Minnesota
Review: Wallflowers, McBride bring musical flavor to revamped Taste of Minnesota
The location, layout and general vibe may be very different this year. Like Taste of Minnesota festivals of old, however, the free music lineup Saturday in the revamped event’s new downtown Minneapolis site offered an oddly mish-mashed, nostalgia-heavy but crowd-pleasing mix.
Country music veteran Martina McBride, ’90s adult-rock hitmakers the Wallflowers, and homegrown alt-country veterans the Gear Daddies were the top-drawing acts for the first of two days in Taste’s second year in a setting that also feels quite hodge-podgey.
The fenced-off Taste grounds are spread out between empty parking lots and blocked-off streets around the Minneapolis Central Library and the north end of Nicollet Mall. It’s not the prettiest of sites, and finding somewhere to sit is harder than spotting a low-calorie food option.
However, the new digs did smoothly accommodate the strong turnout amid Saturday’s golden weather, with organizers reporting more than 35,000 attendees through the gates by 3:30 p.m.
Considering the festival’s old location on Harriet Island has been flooded in recent days, the new spot certainly felt sufficient for Taste’s many offerings — including a new fleet of food trucks, four music stages, an amateur wrestling ring and even a zip line.
The biggest of the four new Taste stages is in a crumbly lot sandwiched between the library, Four Seasons Hotel and other tall buildings. Thanks to this site, U.S. Bank Stadium may no longer hold the distinction of being Minneapolis’ most echoey music venue. A mid-afternoon set by rapper and DJ Sophia Eris with beatmaker pal Makr was especially muddied by the bouncing acoustics and other technical issues.
The sound and vibe at the Jazz 88 stage on the north end of the Taste layout was much more appealing, in part because it’s one of the few places you’ll find trees or grass. Local jazz stylist Jennifer Grimm had fans there cooling in the shade and singing along to Billie Holliday’s “I’ll Be Singing You,” and the BZ3 Organ Trio with all-star drummer Kevin Washington had them up and grooving through an instrumental cover of Prince’s “Controversy.”
Since none of the other mainstage acts enjoyed huge Instagram followers or TikTok numbers, it was no surprise that many of the attendees who stuck by the big stage looked old enough to have regularly attended Taste of Minnesota’s prior iterations, evolving over the mid-1980s to the late 2000s on Harriet Island and the State Capitol grounds in St. Paul.
Performing between Eris and an ultra-hyping intro by comedian Fancy Ray McCloney, Gear Daddies’ frontman Martin Zellar joked that his band was “going to cut the energy in half.” Of course, their old favorites such as “Zamboni” and “Stupid Boy” did the opposite and sparked big, smiley audience singalongs. Even the downers in the Daddies’ set were well-received, including “Color of Her Eyes” and “Cut Me Off.”
The Wallflowers started out feisty and loud with songs off their last album, highlighted by “The Dive Bar in My Heart” — reminiscent of Minnesota legends the Replacements, whose bassist Tommy Stinson was watching from side-stage. Wallflowers frontman Jakob Dylan greeted the crowd by cheekily noting that, unlike his dad Bob, he did not qualify as a taste of Minnesota.
“You guys do know I’m not from here, right?” he cracked. “But I thank you for this as some kind of homecoming.”
Despite personnel changes over the years and a long lull in the 2010s, the rock scion’s band sounded as rock-solid and full-spirited as ever as it revisited some of their best-known tunes, including a rootsier-styled “6th Avenue Heartache” and “One Headlight.” Instead of offering a taste of (Bob) Dylan for the Minnesota fest, Jakob paid tribute to Tom Petty with covers of “Refugee” and “The Waiting” at the end of their set.
In the headlining slot, McBride played to a smaller crowd but showed why she’s endured in the male-dominated Nashville music biz for three decades. Her 1993 breakthrough hit “My Baby Loves” kicked off a series of feel-good love songs, including “Safe in the Arms of Love” and “Love’s the Only House.” Her covers of country classics “Rose Garden” and “You Ain’t Woman Enough (to Take My Man)” came off sweet, too, given they were launched by two female country music legends. Too bad Taste’s spotty sound system cut out during the former song.
Taste of Minnesota continues Sunday with a music lineup that is more truly Minnesotan — and should attract a lot of Prince fans — as Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Morris Day and other members of the Time are slated to stage a rare reunion tied to the 40th anniversary of “Purple Rain,” preceded by Sounds of Blackness and more.
