May 6, 2013, Monday - 3rd Annual Downtown Greening Awards at Central Library

Time: 4:00pm - 5:45pm

Location: Pohlad Hall, Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall

Great cities have great public spaces. The Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District is pleased to invite you to attend the 3rd Annual Greening Awards, where downtown organizations, businesses, property owners and individuals are recognized for enhancing the public realm in Downtown Minneapolis through greening over the past year. Mayor Rybak and John Erwin, chair of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, will share their views on exciting downtown greening and public realm initiatives under way.

Special guest - Adrian Benepe, Senior Vice President and Director of City Park Development for The Trust for Public Land and former Commissioner of New York City’s Parks and Recreations Department – who will make the keynote address, sharing his insights regarding the transformative power of strategic investments in urban parks.

Open to the Public (there is no charge, seating is on a first-come first-served basis). 

Questions: Info@MinneapolisDID.com

May 4, 2013, Saturday - Washburn A Mill Tour at Mill City Museum

Times: 1:00pm

Location: Mill City Museum, 704 2nd Street South

Fee: $14 adults, $12 seniors and college students, $10 children ages 6-17 and MHS members. Tour includes museum admission.

Reservations: required, call 612-341-7555 or register online.

Take 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.

This is the only opportunity for a guided tour through the entire museum building and the only chance to see some of its non-public spaces. The tour includes admission to the museum gallery, Baking Lab, Water Lab and Flour Tower show.

May 4, 2013, Saturday - Motherhood & Words Reading at The Loft

Tme: 7:00pm

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

Motherhood and Words Curated by Kate Hopper

Kate Hopper has been coordinating the annual Motherhood & Words Reading since 2007 as way to showcase excellent literary nonfiction of women writing about motherhood.

Katrina Kenison is the author of Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry, The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir, and Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment.  Kenison spent many years working in publishing, first as an in-house editor at Houghton Mifflin Company in New Haven, New York, and Boston, and then, from 1990 through 2006, as the series editor of The Best American Short Stories. She co-edited, with John Updike, The Best American Short Stories of the Century. She is also the author, with her yoga teacher, Rolf Gates, of Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga. With Kathleen Hirsch she co-edited an anthology of short stories about motherhood, Mothers: Twenty Stories of Contemporary Motherhood. Her writing has appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Country Living, Family Circle, Redbook, and other publications.
 
Caroline M. Grant is co-editor, with Lisa Catherine Harper, of The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage: True Tales of Food, Family, and How We Learn to Eat. She also co-edited Mama, PhD: Women Write about Motherhood and Academic Life, with Elrena Evans. She is Editor-in-Chief of LiteraryMama.com and the Associate Director of the Sustainable Arts Foundation. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and two sons. Visit her website (http://carolinemgrant.com) for more information, including clips from her radio and television events.
 
Kate Hopper is the author of Use Your Words: A Writing Guide for Mothers and Ready for Air: A Journey Through Premature Motherhood (forthcoming). She teaches writing online and at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, where she lives with her husband and two daughters. Kate holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota and has been the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant, and a Sustainable Arts Grant. Her writing has appeared in a number of journals, including Brevity, Literary Mama, and the New York Times online. She is an editor at LiteraryMama.com. For more information about Kate’s writing and classes, visit www.katehopper.com.

May 4, 2013, Saturday - Live Music at Crooked Pint

Time: 9:00pm

Location: Crooked Pint Ale House, 501 Washington Avenue South

Tonight: Salsa del Soul

May 4, 2013, Saturday - Pacifier's Mini Photo Sessions at Chute Square Park

Time: 10:00am-6:00pm

Location: Pacifier, 310 East Hennepin Avenue (Event takes place at Chute Square, 28 University Ave SE)

MINI PHOTO SESSIONS ARE BACK!

We're hosting a day of Mini Photo Sessions with Olive Avenue Photography on Saturday, May 4. Each 20-minute session is $35 and covers 2 children, additional children are $10 each. Receive a free 5x7 print with ...a $75 Pacifier purchase, or a free 8x10 with a $100 PACIFIER purchase in preparation for the shoot or the day of. Olive Avenue also offers special mini session discount prints and digital packages.

Call and book your session NOW at 612.623.8123. Sessions always fill-up quickly!

