Twin Cities weekend guide: Monarch festival, Greenway Glow, JazzFest
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It's a big weekend for Minneapolis festivals — and if you have the energy, you can check out four on Saturday alone.
- Here's my dream itinerary for the day, not including stops for coffee.
🦋 10am: Start your adventure surrounded by butterflies at the Monarch Festival at Lake Nokomis, a celebration of the insect's 2,300-mile migration from Minnesota to Mexico with dancing, art, native plant sales and live monarchs. Saturday, 10am-4pm. Free.
🇬🇷 12pm: Stop for lunch at the Minneapolis Taste of Greece festival near Bde Maka Ska, where you can feast on gyros, stuffed grape leaves, loukoumades ("Greek doughnuts") and a dozen freshly made pastries. Friday-Sunday, times vary. Free entry.
🧵 2pm: Head east to Seward for Twin Cities Maker Fest, where over 150 local artists and craftspeople will host a maker's market, free arts and crafts activities, performances and live music. Saturday, 12-5pm. Free.
🌟 4pm: Grab your bike for the Greenway Glow, the annual art/music/dance/theater festival spread across 17 stops on and around the Midtown Greenway bike trail.
- And if you need to take a break, go for it — Greenway Glow runs until 10pm. Saturday, 4-10pm. Free.
More things to do …
🪡 Get quilting inspiration and discount supplies at the GE FamFest tent sale in Chaska on Saturday.
- Part of a weekendlong festival hosted by local quilt shop GE Designs, the sale will have fabric, kits, tools, live stage demos and meet-and-greets with experts. Saturday, 10am-2pm. Free entry.
🎷 Celebrate 25 years of the Selby Avenue JazzFest this Saturday in St. Paul's Rondo neighborhood.
- The all-day lineup includes the Selby Ave Brass Parade, Minnesota State Band, Stokley and a jam session at Walker West Music Academy to end the evening. Saturday, 11am-10pm. Free.
🐶 Do you love "short legged chaos potatoes"? The Midwest's Largest Corgi Meet-up returns to Andover this Saturday for an afternoon of off-leash playtime, games, costume contests, a parade and the new "Great Corgi Derby."
- Everyone is welcome, though guests without corgis must pay a $5 admission fee. Saturday, 2:30-5:30. Corgi families attend free.
🚴 Bike, roll or skate around West Bank at Sunday's Open Streets Cedarfest, which closes Cedar and Riverside avenues to car traffic for a block party.
- This year's activities include a large market, two live music stages, Twin Cities Skaters, wiener dog races, camel rides and Adventures in Cardboard. Sunday, 11am-5pm. Free.