Summer Events and Festivals in Minnesota

I live in a small town in south-central Minnesota called New Prague. But just because the city is small, does not mean that it does not have a lot of summer events going on. The town holds an annual “Half-Marathon” in May that has been running for over twenty years and is the second largest in the state. Being a “Czech” town, there is a “Dozinky Days” Festival” that features ethnic food, drinks and music, held every year downtown. There is also a “Cruise Night” where lovers of any type of vehicle, old and new, will find what they are looking for driving around the perimeters of New Prague and down Main Street, ending up downtown where everyone parks. There are food and drink stands and everyone can check out and talk about each others prized cars and trucks.

A popular Minnesota event, the “Renaissance Festival”, is only a few miles north of us. It runs from August through Mid-October and has people from all over Minnesota and surrounding states coming to take part in it. It has old world food, music and other entertainers as well as vendors selling everything from pottery to artwork and handmade jewelry to Renaissance dresses.

The Minnesota State Fair, held annually at the St. Paul Fairgrounds, runs from the last week of August to early September. Not only is it famous for putting any type of food that you can think of “on a stick”, it also features big names in Country Music at it’s grandstand every year.

Our state also hosts a wealth of car shows every year starting in as early as March, whenever the last bit of snow has melted and the Hot-Rods can be brought out after the long winter. The largest and most well known has to be “The Car Craft Summer Nationals” held in July at the St. Paul Fairgrounds every year. It features some of the hottest cars around, quality vendors and a tasteful bikini contest. It is truly a family event.

This is definitely not a complete list of all of the summer events held in my area. Other small towns that have annual festivals celebrating their cities heritage surround me. Minneapolis and St. Paul, also known as the “Twin Cities” has countless events to attend during the summer months. Minnesota residents do not mind the winter, but they live it up come summer time.