May 4, 2013, Saturday - Live Music at Aster Cafe

Time: 9:00pm Cover: $10

Location: Aster Cafe, 125 Main Stree SE

Tonight:  Flamin' Oh's: "Kinda Unplugged"

May 4, 2013, Saturday - Cosmic Arcade All Ages Discovery Day at MCBA

Time: 10:00am-2:00pm

Location: Minnesota Center for Book Arts, 1011 Washington Avenue South

Cosmic Arcade All Ages Discovery Day

Free and open to the public

"A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called "leaves") imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person -- perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic."
- Carl Sagan, Cosmos

Explore the outer reaches of both our universe and our collective imagination in Stellar: Book Art and the Cosmos, featuring work by dozens of local and international artists. Enjoy book, print, paper and installation artworks on the themes of space, science (fiction and non-fiction), exploration and humanity.

Featured artists include:
Tim Abel (Racine, WI); Mary Bergs (Minneapolis, MN); Laura Beyer (Birmingham, MI); Elizabeth Boyne (Iowa City, IA); Cynthia Brinich-Langlois (Milwaukee, WI); Patty Bruce (Boston, MA); Emily Chaplain (Memphis, TN); Tiberiu Chelcea (Ames, IA); Young-ju Choi (Ilsan, South Korea); Johanna Drucker (Berkeley, CA); Wendy Fernstrum (Marine on St. Croix, MN); Brad Freeman (Chicago, IL); Kirsten Furlong (Boise ID); Philip Gallo (Minneapolis, MN); Travis Hocutt (Waterford MI); Tom Hubbard (Chagrin Falls, OH); Rachel Katz (Portland, ME); Ray Klimek (Athens, OH); Mari LaCure (Beverly, MA); Ginny Lloyd (Jupiter, FL); Jared Martin (Minneapolis, MN); Heather Matthew (Nunderi, Australia); Leah Mayers (Chicago, IL); Nora Lee McGillivray (St. Paul, MN); Andrea McKennan (Minneapolis, MN); Cathryn Miller (Grasswood, Saskatchewan, Canada); Ellen Mueller (Buckhannon, WV); Scott K. Murphy (Saint Joseph, MN); Heidi Neilson (Long Island City, NY); Lauren Orchowski (New York, NY); Mark Ryan (Minneapolis, MN); Mark Addison Smith (New York, NY); Regula Russelle (St. Paul, MN).

May 4, 2013, Saturday - Taste Twin Cities Food Tours Minneapolis Riverwalk Tour

Time: 11:00am - 2:00pm

Location: Begins at Gold Medal Park (10th Avenue South & 2nd Street South), next to the Guthrie Theater - ends in Northeast Minneapolis

Hungry for an off-the-beaten path Minneapolis food experience? Join us as we explore one of the city's trendy and historical neighborhoods, Mill District and St. Anthony on Main in Northeast Minneapolis. You'll enjoy the afternoon sampling food at the first Thai restaurant in Minnesota, drinking local Minnesota brewed beer at the oldest restaurant in Minneapolis, and enjoy a local favorite - the cheese curds. You'll also enjoy mouth-watering pasta located in the historical Chase building, fresh baked European style bread at a local Farmers Market, home-made gelato, and lip smacking BBQ sliders from a historical restaurant that once operated as a mattress company.

Along with sampling food we will also visit the Mill City Museum, stroll by the Guthrie, and enjoy gorgeous views of St. Anthony Falls as we walk along the Stone Arch Bridge into historical St. Anthony on Main. You'll learn about the history of both these neighborhoods including a stroll along the oldest street in Minneapolis. You'll taste and chat with other food-loving guests, and leave the tour with an appreciation for these distinct neighborhoods that most tourist never see!

Reservations.

Follow Taste Twin Cities on Facebook and Twitter.

May 4, 2013, Saturday - Ward 3 DFL Convention

Time: 9:00am - 1:00pm

Location: DeLaSalle High School, One DeLaSalle Drive

At the 3rd Ward DFL Convention, delegates chosen at the April 16th caucuses will vote to endorse their City Council candidate.

May 4, 2013, Saturday - Henry Mack: The Oldest Soldier at Central Library

Time:  1:00pm–2:00pm

Location: Doty Board Room at Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall

Henry Mack: The Oldest Soldier

Local author and historian Stephen Chicoine will give a talk on Mack, who escaped slavery, fought in the Union Army during the Civil War, and later became a familiar sight in North Minneapolis, living to the astounding age of 106.