Minnesota
This small-town bakery draws crowds from across the Midwest, in just three hours a week
NEWBURG, MINN. — Driving down a winding road dotted with farms, churches and roadside produce stands, it can be easy to miss the only business in town here, an old red shop tucked behind rows of flowers and hanging ferns.
But make no mistake, behind those century-and-a-half-old walls is one of the top food destinations in Minnesota’s Driftless Area.
For the past seven years, Irene Fishburn has been delighting locals and road-trippers alike with made-from-scratch delicacies at Newburg Vintage Home and Garden and Small Batch Bakery.
Fishburn opened the business after she and her husband, Glenn, moved to southeastern Minnesota to be closer to family in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After leaving the grind of their corporate careers in California, the couple settled on a former general store where Irene, a former merchandise buyer for more than 35 stores, could sell garden gifts and baked goods, and Glenn could fish in a nearby trout stream.
Their retirement was set — at least that was the plan.
“When we first bought it, we imagined sitting on the front porch and having coffee with neighbors who stopped by,” Irene said. “We had no idea that it would become a destination-type business.”
Open only on select Saturdays — and then for only three hours — the Newburg bakery regularly draws scores of people willing to stand in line for up to an hour during the busiest summer months to get a taste of authentic French baking. Others come from just down the road.
Mike and Cheryl Erickson, both retired military members, spend their summers in nearby Mabel, Minn., where Mike grew up. He remembers getting ice cream as a kid outside of the same building and said he initially came to the bakery with low expectations.
Minnesota
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Minnesota
Bizarre Minnesota laws, including penalties for driving a filthy car, that will shock you
Each state has its own set of laws that seem quite strange, and Minnesota is not exempt.
Many bizarre laws that come out of states are fictional rumors that somehow spread with no evidence backing them. In Minnesota, this includes it being illegal to cross state lines with a duck on your head or parking an elephant on Main Street. Though, there are certain laws that are surprisingly true.
Among Minnesota’s strangest laws include not being allowed to drive with dirty tires and the inability to be charged with drunkenness.
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Below are more details about these strange laws and more that are on the books in the state of Minnesota.
- You cannot be charged with drunkenness
- It’s against the law to drive with sticky, dirty tires
- Mosquitoes are a public nuisance
- Think twice before hitchhiking
1. You cannot be charged with drunkenness
In Minnesota, public intoxication alone is not a crime.
This is according to Section 340A.902 of Minnesota law.
The law states that “no person may be charged with or convicted of the offense of drunkenness or public drunkenness.”
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That said, a person could still be convicted of other offenses, like if injuring another or damaging property occurs.
“Nothing herein prevents the prosecution and conviction of an intoxicated person for offenses other than drunkenness or public drunkenness nor does this section relieve a person from civil liability for an injury to persons or property caused by the person while intoxicated,” the written statute goes on to state.
Minnesota is not the only state which does not consider public intoxication a crime.
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Montana, Nevada and Wisconsin are other states that don’t criminalize drunkenness in public, according to FindLaw.com.
2. It’s against the law to drive with sticky, dirty tires
If you have dirty tires that are spreading filth in the road, be wary before driving down a road in Minnesota. More specifically, in Minnetonka, where driving with dirty tires could lead to legal trouble.
Under Section 845.010, “Public Nuisances Affecting Peace, Safety and General Welfare” in Minnetonka, Minnesota’s Code of Ordinances, drivers are not allowed to drive “a truck or other vehicle whose wheels or tires deposit mud, dirt, sticky substances, litter or other material on any street or highway.”
“A violation of this ordinance is subject to the penalties and provisions of Chapter XIII of the city code,” the law states.
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3. Mosquitoes are a public nuisance
Minnesota is home to lots of mosquitoes, so much so that there is actually a law written about the insects.
The law refers to areas where mosquitoes are in abundance.
Section 18G.14 in part states that “areas where mosquitoes incubate or hatch are declared to be public nuisances and may be abated under this section. Mosquito abatement may be undertaken under this section anywhere in the state by any governmental unit.”
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4. Think twice before hitchhiking
Think twice before trying to catch a ride by waiting on the side of the road in Minnesota.
State statute 169.22 describes the act of hitchhiking as unlawful.
“No person shall stand in a roadway for the purpose of soliciting a ride from the driver of any private vehicle,” the statute states.
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Another section of this statute applies to solicitation of business.
“No person shall stand on a roadway for the purpose of soliciting employment, business, or contributions from the occupant of any vehicle,” the statute states.
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