Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily midday digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
Two Festivals Opt Out On Returning 'til 2023
The pandemic: It’s still on, and it’s still screwing things up for us. At least two mega events of the spring/summer have been delayed for a third year in a row, and both are citing pandemic complications. The multi-day Cinco de Mayo celebration along Cesar Chavez Street is always a good time, offering guests great eats, a fun beer garden with music, lowrider competitions, and an absolutely gorgeous street parade. “It takes many months to plan Cinco de Mayo, and with the protocols in place as recently as the beginning of March, there simply wasn’t enough time to create a large community celebration,” their official statement explains. Meanwhile, Grand Old Day, the biggest one-day festival of its kind in the Midwest, is also a no-go this year, citing time and Covid concerns as well. It’s not all doom and gloom, however. This week, Heart of the Beast’s MayDay Festival announced it's back this year after taking two years off. Hell, yeah!
Electric Scooters, Buzzkills' Arch Nemesis, Return to Minneapolis This Month
Guys, gals, and pals who need to get around town, you’ll be able to do so via electric scooter in mere weeks. Three companies have entered into license agreements with the city this year: Nice Ride (via Lyft), Spin, and Lime. All three should be showing up around town and available on their respective rental apps sometime mid-April. The city of Minneapolis website has lots of interesting statistics concerning scooters usage. A few fun facts: Between 2018 and 2019, Minneapolis ridership increased 361%. That number dipped down by 86% between 2019 to 2020, putting it 36% lower than it was in 2018. Dang, that’s a wild ride.
It's Construction Time!
There are only two seasons in Minnesota, folks—and winter's over. MnDOT just sent out the list of 2022 state construction projects—more than 230 in total—including 184 road and bridge projects and 51 "multimodal projects" to improve airports, water ports, and transit infrastructure. Among the big ones around the Twin Cities: the completion of the two-year I-94 and I-35E project in St. Paul, resurfacing of Highway 77 between Bloomington and Minneapolis, and the beginning of a two-year reconstruction of Highway 10 in Anoka. Up in Duluth, work will continue on the multi-year Twin Ports Interchange project. Perhaps it's time we all peruse the Department of Transportation's guide to zipper merging!
BEAVER FEVER Wanes as "Huge" Beaver Returns to Wild
Yesterday a Racket headline screamed BEAVER FEVER GRIPS CAPITAL CITY, and boy howdy, was it ever true. By the grace of God, the deity responsible for beavers and so much more, the runaway Lowertown beaver that stole St. Paul's heart has been returned to the wild, MinnPost reports. “Our Animal Control Officer was able to get ahold of Beaver [capitalization theirs] with the assistance of two good Samaritans who stepped in to help,” a city spokesperson told reporter Greta Kaul late Wednesday. “Officer confirmed it was huge. He took it down to the river, and said as soon as he released it, it went straight into the water. Where he belongs, I might add.” Or in their dams, but sure, that mostly rings true. Anyway, we didn't want you to go into the weekend without that beaver closure. May another wild critter soon come along and entertain our bored, bored town.