May 4, 2013, Saturday - What's in Dragonfly's Box? at Central Library

Time: 11:00am

Location: Central Library, Children's Library, 300 Nicollet Mall

What's in Dragonfly's Box?
Preschool-grade 3. Visit the Children's Library to see what crafts or activities the dragonfly has in its box!

May 3, 2013, Friday - Mentor Series Reading: Susan Power at The Loft

Tme: 7:00pm

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

Mentor Series Reading: Susan Power

The 2012-2013 Loft Mentor Series in Poetry and Creative Prose presents fiction mentor Susan Power reading along with program participants Romelle Adkins (fiction) and Andy Bennett (nonfiction).

Romelle Adkins was born and raised in Saint Paul. A wife and mother, she set her writing dreams aside for many years to raise and homeschool her nine children. When her youngest children started public school, she dusted off her writing dreams, took classes at the Loft, and began work on her first novel.

Andy Bennett is a freelance writer, actor, director, and theater producer whose humorous personal essays have been published in Duluth Superior Magazine, Minnesota Monthly, Cabin Life Magazine, and the Duluth News-Tribune. A resident of Duluth, he is co-founder of Zenith City Tales, an organization of storytellers from Northern Minnesota, and is the recipient of a McKnight/ARAC Individual Artist Fellowship.

Susan Power is the author of the novel The Grass Dancer, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the short story collection Roofwalker. An enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe (Yanktonnai Dakota), she earned a BA from Harvard College, a JD from Harvard Law School, and an MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. Her fiction has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Paris Review, and Voice Literary Supplement, among other publications.

May 3, 2013, Friday - Live Music at Aster Cafe

Time: 9:00pm Cover: $7

Location: Aster Cafe, 125 Main Stree SE

Tonight: The Ericksons

May 3, 2013, Friday - 5 Year Anniversary Party at 501FIT

Time:  5:00pm - 8:00pm

Location:  501FIT, 501 Washington Avenue South

Via an April 1, 2013, Press Release:

Locally owned 501FIT joins forces with Benessere Body in Balance and Avatar Training Studio. Celebrating five years, 501FIT hosts partnership launch party on Friday, May 3, 2013 from 5pm-8pm.

501FIT adds complimentary services by joining forces with local owned Benessere and Avatar. Focused on building its innovative G-Werx Program, 501FIT adds services through partnerships.

501FIT expects the Benessere and Avatar partnerships to strengthen wellness outcomes for clients. Benessere began services at 501FIT, its second location, in January 2013. Avatar will close its current location to begin Barre, TRx Bootcamps and Gyrotonics training at 501FIT in April 2013.

About 501FIT
501FIT is the pilot club for the G-Werx Workout Program. 501FIT opened in January 2008 featuring the G-Werx Program growing from 20 clients to 225 clients as of March 2013. The G-Werx Machine and Workout Program were invented by 501FIT Founder, Phil Martens. 501FIT is committed to providing small group personal training with the service of one-on-one training at sustainable at group fitness rates.

Mission: To provide more clients the opportunity to work with Certified Trainers as a lifestyle!
Services: Group personal training, full-service gym memberships, personal training, fitness consultations

About Benessere
Benessere Body in Balance, a full-service wellness center in Minneapolis, was opened by Kay Bashford in 2005. Benessere believes that maintaining balance of your whole being—body, mind and spirit—leads to healing, serenity, prosperity and joy. The health of clients is at the center of everything they do.

Services: Massage, Acupuncture, Neuromuscular Therapy, Chiropractic and Matrix Re-pattern Therapy.

About Avatar
Avatar Personal Training Studio was founded by Eric Hall in 2005. Starting primarily as a ‘by appointment’ personal training studio, Avatar has evolved into a group fitness programming studio offering BARRE and TRX Bootcamp training. Eric Hall continues to provide Gyrotonics specialty training while pursuing group fitness offerings as a compliment. Eric and Avatar will bring their services to 501FIT in April 2013.

Services: Gyrotonics, BARRE and TRx.

