Post, videos, and photos by the Hawthorne HawkmanBy all accounts, the FLOW Northside Arts Crawl was a terrific success. I wish I'd been able to experience more of it, but I spent the majority of the event hula hooping at the Lyndale and Broadway cluster as part of the festivities. Not only did quite a few kids join in, but we received requests to youth hula hooping events in other parts of Minneapolis as well.
The hoopsters had some surprise visitors too, such as...
...Former One Man Minneapolis Officer Mark Klukow, with the Bike Cops for Kids. His partner Mike did some hooping himself, but JNS was scooped by the Bike Cops for Kids' Facebook page, which posted their hooping pictures before FLOW was even finished.
It should be pointed out how DIFFICULT it is to hula hoop while wearing a police officer's utility belt. Heck, I don't even like to have my wallet, Blackberry, or keys in my pockets when I'm hooping. So we'll cut these guys some slack.
By the time hooping was done, most of the other FLOW clusters had shut down or were close to that state, with the exception of the 5 Points Building. Before I arrived there, however, I ran across Senator Linda Higgins. Linda's been profiled consistently on this blog already, but her two adorable dogs and their political support were on full display today.
Once again, JNS was scooped by the Hillside Chronicles blog regarding the phenomenal artwork on display at the 5 Points Building, which is coming along quite nicely, as you can see. Here's what the view will be from upstairs. Once finished, I predict this office space will be among the most sought-after in NoMi.
Although I didn't get over to Broadway Liquor Outlet in time to catch famed NoMi photographer Pat Carney, I did meet up with one of the newest Hawthornites, Brian Finstad. I told him that Cash and Carry would be playing at the after party, and he responded:
City of Minneapolis Ordinance 114.28.03.7 states: "Upon being informed that one will soon see the band Cash and Carry live in NoMi, the recipient of said information shall, to the best of their abilities, approximate the above facial expression.")
And here's why:
I also met perhaps the newest NoMi homeowners, Katie and Jason, who just closed on their home 24 hours prior to the festivities. Welcome to the neighborhood!
In a rather poetic way to end the day's celebration, many of us went to Good Sports Bar and Grill on Broadway, where we had a chance to meet the previous owner of Delisi's and thank him for his service to the community. Thanks to everyone who made FLOW such a great time, and it will be even better next year!
The Twin Cities Daily Planet also has some great photos of FLOW.
ReplyDeleteNot everything was perfect, however. The Aquatennial had events on the Mississippi and along part of Broadway, and there was no real connection between that and FLOW, or between FLOW, the Aquatennial, and NoMi businesses like Donny Dirk's or Good Sports. A Minneapolis Issues Forum discussion on that topic can be found here.
I have to say that I was at first angry about the disconnect between FLOW and the Aquatennial, but now that I've cooled off a bit, I am thinking anger is not productive but rather would like to engage in thoughtful dialogue on the matter. It did really irk me that there is a major Aquatennial event going on in our neighborhood and yet there is such a complete disconnect that the attendees are probably not even aware that they are in North Minneapolis and North Minneapolis folks are not even aware that there is a major Aquatennial event occurring here as well. How does that happen?
ReplyDeleteI can definitely say that the signage of the Aquatennial event was oriented in such a way that there were signs in the "hip" North Loop area pointing folks to the event. I did not see such signs in North Minneapolis - where the event was actually held.
It really was a HUGE missed opportunity that while West Broadway's one art crawl of the year is going on, there was also a major Aquatennial event occurring at the foot of West Broadway, and there was absolutely no synergistic relationship between the two. Heck, it was so disconnected that it was as if neither were aware of the other. It would have been a great opportunity to change perceptions and surprise people. Many people are unaware that West Broadway has anything positive going on and many people are unaware that North Minneapolis has an amazing waterfront.
I hope that folks planning these events will take notice and begin to build some connections next year. At minimum, FLOW should have a booth at the river front and the circulator bus should be making river front stops as well.
M.Clinton perhaps you need to take over the planning. Then we don't have to hear your griping and complaining. Is it really such a freakin' surprise that folks in charge of aquatennial might not want idiots who carry illegal guns, wear their pants below their ass, litter, steal, rob, blast their booming bass, and just overall don't know how to behave in public. Heck, they even had to move Juneteenth out of the heart of north minneapolis b/c every year someone got shot and/or killed.
ReplyDeleteWhen "we" get these idiots in check and eradicate the lawless, uncivil, anti-social behavior then we can look forward to things like being included in a major event like aquatennial, being part of new things like "Nice Ride", having decent market rate apartment complexes in development instead of subsidized projects, etc etc.
We have to clean up north minneapolis before we can expect good things to come here and to be claimed and included by the rest of the city.
And i'm a long time neighborhood volunteer who lives here. So don't come down on me.
One spam comment rejected which links to a website that sells hula hoops.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the person responsible for posting the signage in NOMI should be called here to explain exactly how they could allow this to happen? Who is it and what did they know about this? Did they intentionally not post signs in NOMI perhaps trying to keep the residents away from the Aquatennial events? Is this another part of the continual containment strategy that politicians and other City workers practice?
ReplyDeleteI don't think the issue is so much that Aquatennial-goers are afraid of NoMi as it is that they were not aware of FLOW.
ReplyDeleteI hope that next year we can coordinate better. And I plan to volunteer and assist in that effort where necessary.
wayyy of topic for this issue but check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvhvpiDe01g MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvhvpiDe01g
Way off topic, I agree, but it's an example of how all this graffiti stuff is well documented on social media and if anybody cared to actually go after the vandals and investigate, their identities could be determined by any halfway competent investigator.
ReplyDelete