Minneapolis, MN
Celebrating the winter solstice with a puppet procession in Minneapolis
On Friday night, community members and artists with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre gathered atop a snow-covered hill in Powderhorn Park in south Minneapolis to celebrate the winter solstice together.
In the center of the crowd, Minneapolis-based musician Sarina Partridge led a series of call-and-responses:
Musician Sarina Partridge leads a call-and-response song during a winter solstice celebration in Powderhorn Park.
Ben Hovland | MPR News
“Welcome in, wild hearts,” she sang. “We will sing our way to wholeness.”
The solstice at 3:21 a.m. Saturday marks the beginning of astronomical winter in the Northern Hemisphere, bringing with it longer days. Saturday will be the shortest day of the year, at 8 hours, 46 minutes and 10 seconds in Minneapolis.
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A 25-foot tall heron puppet leads hundreds of community members through the snow in Powderhorn Park.
Ben Hovland | MPR News
About 300 people had assembled at Avalon Theatre on Lake Street and walked a few blocks down 15th Avenue to the park. Many procession participants held up paper lanterns, while others carried larger-than-life handmade puppets, recognizable from events like the MayDay Parade and Puppet Lab as well as the theatre’s puppet library, which lets people check out puppets for free.
In the Heart of the Beast’s vibrant puppetry has been a staple of Minneapolis’ Powderhorn and Phillips communities for nearly 50 years, and the organization has called the Avalon Theatre home since 1988. But in November, theatre leadership announced it was starting the process to sell the Avalon and look for a new home for its programming.
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In the Heart of the Beast’s interim executive director Elina Kotlyar said she hopes to continue to expand on the theatre’s current programming — and make it more accessible.
She said her dream is that the new space “can be reached by as many people as want to come.”
Windchill temperatures hovered in the single digits as the procession wound its way back to the Avalon, but the lanterns cast a warm glow on participants’ faces as they plodded along the quiet neighborhood street.
Three-year-old Finn Miller lets out a howl while perched on the shoulders of his father, Josh Miller, during a winter solstice celebration.
Ben Hovland | MPR News
Back inside the theatre, community members shared homemade soup and watched musical performances. For Kotlyar, events like the solstice celebration are integral to bringing the community together.
“Tonight is simply an opportunity to be in the moment with other people,” she said. “And the warm soup is a bonus.”
Members of Sisters Camelot serve hot soup in the lobby of In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre.
Ben Hovland | MPR News
Sunshine and comfortable temperatures return Thursday before a weekend warm-up sends highs into the 90s. Heat index values could reach the triple digits early next week. FOX 9 meteorologist Jared Piepenburg has the forecast.
Posted
A 28-year-old St. Paul woman who admitted in federal court to assaulting law enforcement officers during a protest last year in South Minneapolis has been ordered to pay a $25 fine.
Isabel Lopez was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge John Tunheim in Minneapolis after accepting a plea agreement to a lesser misdemeanor charge of assaulting, resisting and impeding a U.S. officer in connection with a protest that broke out while authorities were executing a search warrant that a crowd mistook for an immigration raid in June 2025.
Lopez was originally charged by indictment with three felony counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding officers and one felony count of obstruction of law enforcement.
Lopez faced up to one year in prison on the misdemeanor conviction, however, the defense and prosecution both asked Tunheim for no prison time. The prosecution requested one year of probation, which Tunheim turned down.
According to court documents, law enforcement officers from multiple federal agencies were executing eight search warrants in the Twin Cities on June 3, 2025, related to an investigation into narcotics trafficking, money laundering, human trafficking and related offenses.
The investigation began with the discovery of 900 pounds of methamphetamine in a Burnsville storage unit, with a street value of between $22 million and $25 million.
Shortly after a search warrant execution began at Cuatro Milpas restaurant on Lake Street, a crowd began to gather.
“The crowd appeared to be under the mistaken belief that law enforcement was present to arrest individuals illegally present in the country for immigration offenses,” the criminal complaint said. “This was incorrect.”
After recognizing the apparent misunderstanding, law enforcement explained the nature of the search warrant to the crowd, according to prosecutors.
As part of her plea agreement, Lopez admitted to hitting an FBI SWAT agent with her arms and closed fist, and kicking another agent. The officers were not injured. As law enforcement attempted to leave the scene, Lopez threw a softball at the back of a Hennepin County sheriff’s deputy.
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