May 3, 2013, Friday - 'Out of the Pan Into the Fire' Opens at Southern Theater

May 3 - 26 Performances

Location: The Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Avenue South

The MovingCompany presents Out of the Pan Into the Fire
 
An original work, written by Steve Epp, Nathan Keepers and Dominique Serrand
 
Out of the Pan Into the Fire. Is a fairytale, but not one you’ve ever read before. It takes place in the days when wishing was still of some use, and also right now. There’s this kid named Thirteen, who’s kind of stupid, and not afraid of anything, and his sister Elsie, who’s really smart, but has never been around the block, and who isn’t actually his sister. They were both found in the garbage, by this old guy named Angelo, who is sort of an angel, or he might be a bird, or it could be that he’s just old, and really, really poor, and maybe a bit of a liar.
 
A lot of stuff happens to all of them, like growing up, as in Out of the Pan Into the Fire. It’s pretty funny, a little naïve, and then it gets scary, a bit grotesque, Grimm, you might say, and kind of brutal, painful, like it makes your heart hurt a little.
 
Featuring Steve Epp, Christina Baldwin, Nathan Keepers and Sam KrugerDirected by Dominique Serrand
 
Dates & Times
May 3 - 26

May 3, 2013, Friday - Live Music at Crooked Pint

Time: 9:00pm

Location: Crooked Pint Ale House, 501 Washington Avenue South

Tonight: "Love Songs For Angry Men"

May 3, 2013, Friday - Crime and Pun-Ishment Murder Mystery at Old Spaghetti Factory

Time: 7:00pm

Location: Old Spaghetti Factory, 233 Park Avenue (and Washington Avenue South)

Crime and Pun-Ishment

Step back in time to the era of gangsters and their molls. Minneapolis, grab your beaded frocks and pin striped suits and brace yourselves for this "roaring twenties" style murder mystery. Un-organized crimes prevail in The Murder Mystery Company's award winning show, Crime and Pun-ishment. Bring your friends, family and don't forget your detective skills to help solve the case!

Information and tickets.

Upcoming dates:

May 5, 2013 @ 5:00pm
May 9, 2013 @ 7:00pm
May 12, 2013 @ 5:00pm
May 16, 2013 @ 7:00pm
May 19, 2013 @ 5:00pm
May 24, 2013 @ 7:00pm
May 26, 2013 @ 5:00pm
June 9, 2013 @ 7:00pm

May 2, 2013, Thursday - Midwest Photo Safari St. Anthony Falls Heritage Trail

Join us near downtown Minneapolis on St. Anthony Main and the west downtown riverfront district to photograph the sites of the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Trail. This is a 2-3 hour safari running 3 days a week, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. Morning sessions 7:30 AM to 10 AM and afternoon NOON till 2:30 PM. Sunday hours 9 AM till 11:30 AM.

Our Morning and Sunday session takes place on the EAST BANK (St. Anthony Main side) of the Heritage Trail. Highlghts include:

The Ard Godfrey House in Chute Park - Our Lady of Lourdes Church - Nicollet Island Historic Area - The Third Avenue Bridge - Old Saint Anthony Neighborhood - Water Power Park - The Historic Pillsbury "A" Mill

Your tour directors and photographer/guides will provide you with the best exposure, angles, and composition tips. While we walk, your guides provide some historical facts about this interesting area. You are sure to come away with compelling images of your visit to this historically significant, and photographically popular, Minneapolis area.

More Information and Registration.

May 2, 2013, Thursday - RiverFirst Priority Projects Open Houses at MPRB

As part of RiverFirst, the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board is completing schematic design and feasibility for six Mississippi riverfront parks and parks access projects.  On Thursday, May 2, community members have an opportunity to learn more about these RiverFirst Priority Projects at an Open House from 11 AM – 12:00 PM or a Community Meeting from 6-8:00 PM. All three meetings will be in the Board Room at Minneapolis Park Board headquarters, 2117 West River Road, Minneapolis.

For more information see:
http://riverfirst.com/2013/04/15/news-release-may-2-minneapolis-parks-shares-next-steps-on-six-r1-priority-projects/
http://www.minneapolisparks.org/riverfirst

Date: Thursday, May 2, 2013
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Type: informal open house
Location: MPRB Board Room, 2117 West River Road North, Minneapolis

Date: Thursday, May 2, 2013
Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Type: open house with presentation and Q&A
Location: MPRB Board Room, 2117 West River Road North, Minneapolis

CONTACT: Andrew Caddock, Project Manager
Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board
612-230-6470
acaddock@minneapolisparks.org

May 1, 2013, Wednesday - RLife LIVE IDOL Final