from the 1960s and 70s with all manner of colorful forms and playful characters.

12:00 Noon
Minnesota Twin’s T.C. Bear Appearance
Enjoy a special baseball storytime in the Children’s Library with Minnesota Twin’s Mascot T.C. Bear and Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin.

2:00pm
Celebrity Poetry Reading
An outgrowth of former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky’s Favorite Poem Project, which asks Americans of all walks of life to share their favorite poems for public audiences. Participating celebrities include:
•Amber Damm, Former Minnesota Teacher of the Year
•Dennis Douda, WCCO Television Anchor
•Sintripetal Force, Minnesota RollerGirls Blocker-Jammer
•Vincent Francoual, 2011 winner of Minnesota Monthly’s Local Chef Challenge and chef/owner of Vincent - A Restaurant
•Linda Higgins, State Senator
•Bernadeia Johnson, Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent
•Chris Osgood, guitarist from The Suicide Commandos
•And others

11:00am–3:00pm
More activities throughout the day:

•Kids Book Sale in the Atrium
•Giveaways
•Scavenger Hunt
•Teen Tech Squad Music Creation Stations and Light Painting Booth
•Tours at 11:00am and 3:00pm

May 21, 2011, Saturday - Childish Films at Central Library

Location: Pohlad Hall, Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall

Flying Through the Air

Watch a selection of wildly creative Polish animation for children from the 1960s and 70s with all manner of colorful forms and playful characters. Come early to listen to live Polka music before the program.

Cat And Mouse, Wladyslaw Nehrebecki, National Audiovisual Institute, 1958. 8 min. A mad, mod chase begins after a mouse, by mistake, brings to life a drawing of a cat.
An Adventure in Stripes, Alina Maliszewska, National Audiovisual Institute, 1960. 11 min. A love story about two unusual black and white striped elephants.
Button, Theresa Badzian, National Audiovisual Institute, 1964. 7 min. Colorful, crafty stop-motion animation featuring buttons.
Enchanted Triangles, Stefan Janik, National Audiovisual Institute, 1972. 9 min. Two children frolic through an ever expanding geometrical world of triangles.
If You Spot A Cat Flying Through The Air, Daniel Szczechura, National Audiovisual Institute, 1971. 5 min. If you spot a cat flying through the air, don't be surprised! 

This activity is made possible in part by a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota Legislature and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Refreshment sponsor: Whole Foods Market. Series sponsor: Target, Jagged Edge, Weston Woods Studio. Media Sponsor: Minnesota Parent. Activity Sponsor: Minnesota Center for Book Arts.